May comes around again and with it a reminder that one of our national brewing styles is worth seeking out. In Hertford, our 12th annual celebration of the dark stuff beckons and everyone is welcome. On Tuesday 23rd May four of the town’s pubs will be allocating at least one of their handpumps for a Dark Mild – giving us a range of dark flavours that can be found under the banner of Dark Mild.
Our itinerary is:
- 8.00pm Black Horse, West Street
- 8.45pm White Horse, Castle Street
- 9.30pm Old Barge, The Folly
- 10.15pm Old Cross Tavern, St Andrew Street
South Hertfordshire Branch was in the vanguard of Mild campaigning in the mid-1970’s when, with the slogan “Make May A Mild Month”, we fought to save Mild from extinction as the big brewers constricted their brewing operations to the brewing standard bitters. The branch led a successful campaign to save Greene King XX Dark Mild leading to the beer being retained – and it survives today as one of the company’s best beers – if a little hard to find.
Mild still remains a minority style of beer and in these days of golden beers we need to protect and promote it – the perfect counterbalance to a citric ale – or just a great beer in its own right. We would like to see Mild available on a much wider basis but we need to drink it when it is available. Examples include Mighty Oak Oscar Wilde, Rudgate Ruby Mild, Elgood’s Black Dog and Hertfordshire’s very own Tring Mansion Mild. But what will you find on Tuesday 23rd May?