Here they are:
Because yesterday's image is acting a bit weird, here's another version:
Interestingly, the early 1920's version of Worthington IPA has almost exactly the same OG as the 1949 one. Very unusual. Most beers lost 25% or so in gravity over that period. Even weirder,
the 1955 versions (shown as White Shield and Green Shield) were over 1060. That's probably about the same as in the 19th century. Then in the late 1950's it dropped back to the low 1050's.Such a small drop in gravity was over the period 1900 - 1960 is really, really, really unusual. Very odd. Bleedin' weird. Most PA's/IPA's went from 1065 to 1037 over the same period. Apart from the weak, London-style IPA's. They started only started around 1050.
Of course, not having any numbers on pre-WW I Worthington IPA, I could be talking out of my arse here. I'm taking the very rash step of making an assumption. That Worthington and Bass had similar OG's in the late 1800's. Then again, despite what some may think, IPA wasn't a particularly strong beer. I've yet to find one over 1070.
Posts
3 comments:
Ron, what's the difference between the white shield and green shield ipa? Was it hopping rates? Also, in '55 and '61 they seem to be virtually identical based on gravities, but then in '67 they diverge a bit. Any ideas?
White Shield was bottle-conditioned, Green Shield force-carbonated. I thought they were basically the same beer, just conditioned differently, at least in the beginning. It's the same as Bass Red Triangle/Blue Triangle.
While assumptions are indeed dangerous, Ron, I believe you're probably right about the 19th century OGs being similar to the 20th century ones. I think Bass/Worthington probably felt they couldn't let their flagship products slip too far, despite higher taxes in the 20th century on stronger beers, and as they were premium beers anyway they were able to charge a suitable price for their product Burton beers always sold at a premium, even in the 19th century ...
Post a Comment