Tuesday 19 July 2016

London Mild Ale 1946 -1949

You’ve probably forgotten the series I started on post-war beer styles. I know I had.

Then I was wondering today: what the hell can I write about? I need something quick and easy to write and full of numbers. Mild Ale in the late 1940’s seems obvious. But there’s rather a lot of them. Narrowing it down to just London-brewed beers makes the set more manageable.

Back then, Mild was still very popular in London. Though its popularity began to collapse in the 1950’s as Bitter became the capital’s favourite style. The first time I drank in London in the mid-1970’s, cask Mild had all but disappeared. And many pubs didn’t sell Mild at all, not even keg.

The immediate post-war years are also when average gravity hit a new nadir, though not quite as low as during WW I. Mild, as a cheap mass drink, suffered the most in terms of reduced gravity.  You can see the average gravity of all the Milds in the table is just over 1030. And the highest gravity is just 1033.7º. For Mainline, a beer sold as a strong Mild.

Whoops. I missed the Truman Best Mild at 1042.5º. But it did cost about 50% more at 19d a pint. Back in the 1920’s, that would have counted as an Ordinary Mild. Sad, isn’t it?

There’s a reason why none of the beers has an OG under 1027º. The minimum tax on a barrel of beer assumed an OG of 1027º. A beer with a lower OG still paid that rate of tax, so it made no economic sense to have a beer weaker.

All but one example is a dark Mild. And most are pretty dark. Certainly darker than many Milds were pre-war.  When many were what I’d call semi-dark, with colour values of 40-50º Lovibond. I’d reckon 80º Lovibond to be about the minimum for a properly dark Mild.

London Mild Ale 1946 -1949
Year Brewer Beer Price per pint package Acidity OG FG ABV App. Atten-uation colour
1946 Barclay Perkins Ale 13.5 bottled 0.06 1031.1 1008.8 2.89 71.70% 19.5
1946 Charrington X 11 draught 0.05 1028.7 1008.4 2.63 70.73% 120
1946 Courage X 11 draught 0.07 1030.4 1006.8 3.06 77.63% 90
1946 Mann Crossman X 12 draught 0.05 1032.5 1011.5 2.71 64.62% 100
1946 Meux X 11 draught 0.05 1028.1 1008.8 2.50 68.68% 105
1946 Taylor Walker X 11 draught 0.05 1028.4 1009.9 2.39 65.14% 100
1946 Taylor Walker Mainline 12 draught 0.04 1032 1010.9 2.73 65.94% 85
1946 Truman X 11 draught 0.05 1030.1 1010.8 2.49 64.12% 130
1946 Watney X 11 draught 0.08 1030.8 1006.5 3.15 78.90%
1946 Wenlock X 11 draught 0.05 1029.8 1010.4 2.51 65.10% 80
1946 Whitbread XX 11 draught 0.05 1030.8 1012.1 2.41 60.71% 85
1947 Watney X 11 draught 0.04 1030.7 1010.6 2.60 65.47% 100
1947 Whitbread XX 1027.6 1006.5 2.79 76.45% 90
1948 Barclay Perkins XX 14 draught 0.05 1031.4 1011.3 2.60 64.01% 108
1948 Charrington  XX 14 draught 0.06 1028.9 1007 2.84 75.78% 105
1948 Courage XX 14 draught 0.07 1031.3 1005.1 3.41 83.71% 55
1948 Mann Crossman XX 14 draught 0.07 1032.3 1009.3 2.98 71.21% 110
1948 Meux XX 13 draught 0.06 1028.1 1006 2.87 78.65% 215
1948 Taylor Walker Mainline 15 draught 0.05 1033.7 1012.1 2.79 64.09% 95
1948 Taylor Walker XX 13 draught 0.07 1026.8 1006.9 2.58 74.25% 80
1948 Truman XX 13 draught 0.06 1028.9 1007.7 2.75 73.36% 95
1948 Truman B MA 19 draught 0.06 1042.5 1010.4 4.17 75.53% 105
1948 Watney Best Ale 13 draught 0.07 1031.5 1010.3 2.74 67.30% 95
1948 Whitbread XX 13 draught 0.06 1029.1 1006.5 2.93 77.66% 85
1949 Barclay Perkins X 13 draught 1030.47 128
1949 Charrington MA 12 draught 0.05 1029.4 1010.3 2.47 64.97% 130
1949 Charrington  MA 12 draught 0.06 1028.5 1009.8 2.42 65.61% 130
1949 Courage MA 12 draught 0.05 1028.3 1007.5 2.69 73.50% 100
1949 Mann Crossman Mild Ale 13 draught 0.07 1032 1004 3.64 87.50% 100
1949 Meux XX 12 draught 0.06 1028.4 1005.3 3.00 81.34% 190
1949 Taylor Walker MA 12 draught 0.05 1029.7 1009.5 2.61 68.01% 75
1949 Tollemache Mild Ale 11 draught 0.06 1027.7 1005.4 2.89 80.51% 70
1949 Truman MA 12 draught 0.06 1029.7 1005.8 3.10 80.47% 85
1949 Watney X 12 draught 1028.62 104
1949 Wenlock MA 12 draught 0.05 1031.1 1011.7 2.50 62.38% 85
1949 Whitbread Best Ale 13 draught 0.05 1032.5 1009 3.04 72.31% 100
Average 12.5 0.06 1030.3 1008.6 2.82 71.69% 101.4
Sources:
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/002.
Truman Gravity Book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number B/THB/C/252
Whitbread brewing records

Attenuation isn’t great, averaging just over 70%. I reckon they were leaving the FG reasonably high so the beer didn’t taste too watery. But it does mean that the average ABV is below 3% ABV. Meaning you’d need to be very determined to get more than mildly intoxicated.

There are examples from 11 different London breweries in the table. And not all the breweries of the day are represented. Until recently, it would have seem weird that so many different beers of one style were brewed in the capital. Then London’s brewing industry was reborn in a very happy development. Though for all the number of brewers today, I bet there aren’t 11 Milds regularly brewed in the capital.

3 comments:

StuartP said...

It would be hard work getting pissed in London after the war.

Michael+ said...

How do you confidently put the 1946 Barclay Perkins in with milds, especially with its generic "Ale" name? That is, what about it tells you it's in the Mild family and not a low-alcohol bitter such as an AK? I know it's not an exact science, so I'm curious. Thanks!

Ron Pattinson said...

Michael,

because Ale is what they called LMild in London. And Barclay Perkins didn't brew an AK.