British ale

Dark Mild

BJCP 13A

The lost English session beer: dark, malty, gently sweet and barely 3%, designed to be drunk in quantity after a shift. The style with the best flavour-to-alcohol ratio in brewing.

Vital statistics

Each bar is drawn against the full range of all 98 styles

Original gravity

1.030 - 1.038

Final gravity

1.008 - 1.013

Bitterness

10 IBU - 25 IBU

Colour

14 SRM - 25 SRM

Alcohol

3% - 3.8%

Colour also 28-49 EBC

What goes wrong

Confusing mild with weak. It should taste of caramel, toast and light roast; a thin, characterless mild has missed the entire point.

Commercial examples

Brain's DarkGreene King XX MildHobson's Champion MildMighty Oak Oscar WildeMoorhouse Black CatTheakston Traditional Mild

Reference examples of the style, as listed in the BJCP 2021 Style Guidelines. Availability varies by market and year.

Vital statistics as published in the BJCP 2021 Style Guidelines. Checked against the published guidelines.

Brew it

A recipe on this site brewed to this style

Every figure below is computed from the ingredients and checked against the ranges above before the page is built.

First batch

Dark Mild

OG 1.034 · 3.2% · 13 IBU

The rest of the british ale family

11A

Ordinary Bitter

3.2-3.8% · 25-35 IBU

11B

Best Bitter

3.8-4.6% · 25-40 IBU

11C

Strong Bitter

4.6-6.2% · 30-50 IBU

12A

British Golden Ale

3.8-5% · 20-45 IBU

12B

Australian Sparkling Ale

4.5-6% · 20-35 IBU

13B

British Brown Ale

4.2-5.9% · 20-30 IBU

Plan a batch to these numbers.

Bitterness Colour Alcohol