From the UK to Seattle to Philly via Ambler — March Mildness returns for its fourth year, bringing a month-long celebration of low ABV, British-style ales to a host of local breweries.
The event is organized by Forest & Main, the Ambler-based brewery specializing in English-inspired ales and barrel-aged saisons. The idea is simple: stop in at the pub and get a card that’s stamped for every mild consumed on site. At the end of March, the person with the most stamps is crowned Mild Master and gets to drink milds on the house for a month.
It’s the continuation of a concept created by Bill Arnott, the UK-born founder of Seattle-based brewery Machine House. The Forest & Main team — owners Gerard Olson, Daniel Endicott, and Brian DeAngelo — reached out to Arnott during the pandemic for permission to adapt his idea. They held their first March Mildness in 2021, with takeout beer.
This year, Forest & Main is expanding the celebration across 31 breweries with their own milds, including 13 Philadelphia locations (full list below.) Visitors to any of the participating spots will be given a “passport” to be stamped at each brewery where they order a mild. Each stamp earns a raffle ticket for a closing party at the end of the month, with prizes worth $25-$50 from the various breweries.
The competitive aspect is “just tongue-in-cheek, and laid back,” Forest & Main co-owner Gerard Olson told Billy Penn. Instead, the event is more a celebration of collaboration in the brewing community, and of what Olson argues is an underappreciated style of beer.
“It’s not the most popular beer style,” the 43-year-old said. “But it is a beer style that a lot of brewers and a lot of industry people really love.” The low ABV makes for easy drinking after a long shift, while the focus on simple flavors as opposed to heavy hops and funky sours appeals to anyone suffering “palate fatigue.”
The unpopularity, Olson explained, is a draw for brewers. “You can kind of commiserate the fact that like, ‘oh, yeah, we made this amazing, mild — it doesn’t sell that well, but we all love it,’ you know?”
For this March, Forest & Main has collaborated with Atlantic City brewery The Seed on a pale mild. Beyond that, they’ll have their own dark mild on tap, a “chocolatey, malt-forward, roasty-character” 3.2% ABV called, simply, Mild. It’ll be served on the hand pump at their Ambler pub-style taproom.
Also participating in this year’s Mildness is South Philly’s Second District Brewing. Typically brewed once or twice a year, their malted rye dark mild Entwife (3.4%) will be on tap throughout the month.
“I’d say they’re coming back into favor,” Second District’s head brewer Benjamin Potts said of the beer style. “We as brewers love them because they’re simple, but when done right, full flavored and really delicious, and good for a session at the pub.”
For the raffle, Potts is considering putting up a couple of Second District’s 750ml bottle-conditioned beer, including their recent seventh anniversary’s barrel-aged saison. Like Forest & Main’s Olson, he agrees the competitive aspect is secondary.
“It’s about camaraderie between breweries and friends,” Potts said. “But mostly it’s just getting together with friends and coming up with a like-minded recipe and celebrating the beer community.”
The March Mildness closing party will be held in the first week of April at Forest & Main’s brewery at 241 N. Main St., Ambler. For more information, follow their Instagram.
Philly breweries
1. Carbon Copy Brewing 701 S. 50th St., Philadelphia
2. Second District Brewing 1613 McKean St, Philadelphia
3. Attic Brewing Co. 137 Berkley St., Philadelphia
4. Crime & Punishment Brewing Co. 2711 W Girard Ave., Philadelphia
5. Our Town Brewery 1519 Ridge Ave., Philadelphia
6. Humble Parlor Brewing 530 East Girard Ave., Philadelphia
7. Human Robot Brewing 1710 N. 5th St.; 1646 S 12th St.; 2401 Walnut St, Philadelphia,
8. Cartesian Brewing 1326 E Passyunk Ave., Philadelphia
9. Brewery ARS 1927-1929 West Passyunk Ave.; 2223 Frankford Ave., Philadelphia
10. New Ridge Brewing 6168 Ridge Ave., Philadelphia
Regional breweries
1. Marlowe Artisinal Ales 139 Hoyt Ave., STE A, Mamaroneck, NY
2. Bonn Place Brewing 310 Taylor St., Bethlehem, PA
3. Trouble’s End Brewing 50 W Third Ave., Collegeville, PA
4. Gusto Brewing Co. 3860 Bayshore Rd., North Cape May, NJ
252 N. Prince St., Lancaster, PA
5. Bill’s Best Brewery 57 Keswick Avenue, Glenside, PA
6. Tonewood Brewing 215 W Clinton Ave., Oaklyn, NJ
7. Here and Now Brewing 645 Main St., Honesdale, PA
8. Bierhall Brewing 1703 New Holland Pike, Lancaster, PA
9. Wild East Brewing 623 Sackett St., Brooklyn NY
10. Whims Brewing. 302 White Horse Pike Unit B1,2,3, Atco, NJ
11. Rebel Hill Brewing 242 Bridge St. and 420 Schuylkill Rd., Suite 100, Phoenixville, PA
12. Wild East Brewing 623 Sackett Street, Brooklyn NY
13. Oakflower Brewing Co. 1932 Long Hill Rd., Suite A, Millington, NJ
14. Well Crafted 300 Brookside Ave, Ambler Yards Building 19, Ambler, PA
310 Madison St, Lansdale, PA
15. The Seed A Living Beer Project 807 Baltic Ave Atlantic City, NJ
16. Aspire Brewing 600 N Galleria Dr., Lower Level, Middletown, NY
17. Strong Rope Brewing. 185 Van Dyke St., Brooklyn, NY
574 President St., Brooklyn, NY
18. Cartel Brewing 920 Landis Ave., Lancaster, PA
19. Spring House Brewing 209 Hazel St., Lancaster, PA
20. Forest & Main Brewing 33 E. Butler Ave. and 241 N. Main St. Ambler, PA
21. Artifact Brewing 2 S York Rd., Hatboro, PA
