Scottish Export/80/- hops in the 1950s

Still on my holidays. Unless I've dropped dead from the stress of travel. You never know at my age.

And still pumping out stuff about Eighty Bob. It's a style I drank a reasonable amount of. Mostly in the form of Younger's/McEwans. Which I believe were the same beer. Decent enough stuff, when in cask form. I must have had Maclay's, too. I can't really remember it, though. I'd usually go for their 60/-, if it was an option.

Back to the topic in hand. Hops. Lots of English hops. Which is what you would expect. In the 1950s the UK was about self-sufficient in hops. Meaning not that many were imported.

Most of the beers contain two types of hops. Other than Drybrough Export, which has five. Including two foreign hops, Saaz and Styrian. Interestingly, both from Central Europe.

Not many of the brewing records mention the vitage of the hops. Only William Younger and Bernard bothered. Both were using hops mostly from the most recent season. With just one of William Younger's hops a year older than that.

Scottish Export/80/- hops in the 1950s
Year	Brewer	Beer	hop 1	hop 2	hop 3	hop 4	hop 5
1957	Robert Younger	80/-	English	English
1958	Wm Younger	Export	Kent 1956	Kent 1957
1958	Bernard	Pale 1/4	English 1957	English 1957
1957	Maclay	Export	English	English	English	Saaz	Styrian
1956	Drybrough	Export	English	English
Sources:
Robert Younger brewing record held at the Scottish Brewing Archive, document number RY/6/1/2.
William Younger brewing record held at the Scottish Brewing Archive, document number WY/6/1/3/112.
T & J Bernard brewing record held at the Scottish Brewing Archive, document number TJB6/1/1/1.
Maclay brewing record held at the Scottish Brewing Archive, document number M/6/1/1/35.
Drybrough brewing record held at the Scottish Brewing Archive, document number D/6/1/1/7.

Here's a short YouTube video I made about Eighty Shilling.

 

 

Brewers not for sale 1900 - 1918

Very much a statistics-based post today. Looking at the number of licences issued for brewers who weren't selling their beer.

The 1880 Free Mash Tun compelled everyone who brewed to buy a licence, whether they sold their beer or not. Those not selling their beer didn't have to pay beer duty, but they did need a licence. 

Brewers not for sale included ones operating on very different scales. Ranging from workmen brewing in their cottages to local gentry with dedicated brewhouses making beer for all their estate staff. Home brewers continued to need to buy a licence up until the 1960s, when that calss of licence was abolished.

At the start of the 20th century, over 12,000 not for sale licences were issued. The vast majority were in England, with just a handful in Scotland. To put the numbers into context, the population of England was around ten times that of Scotland. While the licences in Scotland were less than 1% of those in England.

The numbers declined dramatically in the years leading up to WW I, falling to under 5,000. There was a small rise towards the end of the war, before a total collapse in 1918. By that point only a handful of licences were still being issued in Scotland. 

Brewers not for sale 1900 - 1918
Year	Eng.	Scot.	G.B.
1900	12,607	127	12,734
1901	12,296	114	12,410
1902	11,772	100	11,872
1903	11,665	87	11,752
1904	11,275	84	11,359
1905	9,863	67	9,930
1906	9,266	56	9,322
1907	8,840	49	8,889
1908	8,438	43	8,481
1909	7,530	38	7,568
1910	6,980	26	7,006
1911	6,833	22	6,855
1912	5,953	20	5,973
1913	4,992	17	5,009
1914	4,522	15	4,537
1915	4,728	13	4,741
1916	5,982	9	5,991
1917	5,207	10	5,217
1918	1,598	4	1,602
Source:
"Drink in Great Britain 1900 - 1979", by Gwylmor Prys Williams and George Thompson Brake, 1980, page 367.

 

Scottish Export/80/- sugars in the 1950s

There's nop end to the 80/- fun. I'll be away in Canada when this is published. That's why I've been spinning so many posts from Eighty Bob. I think it's theown up some interesting stuff, mind.

Today we're looking at the sugars in 80/-. And there are way more of them than malts. Ten, in total. Seven of them just in Drybrough Export. Though, proportionally, Maclay's had the greatest quantity, at almost 19%.

Let's work left to right. Three of the beers contain malt extract. This was pretty common at the time. Usually, it was a way of getting some extra enzymes into the mash. Unlike the other sugars, which were added to the copper, while malt extract went into the mash tun.

All the beers contain invert of some sort. It's just not specified which type, in most cases. The stuff just called "invert" is probably No. 1 or No. 2 invert. Cane sugar is, I assume, unrefined cane sugar.

NExt we have a whole bunch of proprietary sugars: Hydrol, Avona, DSS, Fison and CWE. No real idea what that lot are. I'm surprised that a couple, Hydrol and Avona, appear in more than one beer.

The average sugar content is 15%. Though there's quite a bit of variation across the different breweries. 

Scottish Export/80/- sugars in the 1950s
Year	Brewer	Beer	malt extract	no. 1 sugar	invert	cane sugar	Hydrol	Avona	DSS	Fison	CWE	caramel	total sugar
1957	Robert Younger	80/-	1.39%		6.94%		5.55%					0.07%	13.95%
1958	Wm Younger	Export			4.48%	8.96%							13.43%
1958	Bernard	Pale 1/4			7.27%			4.85%					12.12%
1957	Maclay	Export	2.70%	10.81%					5.41%				18.92%
1956	Drybrough	Export	2.16%		4.31%		2.16%	3.23%		2.16%	2.16%		16.17%
	Average												14.92%
Sources:
Robert Younger brewing record held at the Scottish Brewing Archive, document number RY/6/1/2.
William Younger brewing record held at the Scottish Brewing Archive, document number WY/6/1/3/112.
T & J Bernard brewing record held at the Scottish Brewing Archive, document number TJB6/1/1/1.
Maclay brewing record held at the Scottish Brewing Archive, document number M/6/1/1/35.
Drybrough brewing record held at the Scottish Brewing Archive, document number D/6/1/1/7.

Take a look at my recent Youtube video on Eighty Shilling. 

 

What is the dropping syste.

 I explain the dropping system of fermentation.

 

Let's Brew - 1913 William Younger 80/-

Yet another Eighty Shilling which isn’t what we now think of the style. But of the older type of Scottish beer that I call Shilling Ales.

The gravity has fallen again. But the FG has remained the same, making it even less well attenuated than the 1885 version. Barely over 50%. Which must have made for a very sweet and sticky beer.  Especially as the hopping rate has fallen again. Dropping from 5 lbs per quarter (336 lbs) in 1885 to just 3.5 Lbs in 1913.

Lots of changes in terms of the recipe. From no adjuncts in 1885 to over 40% grits. That’s quite a change. There’s barely any more base malt. It doesn’t sound like a great recipe with all that maize. I have tried a recreation of one Younger’s beer with a similar proportion of grits and it was much better than I expected.

Sugar has also appeared. Glucose is my guess. The brewing record just says “syrup”. I’ve guessed glucose, but it could also have been a type of invert. In addition, there’s caramel for colour correction. Which leaves this version looking like a dark Mild.

Three types of hops were used: Kent from the 1912 harvest and Pacific from 1910 and 1912. 

1913 William Younger 80/-
pale malt	6.50 lb	51.42%
grits	5.25 lb	41.53%
glucose	0.75 lb	5.93%
caramel 2000 SRM	0.14 lb	1.11%
Cluster 135 min	0.75 oz
Cluster 60 min	0.50 oz
Fuggles 30 min	0.25 oz
OG	1056
FG	1027
ABV	3.84
Apparent attenuation	51.79%
IBU	30
SRM	20
Mash at	151º F
Sparge at	160º F
Boil time	135 minutes
pitching temp	59.5º F
Yeast	WLP028 Edinburgh Ale

Here's a short YouTube video I made about Eighty Shilling.

 

 

Montreal - a preview

A preview of mine rand the kids Canada trip. 

 These are my notes. The final text may differ. *

I have a look at the places that have been suggested to me. The name Dieu du Ciel cropped up a couple of times. It's not too far away. That'll do.

We set off about 14:30. We should catch it at a quiet time. The neighbourhood it's in seems pretty lively. Lots of shops, restaurants and bars.

Dieu du Ciel has quite a pubby feel. Reinforced by the presence of two handpulls. It's deserted inside and we have our choice of seats.

"Ooh, look!. They've got a cask Mild."

"You get excited so easily, Dad." Andrew retorts.

"I know. It's wonderful, isn't it?"

"No, not really."

I get a pint of Mild, obviously. It's really rather nice. The kids go for something Lagery. There's a really good variety of beers on offer. Two cask beers (the other is an Ordinary Bitter), two Stouts, Bavarian Helles and Amber, a Hefeweizen and, of curse, a couple of IPAs, including a non-sludge one.

 

* It certainly fucking will.
 

 

 

Scottish Export/80/- malts and adjuncts in the 1950s

Carrying on with my Eighty Shilling series, here's a look at the malts and adjuncts in the late 1950s.

There aren't a huge number of malts. It's mostly just pale malt. That's all that three of the five beers contain. The only other malts are tiny quantities of enzymic and black malts. The Bernard and Drybrough examples both have a tiny amount of black malt, presumably for colour correction. The Drybrough beer also has a little enzymic malt.

The average malt content is 70%, which is a little on the low side. The outlier being the William Younger beer, which has only 58% malt.

Moving onto the adjuncts, the 28% flaked maize in William Younger's beer explains why the malt content is so low. Every other example also includes flaked maize. No surprise there. Flaked maize was very common and appeared in a majority of UK beers at the time.

The Drybrough beer has a second adjunct: flaked barley. Which is interesting. During WW II, brewers were forced to use flaked barley as a replacement for flaked maize. But, as soon as maize became available again, brewers dropped flaked barley pretty much immediately

The average adjunct content is 15%. Though that's distorted by the William Younger beer. In the others around 10%.

Scottish Export/80/- malts and adjuncts in the 1950s
Year	Brewer	Beer	pale malt	black malt	enzymic malt	total malt	flaked maize	flaked barley	total adjuncts
1957	Robert Younger	80/-	72.17%			72.17%	13.88%		13.88%
1958	Wm Younger	Export	58.21%			58.21%	28.36%		28.36%
1958	Bernard	Pale 1/4	77.58%	0.61%		78.18%	9.70%		9.70%
1957	Maclay	Export	70.27%			70.27%	10.81%		10.81%
1956	Drybrough	Export	71.13%	0.58%	1.35%	73.06%	5.39%	5.39%	10.78%
	Average					70.38%			14.70%
Sources:
Robert Younger brewing record held at the Scottish Brewing Archive, document number RY/6/1/2.
William Younger brewing record held at the Scottish Brewing Archive, document number WY/6/1/3/112.
T & J Bernard brewing record held at the Scottish Brewing Archive, document number TJB6/1/1/1.
Maclay brewing record held at the Scottish Brewing Archive, document number M/6/1/1/35.
Drybrough brewing record held at the Scottish Brewing Archive, document number D/6/1/1/7.

 

 

This is Sixty Shilling

 Another new video. This time looking at a 60/- recipe.

 

I, Arthur Buckridge

From 1830 to the 1980s there were two types of pubs in the UK: fully licensed premises and beer houses. The latter being a product of the 1830 Beer Act, which allowed just about anyone to open a pub that didn’t sell spirits.

Beer house licences were initially issued not by the local licensing authorities, but by the central excise authorities. Though that changed after 1869. Beer houses weren’t generally liked by licensing magistrates, who were always trying to close them down.

Brewers and licensees, on the other hand, were very keen on converting beer licences to full licences. The latter being more profitable. A beer house converted to a full licence immediately became more valuable.

Which explains why Arthur Buckridge made this application.

The Licensing Acts 1910 and 1921.
In the County of LONDON 
Petty Sessional Division of WANDSWORTH.
To the Rating Authority of this Pariah of Battersea Borough in the said County, to the Superintendent of Police of the Parish of Battersea in the County of London, to Thomas Baines. Esq. Clerk of the Licensing Justices for the said Petty Sessional Division, and to all whom it may concern.

I ARTHUR BUCKRIDOE, now residing at 71 Rawson-street in the Parish of Battersea. in the County of London., Beerhouse Keeper, DO HEREBY GIVE NOTICE that it is my intention to apply at the General Annual Licensing Meeting for the said Division to be holden at the Town Hall, Lavender Hill, Battersea, in the said Division and County, on Friday, the 3rd day of February, 1939, for a grant to me of a Justices Licence authorising me to hold an Excise Licence to sell, under the Licensing Acta, 1910 and 1921, the following intoxicating liquor, viz., WINE by retail, to be consumed either ON or OFF the house or premises thereto belonging situate at No. 71 Rawson-street in the Parish of Battersea, in the said Division and County, known by the sign of the "PRINCE ARTHUR,” of which premises Young and Company’s Brewery, Limited, of the Ram Brewery. Wandsworth, are the Owners and which premises are now occupied by me as a Beerhouse Keeper.

GIVEN under my hand this 10th day of January, 1939,
ARTHUR BUCKRIDGE.
South Western Star - Friday 13 January 1939, page 4.

I wonder if the Prince Arthur ever got its full licence? I’ve tried looking on old OS maps, but can’t find one with enough detail. The pub itself no longer exists. Most of the street seems to have been destroyed during the war, It’s currently post-war flats.
 

Let's Brew Wednesday - 1885 William Younger 80/-

Another Eighty Shilling that isn’t like the modern version. Instead, it’s of the Shilling Ales type. That is, sort of a bit like an English Mild Ale.

If you can remember the 80/- from 1851, that was a much stronger beer, with an OG about 20º higher. And a ABV pushing 7%. It doesn’t help that the rate of attenuation is even worse here. This brew was a parti-gyle with 60/-.

The recipe remains pretty simple. With a 100% malt grist, consisting of three types of pale malt, one Scottish and two foreign. There’s no sugar, even though it was present in some of Younger’s other beers.

The hopping rate is a good bit lower than in 1851: 5 lbs per quarter (336 lbs) of malt, as opposed to 7 lbs.  This is reflected in the somewhat lower (calculated) IBUs.

There were five types of hops, all from the 1884 season: two Kent, Californian, Spalt and American.

1885 William Younger 80/-
pale malt	14.75 lb	100.00%
Cluster 90 min	1.25 oz
Spalt 60 min	1.25 oz
Fuggles 30 min	0.50 oz
OG	1064
FG	1027
ABV	4.89
Apparent attenuation	57.81%
IBU	45
SRM	5
Mash at	154º F
Sparge at	175º F
Boil time	90 minutes
pitching temp	58º F
Yeast	WLP028 Edinburgh Ale

Here's a short YouTube video I made about Eighty Shilling.

 

 

Scottish Export/80/- in the 1950s

Have you been enjoying my stuff about Eighty Shillings? Whether you have or not, there's lots more coming. I seem to have got sidetracked into it. Oh, well.

In this post, we'll be looking at 60/- in the 1950s. Which is when the modern form of the style crystallised. When brewers were finally freed from the last restrictions of WW II. 

I've examples from five breweries, which I hope is pretty representative. All of the breweries were based in Edinburgh, other than Maclay which was in Alloa.

Only one of the beers was called 80/- in the brew house, that from Robert Younger. I'm guessing that all of them would have called Export in the pub, mind. Though that might not have been the name on the pump.

The gravities vary from 1040º to 1046º. Averaging 1044º. Which is about where I'd expect a post-WW II 80/-. There's almost as much varition in the finishing gravities, going from 1009.5º to 1015º.

On Account of the greatly varying rates of attenuation, from 63% to 79%, the ABVs are all over the place. There's a difference of 1.5% ABV between the weakest, Maclay's, and the strongest, William Younger's.

Most of the examples were hopped at around 4 lbs per quarter (336 lbs) of malt. The outlier being Maclay's at 6 lbs. In England, the hopping would have been more like at Maclay. At the other breweries, it's quite light, by UK standards. 

Scottish Export/80/- in the 1950s
Year	Brewer	Beer	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	lbs hops/ qtr	hops lb/brl
1957	Robert Younger	80/-	1043	1012	4.10	72.09%	4.93	0.83
1958	Wm Younger	Export	1046	1009.5	4.83	79.35%	4.39	0.77
1958	Bernard	Pale 1/4	1046	1013.3	4.33	71.20%	3.97	0.76
1957	Maclay	Export	1040	1015	3.31	62.50%	6.05	1.00
1956	Drybrough	Export	1045	1013.5	4.17	70.00%	4.35	0.80
	Average		1044.0	1012.7	4.15	71.03%	4.74	0.83
Sources:
Robert Younger brewing record held at the Scottish Brewing Archive, document number RY/6/1/2.
William Younger brewing record held at the Scottish Brewing Archive, document number WY/6/1/3/112.
T & J Bernard brewing record held at the Scottish Brewing Archive, document number TJB6/1/1/1.
Maclay brewing record held at the Scottish Brewing Archive, document number M/6/1/1/35.
Drybrough brewing record held at the Scottish Brewing Archive, document number D/6/1/1/7.

Here's a short YouTube video I made about Eighty Shilling. 

 

Youngs boiling and fermentation in 1940

Yes, I'm still away on holiday. How selfish of me. Going away creates so much work for me. Lining up more than a dozen blog posts before I leave. Then writing the same number of travel posts when I return. It's all very time-consuming.

Boiling times are basically the same. Two hours, for most boils, for most beers. Only the watery A got a little less. And the strongest beer, XXX, got a little longer.

More surprising is that the fermentation temperatures have been reduced. The pitching temperatures are, on average, 1.5º F cooler and the maximum temperatures 4 º F. 

Despite the lower fermentation temperature, the fermentations lasted a day less. Which doesn’t make a whole deal of sense to me. The small drop in gravities wouldn’t have been enough to make that much of a difference. 

Youngs boiling and fermentation in 1940
Beer	Style	boil time (hours)		Pitch temp	max. fermen-tation temp	length of fermen-tation (days)
A	Mild	1.75	1.75	59º F	66.25º F	7
X	Mild	2	2	58º F	67.5º F	7
PAB	Pale Ale	2	2	59º F	65º F	6
PA	Pale Ale	2	2	58º F	67º F	7
P	Porter	2		59º F	68.25º F	4
S	Stout	2		58º F	70.25º F	4
XXX	Strong Ale	2	2	58º F	65.5º F	7
XXXX	Strong Ale	2.5	2	58º F	68.5º F	8
	Average	2.03	1.96	58.38º F	67.28º F	6.3
Source:
Young's brewing record held at Battersea Library, document number YO/RE/1/9.

 

Youngs hops in 1940

As you read this, I should be on my holidays in Canada. Hence the need to bash out a whole load of posts to cover the time I'll be away. That's why there have been so many Young's posts. 

Hops now. Which are pretty much the same as in 1939. Except there are no Worcester hops. This time they’re all from Kent. Some, in the case of the Pale Ales, being the classiest from the county: East Kent. Which would be something most likely along the lines of Goldings.

The hops are about the same age as in 1939. From the most recent season of the one before. The older ones being cold stored (that’s what CS means). All the beers contain at least two types of hops and some three. 

 

Youngs hops in 1940
Beer	Style	hop 1	hop 2	hop 3
A	Mild	Kent 1939	Kent 1938 CS
X	Mild	Kent 1939	Kent 1938 CS
PAB	Pale Ale	Kent 1939	Kent 1938 CS	EK 1939 CS
PA	Pale Ale	Kent 1939	Kent 1938 CS	EK 1939 CS
P	Porter	Kent 1939	Kent 1938 CS
S	Stout	Kent 1939	Kent 1938 CS
XXX	Strong Ale	Kent 1939	Kent 1938 CS
XXXX	Strong Ale	Kent 1939	Kent 1940	Kent 1939 CS
Source:
Young's brewing record held at Battersea Library, document number YO/RE/1/9.

 

This is Eighty Shilling part three

 I explain another 80/- recipe. 1933 William Younger Export.

  

Let's Brew - 1851 William Younger 80/-

Just for demonstration purposes, here’s a recipe of a Shilling Ale 80/-. Which, as you must be bored of hearing by now, has no connection with modern 80/-. Other than the name, obviously.

It has a pretty decent gravity of 1085º, though a poor rate of attenuation leaves it under 7% ABV. Which is pretty typical of Shilling Ales. They mostly have quite high finishing gravities.

Like the 60/- from the same year, the recipe is very simple. Though the two beers weren’t parti-gyled together, the recipes are pretty much the same. Two types of pale malt, one of which was Scottish. And that’s it for the grist.

There were three types of English hops: Kent, East Kent and Farnham. Pretty classy ones. With latter two generally being the most expensive types of hops. There’s no indication of the vintage of any of the hops. 

1851 William Younger 80/-
pale malt	26.25 lb	100.00%
Goldings 90 min	2.50 oz
Goldings 60 min	2.00 oz
Goldings 30 min	2.00 oz
OG	1085
FG	1034
ABV	6.75
Apparent attenuation	60.00%
IBU	72
SRM	8
Mash at	154º F
Sparge at	184º F
Boil time	90 minutes
pitching temp	56º F
Yeast	WLP028 Edinburgh Ale

Here's a short YouTube video I made about Eighty Shilling.

 

And here's a video about this specific recipe: