Drinking Mild as your beer of choice, no matter how weird it might have appeared in parts of the country if you were under retirement age, was still possible. When I were a lad.
I keep harking back to Leeds. On reflection, a Mild heaven. So much Mild. Loads of pubs flogging enough for it to be nectar. Those faraway days when Mild was a mainstream beer.
Then there's the forgotten American tradition of Mild Ales. I've drunk me some of that Ballantine XXX. If that wasn't a sort of Mild Ale which had gone through several metamorphoses, what was it? Some random US Ale? No. One of the core beers you saw in East Coast Ale breweries.
Why am I doing this? US beer is outside my area of expertise. But, you know, I can't help bumping into information. Any proper US brewing historians feel free to jump in and call me out when I start talking bollocks.
It would fit into an East Coast Ale brewery range like this::
XXX
IPA
Porter
Stout
The XXX being "present use". That is, "mild".
With probably other stuff later in the century. You know, this isn't really my area of expertise. I shouldn't be leading this conversation.
Or any one that doesn't begin with. "Hi Ron do you want that in 200 or 500 euro notes?"
American Mild Ale was a thing. And should be again.
I do have a few recipes. See two paragraphs above for details about how to proceed.
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7 comments:
I used to drink mild on nights out in Liverpool in the late 80's when I were a lad. Still available in the majority of even trendy pubs then I'd say. It was around 80p a pint I think and bitter was around 10p more. Every penny counted when you had a fiver for the night and needed to keep in mind chips and curry sauce and a taxi.
I've recently bought a can of Hudson Valley's 'Erstwhile', a dark mild from Beacon NY. I'm pretty sure it'll be the first US mild I will have drunk. Whether it's a throwback to American milds of yore or it's jumping on the current mild bandwagon, I have no idea. However, I'm very much looking forward to drinking it.
I had the one-time experience of drinking a share of a lonely six pack of Newark brewed Ballantine Ale that remained in a liquor store on the west coast in 1972 or 73. It was the strongest tasting ale I had ever encountered. There was an overpowering hop aroma and bitterness and a huge rocky head. Malt was more in the background and the color was probably paler than the typical British pale ale. Alcohol content was not available, but I'd guess 5.5 to 6%. The Falstaff brewed successor didn't measure up, but served as my standard after-dinner drink at home. It definitely wasn't a session beer. I never had the keg, but it was probably identically brewed and generally served cold. I think that a similar beer available today might be a west coast style IPA, Stone or Harpoon, maybe Lagunitas. Jess Kidden might have more solid information. He calls the US/Canada popular ales of the 60s and 70s "Golden Ales". I never had Newark brewed IPA, but I'd guess that was similar to a British Old Ale or Strong Ale.
Another comment. I tried most of the US and Canadian "ales", "porters", and "stouts" I came across in the '70s (big territory; I missed some). The closest to a mild ale, at least in some respects, might have been some of the "Cream Ales". Most were brewed to be very pale, mild flavored, with a taste and alcohol content similar to a US lager (about 4.5%). The most popular, Genesee, was reputed to be a mix of ale and lager fermentations. Utica Club, Piels, Schaefer, and Schoenling also had mild cream ales, and most were brewed just with lager yeast. McSorley's was labeled "cream ale", but was a more assertive brew, and my favorite drink in the late 70s (brewed then by Ortlieb).
This is a dumb question I should know from reading the blog, but was X ale always consistently referred to as "mild" in England? I know X and XX were usually marketed as mild and best mild, respectively. But even XXX sold as mild? I find it easier (though I make no claims on fidelity to the sources) to think of the diffrrent strengths of X ale as one style that goes by different names. Ale-flavored ale.
Anonymous,
not only XXX was sold as Mild, but so was XXXX. Though some brewers made two versions of XXXX: one Mild Ale, the other Old Ale.
Remember, "mild" has nothing to do with strength. It's just an Ale that's sold without ageing.
And since the mid 20th century a beer that is not as well hopped.
Oscar
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