Monday 8 August 2016

London Ordinary Mild Ale 1955 – 1959

We’re closing in on the end of this series. Which I’m sure comes as much as a surprise as a relief. Or should that be the other way around?

Sadly, I’ve far fewer analyses for the second half of the 1950’s. And quite a few only have the FG, which is pretty effing useless.

Getting on to this set, you can see that the price for Ordinary Mild has crept up from around 13d to 14.5d. While the average price for Best Mild has gone up by about 2.5d. It still looks dirt cheap compared to modern prices. On a happier note, average OG and ABV for Ordinary Mild have increased slightly. Only two examples are under 3% ABV. Which is good news for pissheads.

All the veers, both Ordinary and Best Mild, are pretty dark, with the lowest colour value 70. None are even vaguely close to being pale.

Whitbread’s Best Mild, XXX, didn’t last long, only being brewed in 1954 and 1955. That’s despite being pushed by Whitbread in print adverts. Obviously, it was parti-gyled with their deceptively named Ordinary Mild, Best Ale.

Not much more else to say. Other than that these look very much like the Mild Ales of my youth: around 3% ABV and dark brown. It wasn’t until the last ten years that I came to realise that this type of Mild was only about as old as me.

It’s a sobering thought. And an indication of a common way of thinking. We assume that things which were common when we were young had been around forever.

London Ordinary Mild Ale 1955 - 1959
Year Brewer Beer Price per pint d Acidity OG FG ABV App. Atten-uation colour
1955 Truman X 1033.6 82
1955 Whitbread Best Ale 1030.4 1009.5 2.76 68.75% 95
1957 Barclay Perkins XX 15 0.06 1031.4 1005.8 3.33 81.53% 100
1957 Charrington  Mild Ale 14 0.04 1032.6 1007.4 3.27 77.30% 110
1957 Courage Mild Ale 15 0.06 1032.5 1006.4 3.39 80.31% 115
1957 Ind Coope Mild Ale 15 0.08 1032 1006.6 3.30 79.37% 70
1957 Mann Mild Ale 15 0.05 1033 1004.7 3.68 85.76% 105
1957 Truman Mild Ale 15 0.07 1032.4 1008.2 3.14 74.69% 95
1957 Watney Mild Ale 15 0.05 1032 1007.6 3.16 76.25% 100
1957 Wenlock Mild Ale 15 0.08 1031.8 1006.4 3.30 79.87% 95
1957 Whitbread Mild Ale 14 0.04 1032.4 1011.4 2.71 64.81% 95
1958 Whitbread Best Ale 15 1033.1
1958 Young & Co Mild Ale 14 0.04 1031.6 1005.8 3.35 81.65% 75
1959 Fullers Mild Ale 12 0.05 1032.2 1006.6 3.32 79.50% 90
Average 14.5 0.06 1032.2 1007.2 3.23 77.48% 93.9
1955 Taylor Walker Main Line 27 0.05 1044 1014.5 3.82 67.05% 115
1955 Whitbread XXX 1034.8 1010.0 3.28 71.26% 115
1957 Ind Coope Mild Ale 15 0.06 1034.9 1008.4 3.44 75.93% 95
1957 Taylor Walker Mainline 16 0.05 1037.4 1010.4 3.50 72.19% 100
Average 19.3 0.05 1037.8 1010.8 3.51 71.61% 106.3
Source:
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/002.

Provincial Milds of the late fifties next. And then we’re done.

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