A magical time on the cards with ale trail

THE ‘Mild Magic’ Ale Trail is back! Stockport and South Manchester CAMRA’s annual celebration of the mild ale style returns for 2024, with 97 pubs joining in across Greater Manchester, and new for this year, Macclesfield.

Running from Friday 12 April to Sunday 19 May, this year marks the 30th anniversary of CAMRA’s largest and longest-running Mild Ale Trail.

Participants can win prizes of bespoke clothing, and beer vouchers to exchange for mild ale at the Stockport Beer & Cider Festival between 20 and 22 June.

The pubs are divided into 71 different geographical areas and to win a T-shirt featuring this year’s Mild Magic logo, and two half-pint mild vouchers, all you have to do is visit 12 different pubs in 12 different areas.

Then drink at least half pint of mild, and collect a sticker to put on the collector card which is available in the pubs, or can be downloaded.

Four pubs are involved in Macclesfield; the Castle, Society Rooms, RedWillow and the Jack in the Box at the Picturedrome. Each is in its own geographical area, so you can get four stickers just in the town!

In Poynton, the Kingfisher and the Royal British Legion are also in their own areas, so visit all these and you are half way towards the first level of prizes.

There are enhanced prizes of polo shirts and sweatshirts, plus more beer vouchers, for visiting 24, 48, or all 97 pubs.

Mild is a beer style which developed in the late 18th and 19th centuries and is usually dark brown in colour, but rarer light-coloured milds do exist. They have a malty aroma and flavour, with a gentle underpinning of hop bitterness.

Nationally, mild has been in decline for many years. However, the Manchester

area has always been a bastion of the style and some local breweries still produce milds yearround. One is Mild Magic sponsor, Hydes, who brew both Dark Ruby, a 3.5% dark mild, as well as the 3.5% 1863, a rare example of a light mild. In addition, this year they are resurrecting some old recipes and one is the 3.9% Anvil Light Ale. This light mild will be available in their pubs in May.

Joseph Holt’s brewery supply their cask mild to around a dozen pubs year-round and for the third year running will be brewing a special ‘oneoff’ for Mild Magic. At 4%, their paler Mellow Mild is stronger than their regular mild, and is characterised by rich caramel aromas, balanced sweetness, and a satisfyingly bitter finish.

Brightside Brewing from Bolton also produce a number of different milds throughout the year, and their beers are widely available in the Mild Magic area.

CAMRA Branch Chairman John Clarke said, “From starting life in 1994 as a celebration of the widespread local availability of mild, Mild Magic essentially became a search and rescue operation as one brewery after another dropped the style.

“In more recent years, there seems to have been something of a revival, with many smaller brewers having a mild available for short periods. The 1999 Mild Trail would have had around 20 different milds available during the five-week run; last year there were around 70.”

Organiser Darren Berry said “The Mild Magic organising team is very grateful to our sponsor, Hydes Brewery, and to all the other breweries that will be producing milds this spring. Thanks also to the pubs which have agreed to take part. Please support them and enjoy yourselves seeking out this rare ale style.”

Full details of the pubs and terms and conditions are on the Stockport &; S Manchester CAMRA website, where collector cards can also be downloaded.