Exeter & East Devon Branch

Mild in May

Our mild in May pub crawl was so well received that two of our members decided that they need to write about it. I was going to combine them into a single article, but as they have both taken the trouble to provide some words I think it only fair that I print both...

On Saturday 9 May, Exeter and East Devon CAMRA went on their annual mild crawl around Exeter in May to promote milds. We met at the First and Last in Cowick Street which, to our great delight, had a beer festival on. The First and Last is a Hopback pub and had supplemented its usual range by more barrels in the courtyard. Downtown Moonraker Mild (3.3%) quenched our thirsts before our trek to the Great Western Hotel at St Davids Station where we sampled the Theakston's Mild (3.3%).

From there we dragged ourselves uphill to the Imperial (Wetherspoon) but were disappointed to find they had run out of milds (although they were displaying mild advertising over a couple of the pump clips for "ordinary" beer). There had been some confusion as to the actual date of Mild day as there had been some milds on at the Imperial on the previous Saturday including Sarah Hughes Dark Ruby Mild (6.0%), Banks and Taylor Black Dragon Mild (4.3%) and Moorhouse's Black Cat (3.4%). Undaunted we proceeded onto the Well House where we supped Teignworthy Martha's Mild (5.3%). Some of our crew then visited the Fire House, some of us went to the Fat Pig to drink Ansell's Mild and some of our intrepid gang managed to visit both.

Mags Gaskin

Our annual mild trail started at the First and Last, in Cowick Street, an excellent choice as they had their beer festival on with about twenty beers. I like dark brews and was rewarded with Entire Stout and Downton Maroonmaker's Mild [sic]. By the time we were ready to leave there were about fifteen of us and so off we went to the Great Western and sampled a few more dark beers, one of which was O'Hanlon's Port Stout!

The next call was our lunch stop at the Imperial and we were disappointed to be told that there was no milds or stouts on! With typical CAMRA stoicism we opted for one of the other very good beers available. Myself, I had a couple of halves of Welsh bitter, Conway (I think). Not withstanding the set-back we now went to the Coachmakers Arms (Fat Pig to some!) where they had Ansell's Mild on and very enjoyable too! Thence to the Well House where they did us proud by having four dark beers on! This is where I lost my notes on the beers and given the amount consumed explains the sketchy nature of the descriptions! Next and for me the last pub the Fire House where I can't quite recall the beer range or what I choose, what I do know is that I enjoyed it !!

Barry Walker