Mild Ale in 1972

I've moved on from 1971. But only by a single year. We'll be through the decade in no time at this rate.

The Mirror is the source again, though this time the Daily rather than Sunday paper. This set of analyses I've had for quite a while. I didn't get them initially from the newspaper archives. I've had them longer than I've had access to that. Not quite sure where I picked them up.

I'm kicking off with Mild again, because, well, that's what I drank back then. And I have relatively few Mild analyses. I can polish these off in a single post. While I'll need several posts for Bitter.

Let's start with London. Which has the most expensive and the weakest examples. I know from looking at earlier periods that London Milds tended to be dark and sweet. And quite low ABV. And that's certainly the case here, with only Truman Mild managing to hit to the giddy heights of 3% ABV. All the other examples are under that.

The average attenuation is the worst at only a little over 70%. This, combined with a reltively high price of 11.8p and low OG leave it by far the worst value, both in terms of gravity and ABV.

In the Midlands, the average price per pint was 0.5p lower than in London. But, with the average OG 4º higher and a better rate of attenuation, Midlands Milds  average out as way better value. With Batham's Mild as the best value of all the beers in the set. Also the strongest in terms of ABV. A lovely beer, too. A couple of years later a drink many a pint of the stuff.

The Northern Milds average out the cheapest at a round 11p. With every single example costing that price. Two don't manage to scrabble their way up to 3% ABV. The average OG isn't very high, just 0.1º above that of London. Attenuation is, however, the greatest of any of the sets, averaging just over 75%.

What's left are three Milds from various parts of the country. Including the cheapest of all: that from the home brew pub of All Nations. Though its modest gravity leaves it slightly worse value than Bathams Mild.

No surprise that Tartan Mild is watery, both in terms of gravity and ABV. And pretty poor value. And Adnams Mild. Well, that's the weakest at just 2.5% ABV. You'd do well to get pissed on that.

Next? Maybe Lagers. 

Mild Ale in 1972
Brewer	Beer	Price per pint (p)	º gravity per p	% ABV per p	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation
London
Courage	Mild	11	2.84	0.26	1031.2	1008.8	2.90	71.79%
Truman	Mild	13	2.38	0.23	1031	1007.9	3.00	74.52%
Whitbread	Best Mild	12	2.56	0.22	1030.7	1010.6	2.60	65.47%
Young	Best Malt Ale	11	2.74	0.25	1030.1	1008.5	2.80	71.76%
Average		11.8	2.63	0.24	1030.8	1009.0	2.83	70.89%
Midlands
Batham	Mild	11	3.24	0.34	1035.6	1007.1	3.70	80.06%
Banks	Mild	11	3.21	0.33	1035.3	1008.3	3.60	76.49%
Mitchell & Butler	Mild	12	2.88	0.27	1034.5	1009.8	3.20	71.59%
Ansell	Mild	11	3.08	0.27	1033.9	1010.7	3.00	68.44%
Average		11.3	3.10	0.30	1034.8	1009.0	3.38	74.14%
North
Theakston	Mild	11	2.75	0.25	1030.2	1008.6	2.80	71.52%
Jennings	Mild	11	2.97	0.29	1032.7	1008	3.20	75.54%
Greenall Whitley	Mild	11	2.76	0.26	1030.4	1008	2.90	73.68%
Wilsons	Mild	11	2.74	0.28	1030.1	1006.2	3.10	79.40%
Average		11.0	2.80	0.27	1030.9	1007.7	3.00	75.04%
Other
Younger, Wm.	Tartan Mild	11	2.69	0.25	1029.6	1008	2.80	72.97%
Adnams	Mild	11	2.81	0.23	1030.9	1011.6	2.50	62.46%
Three Tuns	Mild	10	3.21	0.34	1032.1	1006	3.40	81.31%
Overall average		11.2	2.86	0.27	1031.9	1008.5	3.03	73.13%
Source:
Daily Mirror July 10th 1972, page 15.