London Mild after WW II

Before the war there had been many London Milds with gravities over 1040º. By the time the war ended, few were above 1030º. And while before the war, most breweries made multiple Milds, after it many only brewed one.

Some Best Milds were reintroduced in the late 1940s and early 1950s, but these mostly had quite modest gravities, rarely passing the dizzying height of 1040º. Even Mainline, a renowned strong Mild before the war, struggled to reach 3% ABV in its aftermath.

There’s only one beer in the table which would have counted as a Best Mild in London before the war: Truman B MA. It’s a sign of the decline in Mild that in the late 1920s 1042º would have been the strength expected of a standard Mild. Just 20 years later, that counted as extraordinarily strong.

The level of attenuation isn’t great for the most part. Remember that these are analyses made of beer as sold, so, unlike in brewing records, the FGs really are correct. Which tends to confirm reports of London Mild as being quite sweet.

In addition to being sweet, London Mild was also pretty dark. Of the set in the table, only bottled Barclay Perkins Ale was pale in colour. The average of 90 is a dark brown colour. The equivalent of around 22 SRM, for those of you working in weird US measurements.

In the early 1950’s, the gravity of London Mild did increase a little, with Ordinary Mild in the range 1032º-1034º.

London Mild Ale after WW II
Year	Brewer	Beer	Price per pint (d)	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	colour
1946	Barclay Perkins	Mild Ale	11	1028.5	1008.1	2.64	71.58%	90
1946	Barclay Perkins	Ale (bottled)	13.5	1031.1	1008.8	2.89	71.70%	19.5
1948	Barclay Perkins	XX	13	1031.4	1009.4	2.85	70.06%	90
1946	Charrington	X	11	1028.7	1008.4	2.63	70.73%	120
1948	Charrington	XX	14	1028.9	1007	2.84	75.78%	105
1946	Courage	X	11	1030.4	1006.8	3.06	77.63%	90
1948	Courage	XX	14	1030.2	1005.2	3.25	82.78%	63
1946	Mann	X	12	1032.5	1011.5	2.71	64.62%	100
1948	Mann	XX	14	1032.3	1009.3	2.98	71.21%	110
1946	Meux	X	11	1028.1	1008.8	2.50	68.68%	105
1948	Meux	XX	13	1028.1	1006	2.87	78.65%
1946	Taylor Walker	X	11	1028.4	1009.9	2.39	65.14%	100
1946	Taylor Walker	Mainline	12	1032	1010.9	2.73	65.94%	85
1948	Taylor Walker	XX	13	1029.8	1007.1	2.94	76.17%	85
1948	Taylor Walker	Mainline	15	1033.7	1012.1	2.79	64.09%	95
1946	Truman	X	11	1030.1	1010.8	2.49	64.12%	130
1948	Truman	XX	13	1028.9	1007.7	2.75	73.36%	95
1948	Truman	B MA	19	1042.5	1010.4	4.17	75.53%	105
1947	Watney	X	11	1030.7	1010.6	2.60	65.47%	100
1948	Watney	MA	12	1028.7	1007.6	2.73	73.52%	95
1948	Watney	Best Ale	13	1031.5	1010.3	2.74	67.30%	95
1946	Wenlock	X	11	1029.8	1010.4	2.51	65.10%	83
1946	Whitbread	XX	11	1030.8	1012.1	2.41	60.71%	85
1948	Whitbread	XX	13	1029.1	1006.5	2.93	77.66%	85
	Average:		12.6	1030.7	1009.0	2.81	70.73%	92.6
Source:
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/002.