Swindon brewery Arkell’s, the town’s oldest company, is to produce a commemorative beer for the Royal British Legion to mark the 100th anniversary of the start of the First World War.
Called Old Contemptible, the mild-type beer will be brewed from an old recipe using only British ingredients and so will be similar to the ales supped by Wiltshire soldiers before they headed off to fight. 
It will be officially launched next week at Arkell’s historic Kingsdown Brewery with members of the Royal British Legion.
Family-owned Arkell’s is donating £10 per cask sold to the Poppy appeal. The Arkell family has a proud military tradition. Chairman James Arkell’s grandfather Sir Noel Arkell and his uncle Graham Arkell fought in the First World War. Both survived, although Noel – who was later knighted and became chairman – was shot in the shoulder.
James’ late father Peter – who also became chairman – served as a pilot in the Second World War.
James said: “To mark this important centenary we have brewed a mild ale, a style of beer that would have been drunk by my grandfather and the soldiers in 1914. A mild is one of England’s most traditional beers.”
Head brewer Alex Arkell – James’s son – said: “I have used only English ingredients with a black colour and warm roasted and sweet tones coming from the chocolate malt with a light hop aroma to compliment it.
“At 4% this is considered strong for a mild, however having looked through our records and done some research we noticed that before World War One our mild was stronger. Then the government wanted people to drink less because of their work in the munitions factories so they forced breweries to reduce the alcohol. Hence mild became known as a weaker pint. But we thought we would brew the original version.”
The name Old Contemptibles was self-adopted by troops belonging to the British Expeditionary Force in the first few months of the First World War. It was supposedly derived from a comment made by the German Kaiser who, on hearing that the troops were holding up German forces en route to Paris, is said to have dismissed them as a “contemptible little army”.
British ‘tommies’ were delighted to be referred to in this way and named their post-war veterans’ association The Old Contemptibles.
