Mildly Unhappy with Myself

May was - and as I write still is - Mild Month. Now I like mild, especially a good dark mild with a bit of richness and and a tight creamy head.  And hush the mouth of the contributor to something or other, somewhere, about sparklers, who said that mild (of all things) doesn't need a sparkler. It does.  In fact all cask conditioned dark beer benefits greatly, even if in the best of condition, from being sparkled.  Cast into the outer darkness anyone that tells you differently. Personal preference aside, they know not of what they speak and a thin, headless mild will not attract anyone but the most joyless of malcontents to the genre - and it is a genre that surely needs help and the best of presentation.

Anyway, late to the game through circumstance and laziness, I had a couple of pints of Pictish Black Diamond Mild on Wednesday.  It was lush. Very lush. So much so I regretted my previous two pints and wished I'd noticed it earlier.

I couldn't imagine it unsparkled. Nor should you.

With my usual fecklessness, I didn't take a photo of the beer. Yu'll have to make do with the download from the website.

Paul Wesley, the brewer at Pictish is a tremendous brewer and a very fine fellow. Seek his stuff out. He is a Scotsman too, so bonus.

What's In a Name?

When it comes to modern day mild, plenty it seems.  Many brewers of mild have changed the name of the product to something considered more appealing. One of the first I recall was Brains, whose famous mild was renamed "Dark".  Others have done so including my own local brewery, JW Lees whose award winning mild (GB Mild was Champion Mild of Britain) to Brewer's Dark in an attempt to widen its appeal, alas without much success if local volumes are anything to go by. Resisting this trend though is Joseph Holt whose name resolutely and defiantly remains as "Mild". But the point remains the same, that mild is in deep decline and even Holt's have succumbed to the trend. Where it would once have been unthinkable to go into a Joey's house and find no mild, now it is more or less the norm, though as in the case of JW Lees, stubborn, loyal  pockets of mild drinking remain.

Another factor which needs to be taken into account is that mild, whatever it is called, is sometimes only able to be presented in cask form because of the relative success of smooth dark beer, the volumes of which allow cask beer to be sold where it is still required and without which, there would perhaps be none at all. Smooth and cask beer in these circumstances have a somewhat symbiotic relationship, which is all to the good for us as likes a pint of mild now and then.

Now, oddly enough, this isn't a post singing the praises of mild, though readers of this blog will know I mention it now and then such as in this post. When the Landlady ran the Tavern, my local, she sold Lees Brewer's Dark as a standard beer, though sales weren't high, but our current landlord John sticks to smooth mild beer, while pushing the range of seasonals that Lees brew and, on occasion, the lesser known of Lees standard beers. This was the case last Sunday when on the bar appeared Lees's other mild, Supernova. Now this is a tweaked version of Brewer's Dark, but much fruitier and with a more complex taste profile. On the few times I see it, I buy it. It is lush.  John, our beloved landlord was pushing it for all its worth and it was interesting, in a packed pub, to see so many drinking it, both young and old, women and men.  Whenever I looked up from our table the pump was being cranked and it was good to see so many drinking it. I somehow doubt that if it had been "Brewer's Dark" it would have sold nearly as well. The name helped. A lot.

I believe many regular producers of mild (not all, before someone corrects me) have given up on the name "mild", but this shows that when you have a good beer, the name is attractive and you push it, mild can still sell. OK. It will never achieve the heights it once did, but a swoopable, dark, creamy, cask conditioned beer like this is low calorie, weak in alcohol and can add variety, a great drinking experience and attract itself to new customers.

Mild can sell, so don't overlook it. Two things though. An attractive name helps, but essential is that tight, creamy head.  Watery, flat beer is a general abomination, but much more so when it is dark. Sparkle dark beers, push them a bit and watch them fly out.
  
Brewers Dark  is a fine beer, but publicans reading this, try Supernova and sparkle it.  And readers please remember. Mild beer is for joyous gulping, not sipping.

Very Light Mild

May is Mild Month according to CAMRA, so when I spotted one just coming on in the Regal Moon, I thought I'd give it a go.  Milds, these days at least, are dark. Right? Not so this one which was bang in the middle of in the golden ale ballpark and way off the usual dark brown to black.  It was, as John Torode might say, "a lovely, lovely thing." both to look at and to sup.

Naylor's hail from Yorkshire - Keighley in fact - and their beers are frequent visitors to the Regal Moon. Not hugely hoppy beers, but very well made and they usually have that elusive drinkability that many brewers haven't yet stumbled across.  Northern Mild was just such a beer. Malty and light bodied, it weighed in at 3.8% and was brewed, according to the brewery website, with Maris Otter malt, Crystal Malt and torrified wheat.  The crystal was thankfully well hidden and the beer itself was of the swoopable kind with the Maris Otter providing a deep biscuity lusciousness.


It was a shame I was driving, so one and a half pints was my lot. Recommended.

I do like a dark mild too, but haven't seen much of that locally recently, but the old boys in my local swear by Lees Dark Smooth.   

The beer was crystal clear. Just my crappy photo that gives it the haze and it looked even paler than the photo shows.

Dark Doings

It a bit of neat symmetry, I read the article in the most recent Beer Magazine in which two different CAMRA members argue the case about the merits of supporting beer styles like mild with their own promotion etc. just before I visited JW Lees Horton Arms, a neat pub tucked under the motorway bridge in leafy Chadderton, a two-bus bus ride away from my house. Now the Horton Arms is an old haunt of mine from years ago and it was often referred to when in the Good Beer Guide, as a bit of a country style pub. It attracted a staunchly local crowd and was traditional in internal appearance, with horse brasses and paraphernalia on the walls, a separate room at the side as you went in which often showed sports, a beer garden used mainly by smokers and internally consisted of a number of distinct drinking areas attracting different customer types. It was always bright and gleaming and popular with a mainly beer drinking crowd, although food was available lunchtimes. It has been a Lees tenancy for years.

We'd arranged to meet some friends there as none of us had really been there since it was done up not that long ago - well I had on a busy Sunday where you couldn't really see much of the changes, such was the crowd - and anyway, it just seemed worth checking out. It isn't a million miles form my own local and we all know some of the Horton regulars from our visits there and their visits to our gaff, so an amenable visit was in store. Unusually this pub used to be a bit of a bastion of "mixed" where mild and bitter, half of each, is served in a pint glass. Talking to one of the locals, it still is it seems and back to my original theme, it means that cask mild is available. I decided to have a pint of mild to start with, or rather Brewer's Dark as it is known now. Things started badly with the barmaid starting to pour me Dark Smooth. That was easily sorted out, but here's a tip for publicans selling cask and smooth versions of the same beer: always serve cask if the customer doesn't specify (I did by the way, but you win some, lose some). Not only will it increase cask sales, but it means you sell the more perishable product first. Tell your bar staff this, save money and increase beer quality.  Obvious and simples really?

Now Lees Mild is a former Champion Mild of Britain and this renamed beer is the same recipe.  Boy did it show up well here. Rich, luscious, full bodied with a tight creamy head, it was Guinness like in appearance, though a mile ahead in taste. We got chatting to some old friends and as time passed and the buses were only hourly, hung on longer than intended. I certainly can't remember when I last had six pints of mild in a row, but that was a night I did  - and every one was delicious too. What of the re-vamped pub? Not so much to my taste to be honest and both the rather intrusive "musak" and the vast array of "reserved" signs showed that the emphasis had changed from drinking to eating, with all of the pub, apart from one small area in the corner, now being eating territory only. Reserved signs and knives and forks on the tables ram home the message. The non eating locals and visitors alike were restricted to the allotted non eating corner, or to a row of poseur tables in front of the bar, which just seemed to get in everyone's way. But this, funnily enough,  isn't a criticism as such. I bear in mind that it was a Friday evening and things may well be less prescriptive at other times. You also have to take into account that this is a tenancy and before you blame the brewery, have to bear in mind that changes will be as much the will of the tenant as anything else.  If  it  works for them, pays the rent and leaves some money over, then that is a sound decision.  It is a business after all and while it may not entirely suit me or some others, it clearly suits plenty of folks looking for a good value, good quality place to eat. If tables have to be reserved, its popularity cannot and should not be denied and the food looked great too.

So what conclusions do I draw? Well that mild is still a tremendous and under-rated drink that deserves to be more widely available and if kept as well as it was here, an absolute joy.  So I come down on the side of CAMRA supporting it. Secondly, that while change may be unwelcome in a pub you liked just as it was, it doesn't do to forget that a pub is a business that needs to make money for those that invest in it.  It can't stand still or it will surely close its doors.

Both licensees and customers should overlook that at their peril.

We did, unwisely, step off our bus home (the second of two) a couple of stops early for more beer. A veil should be drawn over that error of judgement.

There is overwhelming support for the changes at the Horton on review websites. 9th out of 212 on Tripadvisor I'd say is a point proven.

Mild and ESB

Two different styles and both controversial in their own way. Mild as Ron Pattinson never tires of telling us wasn't always dark,sweet and low gravity. ESB as all know is a Fuller's invention. Er.. no. Probably Possibly not.

Two photos for you to have a gander at: One shows a famous set of postcards produced by Robinsons of Stockport in the 1930s and 40s. Note that apart from two other beers, they all advertise "Best Mild". Note the colour. Not dark at all, but pale, verging on golden and all with a tight looking creamy head. Makes you re-think mild a bit doesn't it?

The second photo is Mitchell's of Lancaster. Still going, but their own brewery in Lancaster closed some years ago, but they do now own York Brewery.  Oddly, I have a poster of their planned seasonals for the year of closure (1999) but which didn't of course appear. Offers anyone? The photo is of a sign that used to appear outside their pubs. Note the beer styles: Mild, Bitter and Extra Special Bitter. I was told once and don't know if it is true, that theirs preceded Fullers. Anyone know?
 
To study the photos closely, just click on them. You'll see me taking the Mitchell's photo if you look carefully. Call that a bonus. The originals are both on the wall in my study.

I also wrote about Mitchells here.  If you want to goggle in astonishment about ESB, click here for Ratebeer.

Smooth Operator

Didn't I read somewhere recently that smooth beer is getting some kind of makeover? Was it the relaunching of that foul rubbish Caffreys? I think it was. I dislike smooth bitters, as their blandness seems somehow emphasised and not in a good way, by nitogen.  But you know what? I do sort of like - or rather, can just about live with - some smooth beer.

This is brought home to me on quiz nights, as in our leagues, there is a fair sprinkling of both Sam Smith's pubs and some working men's clubs. As a result, they serve smooth beer. I usually have to drive too, so my drink of choice is often smooth mild. Exotic delights such as Chestnut Mild, Sam's Dark Mild, Whitbread Mild, Bass Dark Mild , Hydes and Lees Dark Smooth for example weigh in at around 2.8% - 3.5%, with a lot of them nearer 3%, thus an ideal one for the driver. A couple of pints can be sipped safely over a couple of hours. The beer can often be way too cold, but as I can't have much anyway, I can allow it to warm up a bit, so it ekes it out further.

Not that I wouldn't prefer a cask conditioned version of the same beer presented in top nick, but when you are stuck, it isn't so bad, even as a distress purchase.  Dark milds and stouts somehow tend not to suffer so much from nitrogen dispense and when in London and in Porterhouse Brewing, I am happy to drink my usual nitrogenated Wrassler's XXXX* stout without feeling that it would be better on cask, though obviously I'd love to try it in that form.

Not in London of course. Stout, like mild, without a tight creamy head just isn't the same and they just aren't savvy about that there.

*Of course that is a particularly good beer and not pasteurised, which certainly helps.

Mild for May

I read somewhere recently (can't remember where) about the resurgence of mild as a drink and as a fan of the style, I was pleased to read it, but this endangered species needs active promotion to climb back from its near extinct current state. CAMRA's Make May Mild Month campaign aims to do just that.

Now I am lucky enough to live in an area where mild clings on as a drink you can readily purchase over the bar and am a regular drinker of it, so I do my bit. Back to promotion though. Thus it was I found myself at Lees Brewery early on Saturday morning to launch my CAMRA Branch's contribution to the first day of the campaign. Lees Brewer's Dark is a former Champion Mild of Britain and is very dark, chocolatey and luscious, with a tight creamy head. It drinks very easily indeed. It was a good start to the day and with the first going down at around 10.20 in the morning, a perfect breakfast pint.

The coach then took us on to the Hare and Hounds (The Dogs of Tyson fame) where four more milds awaited us, with Pictish Black Diamond Mild being considered by those present as a very good example of the style. Then to Rochdale and the Baum, where two milds were available (one from local brewery Green Mill being favoured) and the Regal Moon where no less than six were on the bar, ranging from Phoenix Black Shadow -another local beer - to rarer milds from Hook Norton and Allgates. Wisely and thoughtfully, Chris the Manager had dug out the third pint glasses, allowing all the beers to be tasted easily.

Our final official stop saw us at the Ashton Arms in Oldham, newly elected as our Pub of the Year, where more Phoenix was drunk, though two milds were available. All the mild handpumps had pump clip crowners in each venue, urging customers to give mild a try, so hopefully there will be a lasting effect. Not an official part of the trip, but just round the corner, the Squire Knott had a determined show of strength, marking its up and coming status as a cask venue with four more milds. Coach House Gunpowder was my choice, a little stronger at 3.8% and my last drink of the day.

So, at least 16 milds available (and sampled) and all were pretty damn good. Go out and seek some mild this month. I doubt if you will be disappointed.

Another good thing about mild is that it is not as intoxicating as most other beers. After a full day out I was able to go home and follow the sub titled Wallander on TV. Proof I'd say.

Holt's Nine

Ten years ago Holt's Brewery did some special stuff for their chosen charity. I remember paying a fiver to visit the brewery - by and large they don't do tours - and recall visiting the roof where hundreds of hogsheads (54 gallons) were stored. Our CAMRA lot, well some of them, visited nine Holt's pubs on 9/9/99.

Our Membership Sec recreated this yesterday on 09/09/09 and while due to other things I couldn't go on the whole crawl, I joined them for a quick burst of three pubs, two of which I hadn't been in before. The beer was good in all three and I tried both mild and bitter. It was great to see pubs busy at "tea time" and mild flying out across the bar. I haven't drunk Holt's for a little while now, but that'll be rectified. The mild at 3.2% is fairly bitter, but what a good drink. I can't recall the price, but both mild and bitter were substantially under £2 a pint.

For the record, the pubs were:

The Welcome, Whitefield; The Foresters, Prestwich; The White Horse, Prestwich.


The photos were taken last night. The poster just tickled me and was a Fire Brigade warning. Likewise the name of the pub above, still tricked out in Wilson's regalia, amused me too.

Danny Boy

Daniel Thwaites has been brewing in Blackburn for 202 years. Their cask beers are starting to reappear more widely after a long (and most would say unsuccessful) love affair with nitrokeg. Now they are picking themselves up and getting over it. Good.

Though, as is common these days, it isn't actually called a mild, Thwaites have brewed a four per cent cask mild for May. I had some last night at the Bury Beer Festival Organising Meeting. Highwayman is rich, dark, chocolatey with decent roast malt and a creamy head. Most of us drank it.

Must have been all right then.

In Them Thar Hills

Delph, Diggle, Dobcross, Greenfield and Uppermill. Names that would gladden the heart of any brass band follower and also any beer follower that likes a drop or two. Saturday saw a merry band of stalwarts visiting an area of our CAMRA branch which isn't that far away, but isn't that easy to get to, especially if you want to do a few pubs, other than by bespoke transport.

I won't bore you with a dizzying pub crawl, but instead select a few highlights from an interesting day. Great pubs first of all. Pick of a very good bunch was probably our first stop the Royal Oak, set high above Delph amid splendid scenery. They opened specially for us and we enjoyed superb beers from Skipton and Millstone. Mild played a big part in the day too, with splendid versions from Jennings, Moorhouses and Copper Dragon. Surprise of the day for me was the Tetley Bitter in the King William IV - the King Bill - as they say in these parts. Sour, tart, full bodied and delicious. It reminded me very much of the beer in its heyday, but it has to be said, the cellarmanship here was, as our Yankee friends might say, awesome.

We did of course tend to swoop on the pubs mob handed, though all had been advised in advance, but we were treated ourselves to a mass invasion while at the Railway in Greenfield, as a swarm of Carling drinkers dived off a train. Although pissed they were amiable enough, if a little noisy and I'm sure you wouldn't have wanted your maiden aunt to listen to the songs they sang. Still, we shouted above the noise and drank one of the day's highlights, Elland Beyond the Pale.

Any lowlights? Well sort of. Perhaps the two most disappointing beers for me were from two of our family brewers. Robinsons Dizzy Blonde in the Waggon at Uppermill was very well kept, but just lacked a sure touch with hopping to lift it, while for once, Lees Bitter seemed off the mark and a bit one dimensional in the Cross Keys.

The beer of the day? I couldn't put a micron between Jennings Mild and Moorhouses Black Cat. Both were at the peak of condition, served properly - and you know what that means - and just as fresh as a daisy. Lovely.

I had some lovely photos for you. Unfortunately my camera, which I definitely had in the last pub, can no longer be found. Dear day out.

Pub Surveys

Now this isn't my favourite bit of being an active CAMRA member, though it does give me as Branch Chairman, a much needed chance to talk to more licensees. I had five to survey this year and did two at lunchtime. Both were fully up to snuff I am happy to say and well deserved of their GBG nominations. I rarely have a drink on these visits, as I'm driving, but today, a pint of Lees Brewer's Dark was luscious with chocolate and roast malt notes, while Holt's Mild was full bodied, quite bitter for the style, with a dry finish. Two lovely and contrasting local milds. Grand.

I suppose surveying does have its compensations.

Dark Day - Almost

CAMRA business took me to the centre of Manchester yesterday. That meant having a couple of drinks. Two unusual things for me there. One, I don't normally have a drink on a Monday and two, I am almost never in the centre of Manchester on a Monday.

Business done and a comfort break needed I went into a pub I've never been in. Guess what the Bank was before? It is all on one level though and sold three cask beers. A look at the pump clip attachments put one immediate thought into my mind "Nicolsons". Yes it was run by the M&B subsidiary. My last experience of them was in Glasgow where I had a frosty reception. Not so here. The young barmaid was chatty, bright and a real ray of sunshine on a gloomy Manchester day. It makes a real difference you know. The beer choice wasn't so appealing. I dismissed the Rosey Nosey and something else so mundane, I can't even recall what it was and had a half of Ginger Tosser from Skinners. It wasn't bad and it wasn't ginger tasting. A closer look at the pump clip revealed that there is honey in it - one of my least liked ingredients in beer or, indeed, anything. It wasn't that bad is all I'll say, but I'd have left out the honey and put in some ginger.

Walking to the Northern part of the city I nipped into the Angel. A half of Green Mill Dark Side, a mild, was just as good as it was in Rochdale last week in a pub with one other customer. Then the Marble Arch where two halves finished things off. Prospect Brewery of Wigan's Nutty Slack has been getting good reviews recently. Well deserved too, for this fine dark mild, with sweetish undertones, a full body and an appropriate coal dust finish. Marble Chocolate was dark, rich and satisfying and was just enough to lift the experience of being in a very empty pub.

So I'm not missing much on Mondays, but good mild is easy to come by and all beers were in tip top condition. It's great up North. It takes a lot of the guesswork out of pub going when you can depend on the beer.