What is best Mild?

Another of my short videos, this time looking at Best Mild, a stronger type of Mild Ale.

 

Let's Brew Wednesday - 1966 Boddington Best Mild

Now here’s a big change: another Mild has appeared. Which is slightly odd. My guess would be that it happened in the middle of the 1950s.

The recipe is near identical to XX. There’s just a little more pale malt, a little less caramel and no black malt in Best Mild. Unsurprisingly, it’s a paler beer.

I can remember Boddington Mild not really being dark, but half dark. Though, compared to their pale Bitter, it did appear dark. Now I can see what’s happened. They brewed a Dark Mild then when they introduced a Best Mild made it pale. Which was usually the way it worked: Ordinary Mild dark, Best Mild pale. Then at some point, probably in the 1970s, Boddington dropped their Ordinary Mild. 

1966 Boddington Best Mild
pale malt	5.25 lb	71.33%
crystal malt 80 L	0.75 lb	10.19%
enzymic malt	0.25 lb	3.40%
malt extract	0.33 lb	4.48%
No. 3 invert sugar	0.75 lb	10.19%
caramel 1000 SRM	0.03 lb	0.41%
Fuggles 120 min	0.75 oz
Goldings 30 min	0.75 oz
OG	1033.5
FG	1003.5
ABV	3.97
Apparent attenuation	89.55%
IBU	22
SRM	13
Mash at	147º F
Sparge at	162º F
Boil time	90 minutes
pitching temp	62º F
Yeast	Wyeast 1318 London ale III (Boddingtons)

The above is an excerpt from my overly detailed look at post-war UK brewing, Austerity!

https://www.lulu.com/shop/ronald-pattinson/austerity/paperback/product-1mkrq4zg.html

Lees Best Mild grists 1946 - 1955

More on Mild Ale just after WW II. This time looking in detail at a particularly atypical beer, Lees Best Mild.

Mild grists mostly consisted of base malt – quite often mild malt – crystal malt, flaked maize and sugar. Though there are examples of much more complex grists, Lees Best Mild being a particularly good example.

Unlike the vast majority of Mild Ales, Lees Best Mild contained grains darker than crystal malt. In many versions, there were multiple coloured grains. Some of the grain choices seem rather odd. For example, including both black and chocolate malt. Usually, brewers used either one or the other.

In addition, at a certain point there was also that 1940s and 1950s favourite, enzymatic malt. Whose purpose, presumably, was to increase the diastatic power of the grist. Though it seems that this was probably a waste of time.

Less Best Mild was unusual in not containing any adjuncts. At least not after 1946 when the flaked barley demanded by the government during the was and immediately afterwards was ditched. Oddly, from 1953 onwards it contained a small quantity of oats. At just over 2% of the grist, I’m not sure how much impact it would have had on the character of the finished beer.

The easing of government restrictions is evident in the increase in the percentage of sugar, which just about doubled to 20%. During the war brewers were only allowed to employ a limited amount of sugar, much being reserved for use in food.

Lees Best Mild malts 1946 - 1955
Date	Year	OG	pale malt	brown malt	black malt	choc. Malt	crystal malt	enzymic malt
18th Mar	1946	1033	77.33%		1.33%
1st Apr	1946	1033	72.00%		1.33%
15th Dec	1948	1032	73.85%		2.31%		9.23%	2.31%
20th Jun	1950	1035	82.22%		0.87%		3.50%	1.75%
10th Mar	1952	1034	66.67%	2.38%	2.38%	4.76%	4.76%
19th Oct	1953	1033	71.49%	1.77%	0.88%	3.53%	3.53%
15th Jul	1954	1035	68.27%	1.69%	0.84%	3.37%	3.37%
2nd May	1955	1035	68.27%	1.69%	0.84%	3.37%	3.37%
Sources:
Lees brewing records held at the brewery.

Lees Best Mild adjuncts and sugars 1946 - 1955
Date	Year	OG	oats	flaked barley	glucose	invert sugar	other sugar	Total sugar
18th Mar	1946	1033		10.67%	5.33%	5.33%		10.67%
1st Apr	1946	1033		16.00%	5.33%	5.33%		10.67%
15th Dec	1948	1032				6.15%	6.15%	12.31%
20th Jun	1950	1035			2.33%	2.33%	7.00%	11.66%
10th Mar	1952	1034				6.35%	12.70%	19.05%
19th Oct	1953	1033	2.33%			4.71%	11.77%	16.47%
15th Jul	1954	1035	2.23%		2.25%	4.50%	13.49%	20.23%
2nd May	1955	1035	2.23%		4.50%	2.25%	13.49%	20.23%
Sources:
Lees brewing records held at the brewery.

Let's Brew Wednesday - 1939 Fullers XX

XX was the big brother of X. As parti-gyle pals, the recipes were obviously identical, just more of everything in XX.

There’s a big difference in the hopping rate of London Milds and those brewed elsewhere. For example, Tetley’s Milds contained 3.5-4 lbs of hops per quarter (336 lbs) of malt, Fullers 7.5 lbs. In fact Fullers Milds were more heavily hopped than most provincial Pale Ales. This is reflected in the 37 (calculated) IBUs.

I’m not sure what the final colour of XX was. Based on the ingredients listed in the brewing record, it doesn’t come out that dark. However, I know that some other London brewers darkened their Milds at racking time. Unfortunately, the earliest Whitbread Gravity Book analysis that I have is from 1951. That lists X Ale as around 22 SRM.

1939 Fullers XX
pale malt	7.75 lb	79.86%
flaked maize	1.50 lb	15.46%
glucose	0.33 lb	3.40%
caramel 1000 SRM	0.125 lb	1.29%
Fuggles 90 mins	1.25 oz
Fuggles 30 mins	1.25 oz
OG	1042.5
FG	1010
ABV	4.30
Apparent attenuation	76.47%
IBU	37
SRM	12
Mash at	147º F
After underlet	151º F
Sparge at	168º F
Boil time	90 minutes
pitching temp	62.5º F
Yeast	WLP002 English Ale

Provincial Mild 1955 – 1959

And here we are, finally. At the end of another overlong series. With way more detail than anyone other than me is ever likely to be interested in.

I say provincial Mild Ale, but it’s more like Northern Mild Ale. Only four of the breweries aren’t in the North: Hancock (Cardiff), Home (Nottingham), William Younger (Edinburgh) and Worthington (Burton).

What’s nice is having both the Ordinary Mild and Best Milds from a couple of breweries. Dead handy, because it helps show the relationship between the two at a brewery. It’s clear that Ordinary Mild was around 1032º while Best Mild was 1035º. And that Best Mild cost 1d per pint more.

The colours differed, too. Ordinary Mild was usually darker, though in the case Ramsdens and Websters – both Yorkshire breweries – the colour wasn’t that dark. I know from earlier Lees records that they had it the other way around, Ordinary Mild being pale and Best Mild dark. I think that was unusual. “The Pub and the People”, based on an investigation into Bolton puns in the late 1930’s, states that Ordinary Mild was dark and Best Mild pale. I tend to believe that was the usual relationship.

Having said that, about the only example of a brewery I personally experienced selling both Mild and Best Mild, Thwaites, had two dark beers.

Not much else to say, other than that Worthington’s Mild was pretty bad value. Mind you, beer from the famous Burton breweries sold at a premium price. Even their Mild. Oh, and there are very few really properly brown examples. I count that as 80 plus and only five examples hit that.

Provincial Ordinary Mild 1955 - 1959
Year	Brewer	Beer	Price per pint d	Acidity	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	colour
1955	Hancock	Dark Malt			1032
1955	Hancock	XXXX			1031
1955	Lees	K			1030.0
1955	Thwaites	Mild Ale	16	0.06	1032.2	1006.1	3.39	81.06%	40
1955	Younger, Wm.	X	14		1030.2				96
1956	Lees	Mild			1031.0
1957	Lees	Mild			1032.0
1958	Home Brewery	Mild Ale		0.06	1034.5	1007.6	3.49	77.97%	60
1958	Lees	Mild			1032.0
1958	Scarsdale	Mild Ale		0.05	1035.4	1006.6	3.74	81.36%	130
1958	Vaux & Co	Mild Ale	15	0.04	1030.3	1005.8	3.18	80.86%	27
1959	Bentleys	Mild	13	0.04	1032.9	1005.4	3.44	83.59%	30
1959	Bents	Mild Ale	12	0.04	1033.2	1003.6	3.86	89.16%	55
1959	Chester Northgate Brewery Ltd	Mild Ale	14	0.07	1030.6	1005.6	3.25	81.70%	95
1959	Greenall Whitley	Mild Ale	12	0.04	1030.4	1005.5	3.23	81.91%	80
1959	Lees	Mild			1032.0
1959	Ramsdens	Mild	12	0.05	1029.2	1004.7	3.06	83.90%	45
1959	Threlfalls	Mild Ale	12	0.05	1032.8	1004.3	3.71	86.89%	50
1959	Websters	Mild	12	0.05	1031.6	1004.8	3.35	84.81%	55
	average		13.2	0.05	1031.8	1005.5	3.43	83.02%	63.6
Sources:
Lees brewing records held at the brewery.
“Cardiff Pubs and Breweries” by Brian Glover, 2005. pages 97-101
Truman Gravity Book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number B/THB/C/252
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/002.

Provincial Best Mild 1955 - 1959
Year	Brewer	Beer	Price per pint d	Acidity	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	colour
1955	Lees	Best Mild			1035.0
1955	Lees	Bot. B			1035.0
1955	Worthington	Special Mild Ale	19	0.04	1036.9	1007.9	3.77	78.59%	85
1956	Lees	Best Mild			1035.0
1956	Lees	Bottling Beer			1035.0
1957	Lees	Best Mild			1035.0
1958	Lees	Best Mild			1035.0
1959	Lees	Best Mild			1035.0
1959	Ramsdens	Best Mild	13	0.06	1035.5	1006.5	3.63	81.69%	35
1959	Websters	Best Mild	13	0.06	1035	1005.9	3.64	83.14%	20
1959	Whitaker	Best Mild	13	0.05	1033.1	1010.2	2.86	69.18%	45
	average		14.5	0.05	1035.0	1007.6	3.47	78.15%	46.3
Sources:
Lees brewing records held at the brewery.
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/002.

And so we’re done. Maybe I should do something similar for Bitter.

London Ordinary Mild Ale 1955 – 1959

We’re closing in on the end of this series. Which I’m sure comes as much as a surprise as a relief. Or should that be the other way around?

Sadly, I’ve far fewer analyses for the second half of the 1950’s. And quite a few only have the FG, which is pretty effing useless.

Getting on to this set, you can see that the price for Ordinary Mild has crept up from around 13d to 14.5d. While the average price for Best Mild has gone up by about 2.5d. It still looks dirt cheap compared to modern prices. On a happier note, average OG and ABV for Ordinary Mild have increased slightly. Only two examples are under 3% ABV. Which is good news for pissheads.

All the veers, both Ordinary and Best Mild, are pretty dark, with the lowest colour value 70. None are even vaguely close to being pale.

Whitbread’s Best Mild, XXX, didn’t last long, only being brewed in 1954 and 1955. That’s despite being pushed by Whitbread in print adverts. Obviously, it was parti-gyled with their deceptively named Ordinary Mild, Best Ale.

Not much more else to say. Other than that these look very much like the Mild Ales of my youth: around 3% ABV and dark brown. It wasn’t until the last ten years that I came to realise that this type of Mild was only about as old as me.

It’s a sobering thought. And an indication of a common way of thinking. We assume that things which were common when we were young had been around forever.

London Ordinary Mild Ale 1955 - 1959
Year	Brewer	Beer	Price per pint d	Acidity	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	colour
1955	Truman	X			1033.6				82
1955	Whitbread	Best Ale			1030.4	1009.5	2.76	68.75%	95
1957	Barclay Perkins	XX	15	0.06	1031.4	1005.8	3.33	81.53%	100
1957	Charrington	Mild Ale	14	0.04	1032.6	1007.4	3.27	77.30%	110
1957	Courage	Mild Ale	15	0.06	1032.5	1006.4	3.39	80.31%	115
1957	Ind Coope	Mild Ale	15	0.08	1032	1006.6	3.30	79.37%	70
1957	Mann	Mild Ale	15	0.05	1033	1004.7	3.68	85.76%	105
1957	Truman	Mild Ale	15	0.07	1032.4	1008.2	3.14	74.69%	95
1957	Watney	Mild Ale	15	0.05	1032	1007.6	3.16	76.25%	100
1957	Wenlock	Mild Ale	15	0.08	1031.8	1006.4	3.30	79.87%	95
1957	Whitbread	Mild Ale	14	0.04	1032.4	1011.4	2.71	64.81%	95
1958	Whitbread	Best Ale	15		1033.1
1958	Young & Co	Mild Ale	14	0.04	1031.6	1005.8	3.35	81.65%	75
1959	Fullers	Mild Ale	12	0.05	1032.2	1006.6	3.32	79.50%	90
	Average		14.5	0.06	1032.2	1007.2	3.23	77.48%	93.9
1955	Taylor Walker	Main Line	27	0.05	1044	1014.5	3.82	67.05%	115
1955	Whitbread	XXX			1034.8	1010.0	3.28	71.26%	115
1957	Ind Coope	Mild Ale	15	0.06	1034.9	1008.4	3.44	75.93%	95
1957	Taylor Walker	Mainline	16	0.05	1037.4	1010.4	3.50	72.19%	100
	Average		19.3	0.05	1037.8	1010.8	3.51	71.61%	106.3
Source:
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/002.

Provincial Milds of the late fifties next. And then we’re done.

Large London brewery Best Mild Ale 1950 – 1954

Mild. But not just any Mild. Best Mild.

Sometimes I really wish I’d lived in the 1950’s. Hang on a minute. I did. Sometimes I really wish I’s been an adult during the 1950’s. Especially when I see strong Milds like this. In London they seem to have flowered briefly, then disappeared forever. Which is a shame. Maybe if some of the stronger versions had hung around Mild itself would have fared better.

All these stronger are Milds are from large breweries. I don’t know if that’s just the vagaries of my sample, which is pretty small in size. Or if it was generally the bigger boys that bothered with more than one cask Mild. Because that’s one thing all these beers have in common: they had a weedier younger brother with an OG of around 1030º. No brewery produced just a strong Mild.

Taylor Walker were unusual in having particularly strong branding for their Best Mild, Mainline. A beer which they pushed quite a bit. And, unusually for a Mild, was found in both draught and bottled form. Main Line Special in the table is the bottled version, which you can see was considerably stronger than its draught counterpart.

The gravity averages 7 points higher than for Ordinary Mild, while the ABV is more than 0.5% higher. Watney’s Best comes in at over 4.5% ABV, which would have been a very reasonable strength for a Best Bitter in the early 1950’s.

Once again, they’re pretty dark beers. Not quite as dark on average as the Ordinary Milds from large breweries, but darker than the ones from small brewers. The lesson? Londoners liked their Mild dark.

Large London brewery Best Mild Ale 1950 - 1954
Year	Brewer	Beer	Price per pint d	Acidity	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	colour
1950	Charrington	Best Mild Ale	14	0.05	1037.4	1010.4	3.50	72.19%	105
1950	Ind Coope	Mild Ale	15	0.05	1039.2	1009.6	3.84	75.51%	75
1951	Ind Coope	XXX	14		1034.76
1951	Taylor Walker	Mainline	15	0.08	1035.2	1007.6	3.58	78.41%	100
1951	Watney	Best	20	0.07	1043.1	1008	4.57	81.44%	110
1952	Ind Coope	X	13		1036.69				102
1954	Ind Coope	Strong Mild Ale	19	0.05	1043.5	1010.7	4.26	75.40%	110
1954	Taylor Walker	Mainline	15	0.04	1036.5	1014.5	2.84	60.27%	95
1954	Taylor Walker	Main Line Special	27	0.05	1044.5	1017.5	3.48	60.67%	125
	Average		16.89	0.06	1039.0	1011.2	3.72	71.99%	102.8
Sources:
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/002.
Truman Gravity Book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number B/THB/C/252

Provincial Mild next.