No mild has reached great prominence largely because the style is hard to categorise.  

Unlike porter, stout, pale ale, double brown, barley wine and of course IPA, milds were never exported around the world to any great degree in the days of Empire, and so therefore did not really take root elsewhere.

In the US, which for many years was the great style innovation hub, the word has been used to market lower-hop, usually sweetish, typically brown ales, but only as a brand type, not as a faithful recreation of a style. There was even a fad a few years back for imperial mild, a super-strong version.  

Martyn Cornell notes that a traditional mild can be found in Europe. Brewed since 1928, Farsons Blue from Malta was originally made for the many thousands of Royal Navy, British Army and RAF personnel stationed on what was an important base until as late as 1979.

Farsons Blue is a top-fermented darkish beer made, certainly until recently, with mild malt, that is, one dried slightly darker, at 4.7 per cent ABV (it used to be 4). Since 2016, it has also been available as a nitro-dispense draught beer as well as in bottles.

Tim Webb (pictured) is a member of CAMRA’s Technical Advisory Group and is the author of CAMRA’s Beer Breaks, plus co-author, with Stephen Beaumont, of The World Atlas of Beer 

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