Mild in May

Mild ale used to be the drink of heavy industry. When UK manufacturing declined, so did sales. But times, they are a changing. Whatever the weather outside, May is Mild month. JON HOWARD of CAMRA explains why.

There is clearly something about the Mild beer style that provokes debate among Britain’s drinkers. For years, Mild beers have been absent at the bar, with low consumer demand for the style, and misconceptions surrounding the very word.

In the present day, Mild beers have made a comeback in a big way, and this is all down to a growing understanding that the Mild beer style is as diverse as the rest of the real ale market.

Historically, Milds would have been much stronger than most are today, but don’t be surprised to see brewers hitting around the five to six per cent ABV mark. One fantastic Mild I have in my head right now is the Sarah Hughes Dark Ruby. At six per cent ABV, this multi-awardwinning beer has a good balance of fruit and hops, leading to a pleasant, lingering hops and malt finish.

Dark Ruby is a good example of the Mild’s diversity as a beer style. Conventionally speaking, a Mild beer will be of lower alcoholic strength, have a low hop character but with a dark complexion thanks to a generous use of malt. And yet, aside from the dark complexion, Dark Ruby is one of many exceptions to this rule.

In the last three years, two Milds have won CAMRA’s most coveted title, the Champion Beer of Britain. Both the Hobson’s brewery with its ‘Mild’ (champion in 2007) and the Rudgate brewery with its ‘Ruby Mild’ (champion in 2009) are just two brewers who have played a huge part in championing the Mild beer style. When Rudgate won the overall prize last August at the Great British Beer Festival at Earls Court, London, chairman of the judging panel Roger Protz proclaimed - “It’s a tremendous boost for the Mild category. Its victory should invigorate the whole Mild ale category.” Strong words from one of the world’s most renowned beer experts, but such mainstream success has helped the style grow out of its ‘endangered beer style’ label.

As background, Mild was once the most popular beer style in Britain right up to the 1950s. It is a drink which has always been associated with heavy industries, namely in that it was associated as the beer that foundry men and steelworkers, to name but a few labour-intensive professions, would find refreshment from after a hard day of work. But of course, the decline of heavy industry brought about the decline of its alcoholic bedfellow, and Mild beers became difficult to locate.

Plenty of choice
In total, there are currently over 200 Milds brewed in the UK in the present day, twice the number available at the turn of the 21st century. A major contribution to this rise has been the impressive growth of the craft brewing sector, with a 20 per cent increase in the number of breweries starting up production in the last two years alone. Couple this with CAMRA’s own research showing a sharp increase in the number of drinkers trying real ale for the first time, and it becomes apparent why traditional beer styles such as the ‘Mild’ can now be found in a large number of pubs and clubs.

CAMRA’s National Mild in May campaign is a fantastic opportunity for brewers, pub licensees and club stewards to come together and champion one of Britain’s most historic beer styles. Although the style is not endangered as it once was, CAMRA’s Mild in May campaign is as important as ever in an era when real ale sales are bucking the trend in relation to beer sales as a whole. Craft brewers cannot rest on their laurels after such recent success, and I can happily report that no such resting is occurring! Just a few of the brewers celebrating CAMRA’s Mild in May campaign this year include Marston’s, Fuller’s, Hook Norton and Acorn.

One of Marston’s Beer Company’s many brands, Banks’s, has made the decision to revert back to calling its ‘Original’ a ‘Mild’ after what head brewer Richard Frost described in December 2009 as a ‘real interest in ale as a category’ from consumers. Meanwhile, Marston’s has also brewed its Merrie Monk Mild, a much-loved Mild with fruity overtones and a delicious hint of caramel.

Fuller’s of Chiswick has yet again supported CAMRA’s campaign with the launch of two Milds – Gales Festival Mild and Fuller’s Hock – which have both been available throughout April and May. Head brewer John Keeling said of the beers,“Gales Festival Mild, at 4.8 per cent ABV, is a full-bodied ale with a palate rich in blackcurrant, raisins and raspberry and citrus notes in the finish. It has long been popular with CAMRA and we are pleased to make this premium beer part of Mild Month and the Fuller’s seasonal line-up, together with the classic and refreshing Hock.”

Oxfordshire’s own Hook Norton has earmarked May for the launch of a brand new beer, and the second Mild in the brewery’s impressive range - Special Dark Mild, or SDM for short. And lastly, the ever-expanding Acorn brewery of Barnsley will be whetting the appetites of real ale drinkers by rolling out the new Lightness, a 3.6 per cent ABV light golden brew, alongside its popular Darkness beer at 4.3 per cent ABV. Going by the great demand for Darkness in the past, Lightness could make an excellent alternative for drinkers who prefer lighter coloured beers and associate the term ‘Mild’ with dark complexions.

For CAMRA’s 110,000 members, the month of May will be spent encouraging local pubs and clubs to stock a Mild and help this resurging beer style back into the mainstream. CAMRA branches will also be conducting countless Mild beer trails, tasting sessions in local pubs and clubs, meet the brewer evenings, and other initiatives, such as passport schemes, whereby drinkers visit venues stocking Milds during May and get their passes stamped to win prizes supplied by the local CAMRA branch. Raising awareness of and enjoying traditional beer styles is something CAMRA has been doing for nigh-on 40 years, so for more information, visit www.camra.org.uk/mild, or better still, drink a Mild in May.

THINGS CAN ONLY GET MILDER...

Club Mirror assesses the views of some of the UK’s major (and micro) brewers and finds a great deal of optimism for the mild category

For Masham-based T&R Theakston in North Yorkshire, mild, as a category, has been very resilient considering the turbulence of the marketplace. Simon Theakston told Club Mirror that mild was holding its own in relation to the rest of the marketplace, but added that it was in ‘long term gentle decline’. Having said that, he pointed out that mild volumes were consistent and predictable and that the overall picture was not as bad as people think.

“Beer brands within beer sectors need continuous support in order to sustain long-term viability. As a category the industry support for mild has not been there as much as it should and as a consequence decline can only be expected,” Theakston said.

Theakston is one of the few brewers to produce a dark mild that has national availablility and Simon Theakston is understandably proud of this.

He accepts that mild is not a preferred drink among young consumers, but doesn’t rule out a resurgence in popularity if the circumstances are right. If emphasis is placed on the taste of mild beers and the fact that it is lower in alcohol, it could well appeal to new audiences. CAMRA support for ‘Mild Month’ can only help.

As for whether or not mild could ever be considered a ‘trendy’ drink, Simon says ‘never say never’.

“In trade terms, not many brewers actually advertise mild; we’re probably one of the last serious advertisers in What’s Brewing, but as long as there is a healthy demand for the brand then we will continue to fully support it,” he said.

Across the Yorkshire border in Lancashire, thriving microbrewer-turned-small regional, Moorhouse’s is very optimistic towards its Black Cat Mild.

Managing director David Grant said that Black Cat was holding its own at the present time, with volumes roughly similar to this time last year. He said that there are more mild ales around these days because of the increasing number of microbreweries producing them and that any resurgence in the category would be driven by the microbrewers.

According to Grant, the current economic climate will benefit mild as it is traditionally less expensive than other ale categories. Furthermore, because mild ale tends to be lower in strength than other beers, it is an ideal ‘session’ drink. “We have pressure on us to move mild up from 3.4 per cent to 3.8 per cent abv, but we’ve resisted moves to do so. It’s still one of the better milds on the market even though we don’t call it mild, just Black Cat,” Grant said.

Moorhouse’s Black Cat mild ‘sits well’ with the Lancashire brewer’s portfolio of cask ales. Grant said that getting cask ale back into the clubs was one of his priorities and that, bearing in mind the age profile of most club members, mild should do well. “At the moment it is just trickling along,” he said, adding that Black Cat was Moorhouse’s ‘most flavoursome’ product. “Some would say too flavoursome,” he said.

Mild has plenty of character and taste
Quoting British Beer & Pub Association (BBPA) data, Marston’s Dave Percival said that sales of mild were down by 16.4 per cent at the end of 2009 when compared with the same period in 2008. He said that while the category tends to have an ‘old man’ image, work needs to continue on educating the drinker as to why mild is so-called. “The name came from mild’s lower level of hop bitterness and not a lack of character or taste,” he explained.

Mild’s characteristic lower abv when compared to other beers might have held it back in the past, but as consumers look for lower strength products, mild might make a comeback. Percival believes that mild would benefit from increased trials that would help drinkers to ‘understand and appreciate its qualities and easy drinking nature.’

Mild ale is the traditionally preferred beer style of the West Midlands, according to Percival, and for this reason, Banks’s, the largest brewery in the region, is returning Banks’s Original back to its original name of Banks’s Mild.

Banks’s is re-launching Banks’s Mild with a new pump clip depicting the brewery’s heritage and dedication to fresh, local ingredients. The new clip, which features images of the local ingredients and a padlock, representing the strength of local industry, has been designed, assembled and finished by craftsmen from the Black Country. The clip also revives the Banks’s motto - Fide et Fortitudine - meaning ‘faithful and strong’, which has been around since Banks’s Mild was first brewed in 1875.

“We are also celebrating Banks’s fresh natural taste with new point-of-sale material, including drip mats, bar runners and dimpled glasses,” said Percival, adding that mild is very much an on-trade product. He said that the mild market will never return to its former glory. “But expect rates of decline to slow as more interest in shown in the category,” he concluded.

In celebration of CAMRA’s Mild in May campaign, Marston’s will be offering three guest milds during May (Jennings’ Tom Fool, four per cent abv; Marston’s Merrie Monk, 4.5 per cent abv; and Hansons Classic Mild, 3.3 per cent abv).

Two milds from Fuller’s
Traditional London brewer Fuller, Smith & Turner is very supportive of CAMRA’s Mild May and this year has introduced Gales Festival Mild (4.8 per cent) and Fuller’s Hock (3.5 per cent). Both are available throughout April and May.

In Yorkshire, the Acorn Brewery is rolling out two mild ales – Lightness and Darkness – for the Mild May celebrations.

Lightness (3.6 per cent abv) is brewed with Maris Otter and crystal malt and British Fuggles hops and is described as a golden Pennine style mild. Darkness is also brewed with Fuggles hops together with black and crystal malts to produce a dark red aromatic beer that, Acorn claims, ‘meets the growing demand for premium strength brews in the mild sector’.

According to Acorn’s head brewer Dave Hughes, “We always support the Mild in May celebrations with Darkness, but this year we looked to the heritage of the Yorkshire Pennines to brew this traditional style of ale which was once very popular with workers in the north’s heavy industries.”

Acorn supplies over 300 free trade outlets across Yorkshire, the North West and the North Midlands and throughout the UK via national wholesalers.

Choice from Hobsons
Shropshire microbrewer Hobsons produces Hobson’s Mild, a 3.2 per cent abv product that is performing well at present and attracting more female drinkers, according to director Nick Davis, because of its low gravity. “Our sales are growing because traditional low-gravity milds are quite desirable,” he said, adding that consumers want to downgrade on alcohol but retain flavour. “And Hobson’s Mild has bucketloads of flavour,” said Nick.

Hobson’s Mild won CAMRA’s Champion Beer of Britain in 2007 and hasn’t really looked back since. Hobson’s supplies pubs and clubs within a 50-mile radius of the brewery and has been brewing its mild for the past seven years. In addition to its cask mild, the product is bottled and renamed Postman’s Knock; this 4.8 per cent abv product is more of a porter, according to Nick.