A Celebration of Cask Mild
Where to find Mild by brewer
May is Mild Month
Every year, CAMRA celebrates May by promoting Cask Mild, one of the long-standing beer styles unique to the British Isles. In the Keighley & Craven Area we actively campaign for Mild beers during May. Look out for our Mild tour of Keighley on 8th May 2010. For several years we ran a pub trail entitled 'Take A Walk On The Mild Side' which was hugely successful. Now it is a major focus of campaigning at Skipton Beer Festival. Mild Month runs from the 1st to the 31st of May.
What is cask mild?
Mild beers are normally characterised by being brewed with less hops
than bitter beers and often using darker malts. Some may also have
added sugar or caramel to provide their typical dark colour. Not all
milds are, however, dark. Taylor's Golden Best is a classic light mild.
Milds are generally speaking the lowest gravity beers brewed, apart
from some unmentionable tinned supermarket beers. They are therefore
light and easy to drink, hence the name Mild, and they make excellent
session beers. You can have a sociable evening out with friends and
consume several pints of most cask milds without falling over or
worrying about getting to work the next morning.
While it is certainly true that one or two unscrupulous brewers may use fewer and/or inferior ingredients in their milds, resulting in sweet, bland tasting beers, most milds are outstanding beers in their own right. Some locally available excellent examples include Rudgate Ruby Mild, which was voted Champion Beer of Britain 2009, Moorhouses Black Cat, which was voted Champion Beer of Britain 2000, Taylor's Golden Best and Thwaites Nutty Black. Hobsons Mild, from Shropshire, sadly not available in Yorkshire, won Champion Beer Of Britain in 2007
However, it is a misconception to think that all Milds are low in strength. A number of new Strong Milds have been launched in recent years. These include such delights as Rudgate Ruby Mild and the infamous Sarah Hughes Dark Ruby Mild. You certainly could not last a full session on the last of these!
In Scotland mild beers are often referred to as 'Light' or 60/-. The 'light' refers to their gravity not their colour. They are extremely rare in cask form now and Belhaven 60/- is probably the only one available, and that comes out rarely.
Prize-winning milds
At the Great British Beer Festival, held each year at Earls Court in London, judging takes place for Champion Beer of Britain. Milds are judged in a class of their own. In 2009 the winning Mild was Rudgate Ruby Mild from Tockwith near York. This went on to win the Champion Beer of Britain award in the overall final, beating the winners of all the other beer categories judged. In 2003 the Gold Medal for Mild was awarded to Lidstones Rowley Mild from Suffolk. The brewery has since moved to North Yorkshire and now trades as the Wensleydale Brewey. Look out for this at the brewery's pub, the Three Horseshoes in Wensley, not too far out of the Keighley and Craven area. In 2000, the Gold Medal went to Moorhouses Black Cat from Burnley, which went on to win the overall Champion Beer of Britain, the first time a mild had won the accolade for 20 years. Timothy Taylor's Golden Best has won the Gold Medal in the mild category in the past.
The strong milds (greater than 4.4%ABV) are judged separately at CAMRA's National Winter Ales festival held in January.
Pubs Selling Cask Mild on a regular basis in Keighley & Craven :
(Apologies for any omissions or mistakes - if we've got any wrong, why not contact us to let us know.)
Practically all Taylor's tied houses sell Golden Best, a light-coloured mild. For a list, try Timothy Taylor's own web-site. In addition, Golden Best can be found in a number of free houses in our area.
Taylor's Dark Mild is being actively promoted by the brewery and should be available at: The Dog and Gun, Sutton-in-Craven; Fleece Inn, Haworth; Boltmakers Arms, Keighley; Brown Cow (summer only), Keighley; Grouse Inn, Oldfield; Woolly Sheep Inn, Skipton.
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Tetley Mild is available at the Railway in Skipton; the Foresters Arms, Grassington; Broughton Road Bowling Club, Skipton.
Tetley Brewery is scheduled to close in 2011, so what will happen to these two milds then is anyone's guess.
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Moorhouses Black Cat occasionally appears at the Narrow Boat, Skipton, and the Cricketers Arms, Keighley. It has also been seen at the Elm Tree, Embsay and the Swan, Addingham.
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Copper Dragon Black Gold is often available at Cross Keys, East Marton, Blue Bell, Kettlewell, Crossroads Inn, Crossroads, Keighley and the Dragon Bistro (Brewery Visitor Centre) at Snaygill, Skipton. It makes frequent appearances at the Royal Shepherd, Skipton. You may also find it at the Narrow Boat, Skipton and other outlets which often have Copper Dragon beers.
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Jennings Mild can be found at the Narrow Boat, Skipton and Haworth Old Hall on occasions.
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Theakston Mild is usually available at the Marquis of Granby, Riddlesden and has in the past been available at the Cavendish Arms, Embsay.
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Thwaites Nutty Black is usually available at the Craven Heifer, Stainforth and is sometimes available at the Golden Lion, Settle (summer only), and occasionally at the Narrow Boat, Skipton.
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Websters Green Label Best, another light-coloured mild can be sampled at the the Swan, Carleton.
Naylors Pinnacle Mild is mainly found at the Old White Bear, Crosshills.
