The bland plays on for the mild mannered

Mar 13 2009 by Alastair Gilmour, The Journal

THE range is staggering. In this country, we can choose harvest ale, brown ale, old ale, strong ale, pale ale, light ale, lager, barley wine, bitter, stout, porter and export. Even “plain” and “ordinary” have their followers.

Missing from that roll-call, however, is mild. Mild is the Accrington Stanley of beer. It has its supporters, it’s had its ups and downs and people have been known to shed a tear – or at least blink fondly – at its very mention. Mild drinkers can be compared to the 1,308 hardy souls who witnessed The Stans being beaten at home last weekend by mighty Gillingham – vocal and committed in their own corner but overwhelmed when the Gills are decanted. Apart from a mention every Saturday teatime by James Alexander Gordon on Sports Report, would anybody notice if the club slipped back into the Lancashire Combination where it wallowed for several years? And, it’s the same with mild.

Several breweries, many individuals and organisations such as the Campaign For Real Ale (Camra) have worked hard to resuscitate the style and, bravely, there are a few versions being produced. Camra has designated May as Mild Month and is encouraging its network of branches to celebrate by hosting public events in their area. The organisation goes to a lot of trouble in promoting it, pumping life into it and raising its profile far above its station, but the truth is, hardly anybody north – or south – of mild’s Midlands epicentre produces it, let alone drinks it. As for the rest of the nation, it benefits from a pocket of resistance in the North West – like Accrington Stanley – but there are those who would say that in the North East, publicans couldn’t give mild away. Possibly as an indicator of its regional status, Camra’s mild web link displays: “North East: No Mild Month events have been submitted in this area.”

Having said that, a mild ale with an alcohol content of just 3.2% was named Britain’s best beer in 2007. Hobsons Mild overwhelmed more than 50 other brews at the Great British Beer Festival, praised by judges for its hop character and “complex layers of taste”.