London Ordinary Mild Ale 1955 – 1959

We’re closing in on the end of this series. Which I’m sure comes as much as a surprise as a relief. Or should that be the other way around?

Sadly, I’ve far fewer analyses for the second half of the 1950’s. And quite a few only have the FG, which is pretty effing useless.

Getting on to this set, you can see that the price for Ordinary Mild has crept up from around 13d to 14.5d. While the average price for Best Mild has gone up by about 2.5d. It still looks dirt cheap compared to modern prices. On a happier note, average OG and ABV for Ordinary Mild have increased slightly. Only two examples are under 3% ABV. Which is good news for pissheads.

All the veers, both Ordinary and Best Mild, are pretty dark, with the lowest colour value 70. None are even vaguely close to being pale.

Whitbread’s Best Mild, XXX, didn’t last long, only being brewed in 1954 and 1955. That’s despite being pushed by Whitbread in print adverts. Obviously, it was parti-gyled with their deceptively named Ordinary Mild, Best Ale.

Not much more else to say. Other than that these look very much like the Mild Ales of my youth: around 3% ABV and dark brown. It wasn’t until the last ten years that I came to realise that this type of Mild was only about as old as me.

It’s a sobering thought. And an indication of a common way of thinking. We assume that things which were common when we were young had been around forever.

London Ordinary Mild Ale 1955 - 1959
Year	Brewer	Beer	Price per pint d	Acidity	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	colour
1955	Truman	X			1033.6				82
1955	Whitbread	Best Ale			1030.4	1009.5	2.76	68.75%	95
1957	Barclay Perkins	XX	15	0.06	1031.4	1005.8	3.33	81.53%	100
1957	Charrington	Mild Ale	14	0.04	1032.6	1007.4	3.27	77.30%	110
1957	Courage	Mild Ale	15	0.06	1032.5	1006.4	3.39	80.31%	115
1957	Ind Coope	Mild Ale	15	0.08	1032	1006.6	3.30	79.37%	70
1957	Mann	Mild Ale	15	0.05	1033	1004.7	3.68	85.76%	105
1957	Truman	Mild Ale	15	0.07	1032.4	1008.2	3.14	74.69%	95
1957	Watney	Mild Ale	15	0.05	1032	1007.6	3.16	76.25%	100
1957	Wenlock	Mild Ale	15	0.08	1031.8	1006.4	3.30	79.87%	95
1957	Whitbread	Mild Ale	14	0.04	1032.4	1011.4	2.71	64.81%	95
1958	Whitbread	Best Ale	15		1033.1
1958	Young & Co	Mild Ale	14	0.04	1031.6	1005.8	3.35	81.65%	75
1959	Fullers	Mild Ale	12	0.05	1032.2	1006.6	3.32	79.50%	90
	Average		14.5	0.06	1032.2	1007.2	3.23	77.48%	93.9
1955	Taylor Walker	Main Line	27	0.05	1044	1014.5	3.82	67.05%	115
1955	Whitbread	XXX			1034.8	1010.0	3.28	71.26%	115
1957	Ind Coope	Mild Ale	15	0.06	1034.9	1008.4	3.44	75.93%	95
1957	Taylor Walker	Mainline	16	0.05	1037.4	1010.4	3.50	72.19%	100
	Average		19.3	0.05	1037.8	1010.8	3.51	71.61%	106.3
Source:
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/002.

Provincial Milds of the late fifties next. And then we’re done.