Britain’s Dark Mild Beer Style Is Making a Craft Comeback

Come back you say? It never arrived and there are zero indicators pointing towards its debut.

Here on the east coast there is basically one DM that hits a semi-wide distro, and that is Yard's Brawler, and its no longer touted as a dark mild.

The style doesn't bode well outside of cask - and English ales are a pretty dead subset of beer culture in the US anyway.

Back in the 90s and 80s American microbreweries beer looked to England for inspiration, but that inspirations died a brutal death

 

Last night my wife finished her growler of Dark Mild from our local brewery. It is pretty tasty for <4% ABV. I'm more partial to their Pub Ale, which is a Strong Bitter at 5.4%. There are British style beers out there if you look beyond all of the IPAs.

 

I work for a New England craft brewery and although I love the style and hope for more offerings in this and adjacent styles, I have to emphatically disagree with the thesis of that article. This is a style that modern drinkers, especially those who have grown up with a familiarity and liking for strong hop flavors have little to no interest in.

 

Everyone always hypes Revolution Brewing's barrel series (and yes yes, they are great) but to me their Workingman Mild is a real gem. Love that damn beer. A true "social" pint that one can enjoy and converse over many hours.

 

WIsh it were widely available in regular cans, but I know I saw something fly by (today?) that Rev was going to CROWLER Workingman, so there's that. I could easily put down 32 ozs of less than 4% beer.

 

I am a fan of beers like Dark Mild and Bitters but I can't agree it is re-surging. I am lucky to be able to drink the Dark Milds of Yards and Forest & Main but there are not a lot of choices of Dark Mild out there. The flagship beer of Yards used to be ESA (Extra Special Ale) which is a Bitter Ale but this beer just does not sell well for them; basically just a brewery taproom item now.

Yes, craft lagers (especially Pilsners) are selling well but I am not seeing commensurate sales for beers like Dark Mild or Bitter Ales.

On a related matter in a week or two I will be homebrewing my annual batch of a Bitter Ale. I have to brew this beers if I want to drink them.

Cheers!

 

In my own limited experience I've seen milds and bitters brewed in a several local breweries.
A trend? Probably not. I can hope that it will be.
Every one thought lagers were dead, until Craft brewers wanted to drink them, a small resurgence occurred and I'm thankful for that.
I hope this classic style will reach a new audience. We'll see.

 

There seems to be a demand for lower ABV Beers, a malt forward, low hops offering sounds good to me.
I hope this style gains some traction, I would like to try one sometime.

 

If this forces Revolution to FINALLY get Workingman Mild on over to the production facility so they do a run of it on the canning line. YAY!

 

It’s out there. This brewery- Smoky Mountain Brewery has a Brown Ale in tap as a mainstay and it’s my favorite!!

 

Its dead even in its ancestral homeland

 

Cool but it isn't a Dark Mild, is it?

 

Still don't see the Dark Mild style at many places, but more often than not when I'm in the Louisville area I stop at New Albanian Brewing across the river in New Albany, Indiana and get this one if they have it: https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/2504/10836/

Not sure if they still do it, but I think one day a week (Tuesdays maybe) they have a session beer day and any of their session brews are a $1 off a pint.

In general, I wish more places would have a good lower ABV option and I'd like to see more mild ales.

 

The last one I had was Cains Dark Mild. Over 8 years ago.

 

It seems to me that IPAs have a strong following as the style continues to morph from the original English iterations. I love Meantime IPA still. The inspiration is not dead.

 

I suppose that I could drink more Saddle Bronc Brown from Black Tooth since it was entered as a Dark Mild at the GABF.

 

That happens more than you'd think. In this particular case I bet that the brewery figured it would be an easier sell as a brown.