Looking back (part six): draught Mild prices in 1972

You seemed to like my post on beer prices in the 1970s. And how they increased scarily. Time for a deeper dive into prices in a single year. Starting with my drink of choice in the 1970s, Mild Ale.

The numbers are taken from an article in the Daily Mirror. I was really happy to come across this set of analyses, as they fill in a gap between the last entries in the Whitbread Gravity Book (late 1960s) and the Good Beer Guide (late 1970s). Especially handy as they include the price as well as the gravity. Perfect for my purposes today.

On a personal note, I drank most of these beers. All except Truman, Youngs and Youngers. The quality varied quite a bit. I never cared for Greenall Whitley or Wilsons Mild. Even cask versions never tasted any good to me. I remember on my first visit to Manchester struggling to find anything other than Greenalls and Wilsons pubs. Very frustrating.

Most of the examples cost the same: 11p. But, as there were quite large differences in gravity and ABV, there was considerable variation in value for money.

Best value, and also the strongest, was Batham's Mild. Also a cracking beer. A year or two later, I drank quite a bit of it in the Swan in n Chaddesley Corbett. Note that most of the stronger examples were from the West Midlands. Batham, Banks, Ansell, M & B. No real surprise, as the region was a stronghold of Mild.

Of the five worst value beers, four were from Big Six breweries: Wilsons, Younger, Whitbread and Truman. No shock there, either. Despite brewing on a larger scale, their beer was more expensive than that from smaller operations. Why was that? Logically, they should have been able to produce beer more cheaply. Where was the extra money going?

The alcohol content varies from 2.5% to 3.7% ABV. Almost half the examples - seven of fifteen - were below 3% ABV. Not beer that was going to get you drunk very quickly. If at all. Not that drinkers were aware of this. Only one brewery - Federation - printed the gravity of their beer on labels. Otherwise, the strength of beer was very much a mystery. All drinkers could go on was the type of beer and the price. 

Draught Mild prices in 1972
Brewer	Beer	Price per pint (p)	º gravity per p	% ABV per p	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation
Batham	Mild	11	3.24	0.34	1035.6	1007.1	3.70	80.06%
Three Tuns	Mild	10	3.21	0.34	1032.1	1006	3.40	81.31%
Banks	Mild	11	3.21	0.33	1035.3	1008.3	3.60	76.49%
Ansell	Mild	11	3.08	0.27	1033.9	1010.7	3.00	68.44%
Jennings	Mild	11	2.97	0.29	1032.7	1008	3.20	75.54%
Mitchell & Butler	Mild	12	2.88	0.27	1034.5	1009.8	3.20	71.59%
Courage	Mild	11	2.84	0.26	1031.2	1008.8	2.90	71.79%
Adnams	Mild	11	2.81	0.23	1030.9	1011.6	2.50	62.46%
Greenall Whitley	Mild	11	2.76	0.26	1030.4	1008	2.90	73.68%
Theakston	Mild	11	2.75	0.25	1030.2	1008.6	2.80	71.52%
Wilsons	Mild	11	2.74	0.28	1030.1	1006.2	3.10	79.40%
Young & Co	Best Malt Ale	11	2.74	0.25	1030.1	1008.5	2.80	71.76%
Younger, Wm.	Tartan Mild	11	2.69	0.25	1029.6	1008	2.80	72.97%
Whitbread	Best Mild	12	2.56	0.22	1030.7	1010.6	2.60	65.47%
Truman	Mild	13	2.38	0.23	1031	1007.9	3.00	74.52%
Average		11.2	2.86	0.27	1031.9	1008.5	3.03	73.13%
Source:
Daily Mirror July 10th 1972, page 15