Brewing History: Dark Mild Ale inside The Pale?

Unless you have been living under a large rock you will be aware of Beer Twitter’s current obsession with Dark Mild ales, and although most of the noise on this topic is coming from across The Small Pond the cry has been taken up in certain circles in Ireland too. Currently there is a scarcity of that style on these shores apart from one notable - in every way - exception from Four Provinces Brewery, although there are probably some that would argue that certain brown ales - and perhaps even porters - are close in many ways to that style.

But it would be a mistake to think that this was a beer that was never popular in Ireland - and I use the word popular in a relative manner, as obviously it was those ubiquitous drinks called stouts and porters that ruled here for much of our relatively short ‘proper’ brewing history. It is probably better just to say that ‘mild’ ales, even dark ones, were being brewed and drunk here in the not-so-distant past. A good example is a beer that is awaiting bottling in my fermenter which was/is a dark coloured XX ale from Perry’s Brewery in Rathdowney in county Laois, that I am fairly sure could only be called a ‘Dark Mild’? Annoyingly the Perry brewing records that I have seen do not record their beers as ‘Milds’ in their records, just X and XX ales, but as I have shown previously the use of the word mild with either a small or large M was in quite common use in Ireland for a long period. Perry’s certainly used the word ‘Mild’ on their bottle labels so they appear to have used one term for the recipes and another for their marketing. (I am aware that ‘Mild’ at one time meant fresh in that same way that ‘Stale’ meant stored/aged but as the language changed I am also sure that over here at least Mild became a word for - well - a mild tasting ale that was relatively low in bitterness.)

With all of that in mind I would like to share an advertisement from The Irish Independent in 1915 for D’Arcy’s Anchor Brewery on Usher Street in Dublin where they specifically point out the colour of their ales:

Here we see that under their O’Connell’s Dublin Ales brand they were selling a Dark Extra Strong ale and a Pale Mild on draught - and let us not forget a rare mention for an Irish Best Bitter for bottling! Allowing for dubious marketing and the leeway that advertisement writers have with the truth this might be a nice mention for a Strong Dark Mild? Even if I am stretching terminology, styles and descriptions to the limit then if nothing else it is a nice record of what D’Arcy’s were brewing at this time. If we look at the table I previously posted on the strengths of Irish beers just prior to this period we can see that O’Connell’s Strong Ale varied from 5.1% to 5.5% in alcohol content and although we should not really make any assumptions as to how bitter it was - and alcohol strength has no bearing on a ‘Mild’ anyway as we know - it still seems to point the finger at there being a draught dark ale available in Dublin at the start of the 20th century that was not classed as porter or stout.

Hardly an earth-shattering find or observation but still of note.

Incidentally, D’Arcy’s were also brewing an ‘I.E.P. Ale’ (East India Pale Ale) in 1907, so they seem to have had a relatively interesting range of ales, although this could be what morphed into the ‘Best Bitter’ from 1915 perhaps? As ever, lack of information on our brewing past leads to much guesswork, 'maybes' and - perhaps - dubious assumptions …

Liam K.

Newspaper images © Independent News and Media PLC. All rights reserved. With thanks to The British Newspaper Archive (www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk). 

(All written content and the research involved in publishing it here is my own unless otherwise stated and can not be reproduced elsewhere without full credit to its source and a link back to this post.)

Greenmount's XXXX Strong Mild Ale

A short one ...

I've mentioned this before on Twitter, but here is a nice advertisement showing Greenmount Brewery in Dublin brewing a XXXX Strong Mild Ale in 1870, and below is a nice facsimile of their Pale Ale label that I found in the Perry's Brewery of Rathdowney files in the local history section of Portlaoise Library.

(I do have more information on the brewery including a write-up and description from 1867, which I'll get around to transcribing at some point!)

Liam

(All written content and the research involved in publishing it here is my own unless otherwise stated and cannot be reproduced elsewhere without permission, full credit to its source and a link back to this post.)

Newspaper image © The British Library Board - All rights reserved. With thanks to The British Newspaper Archive (www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk from whom I have received permission to display here). 

Egan's Tullamore Pale Ale - Beautiful! Bright! Brilliant!

Here's a nice front page advertisement from The Midland Tribune from 1888 for 'Tullamore Pale Ale' brewed by P & H Egan in - obviously - Tullamore in county Offaly. It was 'highly popular' they say and available in 'bright and creamy order' in hogsheads, barrels, kilderkins, firkins, pins and bottles with their own 'Special Pale Ale Label'. Such a range of sizes, and no mention here of other brews, perhaps shows just how popular it was in the town and surrounding area, even though they were brewing both ales and porters from when the refurbished the brewery in 1886 according to other advertisements.

In 1890, two years after that pale ale announcement, they were back with a page-long advertisement that was a call-to-arms to 'Artisans and Labourers' to stop drinking English and Scotch Ale and to drink Irish brewed ales! Nice to see another mention of what I've shown to be the relatively common 'Irish Mild' too, as well as their porter and double stout. 

By the way  they were cheekily calling it 'Burton Pale Ale' in and earlier advertisements in 1887, using that name as a descriptor of its quality and taste we shall charitably say, and in fairness they do explain that it is their own brewing of that 'style' ...

The pale ale was available until 1897 least, and there is plenty more about Egan's of Tullamore online if you're interested.

(Let me know if there are issues reading any advertisement and I can transcribe the contents.)

Liam

(All written content and the research involved in publishing it here is my own unless otherwise stated and cannot be reproduced elsewhere without permission, full credit to its source and a link back to this post. All original photographs are my own and can not be used elsewhere without my consent.)

Newspaper images © The British Library Board - All rights reserved. With thanks to The British Newspaper Archive (www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk from whom I have received permission to display here). 

More Historic Irish Mild Ales! Up North in Coleraine Brewery ...

Just a quick post to flag more Irish Mild Ales - Coleraine Brewery were brewing three different types in Derry in 1859. I haven't delved hugely into the history of the brewery but there was a brewery of the same name operating in 1837 that was being touted as 'long established' when up for sale at this time. This namesake brewery erected or renovated in Brook Street by James Moore, the owner of the town's distillery, and was in the ownership of a Mr. John Topp from Cork from around 1868 but was for sale again by 1871 when said Mr. Topp went bankrupt. It was owned by Robert Taylor, the then owner of the distillery by 1873, when I lost sight of it - but in truth didn't look very hard...

But back to to beers - we have:

Mild Bottling Ale

XXX Mild Ale

XX Mild Ale

Pale India Ale ('highly hopped is stated here in other advertisements.) 

Pale Table Ale

Table Beer

Which is a nice range by anyone's standard and not a porter to be seen at this point! (Although an article around this time does mention that the hope to commence brewing it shortly thereafter, and they were advertising XXX, XX and X porter by 1863.)

From another advertisement, where they were selling hops and malt to bakers, we can gather that the were using Kent hops and Chevalier pale malt - as both are mentioned - but apart from the usual occasional local plaudits for the quality I don't know much more about these beers.

Anyway, nice to see more old Irish Milds out and about!

Liam

(All written content and the research involved in publishing it here is my own unless otherwise stated and cannot be reproduced elsewhere without permission, full credit to its source and a link back to this post.)

Newspaper images © The British Library Board. All rights reserved. With thanks to The British Newspaper Archive  -www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk  - where most of the information I've complied here was sourced.)

Another Historic Irish IPA and Mild Ale Sighting - Nugent's Brewery, Drogheda, Co. Louth

I've become somewhat obsessed with historic Irish ales in recent times, and although the world and the marketeers in the larger breweries - plus some smaller ones - seem to be focused on the quasi-legendary 'Irish Red Ale', my focus is on something paler and certainly less well-known. Those who follow me on Twitter have been afflicted by my tweets on the subject from time to time but when I spotted an advertisement for yet another historic Irish IPA (I've found many at this point.), with a Mild thrown in for luck, in The Drogheda Conservative in 1866 it seemed liked something I should commit to a blog post.

Back in the day - early to mid 19th century to be precise - Drogheda Ale was well known and lauded by many, including William Makepeace Thackeray who wrote in 1842 that it was both a ubiquitous and 'praiseworthy' ale. A voice closer to home a decade later, John Francis Maguire, even goes as far as to say that Drogheda Ale, along with Cork Porter and Dublin Stout, was 'well known and highly appreciated outside Ireland.'

Indeed in May 1866 the following article appears in a Drogheda newspaper...

Our ancient town is justly famous for many things in the manufacturing line, but in no branch has it obtained so wide celebrity as in the brewing of ale. No ale made in any establishment throughout the united kingdom bears a higher character, or is more deservedly prized, than that produced in Drogheda. Hundreds of thousands of casks are exported annually the sister kingdoms, to America, India, and the continental countries ; and the high estimation in which the beverage is held is sufficiently indicated in the fact that demand far exceeds the supply. But Drogheda, until few years back, confined exclusively the brewing of sweet ale, which established a solid reputation for strength and purity wherever they obtained a footing.

It's nice to see in writing that an Irish Ale - not a Stout or Porter - is so widely exported and held in such high esteem, even if we do take writeups like these warily given they were written 'in house', so to speak, by locals.

I suspect that most of that ale was brewed by Cairne's Brewery on the south bank of the river Boyne, the site of which is now - depressingly - a shopping centre, and probably some from Casey's on West Street and Stockwell lane in the centre of town too - perhaps some of the beer from Castlebellingham up the road was also included under the general term 'Drogheda Ale'. (I'm not sure about this, as their ales were normally flagged as 'Castlebellingham Ales'.)

But back to my latest find, and the first mention I have of this establishment, known as Mell Brewery, is when it was in the ownership of Symes & Co, who were advertising strong and mild ales from 1861. The brewery was situated on the north bank of the river Boyne at the western end of Trinity Street in Lower Mell on the outskirts of the town of Drogheda. They went into liquidation in 1863 although some retailers were still advertising ales and table beers under the Symes & Co name up to 1865...

By 1865 the brewery was under new ownership with Messrs. Nugent & Co at the reins and there cunning plan was to brew something different to their competitors - India Pale Ale. In 1866 the following advertisement appears in a local newspaper.

As we can see they are brewing an India Pale Ale and a Mild Ale and here we have our old friend Charles Cameron popping up yet again to give us his opinion on them, with the IPA being 'brilliant, sparkling and of a most agreeable flavour' and 'equal to the best specimens of Burton-on-Trent Ales...' If we take it at face value then it is high praise indeed but the mention of Mild Ale is in one way much more interesting as it once again highlights that Ireland did brew Milds. Cameron's remarks it being 'free from nauseous sweetness' and that it includes a high percentage of alcohol, the former statement giving us an insight perhaps into what Drogheda ales et al were like at this time and the latter reinforcing that Milds aren't always low in alcohol. (By the way, other ale types were being brewed in Drogheda before this time, as Casey's were brewing sweet, bitter and table ales in the 1850s.)

There are more newspaper write-ups around this time with one mentioning that pale ales were a new venture for Drogheda and that the local brew, up until this point at least, was quite sweet - so perhaps the famous Drogheda ale was a sweet, strong and maybe darkish? Maybe amber? Maybe even ... red?

Anyhow, the articles go on to wish the company well in the future and hope that Drogheda Pale Ale becomes as famous as its older darker, sweeter sibling.

(If you want to dig a little deeper into the attributes of Drogheda Ale, specifically Cairne's version, Ron Pattinson has an analysis of a talk about it given in 1862 here.)

Incidentally Mell Brewery and Messrs. Nugent also appear to have brewed a stout, which I'm assuming was a stout porter, which was also available in 1866 when they looked for a brewery agent in Falmouth in England to sell both it and their ales, plus they had agents in Dublin and Belfast. They also mention 'Sweet Ales' as being available and that they 'will bear favourable comparison with any in the market.', which smacks of hedging you bets if you ask me ...

Unfortunately the venture appears to have been short-lived as by 1868 the various Nugents are selling off all of the loose brewing equipment as they are 'retiring from the business'. This seems quite odd as they were only in business such a short time so either something major happened to said Nugents or the business wasn't the success they hoped it would be, and the retiring comment was just to save face. For whatever reason the hope of Drogheda IPA emulating the gravitas of its counterparts across the Irish Sea was not to be and sadly both it, their Mild Ale and the rest of their production faded from the brewing history of Drogheda and Ireland.

The building and site don't appear to have been used as a brewery again as by 1869 it was being used as a cavalry barracks and was up for sale on a number of occasions until 1884 when the actual brewing equipment itself was put up for sale. By at least 1885 it was owned by Patrick Casey Connolly, the then owner of Casey's Brewery in the town, who had turned it into a maltings by 1890.

(I have read a few sources that claim Casey's were brewing on the site and one that says that Casey's moved all of their brewing to here. All I can say is that I can see no record of this and Casey's were brewing in town up to the early 1900s, having refurbished the premises there between 1888 and 1890 . They could have course used it as an auxiliary brewery at some point but I have not come across anything that proves they were.)

Here's an OSI map published around 1870 which still shows the brewery buildings and the site, the hexagonal structure is a 130ft chimney. The presumably repurposed brewery structure beside it is likely to be an 1834  flax mill owned by Thomas Ennis - the original occupier of the site as far as I can make out - and it was 4 storeys high according to a description when it was auctioned in 1858.

In 1926 the long vacant site was reopened as a clothing factory, which means it may have almost turned full circle from its beginnings in the flax trade.

Liam

(All written content and the research involved in publishing it here is my own unless otherwise stated and cannot be reproduced elsewhere without permission, full credit to its source and a link back to this post.)

Newspaper image © The British Library Board. All rights reserved. With thanks to The British Newspaper Archive  -www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk  - where most of the information I've complied was sourced.)

Map County Louth : Drogheda : sheet 7 is by OSI via UCD and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.