Dark Mild
Dark mild: the low-strength, malty, dark session ale of the British pub, around 3.2%, served from the cask. Strength, flavour, glass and classic examples.
- Family
- Ale
- Origin
- United Kingdom
- Strength
- 3–3.8% ABV
- Bitterness
- 10–25 IBU
- Colour scale
- 14–25 SRM (28–49 EBC)
- Glass
- Nonic pint
- Serve at
- 10–13 °C
A dark mild pours copper to dark brown or mahogany under a low, off-white to tan head. It is a malt beer: caramel, toffee, toast, nuts, chocolate or coffee, sometimes dried fruit, over a bready base, with just enough bitterness for balance. Most are about 3.2%, and the flavour is generous for the strength.
Where it comes from
Mild once simply meant unaged beer, as against aged, more heavily hopped keeping beers. Today’s milds descend from the weaker X ales of the 1800s, which began to darken in the 1880s and turned dark brown only after the First World War. Most is served on cask; Brains Dark in Cardiff and Theakston Traditional Mild are classic examples.
Brewers use pale British malt with crystal and dark malts or dark sugar, sometimes maize, and a characterful British yeast; the hops hardly show.
How to serve it
Pour it at 10–13 °C into a nonic pint. It goes with mushrooms and game, a mild cheddar or a dark fruit tart.
Next to its neighbours
Some versions taste like a weaker English porter. A mild is much less sweet than a London brown ale.
Dark Mild in numbers
- Classic examples
- Brains, Theakston, Greene King
- Original gravity
- 1.030–1.038
- Final gravity
- 1.008–1.013
- Food
- Mushrooms and game; mild cheddar; dark fruit tart
- Classic examples
- Brain's Dark; Theakston Traditional Mild; Greene King XX Mild; Hobson's Champion Mild; Moorhouse Black Cat; Mighty Oak Oscar Wilde
- BJCP style
- 13A Dark Mild
Sources
Checked .
- 13A. Dark Mild, 2021 Beer Style Guidelines — Beer Judge Certification Program
- English-Style Dark Mild — CraftBeer.com, Brewers Association
