I think your idea of a pale mild is an excellent one.Our brewing club has an annual group experiment where everybody brews the same base recipe but with one specific aspect that everyone has to do differently.
This year the different aspect is sugar. The assumption was a saison as the base recipe, but I'd like to propose something English, as most folks don't realize the amount of sugar traditionally used.
That said, does anyone have suggestions on a recipe or style that will let us easily notice and compare different sugars? My gut feeling was a pale mild or minimally hopped bitter, but I'm not sure what other options exist.