A stroll through the maze of mild

The other day I walked into one of my favourite local pubs and there she was - lusciously dark and dusky. Temptress like, she held my gaze, daring me to get up close and shed the day’s cares. The raven haired barmaid was very pretty too - but it was a pint of magical Black Cat that grabbed my rapt attention.

In fact, the very lovely young lady behind the bar expressed great interest in what I would be enjoying from this black as night pint. So, always ready to help, I gave her some brief tuition in beer tasting with talk of chocolate notes followed through with hoppy bitterness. She seemed to like this.

Anyway, this made me think about mild beers a little more as Camra (Campaign for Real Ale) ran its National Mild in May campaign. A style of beer that held sway throughout the first half of the 20th century, mild fell into the doldrums some years ago. For a time it was written off as an old man’s drink associated with flat caps and whippets – or, possibly worse, Camra anoraks.

But these days it is enjoying a revival. Dark beers generally are still a small percentage of the market, but there are now over 200 mild ales brewed in the UK. More than double the number brewed at the end of the 1900s, this is no doubt something to do with the incessant rise in the number of craft brewers.

However, ale buffs argue about just what should and should not constitute mild ale. Some say mild is a tipple of low strength with a sweetish flavour. This style became very popular with industrial workers of the North and Midlands in the late 19th and early 20th centuries as different malt such as pale, crystal and chocolate became available.

They turned from stouts and porters to a more refreshing, sweeter drink to restore them after a long day in the mill, mine and factory. The trend was pounced on by brewers with tied estates who wanted the benefits of quickly produced ‘running beers’ rather than the long matured - and more costly - stronger ales.

But, going back to pre-industrial revolution days, the reason mild earned its moniker was not about the strength at all but the fact that it was ‘mildly hopped'. In late 1800s and early 1900s all ales were dark simply because the malt was roasted over wood rather coal to produce brown malt and mild ale might be brewed to what we would now describe as ‘premium strength’.

Nowadays many variations are brewed. Acorn Brewery of Barnsley encapsulated the options when it brewed two for the May month focus and reported sales went extremely well.

Lightness (3.6%ABV) is a light golden brew with English Fuggles hops in the style of the golden Pennine mild originally brewed for the north’s mill workers. Darkness (4.2%ABV) is also brewed with Fuggles but with black and crystal malts to produce a dark red aromatic beer.

Harker’s put on a good show for the month. I enjoyed a pint of Magic Mushroom (3.8%) from Derbyshire’s Whim Ales. This is of the lighter variety, with a reddish hue and sweet red fruits bursting through, sherbet even. I don’t doubt that had there been any sons of toil among Harker’s regulars back in Victorian days this would have been very welcome after a hard day spinning the loom.

These days they just spin stories, but this was much enjoyed nevertheless despite – as the beer board said – ‘the slightly disappointing lack of hallucinogenic ingredients’. The name actually refers to the variety of flavour.

I moved on to the Northern Brewing Ma-V-Lus. A deep ruby mild with chocolate notes and gentle bitterness this comes from the Cheshire brewery that glories in the hey day of Northern Soul – can you get the connection here? It is complex ale with five different malts - Maris Otter, Mild Ale malt, chocolate, crystal and wheat –combined with the American Galena hop for strong blackcurrant fruit character and Mount Hood for floral and herby notes. Something to sing about perhaps?

Mild's GBBF triumphs
In the 21st century mild ale has already been voted Great British Beer Festival Champion Beer of Britain three times. The aforementioned Moorhouse’s Black Cat won in 2000, while Worcestershire's Hobson’s Mild triumphed in 2007 and last year York’s Rudgate Ruby Mild took the title. Although these wins may have contributed to the style’s growing in popularity, they are quite different tipples.

Interestingly, some years ago as sales struggled, Black Cat - like Banks Original (still the most popular UK mild) - dropped the mild title in an attempt to shed the perceived image. The recipe was changed to make it darker, slightly stronger and a little more bitter.

Then the Champion Beer of Britain accolade brought many new appreciative drinkers to the brand. Still clocking in at only 3.4% ABV, it delivers chocolate malt, fruity and slight liquorice notes, lightly touched by the trademark Fuggles hops - a highly quaffable pint. Sales were up 11 per cent last year.

Hobson’s is just 3.2%ABV strength. A dark copper coloured ale it has a roasted, nutty, malt complexity. Top beer guru Roger Protz said: “It’s bursting with flavour and, unusually for a mild, has got plenty of hop character.”

Rudgate Ruby at a sturdy 4.4%ABV uses dark, crystal and chocolate malts combined with a unique Yorkshire yeast strain and no less than three hop varieties – Challenger, Cascade and Styrian Goldings - to offer a rich nutty and fruity brew. There are toffee and liquorice notes and quite a bit more bitter edge than the traditional milds of the 20th century.

Then we must not forget the majestic Sarah Hughes Dark Ruby, weighing in at a formidable 6%ABV. In 1921 Sarah Hughes bought the brewery behind the Black Country’s Beacon Hotel and began brewing this rich brew. After lying idle for 30 years the brewery was reopened in 1987 by John Hughes. He continues to brew with his grandmother’s recipe, and it remains a closely guarded secret.

The initial fruitiness mingles with a caramel and toffee flavour, with elements of nuttiness from the roasted malt. At first it seems very sweet, but then a bitter dryness comes through in the finish. The aftertaste is lingering and has a pleasant fruit aspect and more-ish soft malt flavour.

So it seems then that, just as within the bitter category, there is a wide range of strengths and taste for mild too. As the beer buffs argue the toss and the numbers of craft brewers grow exponentially, it looks like the mild revival is set to thrive. We can expect ever more choice on the bar.

Personally I am very keen to do my bit to help this revival. So if you know of any attractive young barmaids in need of some tuition…….

Pubs - what for the future without Gordon?

And so the shouting is over. The wheeling and dealing is done. Gordon is a Gonner. Now it’s the Dave and Nick Show.

With a humongous £900bn national debt, the bankers still in need of a damn good thrashing and a pledge to some £6bn of spending cuts, the coalition government has got big job on its hands. Pubs, you may reasonably think, will be very low on the agenda.

But should they be? Under Labour thousands of pubs closed, but as Gordon and his crew neared their demise there were signs that the arguments for saving our unique national heritage could be just be hitting the spot. There was even a short-lived Minister for Pubs before Labour’s demise. John Healey put in place a 12 point plan to help pubs.

The new lot might be wise to carry this through. Not least because if they can stop the rot and get people back in the pub it may buck up the nation’s spirit a bit.

There are many complex reasons for pubs being in this mess. Aside from the the dire economy brought on my those dodgy bank deals, supermarket beer discounting, the smoking ban and, not least, the stranglehold of the major pub companies have all conspired against the pub in recent years.

Yes, there are some pub companies that are still doing well. Not least Brunning & Price - with a hugely successful 'formula' entirely different to the leased pub model - which is still opening new pubs. But abandoned and shuttered pubs have blighted the land for far too long; places like Calderdale where historic hostelries once thrived, are a national disgrace. Even here, in rural Cheshire, I pen this piece barely a good stone’s throw only from a derelict edifice to this scandalous neglect.

Do we have any reason to be optimistic? Well, during election night we saw David Cameron visit his local in the Cotswolds (ok that’s not Calderdale but it's a start) – and we are told he has been a regular visitor over the years.

Nick Clegg lives in the ‘pub capital’ of Britain – Sheffield. When I chatted with him at Moorhouse’s in Burnley (see photograph) earlier this year he made the right noises about looking closely at the pub co beer tie. This system has been condemned as a highly unjust financial burden for leaseholders that also prevents beer choice for consumers. Maybe Nick can make a difference.

As the Publican trade paper set out the parties' policies just before the election, both Cameron and Clegg were pictured drinking ale. (Brown was pictured empty handed. I don't know if that was significant. Perhaps he just hadn’t had time for pint for a few years).

Next month, with a new budget we will know more about just how the government will treat the industry – still a massive employer and huge source of revenue through duty and national insurance contributions.

There are some differences between the Tories and Lib Dems on pub issues, although they agree on banning low cost alcohol sales, no rise in National Insurance contributions and granting automatic rate relief.

The Conservatives say they would raise taxes on drinks “linked to anti-social behaviour”, although they would reverse Labour’s planned 10%-above-inflation alcohol tax hike. The Lib Dems would review the “ill-thought-through” alcohol tax system, including the beer duty escalator, so it targets bingeing but not responsible drinkers and pubs. Let's hope they can sort this lot out between them.

On the beer tie the Tories are a bit soft, saying the industry should have a chance to implement self-regulation by June 2011, before enforcing a statutory code. The Lib Dems are tougher, proposing a statutory code to ensure tied tenants aren’t worse off than free-of-tie, and asking the Competition Commission to probe the tie.

Meanwhile, the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) has written to the new Prime Minister urging a new pubs minister be appointed.

Mike Benner, CAMRA chief executive,took solace from David Cameron choosing to enjoy a pint on Election Night. And apparently three members of the Cabinet have signed signed the Back the Pub pledge from the British Beer & Pub Association (BBPA). This calls for support for British pubs “as part of efforts to enhance community life and promote economic recovery”. Signatories included the formidable new business secretary Vince Cable, so that’s impressive. More than 400 candidates signed the pledge - 138 were elected.

So maybe there is a glimmer of hope that many pubs and communities across the land can look to a brighter future.

I find that life really is full of surprises. Three months ago at Moorhouse's, showing the political acumen at least equal the other Nick (Robinson) at the BBC, I considered Clegg 'a nice chap but with no chance'.

Mind you, this is par for my political judgement course. I recall, back in the eighties as a young journalist in the North East, I made a similar sweeping judgement on meeting another, rather scruffily dressed, aspiring young politician; bloke called Blair. So you just never know with this funny business of politics. I'm sticking to the beer.