I found Denny drinking a 10% beer while discussing fine tuning his Mild an interesting juxtaposition. 
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Mild in 1890 was 10% ABV, also straw yellow and hopped enough to take the enamel off your teeth. In 1950 it was dark brown, sweet, and 3% ABV on a good day. I'm fine tuning my own to pre WWI specs, somewhere midway between (which confusingly in the later 20th century was called old ale.) Mild is fascinating, because it can be almost anything you want, because it has been almost anything you can imagine, except dry hopped and aged on Brett. That's what originally distinguished mild ales from stock beers. A brewery could have perfectly varied lineup just brewing milds from multiple decades!* I bet Denny's rendition of the later style beats the pants off the stuff they had in England in the late 20th century. I've noticed that many of the craft brewed milds in the UK nowadays tend toward the 19th century model, so full circle.
*EDIT. I would really enjoy seeing this. I am fundamentally a flagship, old style guy who rarely is inclined to drink any kind of IPA or non-beer-flavored beer. When you're ready to start shaking canes, Drew, I'll be at your side. (If Denny lends me a cane.) I have anyway, to my horror, at least once actually uttered, "hey you kids get off of my lawn!" Fascinating conundrum, whether consumers or distributors drive the proliferation of SKUs in trendy styles. Another thought provoking layer to an ongoing problem.
Topic: Experimental Brewing Podcast 86 - Resolving the Secret of the Hop (Read 948 times)
