Mitchell & Butler Mild and Family Ale 1935 - 1993

Thinking. It can be a terrible thing. Posting about Ansell's beers reminded me of M & B, thie duopoly pals in Birmingham. You can probably guess where this is going. Especially if you bothered to read the title of this post.

Remember me saying that I was surprised by how few analyses of Ansell's beers I had? The same isn't true of M & B. I've got so many analyses that they won't fit neatly into a single post. Which is why I'm spinning it out to a series of posts.

I'll be honest about the Family Ale. I'm not quite sure what style you would call it. As it's not far in colour from their Mild Ale, I've lumped it with that.

Which brings me onto another point: the relatively pale colour of both Ansell's and M & B's Mild. 40 EBC is about the colour of Newcastle Brown - the netherworld between pale and dark, in my eyes. It's no surprise that the Milds of the two companies were broadly similar. They were competing head-to-head in the same market.

The gravities track each other in a similar way, around 1038º in the 1950's, 1035-1036º in the 1970's and 1980's. The Keg Mild is obviously simply the Mild kegged. Noy such a shock, really.

By the time I drank M & B Mild, I'm sure it was darker. A typical Dark Mild colour, so about 80-90 EBC. I wonder when it turned darker?

The Brown Ale, you may have noticed, is considerably darker than the Mild. But the gravity is close, so my guess would be that it's the Milds darkened with sugar or caramel.

Mitchell & Butler Mild and Family Ale 1935 - 1993
Year	Beer	Style	Price	size	package	Acidity	FG	OG	colour	ABV	App. Atten-uation
1935	Family Ale	Ale		pint	bottled	0.05	1008	1040	34	4.2	80.00%
1951	Family Ale	Ale	1/1.5d	pint	bottled	0.04	1007.5	1034.5	30 B	3.5	78.26%
1951	Family Ale	Ale	1/2.5d	half	bottled	0.07	1007.4	1034	28	3.5	78.24%
1953	Family Ale	Ale	1/3.5d	pint	bottled	0.05	1007.3	1033.4	33 B	3.4	78.14%
1955	Sam Brown	Brown Ale	11.5d	half	bottled	0.05	1011.2	1036.9	85	3.3	69.65%
1949	XX	Mild	1/6d	pint	draught	0.05	1003.9	1034.6	35 Brown	4.0	88.73%
1949	Mild Ale	Mild	1/1d	pint	draught	0.1	1003.5	1034.5	38.5 B	4.0	89.86%
1950	Mild Ale	Mild	1/1d	pint	draught	0.04	1005.4	1034.6	37 Brown	3.8	84.39%
1950	Mild Ale	Mild	1/5d	pint	draught	0.05	1003.8	1034.5	38 B	4.0	88.99%
1950	X	Mild	15d	pint	draught			1038.4	41
1961	Keg Mild	Mild	19d	pint	draught	0.04	1009.9	1038.5	45	3.6	74.29%
1962	Keg Mild	Mild	22d	pint	draught	0.05	1007	1038.3	50	3.9	81.72%
1963	Keg Mild	Mild	20d	pint	draught	0.04	1010.2	1037.9	50	3.5	73.09%
1966	Mild	Mild	19d	pint	draught	0.05	1005	1036.9	45	4.0	86.45%
1972	Mild	Mild	11-13p	pint	draught		1009.8	1034.5		3.2	71.59%
1977	Mild	Mild		pint	draught			1034.6
1979	Mild	Mild		pint	draught			1034.6
1981	Mild	Mild		pint	draught			1034.6
1982	Mild	Mild		pint	draught			1036
1983	Mild	Mild		pint	draught			1035
1986	Mild	Mild		pint	draught			1036
1989	Mild	Mild		pint	draught		1009.8	1036		3.4	72.78%
1993	M&B Mild Ale	Mild			draught		1008.1	1033.5	48	3.3	75.82%
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
Daily Mirror July 10th 1972, page 15
1993 Real Ale Drinker's Almanac
Truman Gravity Book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number B/THB/C/252
Good Beer Guide 1978, 1980, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1987 and 1990.