Mild ale

The term "mild" originally meant young beer or ale, as opposed to "stale" aged beer or ale with its resulting "tang". In more recent times, it has been interpreted as having a low gravity or being "mildly hopped".

This style of beer originated in Britain in the 17th century or earlier has a predominantly malty palate. Modern mild ales are mainly dark coloured with an abv of 3% to 3.6%, although there are lighter hued examples as well as stronger examples reaching 6% abv and higher.

Light mild is generally similar, but pale in colour, for instance Harveys Brewery Knots of May. There is some overlap between the weakest styles of bitter and light mild, with the term AK being used to refer to both. The designation of such beers as "bitter" or "mild" has tended to change with fashion. A good example is McMullen's AK, which was re-badged as a bitter after decades as a light mild. AK (a very common beer name in the 19th century) was often referred to as a "mild bitter beer" interpreting "mild" as "unaged".

Once sold in every pub, mild experienced a sharp decline in popularity after the 1960s and was in danger of completely disappearing. However, in recent years the explosion of microbreweries has led to a modest renaissance and an increasing number of milds (sometimes labelled "Dark") are now being brewed.

The Campaign for Real Ale has designated May as Mild Month. In the United States, a group of beer bloggers organised the first American Mild Month for May 2015, with forty-five participating breweries across the country.

"Mild" was originally used to designate any beer which was young, fresh or unaged and did not refer to a specific style of beer. Thus there was Mild Ale but also Mild Porter and even Mild Bitter Beer. These young beers were often blended with aged "stale" beer to improve their flavour. As the 19th century progressed and public taste moved away from the aged taste, unblended young beer, mostly in the form of Mild Ale or Light Bitter Beer, began to dominate the market.

In the 19th century a typical brewery produced three or four mild ales, usually designated by a number of X's, the weakest being X, the strongest XXXX. They were considerably stronger than the milds of today, with the gravity ranging from around 1.055 to 1.072 (about 5.5% to 7% abv). Gravities dropped throughout the late 19th century and by 1914 the weakest milds were down to about 1.045, still considerably stronger than modern versions.

The draconian measures applied to the brewing industry during the First World War had a particularly dramatic effect upon mild. As the biggest-selling beer, it suffered the largest cut in gravity when breweries had to limit the average OG of their beer to 1.030. In order to be able to produce some stronger beer - which was exempt from price controls and thus more profitable - mild was reduced to 1.025 or lower.

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Wikipedia