Comments on: May is Mild Month

By: Stonch

Stonch — Fri, 04 May 2007 11:15:27 +0000

Mine serves as much as an intro to a series of reviews I’ll be doing through the month … so no actual reviews, more a round-up of where to find mild in London right now. Cheers all

By: Knut Albert

Knut Albert — Fri, 04 May 2007 08:02:43 +0000

My post is up!

By: Knut Albert

Knut Albert — Fri, 04 May 2007 07:50:56 +0000

Nøgne ø here in Norway are brewing an Imperial Brown Ale, no less!

By: Alan

Alan — Thu, 03 May 2007 19:05:14 +0000

The UK-US difference, though, is accentuated to a degree by the deviation/evolution of bottled brown from a rich round mild beer to a hoppier one. Is anyone in the US making Extreme Brown? Is that a logical extension?

By: J

Wed, 02 May 2007 19:35:28 +0000

Stan, I heartily agree, and said so, but it’s worth repeating. “The beer may not have the word “mild” written anywhere on the label, but if it’s close to the style parameters then go for it. The idea of Beer Blogging Friday is to be as inclusive as possible so we’re not going to get too hung up on strict style standards — whatever those might be. Find a “mild” beer and join us.”

By: Stonch

Stonch — Wed, 02 May 2007 19:05:31 +0000

J – ah! That explains it!

Still, the American-centric nature of the ratings and style categories on BA in particular have made me chuckle from time to time… who knew that San Miguel is an “American Macro Lager” (whatever that is…)

By: Stan Hieronymus

Stan Hieronymus — Wed, 02 May 2007 18:00:02 +0000

Maybe I’ve been hanging out with Belgian brewers (and their friends) too much, but let’s not get too hung up on the current “style” guidelines.

As CAMRA points out, in the 19th century these beers were much stronger (1.085 at the beginning of the 19th century) and today small-batch brewers are bringing the alcohol level back up.

Rick, I agree about Buzzsaw Brown. A really nice beer, though I wouldn’t call it “not bitter.” But worth praising, and maybe making the Friday beer, because it does drop the abv to session level (US, at least) and wouldn’t be called hop accented.

I remember having the Three Floyds Mild in Sheffield’s in Chicago shortly after it came out. A rather pedantic homebrewer (is that redundant? smile, I’m a homebrewer) handed his glass back to the bartender and said, “This is a mild,” and began to recite the style guidelines.

The bartender did not pause: “Nick Floyd said it was mild for them.”

By: Thomas

Thomas — Wed, 02 May 2007 15:20:54 +0000

I found one at John Harvard’s here in Cambridge, MA so I’ll be participating this month.

By: J

Wed, 02 May 2007 13:37:51 +0000

Stonch,

Sorry to disappoint your laugh, but I removed the English examples that were among the top-rated to help out the Americans. I figured the Brits would have much less trouble finding a mild and wouldn’t need the assistance. Most of the top-rated on both are indeed UK beers, I just filtered them out, though I suppose I should have made that fact clearer.

By: Rick

Rick — Wed, 02 May 2007 12:35:19 +0000

Jay:
I’ve been “hunting” milds for two weeks with no success here in North Carolina.

At last weekend’s World Beer Festival Hapoon was supposed to have a beer they called “Brown Session Ale,” which I figured would be a mild. They did not bring it. Then I stumbled across Natty Green’s Brown, which had many of the taste characteristics of mild — but at 4.4% is out of the range.

I’m heading to Chicago on Friday and plan to look for the Three Floyd’s mild and I also believe that Goose Island sometimes has a mild. Hopefully, I’ll come up with something.

It’s a style worth writing about — if you can find it!

Cheers!
Rick

By: Knut Albert

Knut Albert — Wed, 02 May 2007 12:21:53 +0000

Count me in – I’ll have something up on Friday. On a Swedish mild, no less.

By: Loren

Loren — Wed, 02 May 2007 11:19:51 +0000

Not sure Southern Tier makes theirs anymore. And like 3 Floyd’s version it was distinctly American. But still a great session beer.

Merrimack Mild, from The Tap (Haverhill Brewery) is still my all time fave, although Dann P. is gone so who knows.

Cheers!

By: Stonch

Stonch — Wed, 02 May 2007 11:01:04 +0000

It’s nothing short of comical that BeerAdvocate and Ratebeer’s top rated milds are all from the US…

Anyway…

My understanding is that the name “mild” refers not to the flavour of the beer, but rather the fact that mild ale was relatively immature beer, as opposed to old ale (“mild” is an archaic term for “young”, just as “stout” used to mean “strong”).

By: Tomme

Tomme — Wed, 02 May 2007 03:31:47 +0000

Jay,

The cat is out of the bag. I have already put to bed my post on Dawn Patrol
Dark. I look forward to the GABF this year. I didn’t realize that
they had taken the category out one more step. That is great for
recognition sake. Its own category.

By: Rick Sellers

Rick Sellers — Wed, 02 May 2007 03:01:07 +0000

Buzzsaw Brown from Deschutes seems to be another widely available option for those west of the Rocky’s. Although, it may be hopped with an American varity. Regardless, it’s a great beer when you can’t find the beers on the list above.

By: Matt

Matt — Wed, 02 May 2007 00:59:08 +0000

Magnolia’s Ruby Mild on cask is quite nice too!

By: Alan

Alan — Tue, 01 May 2007 20:22:14 +0000

All great background. I have found the impulse to connect late 1800s to early 1900s mild to medival unhopped ale a bit problematic as I have found no reference to a record of the two styles actually existing within 200 years of each other – Unger point to ale being dead by about 1650 – but that may well be the fault only of a lack of records or a fault of my choice of reading. I prefer the other explanation (in that better ties into the boom of mild between porter and pale ales) that it was a later VIctorian reaction against the tang of porter or other beers with a “stock” character.