Beers from Mitchell & Butler's other breweries

In the discussion on one of my posts about Mitchell & Butler, someone mentioned Springfield Bitter. It seemed silly not to publish what I have about that beer.

I had a soft spot for Springfield Bitter, which was a lovely beer when in good condition. I can remember serving it at Ally Pally one year and was amazed at how good a head it formed served by gravity. Nice clean flavour, too.

Springfield was brewed at the former William Butler brewery in Wolverhampton. William Butler started brewing in the 1840's and built a new brewery at Springfield in 1874. The company was bought by M & B in 1960 and closed in 1991. M & B merged with Bass in 1961.

Drinking in and around Birmingham in the 1970's, I can remember Springfield being irritatingly difficult to find. Especially as the beer sold in M & B pubs instead, Brew XI, was much inferior, despite being stronger. Pretty crap, if I'm being honest. And, inevitably, Bass Charrington eventually closed the brewery.

Highgate has a particularly weird history. Bought by M & B in 1939, it was slated for almost immediate closure, but was saved by WW II. Under  wartime rules, each brewery was allocated raw materials, based on their output before war started. By keeping Highgate open, M & B got more raw materials. Bizarrely, it not only survived the war but all the other M & B breweries, including the company's home base of Cape Hill. Bass flogged the brewery off and it continued for a while as an independent company, before going through a series of ownerships. I'm not sure if it's still open or not. I hope it is.

In the 1970's and 1980's Highgate was famous for only brewing Mild. The only such brewery in the world. Though, as you can see from the table, at a certain point a Bitter and Old Ale were also brewed.

Highgate Mild was another excellent beer that M & B seemed to want to hide. I'm not sure I ever found it in the wild around Brum. The only times I can recall drinking it were at beer festivals and in the White Horse in Parsons Green.

As a special bonus, I've included some beers from William Butler from before the takeover. The Bitter Ale is, I assume, the forerunner of Springfield Bitter.

Beers from Mitchell & Butler's other breweries
Year	Brewer	Beer	Style	package	FG	OG	ABV	App. Atten-uation
1977	Mitchell & Butler (Walsall)	Highgate Mild	Mild	draught		1034
1979	Mitchell & Butler (Walsall)	Highgate Mild	Mild	draught		1034
1981	Mitchell & Butler (Walsall)	Highgate Mild	Mild	draught		1036
1983	Mitchell & Butler (Walsall)	Highgate Mild	Mild	draught		1036
1986	Mitchell & Butler (Walsall)	Highgate Mild	Mild	draught		1036
1989	Mitchell & Butler (Walsall)	Highgate Mild	Mild	draught	1011.3	1036	3.20	68.61%
1983	Mitchell & Butler (Walsall)	Highgate Best	Pale Ale	draught		1036
1983	Mitchell & Butler (Walsall)	Highgate Old	Old Ale	draught		1055
1977	Mitchell & Butler (Wolverhampton)	Springfield Bitter	Pale Ale	draught		1035.9
1979	Mitchell & Butler (Wolverhampton)	Springfield Bitter	Pale Ale	draught		1035.9
1981	Mitchell & Butler (Wolverhampton)	Springfield Bitter	Pale Ale	draught		1037
1983	Mitchell & Butler (Wolverhampton)	Springfield Bitter	Pale Ale	draught		1037
1986	Mitchell & Butler (Wolverhampton)	Springfield Bitter	Pale Ale	draught		1036
1989	Mitchell & Butler (Wolverhampton)	Springfield Bitter	Pale Ale	draught	1009	1036	3.50	75.00%
Sources:
Good Beer Guide 1978, 1980, 1982, 1984, 1987, 1990.

William Butler beers
Year	Beer	Style	Price	size	package	Acidity	FG	OG	colour	ABV	App. Atten-uation
1930	Amber Ale	Amber Ale	6d	pint	bottled	0.06	1013.4	1036.3		2.96	63.09%
1930	Bitter Ale	Pale Ale	7.5d	pint	bottled	0.06	1010.2	1049.9		5.17	79.56%
1959	Black Satin Sweet Stout	Stout	14.5d	halfpint	bottled		1016.6	1042.2	300	3.30	60.66%
Sources:
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/001
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/002

Most of the information about the history of the various M & B breweries is taken from "The Brewing Industry: A Guide to Historical Records", edited by L. M. Richmond and Alison Turton, 1990, page 236.