1950's Mild

It's almost March. Time to start getting ready for Mild Month. Let's kick off with a description of Mild from the 1950's.

"Mild beer is usually the cheapest available in any bar. In some parts of the country it can still be bought for under a shilling a pint. Before we started rearming against Hitlerism, fourpence a pint was a common bar price. Some bars will not serve mild. This is not due either to snobbery or a desire on the part of the publican to make more profit by selling more costly beer. It is an unquestionable fact that there is not a great demand for mild beer in the saloon bars of some public houses. A barrel of mild must be consumed within a few days and slow sales mean sour and spoilt beer.

All public bars and most saloon bars sell a good mild beer, which is an honest drink with a soft sweet flavour that goes down very well if it is served at the right temperature, but there is nothing more unpleasant than rather warm mild on a hot day.

Mild beers are usually rather lightly hopped, and in some districts, including London, rather sweet. The dgree of sweetness will differ from brewery to brewery. Most mild beers will range from 1030º to 1033º with about three per cent of alcohol by volume, though some are very much weaker. London milds are dark in colour; in the country the colour varies, and some breweries produce both a dark and a light mild.

Best mild has a higher gravity from 1033º to 1040º, with the same general characteristics, and may be on sale alone or as an alternative to ordinary mild. Some brewers give their best mild special names: Whitbread's have Treble X, Watney's a XX and Taylor, Walker's a Main Line.
. . .

Mild beer grists may be of up to two-thirds pale ale malt, and the balance a blend, in almost equal proportions, of amber malt and sugar."
"The Book Of Beer" by Andrew Campbell, 1956, pages 84-85.

How accurate is Andrew Campbell's description? Let's take a look at some real beers of the period:

Draught Mild Ales in the mid 1950's
Year	Brewer	Beer	Price	size	FG	OG	Colour	ABV	Atten-uation
1954	Barclay Perkins	XX	14d	pint	1005.2	1029.4	17 + 40	3.14	82.31%
1953	Beasley	X	13d	pint		1031.5	116
1953	Benskins	X	13d	pint		1031.5	84
1953	Cannon	X	13d	pint		1031.8	96
1953	Charrington	X	14d	pint		1032.6	108
1954	Charrington	Ale	1/1d	pint	1009.6	1030.7	19 + 40	2.73	68.73%
1954	Courage	Ale	1/2d	pint	1006.2	1032.6	20 + 40	3.43	80.98%
1955	Hancock, Cardiff	Dark Malt		pint		1032
1955	Hancock, Cardiff	XXXX		pint		1031
1953	Ind Coope	X	14d	pint		1033.4	100
1954	Ind Coope	Strong Mild Ale	1/7d	pint	1010.7	1043.5	17 + 40	4.26	75.40%
1953	Mann Crossman	Best Ale	1/2d	pint	1009.2	1032.9	17 + 40	3.07	72.04%
1954	Meux	Mild Ale	1/2d	pint	1007.3	1031.2	120	3.10	76.60%
1953	Taylor Walker	X	13d	pint		1030.3	116
1953	Taylor Walker	X	13d	pint		1032.7	96
1953	Tetley	X	13d	pint		1031.4	58
1955	Thwaites	Mild Ale	1/4d	pint	1006.1	1032.2	40	3.39	81.06%
1953	Tollemache	X	16d	pint		1037.7	144
1954	Truman	LM	14d	pint	1007.8	1034	14 + 40	3.40	77.06%
1953	Watney	Ale	1/2d	pint	1010.1	1033	14 + 40	2.96	69.39%
1953	Watney	X	14d	pint		1031.7	110
1954	Watney	XX	1/2d	pint	1011.4	1032.3	17 + 40	2.70	64.71%
1953	Wenlock	Amber Ale	1/2d	pint	1006.5	1031.6	15 + 40	3.26	79.43%
1954	Whitbread	Best Ale	1/2d	pint	1009.9	1032.9	16 + 40	2.98	69.91%
1954	Whitbread	XXX	14d	pint		1037.6	140
1955	Whitbread	Best Ale			1009.5	1030.4	95	2.70	68.75%
1955	Whitbread	XXX			1010	1034.8	115	3.21	71.26%
1953	Wm. Younger	X	14d	pint		1033.3	82
1955	Wm. Younger	X	14d	pint		1030.2	96
1955	Worthington	Special Mild Ale	1/7d	pint	1007.9	1036.9	85	3.77	78.59%
1953	Young & Co	X	13d	pint		1030.7	60
Sources: Whitbread Gravity Book Truman Gravity Book “Cardiff Pubs and Breweries” by Brian Glover, 2005. pages 97-101 Whitbread brewing records.

Considering breweries were pretty secretive about gravities, I don't think he did a bad job. Standard Milds were indeed around 1030. He was a little optimistic about the gravity of London Best Milds, which were only a couple of degrees stronger than ordinary Mild. But there were indeed a few Milds even of 1040 and above.