Let's Brew Wednesday - 1950 Adnams XX Mild

Time to look at Adnams other draught beer from 1950, their XX Mild.

Do you know what’s really, really weird about this beer? It’s stronger than it was in 1939. I can’t think of another beer where that statement is true. Why should that be? Because Adnams didn’t brew what I would call a full-strength Mild before WW II. They brewed what I would call a 4d Ale. A low-gravity type of Mild that was the bastard son of WW I’s Government Ale. Adnams had gravity of 1029º, while a standard Mild would have been around 1036º and a strong Mild over 1040º. XX spent most of the war at 1027º before rising to 1030º in 1950.

I quite like the look if the grist. I’ve come across a couple of interesting Mild recipes from the 1950’s. Ones that include some coloured malts like this does. Lees Mild springs to mind. This, with both amber and crystal malts, probably drank above its gravity. Obviously, there was also No.3 invert sugar and caramel to add extra colour and depth of flavour. Plus little bitterness. I’d order a pint if I saw it on the bar.

This was surely also the basis of Adnams Nut Brown Ale. There’s no separate brew of Nut Brown Ale so I assume it was a bottled version of this. It may have been primed differently before bottling, but the basic recipe would have been identical.




I’m going to keep it short again . . . . over to me . . .

1950 Adnams XX
mild malt	5.00 lb	78.43%
amber malt	0.50 lb	7.84%
crystal malt 80L	0.50 lb	7.84%
no. 3 sugar	0.25 lb	3.92%
caramel	0.13 lb	1.96%
Fuggles 90 min	0.75 oz
Fuggles 30 min	0.50 oz
OG	1030
FG	1005.5
ABV	3.24
Apparent attenuation	81.67%
IBU	20
SRM	27
Mash at	148º F
Sparge at	170º F
Boil time	120 minutes
pitching temp	61º F
Yeast	WLP025 Southwold