Dark Mild?

This sort of came up in another thread and I didn't want to post it there and take it off topic, to be honest.

But I've brewed Porters, Robust and Brown. The Milds I've had have been quite mild or too chocolatley, ime. "Dark Mild" is not familiar to me. I've spent a fair bit of time in the UK actually, with the service, but really don't recollect this style. Looking at a few recipes, it seems like a Robust Porter but low grav; sweeter than a typical mild? is that about it? Looking at the BJCP style for Mild encompasses Dark Milds, but that category is all over the place from bitter/roasty to malty/sweet.

Anybody have thoughts on the style? good examples? roasty, stoutish or sweet, porterish?

A mild comes under the "English Brown Ale" category. They are considered lower ABV beers, copper to quite dark brown. The roast character tends to be missing, or lightly roasty compared to something like a brown porter. They probably came about from being a "mild" version of a brown porter.

My basic Dark Mild recipe is as follows (percentages are rounded off):

80% Base Malt*
5% crystal 120
5% pale chocolate
2.5% victory
2.5% cara45
2.5% Flaked Oats
<2% chocolate

*Base malt - I have used various combinations. 100% Golden Promise, 100% Maris Otter, 100% Briess Ashburne Mild, 50/50 Maris otter/Ashburne Mild. All were good in their own ways.

Hop to 18-20 IBU's with 1 addition of EKG at 60 minutes

I have used two yeasts - 1469 is what I usually use. But, I also use 002 sometimes. Both are good. 1469 gives more yeast character and more complex flavors I think.

Gravity comes in around 1.040 or a bit under.

Definitely one of the "house" favorites among my friends. Usually about 4 weeks grain to glass and it is ready to roll.

Yooper said:

They probably came about from being a "mild" version of a brown porter.

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I've read that the style actually predates porters and that "mild" just generically referred to a young, low ABV, low hopped beer.



It's personally a style I've grown to enjoy. Very flavorable, extremely sessionable, cheap to brew (low OG and little hops), quick turn-around, etc...

I always have azscoob's Reaper's Mild on tap: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f67/reapers-mild-1st-place-2011-hbt-competition-239228/

thanks for the replies. good food for thought. It seems like it can be a little cousin of a few things; just, essentially, less of everything. lower OG, lower hop, but you could tailor it to have a hint of sweet finish or roasty finish, etc., if you like and still be to style? I guess this is milds in general. Most of the milds I've had were really bordering on brown nothing. Very little maltiness or sweetness or sharpness from darker/roasted grains. No hop bitterness; say, 15 IBUs?

Some good info on the history and production of the style over at Shut Up About Barclay Perkins:

http://barclayperkins.blogspot.com/2008/05/short-history-of-mild.html

http://barclayperkins.blogspot.com/2009/10/dark-mild.html

Great stuff, thank you very much. I'm always very interested in the history of the styles. I've seen mention before of "milds" being fresh or young beer, like AZ_IPA mentioned. It would seem, historically, that mild was a description of the fresher taste. I'd expect it was much milder in flavor than an old porter that has oxidized, dried up from Brett, and likely soured.

A lot of milds in the UK are brewed from very simple recipes, often just pale, crystal, and a touch of chocolate malt. Or with invert syrups. Certainly what most craft beer drinkers would consider "boring beer."

What we Americans call milds - brewed from a laundry list of ingredients - are so far from the norm, it is a real shame.

I don't know a ton about this style, but I brewed up Northern Brewer's Dry Dock SS Minnow Mild a while back and enjoyed it quite a lot.

In fact, SWMBO (who doesn't even really like beer) liked this one and wouldn't let me have any of the last 6 or so. She hoarded them. She wants me to brew it again. :rockin:

bierhaus15 said:

A lot of milds in the UK are brewed from very simple recipes, often just pale, crystal, and a touch of chocolate malt. Or with invert syrups. Certainly what most craft beer drinkers would consider "boring beer."

What we Americans call milds - brewed from a laundry list of ingredients - are so far from the norm, it is a real shame.

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I recently made a dark mild with the following grist:
83.3% Pale Malt, Maris Otter
8.3% Brown Malt -
8.3% Crystal Malt (77°L; Crisp)

Bramling Cross hops at 60, 30, and 10 minutes

Turned out pretty awesome. (of course, I also used maple sap instead of water and made it a Strong Dark Mild of ~8%...so I guess it's not technically true-to-style )

Yooper said:

A mild comes under the "English Brown Ale" category. They are considered lower ABV beers, copper to quite dark brown. The roast character tends to be missing, or lightly roasty compared to something like a brown porter. They probably came about from being a "mild" version of a brown porter.

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There is no historical connection between Dark Mild and Porter. Mild Porter was called . . . Mild Porter, or Running Porter. Porter and Mild weren't even considered to be in the same family in the 19th century: Mild was an Ale and Porter a Beer.

Dark Mild hasn't been around for all that long, only appearing around 1890 or so.

On JBK there is an excellent thread with modern mild grainbills, worth looking at to see the variety used.

http://www.jimsbeerkit.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=56335&hilit=+dark+mild+grainbill

great post, thanks!

It's wonderfully diverse.