Monday 10 August 2009

Lager boomers (part three)

As promised, if a little late, here is my final installment of Lager in the UK. Around 1960. Today we'll be looking at imported Lager.

As usual. my source is the Whitbread Gravity Book. But this is where things get a little weird. Because I've seen a couple of these beers from the other side of the fence. Having taken a look at some Heineken and Amstel brewing records from around this period, I was aware of the "special" versions brewed for the UK market.

The beers in the table fall very neatly into two groups. Beers, like Heineken, brewed especially weak for the British market. And beers left at their original strength. This is a dichotomy that, to some extent, still exists in the UK. Though the pissy versions are now usually brewed in the UK. Only one beer has a gravity between 1032 and 1041. Stella, of all things. Which in 1961 was only 3.5% ABV.


Imported Lager
Year Brewer Country Beer Style Price size package FG OG Colour ABV attenuation
1963 Carlsberg Denmark Pilsner Pils 21d half pint bottled 1005.2 1029.9 7.5 3.09 82.61%
1963 Heineken Holland Lager Lager 20d half pint bottled 1008.4 1030 6 2.70 72.00%
1961 Tuborg Denmark Pilsner Pils 20d half pint bottled 1005.6 1030.2 12 3.08 81.46%
1963 Carlsberg Denmark Pilsner Pils 19d half pint can 1005.4 1030.2 8 3.10 82.12%
1962 Carlsberg Denmark Danish Pilsner Pils 19d half pint bottled 1008 1030.4 8 2.80 73.68%
1963 Schou Norway Export Lager Lager 17d half pint bottled 1003 1030.4 6 3.43 90.13%
1961 Carlsberg Denmark Danish Pilsner Pils 20d half pint bottled 1007.2 1030.5 7.5 2.91 76.39%
1963 Elbschloss Germany Ratsherrn Lager Lager 24d half pint bottled 1006.3 1030.5 13 3.03 79.34%
1961 Heineken Holland Lager  Beer Lager 18d half pint bottled 1006.3 1030.6 4.5 3.04 79.41%
1961 Amstel Holland Amstel Lager Lager 18d half pint bottled 1006.1 1030.9 9.5 3.10 80.26%
1961 Oranjeboom Holland Dutch Pilsner Pils 18d half pint bottled 1006.9 1031.1 9.5 3.02 77.81%
1959 Carlsberg Denmark Pilsener Pils 21d half pint bottled 1009.1 1031.2 15 2.76 70.83%
1963 Tuborg Denmark Pilsner Pils 21d half pint bottled 1007 1031.5 12 3.06 77.78%
1963 Oranjeboom Holland Pilsner Lager Pils 21d half pint bottled 1005.9 1031.6 7.5 3.21 81.33%
1961 ZHB Holland Export Pilsner Lager Pils 18.5d half pint bottled 1005.9 1032 8 3.26 81.56%
1961 Pilsner Urquell Czech Pilsner Urquell Pils 17d half pint bottled 1010.9 1032.5 10 2.70 66.46%
1961 Brasseries Artois Belgium Stella Lager Lager 20d half pint bottled 1005.7 1035.4 6 3.71 83.90%
1961 Patzenhofer, Berlin Germany Patz Lager Lager 21d half pint bottled 1007.5 1041 7.5 4.19 81.71%
1963 Union (Dortmund) Germany Pilsner Pils 22d half pint bottled 1006.7 1042 9 4.41 84.05%
1961 Holsten Germany Holsten Lager Lager 20d half pint bottled 1008.1 1044.1 7 4.50 81.63%
1960 Lamot Belgium Pilsor Lager Lager 18d half pint bottled 1007.5 1044.4 7 4.61 83.11%
1963 Fosters, Melbourne Australia Export Lager Lager 27d half pint bottled 1003.9 1045.4 8 5.19 91.41%
1961 Holsten Germany Pilsner Lager Pils 20d half pint bottled 1000.8 1045.5 7 5.59 98.24%
1963 Holsten Germany Pilsner Pils 22d half pint bottled 1006.7 1046.1 6 4.92 85.47%
1961 Vandenheuvel Belgium Ekla Lager Lager 18d half pint bottled 1009.8 1046.7 6.5 4.61 79.01%
1961 Carlton United Breweries, Melbourne Australia Fosters Export Beer Lager 24d half pint bottled 1005 1047.3 7.5 5.29 89.43%
1963 Swan Brewery Co. Ltd., Pert W. Australia Australia Swan Lager Lager 27d half pint bottled 1006.6 1048.1 7 5.19 86.28%
1961 Swan Brewery Co. Ltd., Pert W. Australia Australia Swan Lager Lager 24d half pint bottled 1006.2 1048.3 7.5 5.26 87.16%
1963 Desnoe & Geddes Jamaica Red Stripe Lager Lager 16.25d half pint can 1010.2 1048.5 6 4.79 78.97%
1961 Desnoe & Geddes Jamaica Red Stripe Lager Lager 21d half pint can 1010 1049.2 6 4.90 79.67%
1963 Tatra Poland Zywiec Lager Lager 26d half pint bottled 1006.9 1051.4 9.5 5.56 86.58%
1961 Hackerbräu Germany Hackerbräu Light Lager 33d half pint bottled 1014.5 1051.7 8 4.65 71.95%
1963 Carlsberg Denmark Lager de Luxe Lager 27d half pint bottled 1009.5 1052.1 8 5.32 81.77%
1962 Carlsberg Denmark Lager de Luxe Lager 24d half pint bottled 1008.3 1052.8 8 5.56 84.28%
1961 Dortmunder - Hansa Germany Dortmunder Urtyp Export 30d half pint bottled 1006.7 1053.7 9.5 5.88 87.52%
1961 Löwenbräu Germany Pale Bock Beer Bock 38d half pint bottled 1015.4 1059.6 5.5 5.52 74.16%
1963 Löwenbräu Germany Pale Bock Beer Bock, pale 42d half pint bottled 1013.7 1059.7 7 5.75 77.05%
1966 Tuborg Denmark Royal Brew Lager 42d pint bottled 1010 1077.5 9 8.44 87.10%
Source:









Whitbread Gravity Book


I hope you're enjoying the summer of lager. Just wait until I start reporting on the Annafest and Fränkische Schweiz. Then the party will really kick off.

5 comments:

Pivní Filosof said...

That label is hilarious! the bloke on it looks like that French actor, Louis de Funes, with a dodgy white wig....

Gary Gillman said...

Carlsberg Special Brew, still made I believe, is not mentioned. However, a similar-sounding beer of high gravity and appropriately described as Royal, is included as a Tuborg product.

I believe Carlsberg and Tuborg later merged and I wonder if Carlsberg Special Brew was the Tuborg beer re-named. Yet, I would think each brewery must have had an extra-strong specialty of this type.

Carlsberg Special Brew had a cult status in the 1970's. One of the established English authors who wrote occasionally on drink, possibly Alec Waugh, once wrote of having a drink after observing a health regimen for some time. I remember well his colourful description of swallowing an ice-cold Carlsberg Special Brew after such a hiatus, something about opening every sense and an explosion of flavour.

Gary

Ron Pattinson said...

Pivni Filosof, he's one weird-looking chav. I love old labels.

Ron Pattinson said...

Gary, Carlsberg Special Brew was originally brewed for Winston Churchill. He died in 1965, before Tuborg and Carlsberg merged. So I'm pretty sure Special Brew was a Carlsberg beer.

Tuborg and Carlsberg still have pretty much parallel lines.

Tandleman said...

I've always thought, but I don't know why, that Special Brew was a UK Carlsberg invention.