Whitbread Mild after WW II

Looking at Whitbread’s Mild as an example, we can observe subtle changes in the 10 years after the war’s end.

Between 1946 and 1949 the OG was constant at just under 1028º. This jumper up by about 4º in 1950, but two years later fell again by 1º. The ABV hovered just either side of the 3% mark for the whole period.

The colour darkened a fair bit over the 10 years, rising from 95 to 115. I’m sure that wasn’t accidental. Londoners had grown accustomed to their Milds being pretty dark.

Despite going up and down over the years, the hopping rate per barrel started and ended at exactly the same level: 0.71 lbs. This is reasonably high for a Mild Ale and reflects the heavier hopping that was typical of all London beers, no matter what the style.

The grist is fairly typical of Mild Ales of the period, except for the lack of adjuncts. Most breweries would have included 10-15% unmalted grains. At the start of the period this would usually have been in the form of flaked barley. As soon as the supply situation allowed, most reverted to the flaked maize they had used before the war. Whitbread, who in normal times didn’t use adjuncts, quickly dropped flaked barley, probably as soon as they could.

Note the lack of any malt darker than crystal, despite the dark brown colour of the finished beer. The colour was mostly derived from sugar. What’s listed as “other sugar” is probably Hay’s M, a type of caramel.

Whitbread Mild Ale 1946 - 1955
Year	Beer	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	lbs hops/ qtr	hops lb/brl	colour
1946	XX	1027.3	1008.0	2.55	70.70%	6.02	0.71	95
1947	XX	1027.7	1005.5	2.94	80.14%	6.28	0.72	95
1948	XX	1027.7	1005.5	2.94	80.14%	7.07	0.80	85
1949	XX	1027.5	1008.0	2.58	70.91%	7.26	0.80	85
1950	Best Ale	1031.7	1010.5	2.80	66.88%	7.27	0.89	110
1951	Best Ale	1031.8	1009.0	3.02	71.70%	7.32	0.93	100
1952	Best Ale	1030.8	1008.0	3.02	74.03%	7.35	0.88	105
1953	Best Ale	1030.6	1008.5	2.92	72.22%	6.66	0.83	110
1954	Best Ale	1030.2	1010.0	2.67	66.89%	5.49	0.71	110
1955	MA	1030.9	1009.5	2.83	69.26%	5.56	0.71	115
Sources:
Whitbread brewing records held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document numbers LMA/4453/D/01/114, LMA/4453/D/01/115, LMA/4453/D/01/117, LMA/4453/D/01/118, LMA/4453/D/01/119, LMA/4453/D/01/119, LMA/4453/D/01/120, LMA/4453/D/01/121 and LMA/4453/D/01/122.

Whitbread Mild Ale grists 1946 - 1955
Year	Beer	OG	pale malt	mild malt	crystal malt	flaked barley	no. 3 sugar	other sugar
1946	XX	1027.3		75.14%	7.85%	4.49%	10.47%	2.06%
1947	XX	1027.7		82.08%	8.09%		7.71%	2.12%
1948	XX	1027.7	57.30%	26.97%	7.87%		5.99%	1.87%
1949	XX	1027.5		85.55%	7.98%		4.56%	1.90%
1950	Best Ale	1031.7		86.46%	7.29%		4.17%	2.08%
1951	Best Ale	1031.8		86.61%	7.30%		4.17%	1.91%
1952	Best Ale	1030.8		86.61%	7.30%		4.17%	1.91%
1953	Best Ale	1030.6		85.71%	7.41%		4.94%	1.94%
1954	Best Ale	1030.2		79.79%	7.25%		11.05%	1.90%
1955	MA	1030.9		79.44%	6.27%		11.15%	3.14%
Sources:
Whitbread brewing records held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document numbers LMA/4453/D/01/114, LMA/4453/D/01/115, LMA/4453/D/01/117, LMA/4453/D/01/118, LMA/4453/D/01/119, LMA/4453/D/01/119, LMA/4453/D/01/120, LMA/4453/D/01/121 and LMA/4453/D/01/122.