With the start of May it is officially “Mild Month” and CAMRA Vancouver is celebrating on Saturday, May 21 from 1-5pm with the Mild May Cask Festival at by The Belmont. Our guest blogger, Adam Chatburn of Real Cask Brewing is here to let you know all about #mildmonth and exciting local events to celebrate!
So, what is a Mild you ask?
A Mild is basically a light form of Porter, it’s brewed quickly and is meant to be 
drunk fresh. Brewed with lots of caramel malts to give that nut-brown flavour and only a small amount of bittering hops.
In the 1960s Mild was the most popular beer style in the UK but as the foreign keg lager revolution arrived with heavy advertising and “exotic” marketing, the humble mild fell from popularity quickly and by the 1990s it was almost completely gone from the south of England – the North & Midlands held out a little longer but by the early 21st Century it was in danger of becoming extinct as a commercial style like so many other historical British ales.
However, just as the death-knell was beginning to toll, milds were thrown a lifeline by CAMRA UK, who have an annual campaign called #mildmonth each May where every pub is encouraged to have a mild on tap all month. Last year the campaign spread to the USA with 45 breweries getting involved. This year we few mild enthusiasts have brought it to Canada for you to enjoy!
To celebrate #mildmonth Callister and Real Cask have made 20oz pints of Mild just $5 all month as long as they promise to post with the hashtag #mildmonth! Also throughout May the legendary Alibi Room are keeping Real Cask mild on their beer engine.
CAMRA BC’s regional branches have also been exceptionally supportive with Mild Cask nights being held in Powell River, Victoria and Penticton. Vancouver has even scheduled a cask festival at The Belmont on Granville Street on May 21st featuring one-off mild casks from Doan’s, Moody Ales, Raven’s and more! CAMRA Member tickets are only $20 and feature a 6oz sample of every cask – any casks you like can be ordered in bigger glasses too. For more information about this awesome event check CAMRA Vancouver’s Eventbrite! To see a list of all of the #mildmay events happening in BC, click here.
So next time you (or anyone) is looking for something light but dark, tasty but not hoppy, full-bodied but not heavy, malty but not sweet and not too boozy repeat after me: “Make mine a Mild!”
Adam Chatburn
Brewer, Real Cask Brewing.
Leave a Reply