Mild Ale: History, Brewing, Techniques, Recipes

While traveling in the UK years ago I entered a pub and asked the publican to pour me one of his best. He poured me a mild ale. I was really surprised. It had a wonderful flavor and wasn't at all mild. Ever since then I've been hunting for another purveyor of mild ales. It's not a type of ale pursued by the American brewing establishment. At last, this book presents the history of mild ales and is the first source I've found that explains why some really aren't that mild. It's a lovely history and hopefully will rekindle an interest in this dying style. I hope some microbrewery will make a mild ale where I live (Colorado), but until then this book has given me a number of recipes to try. I've been home brewing for years and have tried making a few mild ales with moderate results. The book addresses the types of ingredients that are needed to recreate this style. Armed with the knowledge in this book, I look forward to brewing some mild ales of my own. Mild ales are a style of ale missing in today's microbrew marketplace, one I feel merits a rediscovery by the brewing community. This book should be in the library of anyone seriously interested in brewing ales, especially British ales. Excellent.

Interesting history, educational but not enough brewing information for the first timer.

I didn't know that mild ale was such an important beer style throughout the whole of history. Kudos to Sutula for such a fine historical and practical account of mild ale brewing. This is a must read for english beer enthusiasts and brewers.