Mild musings

It's getting closer and closer to Mild month. Time for some more stuff about the world's best style of beer.

Back when I started boozing in the early 1970s, Mild was very much a mainstream style. It even outsold Lager. But not for long.

The reality was quite different, because the availability of Mild was very patchy. In some parts of the North and Midlands, Mild made up 30-50% of draught beer sales. But in other areas - London, Scotland, Sheffield, the Northeast - Mild was already quite rare. Mild-free areas began to spread and, by the time I left the UK in the mid-1980s, Mild was hemmed into a few enclaves.

Currently Mild accounts for less than 1% of beer sales. You can't get much more marginal than that. As you can see from the table, there was a steadydecline in Mild's market share from 1971 to 1991.  There was also a similar decline in other top-fermenting styles - basically Bitter and Stout - over the same period. And a mirri-image rise in Lager sales.

It's hard to see Mild ever making a comeback as a mainstream style. But you never know. Who would have predicted thereturn of Milk Stout? I certainly wouldn't.

What's likely to happen with UK beer styles in the future? It's difficult to say. But one trend is already noticeable: the rise of Lager seems to have ended. Its market share has been pretty much constant at around 74% for the last ten years. My guess is that we're about to see Lager go into decline.

When styles start to decline, it can happen surprsingly quickly. It always kicks off the same way: young drinkers don't adopt it. Then a style begins to be associated with old men. And no-one wants to drink what grandad's drinking.

Lager sales really took off in the late 1970s. The young drinkers who adoped it back then are now around 60. How long before Lager becomes associated with old blokes?

UK beer sales by type 1971 - 2016
Year	Bitter and Stout	Mild	Lager
1971	72.4	17.7	9.9
1972	72.4	15.9	11.7
1973	70.9	14.2	14.9
1974	69.8	13.8	16.4
1975	67	13.3	19.7
1976	63.9	12.6	23.5
1977	62.8	12.7	24.5
1978	61.1	12	26.9
1979	59.4	11.5	29.1
1980	58	11.3	30.7
1981	57.8	11.2	32.0
1982	59	8	33.0
1983	56.8	7.3	35.9
1984	54.2	6.9	38.9
1985	52.7	6.4	40.9
1986	50.7	5.9	43.4
1987	48.1	5.3	46.6
1988	46.3	4.9	48.8
1989	45.2	4.5	50.3
1990	44.5	4.1	51.4
1991	44.9	4	51.1
2016	25.6	0.3	73.7
Sources:
“The Brewers' Society Statistical Handbook 1978” page 10.
“The Brewers' Society Statistical Handbook 1988” page 17.
“The Brewers' Society Statistical Handbook 1990” page 17.
Statistical Handbook of the British Beer & Pub Association 2003, p. 21.
Statistical Handbook of the British Beer & Pub Association 2005, p. 17.
“The Brewers' Society Statistical Handbook 2011” page 17.
BBPA Statistical Handbook 2017, page 15.