Sunday 27 October 2019

Provincial Mild ale after WW II

Outside London, especially in rural areas, Mild Ale started the war already as a very low-gravity beer. The war didn’t make it any stronger, but also didn’t make it that much weaker. It just didn’t have anywhere much to go.

There remained considerable regional variations in Mild Ales. Particularly in terms of colour, rate of attenuation and strength.

For example, in the Midlands, where the style was probably more popular than anywhere else, Mild Ales tended to be stronger, drier and paler in colour than in London. The combination of relatively high OG and a high rate of attenuation left many examples around 4% ABV, which was very stronger for a Mild in the immediate post-war period.

Midlands Mild Ales 1949 - 1951
Year Brewer Price per pint (d) OG FG ABV App. Atten-uation colour
1949 Ansell 13 1035.4 1007.4 3.64 79.10% 50
1950 Ansell 13 1034.8 1005.2 3.85 85.06% 48
1951 Ansell 15 1038.3 1005.7 4.25 85.12% 45
1949 Atkinsons 13 1034.6 1004.8 3.88 86.13% 50
1950 Bass, Burton 15 1041.4 1008 4.34 80.68% 40
1949 Dare 13 1034.6 1006.9 3.60 80.06% 57
1949 Davenport 13 1032 1007.9 3.12 75.31% 57
1949 Frederick Smith 13 1035 1008.6 3.42 75.43% 57
1949 M & B 18 1034.6 1003.9 4.00 88.73% 35
1949 M & B 13 1034.5 1003.5 4.04 89.86% 38.5
1950 M & B 17 1034.5 1003.8 4.00 88.99% 38
1950 M & B 15 1038.4 41
1950 Offilers 13 1031.2 1004.7 3.45 84.94% 71
Average 14.2 1035.3 1005.9 3.80 83.28% 48.3
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.

In the North of England, the situation was more diverse. There was considerable variation in colour and generally lower gravities than in the Midlands. Though there were few examples at the really weak end of the spectrum, that is below 1030º.

What’s most striking is the high degree of attenuation – all are over 80%. Which must have made for quite dry and relatively thin beers. Compare this with the London examples, where only one was over 80% attenuation and many were below 70%. This must have made for beers of a very different character.

In terms of colour, there’s everything from pale amber to dark brown. It’s obvious that Mild wasn’t necessarily assumed to be dark. Again, quite a contrast with London, where all the examples, except one, were dark brown.

Northern Mild Ales 1949 - 1951
Year Brewer Beer Price per pint (d) OG FG ABV App. Atten-uation colour
1951 Groves & Whitnall Mild Ale 14 1030.6 1004.1 3.45 86.60% 50
1952 Hull Brewery Mild Ale (bottled) 16 1032.1 1005.6 3.44 82.55% 85
1946 Lees Bot. B 1030.0
1946 Lees K 1028.0
1946 Lees BM 1033.0
1952 Lees Bot. B 1035.0 35
1952 Lees K 1031.0 34
1952 Lees Best Mild 1034.0 100
1951 Mitchell Mild Ale 15 1037.2 1004.8 4.22 87.10% 60
1952 Tetley X 13 1031.3 58
1953 Tetley X 13 1031.4 58
1955 Thwaites Mild Ale (bottled) 16 1032.2 1006.1 3.39 81.06% 40
1951 Vaux Mild Ale 15 1035.6 1002.9 4.27 91.85% 24.5
1951 Wilsons Mild Ale 14 1034.8 1005.3 3.84 84.77% 50
1949 Burtonwood Mild Ale 13 1027.5 1003.5 3.12 87.27% 80
Average 14.3 1032.2 1004.6 3.68 85.89% 56.2
Sources:
Lees brewing records held at the brewery.
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.

3 comments:

Martyn Cornell said...

Any references to Bass No 5 or No 6 in your records? Or Worthington mild?

Ron Pattinson said...

Martyn,

I've an analysis of Worthington Mild from 1955. Bass No. 5 from 1928 and 1934. Nothing on No. 6, sadly.

Mike in NSW said...

Interesting that some of the milds such as M&B were about the same strength as Brains SA - and M&B were in Cardiff, I lived round the corner from one in Llandaff North. SA was locally called "Skull Attack" and was considered at that time to be a strong beer (until Stella and Lamot arrived).