Monday 25 February 2019

Mild Ale on the eve of WW I

Mild Ale had been the most popular style of beer since the mid-19th century. For most breweries, Mild Ale accounted for more than 50% of output.

In the second half of the 19th century, it was typical for a brewery to produce four Mild Ales, usually called X, XX, XXX, XXXXX. By 1914, many breweries had reduced their range of Mild Ales to just two or three. Most extreme was London, where the large breweries often brewed just a single Mild, called X Ale.

The number of Milds brewed wasn’t the only difference between London and the provinces. While a London X Ale had a gravity or at least 1050º, provincial versions could be as weak as 1040º. An XXX or XXXX Ale from the provinces was around the same strength as a London X.

While the provincial Milds are mostly hopped at a similar rate to London Milds – around 5 lbs per quarter of malt, those from Boddington are extremely lightly hopped.

Scottish Mild Ales follow a similar pattern to provincial English versions, with the strongest examples about the same strength as a London X Ale. This was the last hurrah of Mild Ale in Scotland. After the war, very little of it was brewed.

As with provincial English Milds, the weakest examples are under 1040º. No London beer was as weak as that before the war.

Provincial Mild Ale before WW I
Year Brewer Beer OG FG ABV App. Atten-uation lbs hops/ qtr hops lb/brl
1914 Boddington B 1037.0 1010.0 3.57 72.97% 2.86 0.51
1914 Boddington BB 1047.0 1014.0 4.37 70.21% 3.62 0.85
1914 Boddington XXX 1051.0 1015.0 4.76 70.59% 3.67 0.99
1914 Adnams X 1033.0 1005.5 3.64 83.33% 4.38 0.58
1914 Adnams XX 1042.0 1007.0 4.63 83.33% 4.20 0.73
1910 Warwicks X 1043.2 1013.9 3.88 67.95% 5.00 0.85
1910 Warwicks XX 1048.5 1014.7 4.47 69.71% 4.95 0.95
1910 Warwicks XXX 1055.4 1017.7 4.98 68.00% 4.95 1.14
1911 Lees U 1034.0 1007.0 3.57 79.41% 4.74 0.66
1911 Lees K 1049.0 1010.0 5.16 79.59% 5.82 1.12
Sources:
Boddington brewing record held at Manchester Central Library, document number M693/405/126.
Adnams brewing record Book 2 held at the brewery.
Warwicks & Richardsons brewing record held at the Nottinghamshire Archives, document number DD/NM/8/4/1.


London Mild Ale before WW I
Year Brewer Beer OG FG ABV App. Atten-uation lbs hops/ qtr hops lb/brl
1914 Whitbread X 1052.1 1010.0 5.57 80.80% 6.04 1.29
1914 Barclay Perkins X 1051.3 1013.6 4.99 73.54% 5.49 1.15
1914 Fullers X 1049.6 1011.1 5.09 77.65% 5.15 1.15
1910 Truman X 1052.6 5.42 1.22
1914 Courage X 1054.6 1019.4 4.65 64.47% 4.96 1.05
Sources:
Whitbread brewing record held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/01/079.
Barclay Perkins brewing record held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number ACC/2305/1/603.
Fullers brewing record held at the brewery.
Truman brewing record held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number B/THB/C/190.
Courage brewing record held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number ACC/2305/08/247.


Scottish Mild Ale before WW I
Year Brewer Beer OG FG ABV App. Atten-uation lbs hops/ qtr hops lb/brl
1914 Thomas Usher 60/- MA 1038 1015 3.04 60.53% 5.00 0.79
1914 Thomas Usher X 1045 1013 4.23 71.11% 7.25 1.35
1914 Thomas Usher 80/- MA 1046 1016.5 3.90 64.13% 5.00 0.96
1914 Thomas Usher X 60/- 1051 1013.5 4.96 73.53% 7.25 1.52
1909 Maclay Mild 42/- 1034 1013 2.78 61.76% 6.31 0.91
1909 Maclay Mild 56/-  1061 1025 4.76 59.02% 6.31 1.63
1913 Younger, Wm. XX 1055 1018 4.89 67.27% 4.07 0.87
1913 Younger, Wm. XXK 1056 1016 5.29 71.43% 4.07 0.81
1913 Younger, Wm. XXX 1065 1021.5 5.75 66.92% 4.55 1.15
Sources:
Thomas Usher brewing record held at the Scottish Brewing Archive, document number TU/6/1/5.
William Younger brewing record held at the Scottish Brewing Archive, document number WY/6/1/2/58.
Maclay brewing record held at the Scottish Brewing Archive, document number M/6/1/1/2.

This is an exceprt from Armistice! my book on British brewing during WW I.  Buy this wonderful book.




3 comments:

Phil said...

I'm curious about Lees' K - at over 5% it seems to buck the trend. Also, doesn't K usually stand for Keeping? A mild for keeping would have been a contradiction in terms 50 years earlier; Lees' use of this name (or letter), together with the strength, suggests that 'mild' was already starting to refer to a particular style of beer.

Martyn Cornell said...

My suspicion is that brewers didn't actually brew four different strengths of mild (or porter ot stout or bitter), they brewed two, weak and strong, and blended the two in different proportions to achieve other grades.

As for K mild - aaaarrrgh! (runs away, tearing out what little remains of his hair)

Ron Pattinson said...

Martyn,

more likely they parti-gyled them. Which is a sort of blending.