CAMPAIGN FOR REAL ALE

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The month of May has become linked with real draught mild ale through CAMRA’s annual May Mild Month campaign. Many brewers give a push to their regular milds and others produce seasonal milds in May.

Mild can be dark, light or strong. Brewed with a lower hop rate, it is rounder and slightly sweeter than bitters. But it is strong on flavour and brewers are increasingly bringing out the best in the style.

Roast malt, caramel, roast barley or extracts from roasted grain are used to darken most milds and a variety of flavours can result - notably, liquorice, roast or caramel, but light hop or malt flavours and aroma can also be expected.

Locally, Elgoods produce Black Dog mild with its liquorice character and distinctive bite. Cambridge Moonshine brews Harvest Moon Mild. Milton Minotaur is an impressive reddish-brown mild with roast and liquorice layers and a bittersweet balance. A stronger mild with an appealing chocolate malt flavour and a great name is Smokestack Lightning from Fenland brewery in the Isle of Ely.

Look out also for milds from just over the county border, including Pargetters dark mild from Buntingford brewery near Royston, and Beijing Black from Potbelly.

But praise is also due to Greene King who have written to 2,000 of its licensees urging them to support CAMRA’s Mild Month campaign by stocking Greene King XX Mild, CAMRA’s Champion Mild of East Anglia 2007. There will be targeted marketing in May and licensees who order XX will receive a joint Greene King and CAMRA promotional kit.