Brew Files 120 - Dark Mild

General Homebrew Discussion
1

I posted this question on Experimental Brewing’s FB page, but I’ll echo it here because there’s a decent concentration of South / Southeastern brewers on this forum, and I’m curious whether I’ll get a different take from the different audience…

While I admit they run about 2% ABV too high, is there otherwise a fundamental difference between a Dark Mild and what I’ll call a Southern Brown Ale? I’m thinking of (for example) Lazy Magnolia’s Southern Pecan Brown Ale, Common Bond’s Brown Ale, Abita’s Turbodog, Third Planet’s Bear Creek Bramber, and so on. They fit many of the same descriptors: an easy-drinking brown ale with a toffee/caramel body often paired with English base malts and yeast and sometimes just a hint of roast.

2

There is only one guy to ask about mild and that’s Ron Pattinson. He has researched and written more about mild than perhaps anyone on the planet.

It would be nice if he had a search box on his website but he doesn’t. There is a list of keywords if you scroll WAY down the page that is mind boggling  but you will find nearly 640 entries for the word Mild… 600 more for Mild Ale… and 80 more for Dark Mild. There is likely some overlap there but nonetheless a lot of info to sift through. His current post is about where mild was found in various parts of the country within the past 50 years or so. Message him and I’m sure he will have an answer for you.

https://barclayperkins.blogspot.com/

3

I personally think a good dark mild uses a more flavorful english yeast than an American brown ale.

4

There’s an easy to miss Google search box on Ron’s website a little above the keywords. Search “let’s brew + mild” for recipes.

5

They are made, but rarely, it seems.  I had one at a local brewpub yesterday - it was outstanding at 3.8% ABV.

6

Thank you for pointing that out. It used to be at the top of the page. I even messaged Ron asking where the search tool went and he wrote back he didn’t remember there being a search tool. He’s a crusty character.

7

I’ve read Pattinson and Cornell extensively. Sutula’s Mild Ale was the second (I think, maybe 3rd) homebrewing book I bought after Palmer.

Maybe what I was trying to say was more that it seems to me that there’s a class (at least regionally) of brown ales that seems almost a spiritual successor to dark milds (as they became in the mid-twentieth century).

Maybe the reports of death of mild ale have been greatly exaggerated; maybe it just morphed slightly.

8

Truck Stop Honey comes to mind. I have always thought there is a sub-style of brown ale down here. I don’t much about milds to compare.

For what it’s worth, I prefer a standard American Brown with a good dose of hops.