The beer writer Pete Brown had a lengthy Q&A about all matters beer in the Sunday Times magazine on 1st December. It was of course well informed and entertaining. He posed, to give one example, the question ‘does anyone drink mild anymore’ to which he answered simply ‘no’.
I’m not sure whether this was a joke (fair enough) or a personal view but either way it is of course not true. Mild has long been characterised as an old man’s drink, and I am an old man (well 68 anyway) so I would say that. Except I’ve been drinking mild for decades even when I was younger, so much younger than today etc.
Mild is of course not a strength of beer but a style or arguably styles as it comprises light and dark milds.
Anyway finding myself, as usual, at the annual CAMRA Pigs Ear Beer Festival in Hackney in early December, I tried the annual release of a Victorian Mild from Kernel and Redemption Breweries. It was first brewed in 2011 and in recent years has made a pre-Christmas appearance.
The Kernel version was in a wooden cask at 5.5% and that gave it in my personal view fuller flavour. The Redemption version was 6% and is currently also available in mini-kegs.
I had a brief chat with Evan from Kernel and Andy from Redemption where the consensus seemed to be that the latter’s version is better this year. You can of course form your own view by drinking some and at the same time proving Pete Brown wrong
I used to as an 18 year old (same age as you Keith) and would now if available here in Merseyside
Yes you have light and dark milds, but you also have strong milds (as in the one in the photo) and weak milds, borne of the industrial past and mainly popular around Manchester and the West Midlands. This does mean that the unwary drinker can be ambushed, thinking they were drinking a session mild of 3.7% or less when actually it’s a 6%er!
And yes I drink mild, where I can find it. Any dark beer will suit me just fine.
Chris Pampling