Mitchell & Butler Mild Ale 1935 - 1993

Seeing as I've written about Ansell's Mild, I may as well discuss its West Midlands evil twin, M & B Mild.

As I said in my last post, I wasn't a huge fan of M & B's beers from Cape Hill. A shame, as it was the largest producer of cask beer in the world in the 1970's and 1980's. The Mild was better than Brew XI, but that's not saying very much. The Springfield Brewery in Wolverhampton produced much better Bitter. But last time I forgot to mention the oddest brewery in the Bass group: Highgate.

Why odd? For two reasons. First, it was by a long way their smallest brewery. Second, it only brewed Mild. Which for most large brewing groups would have put it top of their closure list. So why did it stay open? Because it made money and was cheap to run. And its Mild was very popular locally. It wasn't worth their while to close it. Which is how it managed to outlive Cape Hill, something I don't think anyone would have anticipated in the 1960's or 1970's.

Highgate Mild was in a different league to the usual M & B Mild. Probably one of the best Dark Milds in the country. And, believe me, I drank a lot of different Dark Milds in the 1970's and 1980's. Only problem was, outside of the occasional appearance at beer festivals, you had to go to the Black Countryto find it.

It's always fascinating to compare beers that were direct rivals, which was certainly the case with M & B and Ansells, especially in Birmingham itself. More often than not, such beers have very similar specs. That's definitely true here.

Let's kick off with the gravity. Ansells Mild was 1034.8º in 1950, 1038.3º in 1950, 1038º in 1960, and 1033.9º in 1971. That's remarkably similar to the gravity of M & B Mild. And a sign that the two breweries were probably analysing each other's beers. I've a feeling that a large number of breweries must have kept Gravity Books. It's just that most haven't survived.

The degree of attenuation and ABV don't differ much, either. 85% plus attenuation in the 1950's, falling to a more typical level of 70-odd% by the 1970's. And the ABV was around 4% in the 1950's, pretty high for a Mild of that period, falling to a more typical sub 3.5% by the 1970's

The colour of the two beers is also very similar, in the 40 to 45 EBC range. Or not really very dark. More on the cusp between amber and brown.

Looking at the gravity, you might suspect that Highgate Mild was similar to M & B Mild. I suppose they were, but only in a very general sense. When it came to flavour, Highgate was a clear winner.

Mitchell & Butler Mild Ale 1935 - 1993
Year	Beer	Price	size	package	Acidity	FG	OG	colour	ABV	App. Atten-uation
1935	Family Ale		pint	bottled	0.05	1008	1040	34	4.16	80.00%
1949	XX	1/6d	pint	draught	0.05	1003.9	1034.6	35 Brown	4.00	88.73%
1949	Mild Ale	1/1d	pint	draught	0.10	1003.5	1034.5	38.5 B	4.04	89.86%
1950	Mild Ale	1/1d	pint	draught	0.04	1005.4	1034.6	37 Brown	3.80	84.39%
1950	Mild Ale	1/5d	pint	draught	0.05	1003.8	1034.5	38 B	4.00	88.99%
1950	X	15d	pint	draught			1038.44	41
1961	Keg Mild	19d	pint	draught	0.04	1009.9	1038.5	45	3.58	74.29%
1962	Keg Mild	22d	pint	draught	0.05	1007	1038.3	50	3.91	81.72%
1963	Keg Mild	20d	pint	draught	0.04	1010.2	1037.9	50	3.46	73.09%
1966	Mild	19d	pint	draught	0.05	1005	1036.9	45	3.99	86.45%
1972	Mild	11-13p	pint	draught		1009.8	1034.5		3.20	71.59%
1977	Mild		pint	draught			1034.6
1977	Highgate Mild		pint	draught			1034
1979	Mild		pint	draught			1034.6
1979	Highgate Mild		pint	draught			1034
1981	Mild		pint	draught			1034.6
1981	Highgate Mild		pint	draught			1036
1982	Mild		pint	draught			1036
1983	Mild		pint	draught			1035
1983	Highgate Mild		pint	draught			1036
1986	Mild		pint	draught			1036
1986	Highgate Mild		pint	draught			1036
1989	Mild		pint	draught		1009.8	1036		3.40	72.78%
1989	Highgate Mild		pint	draught		1011.3	1036		3.20	68.61%
1993	Mild Ale			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
Good Beer Guide 1978, 1980, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1987 and 1990.