Mild in May 2015

Here we are again on the campaign trail. Got off to a bit of a slow start this year and have had mild in 12 pubs so far.Annoyingly three or four pubs had mild arranged and either it arrived late ot there wasn't stillage available.I managed to drink mild in 10 pubs today.
We left the Horse and Plough in Bingham at 11.30 intending to sail for the Staunton Arms in Staunton but as they sold out of mild yesterday we scrubbed that.The Red Lion in Bottesford greeted us with Navigation's Mayflower , then it was Stathern's turn to suffer our presence.First we enjoyed the Plough's excellent Belvoir Dark Horse but then every drop from this pub is faultless.The Red Lion up the hill had the lovely Rudgate Mild but soon it was time to move on.We found ourselves at the Anchor in Plungar where we had more delectable Belvoir Dark Horse with our lunch.The Unicorn at Langar was the next stop , lovely mild from Brampton , the strongest of the day at 4.9% ABV.
A few miles through the Vale found us at the Golden Fleece in Upper Broughton where the mild was Moreton Mild from the North Cotswold brewery.Gorgeous stuff it was. Just a mile or two down the hill was the Belvoir Brewery where of course it was more Dark Horse. No problem, it's a fantastic brew. The trip ended back full circle at the Horse and Plough in Bingham.

 

I must have had too much mild yesterday when I posted! I completely missed two of our pubs which we visited between Plungar and Langar. Both are in Granby , the village from where all the pubs called "Marquis (or Marquess ) of Granby" got their name.
It was the Marquis first where the luscious Cheval Mort from Brewsters was on. Aptly named by Sara as she feels that brewing mild is a bit like flogging a dead horse! Then a few yards round the corner was the Boot and Shoe, a pub basically unaltered for decades with a wonderful ambience making me feel 50 years younger.Alas, it's due for demolition this summer and will be sadly missed.
Perhaps rwo pubs in a village of 300 remains uneconomic.Anyway, it was Belvoir's Dark Horse yet again.
Also forgot to mention the mild I drank in the Horse and Plough in Bingham, it was Castle Rock's Watson Fothergill brought up straight from the cellar.

 

Nottingham has 79 pubs serving cask mild this month. It isn't difficult to get to and the public transport system in the city is amazing.
http://nottinghamcamra.org/ND/ND127_2015_WEB.pdf the mild Trail starts on page 22* and includes how to get there.
We are sited to the east and south of the city in the Vale of Belvoir.Although not in the Nottingham CAMRA area they support our trail and publish details in the Drinker.In fact they ran a bus trip into the Vale yesterday and we kept on bumping into them

* the rest of the magazine is well worth reading too. It isn't all about Nottingham.

 

Yes, I can't remember how long we have organised a Branch campaign, must be at least 15 years.Some of my incoherent scribblings are here ;
http://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/2014-mild-in-may.174818/
http://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/mild-in-may-2013.86513/
http://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/mild-in-may-2012.15776/

 

Slipped out this lunchtime to the Martin's Arms at Colston Bassett (same village as the Stilton comes from) for a nice pint of Elgood's Black Dog. Popped into the Plough in Cropwell Butler (the vest village to where Cropwell Bishop Stilton comes from) but their Flipside Mild had only just arrived and wasn't ready.I forced down some A

Yes, I can see that now.
Some pubs do extend the period, others may well still have mild on sale after May.Late deliveries, slow sales etc can play havoc with a pub's intentions.
A lot of our pubs struggled to have mild available on May 1st either through delivery problems or simply waiting for a spare handpump.

 

Spent a week on the Norfolk coast , nobody told the pubs that it's Mild in May month. Even the pubs which quite often have a mild on in the summer didn't have any.
Went to my nearest pub this lunchtime and had Tim Taylor's Dark Mild followed by Sara Hughes Rich Dark Ruby Mild.