What will replace IPA?

As someone whose beer perspective goes back as far as the Babylonians, I'm well aware that all styles have their day. Waxing and waning with technological changes and the fashions of the day. Making the eventual downfall of IPA ineluctable. (Pils is also doomed, however ubiquitous it now is.)

While not have reached total saturation point quite yet, IPA is already pushing its luck with ridiculous variations. Like Cold IPA. The style is surely not far from falling off a cliff. But what could possibly replace it? Becoming the default order of the lazy customer at the craft beer bar.

It's not easy to predict. Craft beer consumers being, to say the least, a fickle bunch. Always in search of the newest thing.

The style would have to have an easy to pronounce name, not be stupidly strong, but also with a decent amount of oomph. Easy for others to see what you're drinking, so visually distinctive in some way. And not sour.

Weighing all these factors, my guess is: Dark Mild.

But, just like IPA, this would be given an American twist. How similar are American IPAs to the ones brewed in the UK in the 20th century? Hardly at all. American Mild would be the same.

First, the ABV would have to increase. To around 6%. Easily justified: "This is what 19th-century Milds were like." And no pissing around with a pale brown colour, they would be dark. Very dark.

And, to contrast with old-man's IPA, there would be almost no trace of hops. After a while, breweries would get into an IBU arms race, seeing who could hit the lowest number. With some brewers even claiming to have negative IBUs in their Milds.

Colour would be another battleground, with brewers trying to get the darkest possible beers, boasting ridiculous SRM values. Some would eventually resemble ink.

Then all the different variations would kick off: Double Mild, Imperial Mild, Cold Mild, Hazy Mild, Wheat Mild, English Mild, Belgian Mild, Session Mild and, inevitably, White Mild and Barrel-aged Mild.

Plant scientists would develop new barley varieties with new flavours. While maltsters would experiment with new types of malt. Leading to shortages of the most fashionable types, causing some brewers to discontinue their flagship Milds.

The future is looking great.

Mild Musings (part 2,390)

I was thinking about Mild today. As I'm sure you often do. While I was walking the mean streets of my neighbourhood.

Only joking. It's rather nice, really. Far too good for the likes of us. I'm surprised they let us in.

Back to Mild. I was thinking of the choice that was available in some of the country. Where you knew if you went into a tied house from any brewery, you'd find a Mild. If you travelled around a bit, you had dozens to choose from. Even if you stuck to only cask.

In Nottingham, each of the three local breweries - Home, Shipstone and Hardy & Hanson - had a Dark Mild in all their pubs. Though the last didn't have any houses in the city centre. Bass Charrington had quite a few pubs. I'm sure they must have sold some sort of Dark Mild. Probably XXXX from Tadcaster. But I never went in any of their pubs. When there was usually a Shippo's pub close by, why the hell would I? It was my favourite of the three Nottingham Milds. Not too sweet, like Hardy & Hansons. Home Mild was decent, too. But I could get that in Newark. Shippo's I couldn't.

Despite mostly being a Tetley town, in Leeds, there were other Milds around. Websters did a Dark Mild. As did Sam Smiths. Bass had XXXX, a bland beer I never took to. John Smiths and Whitbread must have had ones, too. But, again, I never went in any of their pubs. As they didn't sell cask. Tell a lie, I think I was dragged into the Skyrack a couple of times. Can't remember what I drank there. Almost forgot. Whitelocks had Younger's No. 3, which is sort of like a strong Dark Mild

Neither of those examples were particularly diverse towns, in terms of tied houses. For some reason, Loughborough had a particularly good spread of ownership. I think at least eight or nine different breweries. All with their Milds.

Manchester, home to several local breweries, offered Boddington, Robinson, Oldham, Lees, Hyde, Holt, Wilson, Greenall Whitley (boo, hiss*), Sam Smiths, Tetley. Doubtless some keg Bass and Whitbread, too.

Who under 60 was able to find a pint of Mild there waiting for them in around every corner? I didn't realise at the time how special that was.

In London Mild had all but disappeared by the time I had my first tentative half pint.

Which is why I sometimes strayed from the real ale path. And drank evil keg. Whitbread Best Mild a couple of times in London. Not hoping that it might be good. Which it wasn't. I simply wanted to drink Mild. Even if it was a tastless parody of the style. (I'm glad I did now, because I got to drink on of the Chiswell Street beers. Albeit breed in Luton by then.)

There. I think that was a pretty cohesive argument.



* I hated Greenall Whitley because the fuckwits than ran it fucked up some of my favourite breweries. Destroyed the beers, then shut the breweries down. Wem and Shipstone are two good examples. The pised around with the recipe of Shipstone bitter and made it a far worse beer. Luckily, they didn't play around with the Mild.
 

Let's Brew Wednesday - 1885 Kirkstall L

As it's still Mild Month, I though I'd run another old-timey Mild recipe. And quite an unusual one.

The Milds of the final decades of the 19th century are a fascinating bunch. As brewers strayed away from 100% pale malt grists and played around with other malts, sugars and adjuncts.

One of the results of which was a deepening of the colour of many Milds. Though few wandered into full-on Dark Mild shades. Dark enough, however, to be easily distinguished from Pale Ales. Kirkstall L is a good example of such a semi-dark Mild.

Brown malt, contrary to what you might guessed, wasn’t a common ingredient in Mild. It pops up here, and in a few other recipes, but usually it was invert sugar, caramel or black malt doing the heavy lifting.

Three types of hops were employed, all from the 1884 season: Bavarian, English and some simply described as “foreign”. I’m guessing that the last came from one the less fashionable hop-growing regions. 

1885 Kirkstall L
pale malt	8.00 lb	77.67%
brown malt	0.50 lb	4.85%
No. 2 invert sugar	1.75 lb	16.99%
Caramel 100 SRM	0.05 lb	0.49%
Cluster 135 mins	0.75 oz
Fuggles 60 mins	1.25 oz
Hallertau 30 mins	0.50 oz
OG	1049
FG	1012
ABV	4.89
Apparent attenuation	75.51%
IBU	36
SRM	13
Mash at	156º F
Sparge at	165º F
Boil time	135 minutes
pitching temp	58.5º F
Yeast	Wyeast 1469 West Yorkshire Ale

Let's Brew Wednesday - 1890 Barclay Perkins X Ale

A chance today to look at another late 19th-century London Mild and see how dark it was. I won't keep you in suspense. It was properly dark. What else could it be with all that brown malt?

What a difference a few years make. In 1886, Barclay’s X Ale was a simple affair, brewed from just pale and brown malt.

Now three new ingredients have been added and six points shaved off the gravity. On top of that, the boil time has been reduced by 30 minutes and the pitching temperature raised by 3º F. And here was me thinking that nothing ever changed very quickly in the 19th century. At least when no wars were raging.

New arrivals in the grist are crystal malt, flaked rice and some type of sugar. Not sure what it was. Probably some sort of invert. I’ve gone for No. 2, just to hedge my bets. No. 3 would leave it 22 SRM, No. 1 at 19 SRM. Take your pick. Whatever the choice, it comes out quite dark, about a typical colour for a modern Dark Mild.

To make way for the new ingredients, both the pale and brown malt percentages have been reduced.

The hopping rate is a little higher, despite the fall in gravity. Hops coming in the form of Mid-Kents from the 1888 and 1889 seasons, and American from 1889. The result is 62 IBU, way off the scale for a Mild today.

1890 Barclay Perkins X Ale
pale malt	6.25 lb	48.54%
brown malt	3.50 lb	27.18%
crystal malt	0.125 lb	0.97%
flaked rice	1.50 lb	11.65%
No. 2 invert sugar	1.50 lb	11.65%
Cluster 90 mins	1.00 oz
Fuggles 90 mins	0.50 oz
Fuggles 60 mins	1.50 oz
Fuggles 30 mins	1.50 oz
OG	1058
FG	1017
ABV	5.42
Apparent attenuation	70.69%
IBU	62
SRM	20
Mash at	154º F
Sparge at	165º F
Boil time	90 minutes
pitching temp	63º F
Yeast	Wyeast 1099 Whitbread ale

 

 

Mild darkening

A quick question. How interested are you in the colour of Mild in the late 19th century? A pretty specific question, I know.

Just that I'm currently researching/writing about Mild Ale for my next book but one. Including writing loads of recipes (67 so far). The Mild recipes are giving me some more insight into its colour.

For the purposes of the book, I only need to write the recipes for a small selection of the brewing records I have. To find out what all the the beers looked like, I'd need to run the lot through my brewing software. As I try not to waste my time on research without a good reason, I might not bother. Hence asking if you're interested.

Now I think of it, there is a damn good reason for me to go ahead. It will fit really well in that putative book. Well, not quite so putative. It is 32,000 words. Mostly recipes.

I take that back. I don't need your approval. I can see the point. Why on earth didn't I see that immediately? Mild colour is a topic that's occupied my every waking thought for two decades.

Expect more on this topic. Whether you like it or not.

One teaser. One Mild recipe I have crunched through BeerSmith came out at 22.8 SRM. Properly dark brown. A typical Dark Mild colour. All from malt. No sugar to muddy the waters.

The darkening of Mild Ale

I'm always finding new information in brewing records. Suddenly twigging what some seemingly random squiggle means. I had this happen to me this week. When doing some research on Dark Mild for my book after next, "Free!".

I realised that there were a couple of Fullers journals that I'd never processed. Not sure why. Other than that I've thousands of photographs of brewing records and I mostly only extract information from them when needed. For some reason I was attracted to this line:

 

It's on the bottom right - "Tint 45º"

In the last couple of decades of the 19th century, Mild Ales began to darken. Well, some of them did. The process was very patchy and didn’t occur everywhere simultaneously. It’s also very difficult to pin down exactly when and to what degree Mild became darker.

The biggest problem is the lack of hard data. It’s tricky calculating the colour from the ingredients, especially when sugar is involved. As this is mostly only described very vaguely. There are very few records of beer colour before WW I. Occasionally chemical analyses will include a number for the colour, mostly in some weird scale that died out 100 plus years ago. Only a handful of Barclay Perkins records from the Edwardian period include the beer’s colour.

At least that’s what I thought. Until I happened to notice that line in a Fullers brewing record. That “Tint” number looked like it was in an understandable scale. The type of Lovibond used before WW II.

Having multiple examples spanning a few years, it’s possible to get an idea about what was happening with the colour of Fullers X Ale. It starts off in 1893 at 45. That’s what I’d call semi-dark, a little duskier than Newcastle Brown Ale. About 11 SRM. Well short of the colour of a modern Dark Mild. Plenty dark enough, however.to be easily distinguished form their Pale Ales.

In 1897, it became a little darker and the following year paler again. Whatever the fluctuations, it had double the colour value of its Pale Ale siblings.

My guess as to when the darkening of Mild Ale began was the 1880s or 1890s. I now know for certain that it had started in the early 1890s. At least in London. It's clear that Mild didn’t move suddenly from pale to dark in one step, but rather it was a gradual process, taking decades.

The unanswered question is why Mild Ale became darker. That’s still a mystery.

Dark Mild (part seven)

Back to Dark Mild again. With an example that I'd already caught, but was lying hidden in one of my spreadsheets.

It also demonstrates why it's so difficult to find references when searching the newspaper archive. Because, as you'll see, it doesn't say Dark Mild straight out.

Sussex Agricultural Express - Saturday 24 January 1903, page 9.

The "Dark" and "Mild" don't even appear on the same line. Though reading with human eyes, it's clear that XB is being described as a Dark Mild. Interestingly, it does cost a little more than the pale version.

I assume that XXB, described as Family Ale, is a slightly stronger Mild Ale. I base that on its position in the advert and the "X" designation. But the term was used for different styles of beer. Whitbread's Family Ale was a lower-gravity Pale Ale. While Tetley's was a type of Mild.

I'm intrigued by the AK, which is described as "Crystal Ale". Eldridge Pope marketed their AK as "Crystal Ale". The term implies a sparkling, clear beer. It was often used for filtered, non-deposit bottled beers.

But what's the difference between AK and BB, another Bitter selling for the same price? And which is described as "Tonic Dinner Ale", which is typical of the description of  AK. Don't get me started on AKK and what the hell "Amber Ale" signifies.

Pale Mild Ale

The results of searching for "Dark Mild" in the newspaper archives were pretty disappointing. I only found a handful of references to the term before 1920

After a bit of thought, another , indirect method occurred to me. Why not search for "Pale Mild"? If something;s being called Pale Mild, then Dark Mild must also exist. Otherwise, the "pale" prefix would be redundant.

And Bingo, I found this advert from 1899:

 South Bucks Standard - Friday 12 May 1899, page 1.

Two Mild, X and PX, with the latter clearly described as Pale Mild. What surprised me most about this was that at such an early date Dark Mild should be the norm.

My guess would be that X and PX were identical. With caramel being added to X. In any case, with the price being identical they would have at least been the same strength.

I decided against "Light Mild" as it's ambiguous. It could mean either light in colour or light in strength.

When I started down the beer history rabbit hole, I never imagined it would be so hard to pin down a date for the beginning of Dark Mild. I've enough evidence now to be certain that it lies in the 19th century. Probably at least 1890. Though the date varied by region and brewery.

Wheeler's must have been a decent-sized brewer. When it it was taken over in 1924 it owned 148 pubs.

Dark Mild (part six)

Brewers are proud of the awards they receive. However mean8ngless they might have been. Plenty of competitions would give medal of some sort to anyone who paid the entrance fee.

The Brewers Exhibition contest wasn't like that. The oldest beer competition in the world, it was fiercely contested. And still is. Getting five firsts when there would have been hundreds of entries really is an achievement.

"Note the New Label
When you order a rich dark mild, look for this label. It appears on all bottles of Newcastle Ales, and is at once a sign of good brewing and a record of the sweeping success of these Northern brewed beers at the Brewers Exhibition of 1928. See the seven awards (including five “firsts”) shown on the upper part of the label. Then taste the beer itself and enjoy the smoothness and richness that can only come from extreme care and experience in brewing. Try a bottle for supper to-night.

6.5d Imp. Pint
Imperial Pints - 6/6 dozen.
Imperial Halves 3/9 dozen.
Reputed Pints - 5/6 dozen."
Hartlepool Northern Daily Mail - Thursday 28 February 1929, page 7.

They are a bit coy about which beers won medals. I know that Newcastle Brown Ale did. Not so sure about the Mild Ale.

I'm quite surprised to see them still using reputed points at this late a date. After WW II, pretty much everything was in imperial halves, pints of quarts. A reputed pint was about two-thirds of a pint.

Looking at the illustration, it seems that the bottles were sealed with screw tops of the internal thread type. Not crown corks. A little bit old-fashioned, but OI remember some Whitbread beer still being packaged in that type of bottle when I lived in Leeds in the 1970s.

Dark Mild (part five)

I'm still banging my Dark Mild drum. This new advert I've found definitively answers a question on  an earlier post: did Newcastle Dark Mild become Newcastle Brown?

I'd already said no.  But in the advert below you can see that the two beers coexisted. And, from the price, it's obvious that Brown Ale was a much stronger beer.

Sunderland Daily Echo and Shipping Gazette - Wednesday 01 April 1931, page 12.

He does look more like a Mild drinkerthan the two rather posh blokes in the last advert. The fag hanging out of a corner of the mouth is a nice touch.

This is the advert text:

"EASTER!
Let your holiday drink be BRITAIN'S BEST BEER
However you spend your Easter Holiday this year, you can always be sure of good wholesome refreshment in Newcastle Champion Ales . . . acknowledged by experts as Britain’s Best!
Whether you prefer a strong brown ale, a sparkling bitter, a rich dark mild . . . you will find real satisfaction in any one these famous northern brews.

NEWCASTLE Champion BROWN ALE-
Pint Bottles - 9/- dozen. Half Pints 5/- dozen.
"Splits" 3/- dozen.

NEWCASTLE Prize Medal PALE ALE—
Pint Bottles - 6/6 dozen. 3/4 pints 5/6 dozen.
Half Pints 3/9 dozen.

NEWCASTLE MILD ALE-
Pint Bottles - 6/6 dozen. 3/4 pints 5/6 dozen.
Half Pints 3/9 dozen. "
Sunderland Daily Echo and Shipping Gazette - Wednesday 01 April 1931, page 12.

That's 9d per pint for Brown Ale and 6.5d for Mild Ale. Quite a big difference. Which is reflected in the price.

And for complete confirmation, here are the details of those beers:

Newcastle Breweries beers in 1931
Beer	Style	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation
Newcastle Pale Ale	Pale Ale	1040	1009.5	3.96	76.25%
Newcastle Brown Ale	Brown Ale	1059.5	1014	5.93	76.47%
Newcastle Mild Ale	Mild	1040.5	1013.5	3.49	66.67%
Newcastle Amber Ale	Amber Ale	1042	1010.5	4.09	75.00%
Source:
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/001.

As you can see, Newkie Brown was pretty strong stuff back then at almost 6% ABV. Also, that they left a good amount of residual sugars in the Mild Ale.

Why be thirsty?

If you can drink Mild. And at the very reasonable price of 6.5d per pint.

Being honest, the chaps in the illustration aren't my idea of Mild drinkers. Maybe it's the plus fours the one is wearing. Or the knapsack at the other's feet. At least they took a glass with them on their ramble.

Hartlepool Northern Daily Mail - Thursday 06 June 1929, page 7.

"Why be thirsty?
Why be thirsty, when for sixpence halfpenny you can get an Imperial Pint of NEWCASTLE MILD ALE?

It has a flavour that is just right. It comes smoothly and softly to the palate and gives the satisfaction that makes it a drink that’s really worth while.

Try a bottle of this rich dark mild. To taste it is to make it your preference for ever afterwards!"
Hartlepool Northern Daily Mail - Thursday 06 June 1929, page 7.

It's a very odd advert, obviously appealing to  - or trying to - the middle class. An odd tactic in 1929, when the image of Mild wasn't exactly classy.

Bottled Mild - despite the style's huge popularity on draught, was rare in bottled form. At least in name. The vast majority of Brown Ales were really bottled Mild.

Dark Mild Ale (part four)

I'm still on the hunt for early references to Dark Mild. It's thrown up some interesting stuff.

Like this notice of an auction. It seems to be the stock of some sort of clothes shop. But why the hell would a clothes shop have a football two barrels of Mild in stock?

The more I look at the list of items, the more it resembles my annual silly Drinkalongathon list. Especially as it includes string.

"SHORT NOTICE
GRANVILLE-PLACE Off TRENTHAM ROAD,
Under execution from the Hanley and Stoke-upon-Trent County Court.
Re LUCY GRINDEY.
MR. CHARLES ONIONS, Court Broker, will SELL BY PUBLlC AUCTlON, on TUESDAY, 29th NOVEMBER, 1921, at the above address, the Whole of the STOCK IN TRADE, &c., comprising;- One hundred and thirty ladies' Tweed skirts, 2 ladies' coats, 1 lady’s costume, gents.' boots, caps, Tweed hats, hard felt hats, 1/2-doz. collars, quantity of spoons and prongs, doz. balls of string, clothes and hair brushes, 8 boxes of cigarettes, 1 football, two 36 gallons of Younger's dark mild beer, 1 small gas heater, quantity of shelving, &c., &c. The above is all new stock.
Sale at 11 30 a.m. prompt.
Cash on fall of the hammer."
Staffordshire Sentinel - Friday 25 November 1921, page 4.

I'm particularly surprised that the Dark Mild was Younger's - I'm assuming William Younger - as it was never much of a thing in Scotland. Most Scottish brewers abandoned Mild Ale in WW I and instead just brewed Pale Ales of several different strengths.

William Younger was a bit of an exception as they continued to brew Mild up to WW II and beyond. I assume because they had considerable trade in England, where Mild was by far the most popular type of beer. But they didn't brew Dark Mild in the 1920s. They did brew two different strengths of Mild, but both, as brewed were pale. The grists being simply pale malt and grits.

Scottish brewers loved colouring up their beer with caramel at racking time. Which is what I assume Younger did.

These were their two Milds in 1921:

William Younger Mild Ales in 1921
Beer	Style	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	lbs hops/ qtr	hops lb/brl
XX	Mild	1035.3	1009.6	3.39	72.73%	4.55	0.57
XXX	Mild	1041.9	1011.4	4.03	72.73%	4.55	0.65
Source:
William Younger brewing record held at the Scottish Brewing Archive, document number WY/6/1/2/63.

Dark Mild Ale (part three)

It was areal shock just how few hits I got in the British Newspaper Archive for "dark mild ale"' Literally, just a handful.

I had more luck - expanding the search, or rather, contracting it - to "dark mild". Which threw up this one:

 Suffolk and Essex Free Press - Thursday 18 December 1924, page 1.

Weird that they call it "Mild Beer" but "Bitter Ale". Even weirder that I drank a pint of XX, in the brewery tap, Less than two years ago.

I've occasionally seen the term "Mild Beer", but not very often. Being the sort of person who obsesses about this sort of rubbish, I've some data to back up this assertion.

I've spent years dredging information from old UK brewery price lists. Which I've put in a spreadsheet, as you do. It has over 4,000 entries. These are the only breweries I could find using the term "Mild Beer" to describer one of their products:

1902 Brook's Cubley Brook Brewery, Sheffield
1884 Leney, Wateringbury
1884 Adey and White, St. Albans
1890 Shepherd Neame, Faversham
1891 St. Anne's Well Brewery, Exeter
1882 Mackeson, Hythe
1882 Gardner, Ash Brewery, near Sandwich
1875 Devenish, Weymouth
1898 WE & J Rigden, Faversham

It's an extremely small subset. While there are hundreds, probably thousands, of instance of the use of the term "Mild Ale".

Why was I in the Greene King brewery tap? Because I was visiting their archive. Which is why I know exactly how strong all those Greene King beers were.

Greene King draught beers in 1935
beer	price per barrel	price (per gallon)	OG
XX Dark Mild Beer	68	23	1029
AK Light Bitter Ale	88	29	1033.2
IA Best Bitter Ale	114	38	1040.7
S Stout	114	38	1046
BA Burton Ale	130	43	1044.6
BBA Strong Ale	154	51	1059
Sources:
Suffolk and Essex Free Press - Thursday 18 December 1924, page 1.
Greene King brewing records held at the brewery, document numbers AC93/1/1.

Interesting that Greene King still had a Stout and a couple of Strong Ales on draught. Even more unusually they brewed three Stouts.

Draught Stout and Extra Stout are obviously the same beer. Special Stout really was pretty strong - 1065.4º. There was also an Oatmeal Stout at 1044º. With, as was traditional in most of the UK, bugger all oats in it.

Dark Mild Ale (part two)

I didn't expect to find masses of references to Dark Mild Ale before WW I. But I am surprised at how few I'm finding after it.

The next one I can find isn't until 1931. And isn't at all where I'd expected to find it. Given that the Northeast wasn't somewhere where Dark Mild was ever a really big thing. Unlike, say, the West Midlands.

"Have you tried this rich dark MILD ALE?
TASTE it! Enjoy the full luscious flavour!  Note how smooth and soft it comes to the palate. There's character in it... . something better and more satisfying than the usual mild ale. See now clear it it, too . . . . clean, fresh and wholesome to the last drop.

Thanks to skillful brewing from carefully blended malt flavoured with fine selected hops, you have here a dark mild ale you will remember and ask for again and again.

Pint bottles 6/6 doz.
3/4 pints 5/6 doz.
Half-Pints 3/9 doz."
Sunderland Daily Echo and Shipping Gazette - Saturday 07 March 1931, page 7.

Looking at that price, I immediately starting working out how strong Newcastle Mild Ale would have been. 6/6 a dozen is 6.5d per pint. Knock off 1d and you get the draught price. 5.5d is halfway between a 5d Mild Ale of 1037º and a 6d Mild Ale at 1043º. My guess would genuinely have been about 1040º.

How right I was.

Newcastle Brown Ale and Mild Ale 1931-1932
Year	Beer	Style	Price per pint (d)	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation
1931	Mild Ale	Mild		1040.5	1013.5	3.49	66.67%
1932	Mild Ale	Mild	8	1036	1011.5	3.17	68.06%
1931	Brown Ale	Brown Ale		1059.5	1014	5.93	76.47%
1931	Brown Ale	Brown Ale		1056	1014	5.46	75.00%
Sources:
Younger, Wm. & Co Gravity Book document WY/6/1/1/19 held at the Scottish Brewing Archive.
Thomas Usher Gravity Book document TU/6/11 held at the Scottish Brewing Archive.
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/001.

Why is the 1932 version weaker? Because of the budget of September 1931 would have increased the price by about 1d per pint. But instead most brewers cut gravities to keep the retail price the same.

Dark Mild Ale

I've been pondering, as you do, the age of the term "Dark Mild".

In the first half of the 19th century there would have been no need for the term. Because Mild Ale was all relatively pale, being brewed from just pale base malt. Only when some Mild Ales began to darken - sometime at the end of the 19th century - would there be any need for it.

So I went out a searching. In the British Newspaper Archive and Google Books.

The latter turned up the first mention: in 1897. It's from a brewing trade magazine, so a pretty reliable source. Unfortunately, the book is only snippet view. I'm missing the context. But it unequivocably describes a beer as Dark Mild Ale:

"CHART 5.-C. Dark Mild Ale, uncoloured, equalling "B" in the 1-inch Colour units."
Journal of the Federated Institutes of Brewing, Volume 3, 1897 page 420.

Oldest reference in the British Newspaper Archive is from 1906. In a Fremlin's of Maidstone advert. It got me all excited. Until I looked more closely.

Kentish Independent - Friday 22 June 1906, page 3.

Sure enough, it says Dark Mild Ale. But also Dark Bitter Ale. Which begs the question, how dark was dark?

Dark Bitter isn't as insane as it sounds. After WW I, they basically only brewed Pale Ales in Scotland. Coloured up to all sorts of different shades, including near black.

Unusual to see a Porter being brewed outside London this late. Though they were obviously selling it as Stout, when bottled. Come to think of it, the Cooper, Elephant Brand Stout and Oatmeal Stout look like they were bottled Porter, too. Based on the price.

Most unlikely appearance is Fremlin's Pilsener Lager Beer. Very few breweries produced a Lager at the time, other than specialists with dedicated Lager plants.

Most weird ids that there's just a single beer described as Mild Ale, amongst the multitude of products.

London Mild before WW II

As before WW I, London tended to have stronger examples than more rural districts. The difference after WW I, was that the price was around the same for a beer of the same strength whether you were in London or the provinces.

While London brewers often had three Milds of different strengths: Ale at 1028-1030º retailing for 4d per pint, standard Mild at 1034-38º for 5d per pint and Best Mild at 1042-1044º for 6d per pint.

By far the most common of the three types was 5d Mild. The cheaper Ale was mostly brewed in tiny quantities. For example, in 1938 Whitbread brewed 4,237 barrels of LA, their 4d Mild and 216,200 barrels of X Ale, a 5d beer.

Not every London brewer produced all three classes of Mild. Whitbread, for example, only had a 4d and 5d version. While Fullers brewed a 5d and a 6d Mild, but no 4d. It probably depended on the types of pub a brewery owned.

In general, London Milds were quite dark – in the 80-90º L range. But there were still plenty of semi-dark examples. Barclay Perkins X and XX were both around 45º L as brewed, but there were also versions of both that were coloured up with caramel at racking time to the darker 80-90º L shade.

These are some examples of London Milds in the cheapest price class:

London 4d Mild Ale before WW II
Year	Brewer	Beer	Price per pint (d)	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	colour
1939	Barclay Perkins	A	4	1030.8	1007.5	3.08	75.65%
1935	Charrington	Ale	4	1031.5
1935	Mann Crossman	Brandon's LA	4	1031	1004.4	3.46	85.81%
1935	Meux	Ale	4	1028.3
1935	Truman	Ale	4	1030.0
1935	Watney	Ale	4	1031.5
1938	Whitbread	LA	4	1028.3	1008.0	2.69	71.73%	80
	Average		4	1030.2	1006.6	3.08	77.73%	80.0
Sources:
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/001.
Whitbread brewing record held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/01/105.
Barclay Perkins brewing record held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number ACC/2305/01/623.
Truman Gravity Book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number B/THB/C/252.

These are some Ordinary Milds:

London 5d Mild Ale before WW II
Year	Brewer	Beer	Price per pint (d)	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	colour
1938	Barclay Perkins	X	5	1037.8	1011.9	3.35	68.52%
1938	Charrington	X	5	1037.8	1011.9	3.35	68.52%
1937	Courage	X	5	1035.3	1007.9	3.56	77.62%
1938	Fullers	X	5	1032.3	1006.6	3.40	79.43%
1938	Ind Coope	X	5	1036.1
1938	Mann Crossman	X (5d)	5	1035	1010.3	3.20	70.57%
1937	Meux	X	5	1036.7	1009.7	3.50	73.57%
1938	Taylor Walker	X	5	1034.2	1012.9	2.75	62.28%
1938	Truman	X	5	1037.1	1009.9	3.53	73.32%	90
1938	Watney	X	5	1036.6	1012.6	3.10	65.57%	105
1938	Wenlock	X	5	1038.8
1937	Whitbread	X	5	1038.6
	Average		5	1036.4	1010.4	3.30	71.04%	97.5
Sources:
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/001.
Fullers brewing record held at the brewery
Truman Gravity Book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number B/THB/C/252.

And finally Best Milds:

London 6d Mild Ale before WW II
Year	Brewer	Beer	Price per pint (d)	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	colour
1938	Barclay Perkins	XX	6	1042.5
1937	Courage	MC	6	1039.3	1011.1	3.74	71.83%
1938	Fullers	XX	6	1042.5	1009.4	4.37	77.82%
1938	Mann Crossman	X (6d)	6	1040.7	1008.8	4.15	78.38%	90
1937	Taylor Walker	X	6	1042.6	1012.8	3.86	69.95%
	Average		6	1041.5	1010.5	4.03	74.50%	90.0
Sources:
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/001.
Courage brewing record held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number ACC/2305/08/263.
Fullers brewing record held at the brewery
Truman Gravity Book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number B/THB/C/252.