Unpublished

Would you be interested in seeing some of my unpublished manuscripts?*

My question is selfish, really. Push it out on the blog or nail it together in a shoddy self-published book. Some form where it will be better preserved than on my hard drive. (And an external drive. The NAS, too. And the backup NAS. Along with the hard drive in Germany.)

I've quite a large manuscript, one chapter of which I posted as what may have been the longest blogposts of all time. With quite a few other chapters that I've never published.

Then there's "America!". Still not published that. With a bit of extra material, it might be worth releasing. Lert me know if you're interested. (About 10 sales would make it worth my while.) 

Did I ever publish "Newark!"? A spreadsheet tells me that I did, in 2014. I can't find it in Lulu, though. I only have a front cover. Where the volume number doesn't match the one in the manuscript. Do I have a copy? I'll have to look.


* That sounds like a terrible pick-up line. 

1897 Fremlin Pilsener mashing scheme

Fremlin was lightly unusual for a largish regional brewery in brewing a Pilsener. 

Now, I wouldn't call it exactly a 100% authentic Lager. As it was brewed from pale rather than lager malt. They did, however, use Carlsberg yeast. Meaning it was properly bottom-fermented.

There was also authenticity in the mashing scheme, which was a double decoction. In which there were two boils of half the mash. This was a simplification of their mashing scheme from a few years earlier, where there were three boils, each of a third of the mash.

Here are the full details of the process. 

1897 Fremlin Pilsener mashing scheme
barrels	temp.	mash temp.
9	cold
3.5	210º F	95º F
1/2 boiled		135º F
1/2 boiled		165º F
5	170º F
6	170º F
6	170º F
Source:
Fremlin brewing record held at the Kent Archives, document number U3555/2/F/Bx2/1/22.

 

My 2025: pubs

Something I really love, pubs. How much time have I spent in them over the last 50 years? Not enough. Not nearly enough.

The year started with Checkpoint Charlie as my Amsterdam local. And ended with it replaced by the Butcher's Tears shop. Cheaper and it sells Stout. I get to chat with Eric, too.

Boteco Colarinho Escondido in Copacabana is one of my favourite spots in South America. Good beer and pretty decent food. Also great for watching the beautiful people on their way to and from Copacabana beach.

Staying in South America, the Tübinger Taproom outside Santiago in Chile is a wonderful spot. Surrounded by vineyards and backed by the mighty Andes. A magical place to indulge in a pint or seventeen.

Buenos Aires has several lovely old bars, of which Bar El Federal is a great example. Cosy, popular and with great local food. What more could you ask for? Cocktails. Which they also have.

How could I leave out Cooper's Original Ale House in Adelaide? A beautiful old Aussie pub with a dizzying range of Cooper's beers. Including their delicious Stout. Yum.

Talking of traditional Aussie pubs, the Napier Hotel is a great example. New to me, though I spent plenty of time in Fitzroy when I lived in Melbourne. How did I never visit this beautiful old pub? It has a multi-room layout reminiscent of a Yorkshire corridor pub. Lovely leaded glass, too. And a good selection of beer.

In Brisbane, I spent time in another couple of great pubs. The Empire Hotel in Fortitude Valley had an odd Aussie charm. And pretty cheap craft beer and food. And what can I say of the Breakfast Creek hotel? A beautiful old pub with Castlemaine XXXX served straight from a wooden cask.

Not really a pub, Welcome Ren Min stall in the Maxwell Food Centre in Singapore has a charm all of its own. And sells good beer and decent prices (for Singapore).
 

My 2025: beers

This going to be a tricky one. As I didn't drink that much beer this year. Or many different types of beer. Which may surprise you.

Rather than a crate of St. Bernardus Abt per week, I got through little more than one for the whole year. I bought 13 bottles for Christmas 2024. And still had four bottles left six months later. Nonetheless, Abt remained one of the best beers I drank all year. Sweet, malty and warming. Lovely stuff.

I quite enjoyed Noi Amara Imperial IPA, at a refreshing 10% ABV, when in Rio. A lovely breakfast beer, full of bitterness and, happily, pretty sludge-free.

There was also an excellent English IPA in Brazil, but I drank it while judging and so have no idea what the beer was. A shame, as I would happily drink it again. And let you know its identity, too. I judged a really good Lichtenhainer, too. Fuck knows what that was, either.

Obvoiuusly, Cooper's was dead good in Adelaide. Cask Castlemaine XXXX was very drinkable, too. And I usually fucking hate Australian Lager. Which was confirmed by an undrinkable Carlton Draught in Marvel Stadium in Melbourne. (Best toilets ever in a stadium.)

On the bus driving the judges around in Singapore after judging, I had a left-over competition beer that was pretty good. A Chinese-brewed IPA of some sort. Very nice. That I was dead thirsty and it was free may have influenced my evalaution.

In Maidstone in October, the one beer I drank was a beautiful pint of Harvey's Sussex Best. If looked after, it's a killer pint. Packed with character. All beer used to be like this.

In October I bought some Dutch Bok. A six pack of Amstel and another of Brand Doppelbock. The Amstel was as reliably good as ever. It's the classic Dutch Bok, rich and malty. And wonderful value for money. 

Think that was boring. Wait until you get to the next post on pubs. 

Let's Brew - 1897 Fremlin H

We now embark on a long trek through Fremlin’s many Pale Ales. With the rather oddly named “H”.  Not sure what that might stand for.

It’s pretty weak for the 19th century. Even for a Light Bitter, which would usually be at least 1045º.  In a price list from 1897, the weakest Pale Ale is described as “No. 5 Light Family Pale Ale”. I assume that’s what this is. Costing 1s per gallon or 2s 6d per dozen pint bottles.   Which seems a little pricey for a beer of this strength. 10d per gallon would be more reasonable.

Not much to the recipe. Three types of base malt, one from Chilean and two from English barley. Along with a little flaked barley. All pretty dull. There are also two types of sugar: dextro-maltose and “cane”. For the former, I’ve substituted No. 2 invert, the latter, raw cane sugar.

No fewer than seven types of English hops were used in the copper. From the 1896 and 1897 harvests. Plus two more types from the 1897 season as dry hops. The quantities of dry hops aren’t given in the brewing records. But they do appear in the totals. And average over 8 oz per barrel – over 1 oz for batches the size of this recipe.

No way this was aged. 

1897 Fremlin H
pale malt	5.75 lb	71.88%
flaked barley	0.50 lb	6.25%
raw cane sugar	1.75 lb	21.88%
Fuggles 105 mins	1.00 oz
Goldings 60 mins	1.00 oz
Goldings 30 mins	1.00 oz
Goldings dry hops	0.50 oz
OG	1040
FG	1010.5
ABV	3.90
Apparent attenuation	73.75%
IBU	40
SRM	3
Mash at	150º F
Sparge at	170º F
Boil time	105 minutes
pitching temp	60º F
Yeast	Wyeast 1099 Whitbread ale

 

Legacy II

Following on from my earlier post about the legacy of Martyn Cornell. What would happen to the stuff I'm working on if I dropped dead tomorrow?

I'm assuming here that my son Andrew will handle this. You never know, though. The git could betray me.

What I do trust, is his writing ability. He's pretty good. Annoyingly, in two languages. Why did I make all that effort to bring up the kids bilingual? I remember. Because I'm not an egocentric twat.

I am, what you say, prolific, when it comes to writing. I've published loads. Still, there's lots lying around. Several complete manuscripts. "America!", for example. I can't remember why I've never released that. Private ones, like "Xmas!". 

I've a couple of books or travel reports on the go. They can just be ended where they are. I particularly like "Shut up, Dad". (My attempt to be the new Hunter Davies.) Andrew can just whiz them through to Lulu.

Then there's "Free!". A really important book for me. Covering 1880-1914. (Where I'd like to spend the rest of my retirement.) I'm 75% of the way through. I'd hate it to be unseen.

Andrew might not totally pay attention to what I say while I'm still breathing. He should be able to find these back.

The recipe section can be published pretty much as is. It would have been a separate volume anyway. Really, everything other than the beer styles section can be published. That still needs a lot of work.

OK, Andrew? 

My 2025: injuries

This is the first in a series of posts about my highlights of 2025. Everyone else seems to do it. So I thought I'd give it a go. Kicking off with this year's medical issues.

I expected 2025 to be less wearing on my body than 2024. Spoiler for the weak of heart: it wasn't.

After escaping Rio carnival unscathed, I buggered my hand on the return trip from Chile in April. Simply putting my carry-on bag into the overhead locker. It was a aggravation of the arm break I suffered in Salvador the year previously. And put my recovery back, er pretty much indefinitely.

Using scissors was out of the question. For the rest of the year? I would see.

Nothing was broken on my trip to Argentina in June. Instead, I caught pneumonia. Which was lovely. I returned home barely able to breathe. And spent a few weeks gasping for air. So much fun.

With Andrew to guard me, I managed to escape from Australia unscathed. Phew. Though my right hand still wasn't in full working order.

In November I went with Mikey to Folkestone for our annual visit. All went swimmingly until the last evening. When I fell in my hotel bathroom. And broke my right arm again.

The cast is now off. And, on the plus side, my right thumb is now working much better tah before the second arm break. Something to be happy about.

Now I'm just looking forward to whatever mishaps I'll have in 2026.

Legacy

Martyn Cornell's extremely sad death earlier this year got me thinking about legacy. And unpublished work.

Luckily, Martyn had completed what I'm sure he considered the pinnacle of his work: Porter. Tragic, though, that he never saw its release. It would have been an even greater tragedy, had he been struck down before finishing.

What did Martyn leave unfinished? I can't believe that he wasn't working on another book. (He asked me about self-publishing because he was so pissed off with how long it took to get a book published.) 

Not to go all fanboy, but (meaning I am doing) how much material is there that hasn't been published? Including stuff chopped from Porter. I'd buy a book with that in. Niche, made possible by self-publishing. 

A compilation of his, often very long, always hugely informative, blogposts would make a great book. And preserve them in print. As Zythophile is no longer there. Fuck. This material really needs to be saved.


Maybe I should get in touch with his brother. 

Drinkalongathon 2025

Yes, it's that most wonderful time of year again. Drinkalongathon time!

Am I really still doing this? Yes! I most certainly am. Why? No fucking idea. It's just something I do every year. Until I get bored. Or become infirm. Or lose my marbles. Or simply drop dead. All are possibilities. I'm hoping for the first option.

Time to let you know what you'll need to take part in this year's event. You'll have a week, which should be long enough to source all the string and eggs. After all, what's Christmas day without eggs and string?

1 crate of St. Bernardus Abt
4 pieces of string
1 bottle of fino sherry
250 gm smoked bacon (back or streaky)
3 more pieces of string
1 bottle of port
5 soft-boiled eggs
5 eggs who think they're hard . . . but are really barely cooked
1 bottle of starboard
6 mince pies
4 crumpets (oo-err)
1 bottle of ruffo sherry
1 litre of whisky (the cheapest possible, I'm a empoverished pensioner, no Lagavullin for me any more)
200 gm mature cheddar
1 reserve crate of St. Bernardus Abt
1 small, yellow plastic duck
100 gm really immature gorge
1 copy 2026 Good Beer Guide*
3 bottles of red wine
1 CD Reggae Christmas
No UB40 Red, red wine
1 emergency crate of St. Bernardus Abt
1 medium onion
5 raw eggs
5 experienced eggs
1 bottle fizzy wine (no champagne for pensioner me)
2 bottles of white wine (if you have children under 10)
1 emergency pint
1 duck, roasted to perfection (don't want to show off, but ...)
1 slab of smoked salmon
2 slabs of cheap Lager (if you have children over 10)
5 broken eggs
5 just holding it together eggs
1 bottle HP sauce
6 pieces of emergency string 

Be prepared! Have your string and eggs ready for Christmas Day! See you then! 

 

* CAMRA till I die. 

bespoke historic birthday recipe

Just reminding you all of the terrific service I offer. A bespoke recipe of a beer brewed on your birthday (or some other significant date) at some point in the past. For just 25 euros. Bargain, I say.

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Make your birthday special - by brewing a beer originally made on that date.

For a mere 25 euros, I'll create a bespoke recipe for any day of the year you like. As well as the recipe, there's a few hundred words of text describing the beer and its historical context and an image of the original brewing record.

Just click on the button below.

It's that time of year

It's the one time of year when  people buy physical books. I've just one message for you: buy my books! (Preferably lots of them.)  

Just think of my poor children having to go without beer and vodka this Christmas. Please, please, think of the children. Buy my books!

Visit my bookstore

Let's Brew Wednesday - 1897 Fremlin X

Since I've been boring you stupid with details of Fremlin's beers, I may as well round it off with a recipe.

Very unusually for the 19th century, Fremlin brewed bugger all Mild Ale. They really were, as they advertised, a Pale Ale brewer.

This looks pretty much like bog-standard Mild Ale of the period. Though quite pale.

It’s a reasonably simple recipe. All base malt, but of three types: one of Californian high-dried and two of English pale malt. Plus a sugar described as “cane”. I’ve assumed that means raw cane sugar rather than pure sucrose.

All English hops, three from the 1896 harvest and one from 1897. 

No ageing, of course. 

1897 Fremlin X
pale malt	4.00 lb	39.02%
Munich malt 20L	4.00 lb	39.02%
raw cane sugar	2.25 lb	21.95%
Fuggles 120 mins	1.00 oz
Fuggles 60 mins	1.00 oz
Goldings 30 mins	1.00 oz
OG	1050
FG	1015
ABV	4.63
Apparent attenuation	70.00%
IBU	37
SRM	9
Mash at	150º F
Sparge at	170º F
Boil time	120 minutes
pitching temp	60º F
Yeast	Wyeast 1099 Whitbread ale

 

Yule Logs!!!!!!!!!!

Once again, I've managed by the skin of my teeth to get my Christmas book out just before Christmas. Let's see if I manage to sell as many copies as last year.

Once again, I've assembled a collection of old brewing records and crudely stuck the together into a book. One where the only complete sentence is the copyright statement. That's what I call writing.

Get your copy now!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Fremlin sugars in 1897

The sweet stuff now. Of which there are also quite a few different types. Four, to be exact.

Let’s start with No. 2 invert. Which in the individual brewing records is listed as “glucose”. But in the month totals is described as “Garton’e No. 2 invert”.  I suppose they were half right with glucose.

The proportion of No. 2 used is pretty high. Between 15% and 20%. That’s about as much as you ever see. What’s surprising, is that in most cases it’s combined with another sugar. One we’ll be looking at next, dectro-maltose.

More than half the beers also contain some of this sugar. All the Pales Ales, other than H, the weakest. Not being 100% fermentable, I always assume that it’s there to add body.

Something simply escribed as “cane” seems to operate in the place of No. 2 in some beers. I guess that it means some sort of raw cane sugar rather than pure sucrose.

The final type is caramel. Small quantities destined for the Black Beers, Porter, Cooper and Double Stout.

Between 20% and 25% is a lot of sugar. In everything other than the Pilsener. They sure did love their sugar.

Fremlin sugars in 1897
Beer	Style	no. 2 sugar	cane	dextro-maltose	caramel	total sugar
X	Mild	23.53%				23.53%
H	Pale Ale		22.00%			22.00%
BA	Pale Ale		18.60%	4.65%		23.26%
BA C	Pale Ale		15.69%	7.84%		23.53%
BA L	Pale Ale	16.67%		8.33%		25.00%
BB	Pale Ale	17.65%		5.88%		23.53%
BB L	Pale Ale	16.67%		8.33%		25.00%
PA	Pale Ale	15.69%		7.84%		23.53%
PA L	Pale Ale	20.00%		8.00%		28.00%
IPA	IPA	15.69%		7.84%		23.53%
Pilsener	Pilsener					0.00%
P	Porter		24.39%		2.44%	26.83%
Cooper	Porter	24.49%			2.04%	26.53%
DS	Stout		18.93%		1.18%	20.12%
Source:
Fremlin brewing record held at the Kent Archives, document number U3555/2/F/Bx2/1/22.

 

Fremlin adjuncts in 1897

We now move on to adjuncts. Of which there are three. Which seems rather a lot. Most brewers chose an adjunct and stuck to that for all their beers. Not Fremlin.

The three cheapest beers – X, H and BB – used flaked barley. Which is an unusual choice. I’ve rarely seen it employed. The one exception being WW II. When brewers were ordered to use it. For the simple reason that there was plenty of barley available, but not enough labour to malt it all.

Flaked maize crops up in Pilsener and PA. Two of their most expensive beers. And rather a lot of it in Pilsener. I’m guessing that it’s partly to keep the colour low. As the base isn’t lager malt but standard pale malt.

Flaked wheat – another unusual choice – appears in BA, BA C and IPA. Which seems quite random.

Adjunct-free are the three London Pale Ale variants, BA L, BB L and PA L. Possibly because these were Stock Pale Ales. Also the three Black Beers: Porter, Cooper and Stout.

Other than in Pilsener, the proportion of adjuncts was quite low, just around 6%. 

Fremlin adjuncts in 1897
Beer	Style	flaked maize	flaked barley	flaked wheat	total adjuncts
X	Mild		5.88%		5.88%
H	Pale Ale		6.00%		6.00%
BA	Pale Ale			6.98%	6.98%
BA C	Pale Ale			5.88%	5.88%
BA L	Pale Ale				0.00%
BB	Pale Ale		5.88%		5.88%
BB L	Pale Ale				0.00%
PA	Pale Ale	5.88%			5.88%
PA L	Pale Ale				0.00%
IPA	IPA			5.88%	5.88%
Pilsener	Pilsener	20.00%			20.00%
P	Porter				0.00%
Cooper	Porter				0.00%
DS	Stout				0.00%
Source:
Fremlin brewing record held at the Kent Archives, document number U3555/2/F/Bx2/1/22.

 

 

Fremlin malts in 1897

Let’s take a look at what went into all those Pale Ales. Starting off with the malts.

Of which there were five. Which is quite a lot for a brewery that specialised in Pale Ales. Unsurprisingly, most of it was pale malt. Though there was also some high-dried malt in a couple of beers. Not so odd in a dark beer like Cooper. More unusual in a Pale Ale like BB.

Interestingly, all three Black Beers have chocolate malt rather than black malt as the main roasted element. I have seen that elsewhere – for example at Whitbread – but it only started much later, after WW I. Fremlin definitely seem to have been early adopters.

Porter and Stout also both contain brown malt. That favourite London ingredient. Which means these beers must have been similar in character to the equivalent beers from the capital.

It’s fascinating to see how quickly Oat Stout spread. I assume that’s why malted oats turn up in the Porter and Stout. Compared to the Oatmeal Stouts brewed after WW I, the percentage of oats is quite high. Also, it malted form. Whereas later it was almost always in flaked form.

The malt percentage is fairly decent, mostly around 70%-75%.  

Fremlin malts in 1897
Beer	Style	pale malt	high dried malt	brown malt	choc. malt	malted oats	total malt
X	Mild	70.59%					70.59%
H	Pale Ale	72.00%					72.00%
BA	Pale Ale	69.77%					69.77%
BA C	Pale Ale	70.59%					70.59%
BA L	Pale Ale	75.00%					75.00%
BB	Pale Ale	35.29%	35.29%				70.59%
BB L	Pale Ale	75.00%					75.00%
PA	Pale Ale	70.59%					70.59%
PA L	Pale Ale	72.00%					72.00%
IPA	IPA	70.59%					70.59%
Pilsener	Pilsener	80.00%					80.00%
P	Porter	40.24%		14.63%	10.98%	7.32%	73.17%
Cooper	Porter	42.86%	18.37%		12.24%		73.47%
DS	Stout	63.91%		7.10%	5.33%	3.55%	79.88%
Source:
Fremlin brewing record held at the Kent Archives, document number U3555/2/F/Bx2/1/22.

 

 

Let's Brew - 1894 Cannon KKK

Strongest of Cannon’s range was KKK. Not that it’s all that strong by 19th-century standards.

My guess is that this was considered an Old Ale or Stock Ale. Not 100% sure about that. Though their parent company, Tomson & Wooton, called their KKK a Stock Ale.

No surprises in the recipe. Which has just a single type of malt, described as “Scotch”. Interesting, given how far Kent, where the brewery was located, is from Scotland.

A single type of hops, too. East Kent from the 1893 harvest. Pretty fresh, given that this beer was brewed in January. The hopping rate is a little lower than in XXX. Which isn’t what I would have expected. Though the dry-hopping is heavier.

As I believe this was a Stock Ale, it’s logical that it would have been aged. Probably for at least twelve months.
 

1894 Cannon KKK
pale malt	14.50 lb	100.00%
Goldings 90 min	2.00 oz
Goldings 30 min	2.00 oz
Goldings dry hops	0.50 oz
OG	1062
FG	1015.5
ABV	6.15
Apparent attenuation	75.00%
IBU	46
SRM	5
Mash at	150º F
Sparge at	163º F
Boil time	90 minutes
pitching temp	59º F
Yeast	Wyeast 1099 Whitbread ale

 

 

London called

And I answered. Well, I went there, at least. Along with Dolores, on our traditional December trip.

No blow by blow account this time. Just a few photos and observations.

Staring with the really important stuff. Most expensive pint? 7 quid forty for a pint of Landlord in the Marquis Cornwallis. Fuck me. That's as bad as Amsterdam. It was a pretty good pint, mind.

Most annoying? Two pubs where there were handpumps with their clips thew right way around, but none of the beers actually on. This happened at the Rocket on Euston Road and the Nags Head on Camden High Street.

I was struck by how much Landlord there is in London. Even our hotel stocked it. (At just 4.95 a pint and in surprisingly good condition.)  Which is good news, as it's a beer that's up to Dolores's high standards. She's quite fussy when it comes to beer. More so than me. Traditional cask Bitter is her thing. London Pride being her favourite. Though she's more than happy to drink Landlord. She wasn't as impressed with Shepherd Neame Masterbrew. Thin, in her opinion. She switched to cider.

Most of the cask was in decent condition. Other than a couple of pints in the Euston Flyer. Where both my ESB and Hophead were past their best. Though not vinegar.

All the pubs we visited seemed to have plenty of custom, even in the afternoon. We were in central London, though. Mostly in pretty touristy bits. I'm sure that it's not typical of the country as a whole. Or even all of London.

Everything seemed a good bit more expensive than last year. Which I suppose is to be expected.

And what of breakfasts? I hear you ask. A proper full English every morning. Fried eggs, bacon, tomatoes, toast, tea and orange juice. The perfect start to the day.

I got to eat a pie, too. With mushy peas.

To complete our seasonal bliss, we attended a one-man performance of A Christmas Carol in the Charles Dickens house. Very impressive. 

Fremlin beer output in October 1897

My trip to Maidstone provided me with so much material. As I'm sure you're starting to realise. Here's a reminder that it's useful to photograph pretty much anything you find in a brewing record. Even if it looks like a bookmark.

There’s a sheet of paper in the last page for October in the brewing log, listing all sorts of monthly totals. Including how much of each beer was brewed. This makes it clear how much of a Pale Ale brewery Fremlin was.

The two weakest Pale Ales, H and BB, accounted for over 50% of their output. And the eight Pale Ales and one IPA were 93% of production. The biggest seller of the other beers, Porter, amounted to only 3% of the beer Fremlin brewed. 

Most of the beers produced were blended at racking time. Not just with primings to condition the beer in the cask, but also a small quantity of vatted Stock Ale. I assume that this was to add some aged character. It’s interesting that even X, the Mild Ale, had some of this aged beer blended in.

The proportion of vatted beer added was between 1% and 2%. Over all beers, averaging 1.76%.

There could have been few breweries in the country where Pale Ale so dominated output. Even specialist brewers in Burton produced a higher proportion of other styles. I wonder why Fremlin ended up concentrating so much on Pale Ales?
 

Fremlin beer output in October 1897
	beer	primings	vat	Total	%
H	3,049.5	85.25	57	3,185.75	30.94%
BB	2,329	79.75	43	2,451.75	23.81%
BA C	1,325	46.25	36	1,407.25	13.67%
BA	655	20.25	8.5	683.75	6.64%
PA C	1,165.5	39.75	17	1,222.25	11.87%
IPA	43.5			43.5	0.42%
X	169.5	7	9	185.5	1.80%
P	301	-		301	2.92%
Cooper	73.5			73.5	0.71%
DS	83.5	3.25	19	105.75	1.03%
BB L	371.75	3		374.75	3.64%
BA L	73			73	0.71%
PA L	137.25			137.25	1.33%
Pilsener	46.5			46.5	0.45%
Victoria		5		5	0.05%
total	9,823.5	289.5	183.5	10,296.5
Source:
Fremlin brewing record held at the Kent Archives, document number U3555/2/F/Bx2/1/22.