
What has come to fruition is far less jovial. It is now the 21st of May—a mere ten days shy of the closing of Mild Month—and I have not seen, let alone tasted, a single drop of Mild. No Moorehouse Black Cat, no Pretty Things Ale and Beer Project X Ale—1945 or 1838, not even a left over Goose Island Mild Winter.
Nothing—zip—zilch.
Maybe it's because May is the lead-up month to summer, and breweries are focused on lemon-scented wheat beers or zippy IPAs. Maybe pints of amber sweetness don't sell well on 80º days. I think it is more likely that American's don't have a taste of Mild—now or any time of year. For decades American beer has been classified as weak, bland, yellow piss-water, but the American craft-beer movement has embraced the hop. "American-style" has come to mean hoppy and usually strong-er. Those two ideas fly in the face of the humble little mild. Even the Mild's closest American relative the American Brown Ale has turned to the hop-side. There's nothing wrong with a sharp IPA or even the Mild's consort, the English Bitter, but for whatever reason, us Yanks haven't seemed to embrace the simplicity of the Mild.
So where does that leave me? Still Mild-less with ten days to go.
Hey, we only got our first mild of May on Saturday! They're rare here, too.
ReplyDelete(If you get really stuck, half bitter/half stout is a reasonable approximation, and the choice of many mild fans in mildless pubs.)
I'm all over that!
DeleteYou can get Wandering Star "Mild at Heart" on Cask at Mahar's and/or The Ruck.
ReplyDeleteP.S. can you please turn off the damn "captcha"!? X(
DeleteYeah, gonna have to make a stop over at Mahar's.
DeleteCaptcha isn't on, by the way. That's on your end.
1945 X Ale . . . mmmm . . ..
ReplyDeleteThanks for the reminder about English-Style Mild Ale.
ReplyDeleteI checked; my recollection was confirmed. Boulder Beer Co. had their 2010 GABF, Category: 51 English-Style Mild Ale, Gold medal winner-Business Time Mild on tap.
I just returned from a 3p pint. I had been breaking / removing concrete from our patio. I earned refreshment.
20 IBU/4.8% ABV; toasty / roasty malt with a hints of toffee, molassess, and dark caramel. Hint of earthy / herbal hops. Smooth / medium body; dry / crisp finish.
LiG
Jack- My second ever home brew was a dark mild that filled that bill!
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