Lager boomers (part two)

Now it's time for the lagers from the emerging national brewers. At least I recognise most of the names. They adorned the garish fonts I ignored in my beer drinking youth.

That reminds me of something. I'm pretty sure I've never tasted Carling Black Label. Nor British-brewed Skol. Nor McEwan's Lager. Not even Tennent's. What a sheltered life I've led. I may have missed out on an unforgetable taste sensation that could have transformed my life. But I dioubt it.

At least most of these were bottom-fermented. I think. Barclay Perkins and Red Tower were, for certain. Tennents probably was, too. Carling, Skol and McEwan's likewise. Tennants might actually be a mistake and mean Tennents. So proper Lagers, in one sense at least.

Like I said, these are the beers that were relentlessly pushed during my youth and early adulthood. Yet how many remain? Black Label, Tennent's and McEwan's. The rest are down in hell with Watney's.

OK, time to look at the beers. Sorry, the Lagers.



These are on average a bit weaker than the regional breweries' Lagers. Most have gravities similar to a Mild of the period. Though the hight degree of attenuation makes the ABV higher than for most Milds.

I'm not quite finished yet. I haven't covered the imported Lagers yet. What a fascinating tale they have to tell. But you'll have to wait until later to hear it.

Lager boomers (part one)

I've finally got all through the Sundry Brewers section of the Whitbread Gravity Book. It contains exactly 1,200 beers. Now what to do with all that info? You know what? It's the Summer of Lager. So Lager's where I'll start.

Once I wouldn't have been interested in the lager entries at all. Not "proper" British beer. Not even proper beer at all. But I'm not the bigot I was. Discovering that virtually no-one else had ever bothered to seriously look at the history of British lager-brewing was all the encouragement I needed.

The period covered by these analyses is exactly when Lager was beginning its move from the periphery of Britain's beer culture to the mainstream. Why else would relatively small concerns like Hall & Woodhouse, Tolly Cobbold and Lacons have been brewing a Lager?

What were later to become the major Lager brands were already knocking about - as we will see tomorrow - but they didn't dominate. The tied house system so to that. There were still hundred of smaller breweries, each jealously guarding the beer supply to their pubs. And the national concerns were just in the process of coalescing.

What the Gravity Book doesn't tell us is how these Lagers were brewed. Given the size of the breweries, I doubt many (or perhaps any) were bottom-fermented. As for decoction mashing, well they wouldn't have the equipment to do it. Not unless, like Barclay Perkins, they'd built a brewhouse specifically for that purpose.


What can we say about these beers? There's quite a big spread in gravities, ranging from 1032 to 1045. Most are around the same as standard draught Bitter or Mild. Which is interesting. By the 1970's, most Lagers barely scraped over 1030. With the exception of Flowers, all are pretty well attenuated.

Tomorrow it's the turn of the national brewers' efforts. Won't that be fun.

Let's brew Wednesday - Fullers 1962 ELP, LP, PA, LA

You're so lucky. After today you'll have almost a full set of Fuller's beers from 1962.

If you were paying attention last week, you may remember that I said Fullers only really had three brews in 1962. One for Nourishing Stout, a second for all the other dark beer (Old Harry, Hock, OBE) and a third for all the Pale Ales. It's the last one we'll be looking at today. Though it does have one beer missing - Golden Pride. Sorry about that.

Party-gyling is one of the defining traits of British brewing over the past 150 years. And, it case you weren't listening all the other times I've said this, it isn't about making a single beer from each running. It's about combining two or three worts to make beers of different gravities.

Why party-gyle? For efficiency, simple as that. It's a good way of using as much of the fermentable materials in the mash as possible. And making efficient use of the equipment. It allowed a brewer like Fullers to make beers that wouldn't have been economic if they'd been made separately. By party-gyling, they were able to use the full capacity of the mash tun every time they brewed.

Like all beers that have been brewed for any length of time, the recipe of London Pride has gone through many incarnations. The one brewed today is quite different from this 1962 version. Particularly in terms of adjuncts. I'm pretty sure Fullers no longer use maize.

Good luck with this one. If you want to be authentic and party-gyle. This is the most complex recipe we've published so far. Oh, and you can mix and match any of the four beers. In the brewing logs they appear in all possible combinations: LP and PA; ELP, LP and LA; etc, etc.

Time for Kristen to take control . . . . .


Fullers 1962 ELP, LP, PA, LA

Sweet Sally in the Alley this took some work. It looks complex but its no more so that the gyle system last week. There are 4 different beers this type and a 3rd gyle to monkey with. I've broken the beers down into each of the 4 beers to brew individually. I've also broken things
down as the proper gyle into the 1st gyle and 2nd gyle which is different than before. Its basically how the beers stack up if you did them separated...then you just gotta blend them back. Someone owes me a bloody pint or 9...

Lets just get cracking...

Grist and such
Lots of adjunct here upwards near 25%. A touch of crystal, some invert sugars and 15% Flaked Maize which will definitely give a corny flavor. As for the sugar, if you have to choose one sugar, do the No2.

Mash
Same as last week, very straightforward mash and as always make sure your hot liquor has a pH around 5.4-5.6.

Hops
This recipe is march 1962 and the hops are 1961. Can't get much more fresh than this. The logs indicate that the hops are broken down per gyle by lbs per quarter. It is missing any details about dry hopping which I'm certain they did and in differing amounts for each beer. The IBU's tend to go up as the gravities go down which finishing even drier would make the beer seem more bitter than it actually is. John might be able to shine a bit more light on this. I would monkey with differing amounts of dry hops (if any) as well as different types.

Gyle breakdown and blending
I've done all th work for you. The first gyle has none of the sugars in them, just the mash. The second will have an OG from the runnings of the 1st mash of about 1.004. With all the sugars added in it will be around 1.010. This low gravity and a higher volume than the first gyle
ensures that this gyle is quite bitter at 45bu or so. The 3rd gyle would be the mash return but for us using treated liquor, or water in a pinch, is completely fine.

Gyle mashing
This is very simple. One mashes and then sparges the mash to get the volume of the first pre-boil wort based on their systems boil-off percentage. One then continues to sparge the same mash until the second wort is collected using the same parameters as the first.

Tasting notes
Sorry boys. This is one of the only ones I havent brewed. Ron got it to me Tuesday afternoon but as soon as I get a chance, I'll do it and add my tasting notes back.













I'm tempted to get Kristen to do Fullers 1962 Nourishing Stout next week. Then you'll have the full set. What do you reckon?

Boring beer

I read lots of complaints about boring beer. Especially in regard to the GBBF. But what is boring beer?

Of course, it's a very subjective thing, boredom. What bores the pants, jacket, scarf, tie, shirt, hat, underwear, shoes, toupee, incontinence pads and socks off me might set your heart racing like a speed freak in a ferrari. For some, boring beer is anything you can get hold of easily. Stuff you don't have to sell your children into slavery to pay for, travel to Timbuktu to fetch or sleep on a pavement three months queueing for.

My perspective is different. I happily drank little but Tetley's Mild for almost for seven years. Living in Leeds, finding a pub without it was a challenge. Now I rarely stray from the holy trinity of St. Bernardus 6, 8 and 12 when drinking at home. Beers I really like never get dull.

If neither ubiquity nor ease of purchase set me yawning, what does? That's trickier to put my finger on. Lack of subtlety? Perhaps. But that's not quite it . . .

I need to have a think.

Shit. That was the last bottle of Abt.

Fullers Pride

I'll be eternally grateful to John Keeling and Derek Prentice of Fullers. Something I didn't notice while I was being shown around the brewery. And left with their brewing records.

Occasionally a beer in logs reaches out and touches me. Russian Stout, obviously. Whitbread Mild. Whitbread Stout (you can still get a beer called that in Belgium). But none of those are still brewed. Apart from the Belgian one.

I'd hoped to find the Truman's logs from the 1980's, but was disappointed. Typically, it was just before they closed that Truman's suddenly took cask beer seriously and produced a Mild, Bitter, Best Bitter, Strong Bitter range. I liked all of them. But they don't have those years at the London Metropolitan Archives.

I'm very slow sometimes. London Pride was always my first choice in London. Unless they by some weird chance had Hock. (Have I told you this story before? Just tell me if I have. I don't want to go boring grandad on you.) Fate drew me towards the George & Vulture for two different reasons (hello Piers, if you're out there, it was just a joke, man, I was dead chuffed to see you after all those years). One was Piers. The other the arms factory. (I have told you this before, haven't I?)

LP, the brewhouse name for London Pride was all over the postwar logs. Often party-gyled with my favourite, ELP. I slurped down a stack of LP in the Sad Time (when I lived in London). Late 70's, so just a decade later than the last logs I've seen. Hock was great, when in good condition. Which, sadly, it often wasn't. That's in the logs, too, as X.

That's two Fullers beers, then. Seen in logs and drunk. Tonight time for number three. Something that was party-gyled with London Pride. Golden Pride. I'd really not tried it before about 20 minutes ago. I quite like it.

You don't want to read one of my shitty descriptions of how in tastes. Like concentrated London Pride. Nice. Exactly what I want to drink before eating my tea. (Ask Jeff to translate, if you don't understand what that means.)

Everything stops for tea.

I'm so excited

And I just can't hide it. Only three days to go. "Only three days until what?" Until I go to Franconia.

Five days of chilling in shady beer gardens, swilling lovely lager. And the Annafest, too. I've been twice before, but just the thought of it still gets me all jumpy.

I'm not sure if I'll have wifi access at all. If I don't, you'll have to make do with pre-written posts for a few days.

Feel free to come up to me if you spot me at the Annafest. Not that I'll be giving out spot prizes. To make things easier, I'll be wearing some of my own tacky merchandise. "Shut up about your Barclay Perkins." That's the codeword. Code phrase. You know what I mean.

Osnabrück

I knew writing all those pubs guides for German towns would come in handy one day. Saturday I got to use the Osnabrück guide.

The attempts by NS to relieve congestion at Amsterdam Centraal have turned out very well for us. There are now trains to Germany from Amsterdam Zuid, a station just 10 minutes away by bus. One of the destinations is Osnabrück.

It's a town I've been through literally dozens of times. I've even changed trains there once or twice. Saturday was the first time I'd made it beyond the station. My plan was simple: food, beer. As we arrived at noon, we headed straight for lunch.

Teenage traits are becoming apparent in Andrew, even though he doesn't turn 13 until next month. He was moaning about the walk even before we'd left the station forecourt. It didn't take more than 15 minutes to reach Gaststätte Holling, but to hear him complain you'd have thought we were part of the Grande Armée retreating from Moscow.

There are many reasons I love Germany. The service kids get in pubs is one of them. Not beer, you dummy. Food. They have special kids meals at stupidly cheap prices. Or they'll put together something that isn't on the menu. That's what happened at Holling. Schnitzel and chips for just 7.50 euros. (On the beer front, I had a Kusovice Dark - 10º, I think - and an Osnabrücker Pils. I'm sure you wanted to know that.)

Andrew spent most of the meal whinging. Lexie spoke non-stop about Michael Jackson. "I met him a couple of times.", I tell Lexie. "Really? Michael Jackson the King of Pop?" "Dad means the beer bloke not Mr. Plastic Surgery." Andrew chipped in. "He was the King of Pop, honestly, Lexie." I neglect to mention I'm using the word "pop" in a slang sense.

We had a bit of a postprandial stroll through the market (very nice). And looked at the Rathaus. Then I let the family go off shopping while I did some research. OK, while I went boozing. Research, boozing. Same thing for me.

My Osnabrück guide is pretty thin. So any new pubs I could find would be a bonus. Marktschänke looked promising when we walked past. I went back to check in out. If I had to describe the interior in two words it would be rustic kitsch. There's a tiled roof over the bar. That should tell you enough. It must have looked shit when new, but the time has mellowed it. The fake beams now look pleasantly distresed.

Marktschänke has four draught beers. Franziskaner Hefe-Weissbier, Diebels Alt, Staropramen Dark and Gilde Ratskeller Pils. I gave the Diebels a try. Yup, still doing a good impression of keg Bitter. There was footie on the telly. Braunschweing vs Osnabrück. It was the middle of July. There shouldn't be any footie for ages. Two or three weeks, at least.

Next stop was Hausbrauerei Rampendahl, the city's only brewery. I don't get overly excited about German brewpubs. Very few have impressed me with their beer. Inside, it's a bit soulless. Looks like a chain restaurant. The brewery is cool, though, nestling between the front and back rooms. It's like a miniature Bavarian brewery. They even have a grand. (What is the English word for grand?)

The Dunkles wasn't anything special. Then I noticed they distilled. My korn came with a slice of salami on top of it. Never seen that before. It was much better than the beer. The korn, not the salami. Though the salami wasn't bad, either.

I shouldn't have sat next to Andrew on the train back. He looked at me funny when I opened the first Köstritzer. After I reached for the second he said "Dad, don't drink any more beer." It was like a scene from one of those temperance posters. "No more, dad." I hadn't even got my hand in the bag this time. I ignored him and drank the third bottle anyway. I ask you, on a 3 hour train journey, is drinking three beers so unreasonable?



Marktschänke
Markt 20,
49074 Osnabrück.
Tel: +49 541 22387

Hausbrauerei Rampendahl
Hasestrasse 35,
49074 Osnabrück.
Tel: 0541 - 24535
Email: Info@Rampendahl.de
http://www.rampendahl.de/

Lager boom

Like I said a couple of days ago, I've been revisiting the Whitbread Gravity Book (part two). Just thought I'd share a couple of observations with you.

I'm on the section entitled "Sundry Brewers". It has bottled beers from all over the country. But not just random ones. There are clear patterns. Some pages have nothing but Stouts. Usually sweet Stouts. That it's often noted whether they contain lactose, sort of gives the game away. Why were Whitbread so interested in sweet Stouts? Because a big part of their business was Mackeson. They were keeping an eye on the competition.

Something interesting happens around 1960. Suddenly there are pages full of Lagers. Imported Lagers, big brands like Barclays, Skol and Black Label. That's no surprise. But then there are things like Lacon's Lager, Hall & Woodhouse Brock Lager, Tolly Cobbold Kroner Lager, Eldridge Pope's König Pilsener Lager.

This tells me a couple of things. Firstly, that Whitbread were getting interested in the Lager market. Secondly, that many quite small regional breweries were making Lagers. It's the start of the lager boom. I wonder when it will end?

Pub closures (part two)

How many pubs are really closing in Britain? The British Beer and Pub Association reckons 42 a week.

If 52 pubs are closing a week, that means 2,704 will close their doors forever in 2009. It'll be easy to check. The BBPA's own Statistical Handbook publishes the number of pub licences. We just have to wait 18 months or so. For the 2011 edition. And compare the number of licences in 2009 and 2010.

Assuming I can remember to check in 2011, I'm starting a sweepstake. Guess the number of pubs that close in 2009. Again, assuming I remember, there will be a prize of some sort for whoever gets closest. Probably some of my tacky merchandise.

I'll kick off with 1,237. What do you reckon?

Bruno

I've been revisiting the Whitbread Gravity Book part two. At least 50% I haven't transcribed yet.
I told you it was an amazing resource.

It wasn't too hard finding where I had got to. And when I did, I remembered why I stopped there. Blurry page. And bad handwriting. No wonder I hadn't fancy it. I almost skipped it, until I noticed a Lacon's Audit Ale. I wasn't going to miss that.

In the end, there weren't as many question marks in my spreadsheet as I had feared. Only three brewery names and seven beer names I couldn't work out. See if you can do any better. An image of the page is to your right. Lines 2, 4 and 21 contain the brewery names I was unable to decypher.

And, if you're watching Jeffo, three quarters of the way down the page Gold Label puts in an appearance. The bastards have knocked down its strength of late. The 1958 version was 10.5% ABV.

I suppose I should explain the title, shouldn't I? I was getting to that. You're an impatient bunch. Never heard of trying to build tension? I thought not.

My real reason for returning to the Whitbread Gravity Book is something we've discussed recently. C Ale. I'm still hoping to find one. There are plenty of Groves & Whitnall entries. Unfortunately, all for Red Rose Stout. But I live in hope.

Brown Ale. It's surprising how many breweries made more than one in the 1950's. Whitbread had Double Brown and Forest Brown. Fullers had Brown Ale and Old Harry. A weak one and a strong one. Ansells had two as well. Nut Brown Ale and Bruno Sweet Brown Ale.

As you can see, there's a huge difference in the colour and attenuation of the two beers. Perhaps, as a Midlands brewery they were compromising and brewing both a Northern and a Southern type of Brown Ale.

Though, hang on, the Nut Brown isn't strong enough to be a Northern type. Maybe I've found a new sort of Brown Ale. A Midland Brown Ale. I should trademark that sharpish before someone steals the name.

A 19th century scam

Here's a bit of light relief I stumbled across. It seems elaborate scams are nothing new.

"BOLD AND SKILFUL ROBBERY.
On Tuesday morning last, Mr. Ashcroft, proprietor of the Sportsman public-house, Margaret Street, Haggerstone, received a letter purporting to come from his brewers', Messrs. Charrington, Head & Co., Mile End Road, and requesting his attendance there without delay. Without losing a moment, Mr. Ashcroft hurried off, but had not gone many minutes, when two men of gentlemanly appearance drove up to the door in a pony-chaise, and, having hastily alighted, inquired for the landlord, saying they had come express from the brewery for him, where he was anxiously expected upon business of great urgency. Mrs. Ashcroft told them her husband had just gone to the brewery, on which they expressed some disappointment at missing him, but having, as they said, a great deal of business to do in the course of the day, requested they be accomodated with a pen and ink in the bar-parlour, wanting, as they said, to run over and arrange a few pricvate transactions. They were accordingly accommodated; and, having been served with some brandy and water, proceeded to business. After a short tie a third person, supposed to be in the confederacy, came to the bar and called for a glass of ale, tendering a sovereign in payment. Mrs. Ashcroft went into the bar-parlour and opened a drawer, from which she took the change, depositing the sovereign. The man at the bar hurrying her at the time by calling out that he was in haste to fulfil an engagement of importance. Anxious to oblige him she hurried out, leaving the key in the drawer, and whilst hunting the change her back was to the bar-parlour. The bustle and the arrival of other customers drove all thoughts of the key out of her memory. In a very short time afterwards the two gentlemen came out of the parlour, wished Mrs. Ashcroft good day, and expressing a hope that her husband had not neglected to call at the brewery, re-mounted the chaise and drove off. Scarcely had they gone when a sudden misgiving flashed across Mrs. Ashcroft's mind. She hurried immediately into the parlour, where she found her fears verified, the drawer being locked and the key gone. She instantly had the drawer broken open, and found that 30 pounds in gold and 12 pounds in silver had been abstracted. In some time afterwards Mr. Ashcroft returned and was remarking to his wife the unaccountableness of the note purporting to come from the brewery, where, on his arrival, he was told that no communication had been forwarded to him by any one connected with the establishment, when the mystery received its solution, as she related to him what had occurred immediately after he left. The men can be easily identified. They are both about five feet seven inches high, and were dressed in black. One of them seemed about forty years of age, and rather stout, the other somewhat younger, and more slender. The pony was a bright bay, very spirited, and the black harness appeared to be almost new."
Daily News, Saturday, May 3rd, 1851, page 6.

I'm surprised at how sure they are of identifying the two men. Five feet seven inches and dressed in black doesn't seem like much to go on to me.

Let's brew Wednesday - Fullers 1962 OH, X

This Wednesday there's a special treat. A master class in party-gyling. Think you understand party-gyling? Well think again. Here's a clue: it isn't making a different beer out of each running.

The two beers are OH (Old Harry) and X (Mild). Or H, standing for Hock. Fullers were a bit inconsistent, sometimes calling their Mild X and at others H. Though it's now only occasionally brewed, it's the Fullers beer with the longest pedigree, stretching all the way back to the 19th century.

What type of beer was Old Harry? According to the label, an "Extra Brown Ale". (Note that the recipe boasts neither roasted malts nor lashings of hops.) In reality, it's a type of strong Mild.

In this period, Fullers only really had three brews. One was just for their Stout. A second was for all their other dark beers: Strong Ale, Old Burton Extra, Old Harry and X. The last was for all the Bitters: ELP (Export London Pride), LP (London Pride), PA (Bitter) and LA (Light Ale).



Now it's time for Kristen to take control . . . .


Fullers 1962 OH, X
Ok boys, its not Wednesday....Lets Brew Wednesdays are supposed to be on said Wednesday. yes yes I know. Well you are in for a treat. Today I've done a gyle set from the Fullers logs. Its even more special b/c a lot of you older gits were still alive then. Its the OH-X from 1962. This one is a bit more complex as there are mixtures of worts and different amounts of sugars and hops that go into each based on the volume of each. I've broken it down two ways. The straight recipe for the OH and X just making it as a regular beer for you lazy bones. Then as the gyle for both beers for you overachievers.

Grist and such
Wow...9 different ingredients...must be for all the complexity! :) Basically there are 4 different pale malts used and one 6-row for the base malts. Feel free and get creative with the 4 base malts. Mix and match at will. If you want to be lazy and only use one, fine. The 6-row only makes up about 4% of the grist so you if can't find it, this is one recipe that I wouldn't go crazy over not having. The adjuncts make up about 21% of this recipe which is a pretty good amount but not totally overpowering. 10% flaked maize you will definitely get some of that maizy flavor and not just the fermentables. They use 3 different types of sugars across the spectrum of colors. If you have to choose just one sugar I would do the No2 but in a pinch I guess some golden syrup could sub in.

Mash
Very straightforward mash. Nothing fancy or complex. Remember that if you are going to do this by the gyle method make sure your hot liquor has a pH around 5.4-5.6. This will ensure you don't pull out any tannic astringency.

Hops
Hops are very fresh being about 9 months old. Goldings would do very nicely here but Brewers Gold, Fuggles, etc. Anything that you really like would be fine. There arent a whole lot of hops anyway. I would also dry hop this will probably 1/4oz per 5gal/19L (1oz per bbl/hl).

Gyle breakdown
This is where it can get tricky. Its actually very simple so pay attention. The entire premise to is make two different worts and blend them at different ratios to get the different beers. Each will have a different OG and BU count based on the hop additions. I chose this one as its actually very simple b/c the wort volumes are almost identical so it makes your life easier.

Gyle mashing
This is very simple. One mashes and then sparges the mash to get the volume of the first pre-boil wort based on their systems boil-off percentage. One then continues to sparge the same mash until the second wort is collected using the same parameters as the first.

Gyle worts
This is the heart and soul of gyling. 99% of people don't understand this b/c of all the incorrect blather written on the subject. At this point we treat the different worts as individual beers ONLY until they are boiled. Each are boiled for the indicated amount of time. For this OH-X wort #1 is boiled for 1.5 hours and wort #2 is boiled for 1.25 hours. Most people end here. THIS IS WRONG!!!! The most important step is blending these worts to make the specific beers. I don't know of anyone that does this better than John Keeling at Fullers. Now if he could get the Chiswick to me in Minnesota I would be in heaven! Chop chop John!

Gyle additions
Hops are usually added to each wort based on the lbs/bbl of the total hop lb/ bbl ratio. For this beer the lb/bbl is about 0.58lb which is quite low. As I said before, our beer has equal amounts in both worts so they would get equal amounts of hops. Other beers the ratio in volume can be as high as 1:4 and the hops would get divided this way. Remember also that the lower gravity the wort the more utilization one gets from the hops making them usually quite a bit more bitter. Sugars are added in the same way. Sometimes all go into wort #1, other times they are split. For the OH-X all sugars EXCEPT the No3 goes into wort #1. The No3 is split in half as is called for in the logs.

Gyle blending
This is a straight dilution which would be easy to calculate but you don't have to since the logs do it for you. Ive included a specific breakdown of the different blends. Just for your information, here's an example of the breakdown and the simple calculations involved. Lets use the craft beer 10bbl example shall we?

10bbl Craft beer
Wort 1 = 10bbl @ 1.060
Wort 2 = 10bbl @ 1.009

Blending for OH:
1.6bbl Wort 1
0.42bbl Wort 2
(1.6bbl*60OG + 0.42bbl*9OG)/2.03bbl = ~1.048
(1.6bbl*18bu + 0.42bbl*24bu)/2.03bbl = ~19bu
2.27bbl OH @ 1.048 & 19bu

Blending for X:
8.4bbl Wort 1
9.57bbl Wort 2
(8.4bbl*60bbl + 9.57bbl*9OG)/17.97bbl = ~1.033
(8.4bbl*18bu + 9.57bbl*24bu)/17.97bbl = ~21bu
17.97bbl H @ 1.033 & 21bu

After blending they are fermented separately as their one beers, OH and X.








Tasting Notes
OH - Bready malt. Lady fingers. Light fruit of apples, pears and apricots. Hints of toffee and light caramel. Rich finish for the low gravity.
H - Mostly the same as above. A touch more bitterness and hop character. Seems to be easier to drink and more refreshing.

Stockholm (part six)

Dodgy theorising. One of my specialities. I promised you some yesterday and I'm not one to renege on my promises. Not unless I feel like it.

Our next destination was one of Stockholm's classic beer bars, Oliver Twist. As a loyal, card-carrying CAMRA member I'm obliged to like it. They sell cask-conditioned beer. All the time. There's a reassuring set of handpulls on the bar.

Though I didn't drink any of the cask. It would have been crazy, as they were all British. Bit pointless coming to Stockholm and drinking British beer. I went for something from Jämtlands (can't remember which, exactly). It's probably my favourite Swedish brewery. I wasn't disappointed. Now I think about it, I can remember which it was. Postiljon. A very tasty and well-crafted Bitter. Dolores just had an iced water.

It's now time for more of my half-arsed thoughts. This struck me when wondering what to order for my second beer. How beer cultures can be moulded by restrictions that no longer apply. Like how British beer staying rooted at an average of 1037º for 40 years.

Sweden used to have some of the silliest beer laws. Like the one limiting beer to a maximum of 5.6% ABV. And a tax system that encouraged brewers to always brew to that maximum strength. Most Swedish beers are still 5 - 5.6% ABV. You find very few between 4 and 5% (Jämtlands are an exception in this regard). And little above 5.6%. Except for dodgy strong lagers from multinationals like Pripps and the odd Nils Oscar Barley Wine or Imperial Stout.

Why did that thought come to me? Because, knowing it would be my final beer of the evening, I was after something a little stronger. And, unless I went foreign, there wasn't much of a choice. In the end, I chose another beer of modest strength. A Jämtlands Porter at just 4.8% ABV. Very nice it was, too.


Oliver Twist
Repslagargatan 6,
118 46 Stockholm.
Tel. 08 - 640 0566
Fax: 08 - 641 1566
Email: restaurang@olivertwist.se
Homepage: http://www.olivertwist.se/

Bohemian Salvator

Thanks to Evan Rail for pointing this one out to me. It's an advert from 1891 for various Prague breweries. The interesting bit is the U Medvídků ad. "We recommend the beer brewed according to the Munich method, 'Salvator'" is what it says.

So Zacherl really were taking the piss when they trademarked Salvator. It was already a style brewed internationally. I wonder how they got away with it?

You can read more about the lost breweries of Prague in Evan's original post.

Now that U Medvídků has a brewery again, Should they consider brewing a Salvator? When did Zacherl get the trademark? After 1891, I'm sure. (I really should be able to provide the exact date here. But my tea is already on the table and it's best to eat with the whole family. Like the Simpsons.)

Who would win in court? "The one with the most money!" You're a cynical lot.

Stockholm (part five)

Thursday evening I had a chance to return to Glenfiddich Warehouse No. 68. Yippee! A proper beer pub at last. A proper beer pub that was open.

Three evenings out with Dolores. That's more than I usually get in five years. I'm not joking. I blame the children

Glenfiddich Warehouse No. 68 (is it me, or is that a slightly unwieldy name?) is much more modern inside than out. Quite trendy, in fact. Dolores liked it.

Like everywhere else, it was suffering from the sunny weather. That's why we sat close to the entrance, to get a little breeze.

This was exciting. A real choice of beer. What should I have?

Sometimes, I just don't learn from past mistakes. Now don't take this the wrong way. Please don't. But I blame the Americans. For buggering up Brown Ale. I quite like Brown Ale. The sweet, malty stuff called Brown Ale in Britain. But there's another type of Brown Ale. The hoppy type, with bugger all malt and not a trace of sweetness. It's like a darker version of Pale Ale. A bit of a waste of time as a beer style, to be honest.

The BJCP has to take some of the blame. They obviously just guessed how British brewers made Brown Ale and assumed that the colour came from dark malt. Even worse, from brown malt. that adds an inappropriate roastiness that has no place in a proper* Brown Ale. Not my sort of Brown Ale. Caramel, brewing sugars and crystal malt. They should be the source of the colour.

And the poor bastards in Scandinavia have just followed the American lead. Producing Brown Ales that have almost no similarity to a proper* Brown Ale.

I rashly ordered a Dugges Fuggedaboudit. Even though I couldn't pronounce the name. I'll be honest, it was the ABV that swung it for me. I should have paid more attention to the ABA after the name. I realised what it meant between ordering and receiving. "Bugger. I bet ABA stands for American Brown Ale" What's wrong with that?" "It'll be like that beer the first night. The horrible one"

It wasn't quite as bad as that. Just not at all like a Brown Ale. I envied Dolores. She got herself a rather nice wheat beer (Helsinge Veteöl). "Do you want to swap?" I asked and let her try my "Brown Ale". She didn't have to say anything. The sucking lemons expression was enough.

We only stayed for the one. Nothing to do with the beer. It was purely a technical public transport thing. We had exactly enough strips on our ticket to complete all our intended journeys. As long as we moved on to the next pub within an hour. The system is very like in Holland. You can travel for an hour after the time stamped on your ticket.

God, that was a dull explanation. I shouldn't have bothered, should I? Just as well I put in the provocative stuff about Brown Ale.

You'll have to wait until tomorrow to read about the remainder of the evening. And I'll be throwing in some more dodgy theorising about beer types. Don't miss it. Could change your life.**



Glenfiddich Warehouse No. 68
Västerlånggatan 68,
111 29 Stockholm.
Tel: 08 - 791 90 90
Fax: 08 - 791 70 70
http://www.gfw68.com/


* the type of Brown Ale actually brewed in the UK, something like this.
** slight exaggeration.

My Swedish book haul

You're probably not interested in this in the slightest. But here goes.

I manged to pick up a few books while in Stockholm. One new and four secondhand. Despite Andrew's chiding "You've already got enough books, dad." "You can never have enough books." "Yes you can, dad."

The city is pretty good for secondhand bookshops. And all the ones I tried had at least something about beer. Unlike the Akademiska Bokhandeln that just had air on the shelf marked "öl".

The new book, "Svensk Ölbok" by Örjan Westerlund, looks pretty handy. A bit on the history of Swedish beer and articles on every Swedish brewery. Two of the secondhand jobbies are just booklets. Though "Stockholms ölcafeer" has some good old photos of Stockholm pubs.

"För gott öls skull" ("For the sake of good beer") is more substantial. It's a collection of pieces by various writers on the topic of beer. "Jacobsen of Carlsberg" is an English translation of a Danish biography. It looks pretty academic. Hopefully it will contain something useful.

Uppsala

We promised the kids a little train excursion. Uppsala, a university town 45 minutes north of Stockholm, was our chosen destination.

It was another hot day. We carefully selected seats next to a window that opened. Lexie had been a big disappointment so far. "You've been a big disappointment, Lexie." "Why? I've been a good boy." "Exactly. You're not providing me with any material. If you don't do something crazy soon, I'm going to have to make it up. Like a proper journalist."

I didn't feel like looking around Åhléns with the rest of the family. You can guess what I wanted: beer. I arranged to meet them in 30 minutes. Now where was I likely to find a pub?

It didn't look promising at first. Like most town centres, the shopping district was full of, well, shops. I've picked up a few things of my decades spent travelling in search of booze. I headed towards the cathedral.

Sure enough, refreshment possibilities began to appear. Mostly of the posher kind. Down by the river I found something more suitable. "A beer, please. Do you have any bigger glasses than that?" "No." I had to make do with a 40cl measure. Only 49 crowns, though.

Sitting in the shade at the side of the river, I was soon in relaxation mode. The place was called Åkanten, so I'm guessing the river is called the Å. (I should really look that up, shouldn't I? Perhaps that could be a little project for you.) The weir was close by, adding a natural background music of tumbling water. A breeze cooled my brow. Perfection.

The beer? It was cold and Carlsberg. I couldn't afford to be fussy. Cold and alcoholic was good enough. Hang on, that could be a description of me, cold and alcoholic. That's not really true. I'm hot in every sense of the word. Except the sexual one. So let's change that. I'm like Irish coffee, hot and alcoholic. Like many of the English, I'm an emotional type. Excitable even. But that discussion is for another time. I was just chilling. Literally.

I took the family back to Åkanten to eat. Just 79 crowns a pop. Very nice it was, too.

On the way back to the station Lexie bought some long balloons in a toy shop. They were about the only thing he could afford. The type of balloon clowns bend into animal shapes. (A skill Lexie has picked up since our return.) I should get him more tired. Then he might become entertainingly crazy again. "Do you fancy shouting 'vodka!' in the Systembolaget?" "Daaad."



Åkanten
S:t Eriks Torg 8.
75310 Uppsala.
Tel: +46 18 15 01 50

Stockholm (part four)

That's right. I'm not done with Stockholm yet. Oh, no. Lots more to come. Unless I get distracted.

Wednesday, that's where we were, wasn't it? After the Vasa museum we didn't just hide in our hotel. Let's be more specific, me and Dolores didn't hide in our hotel. The kids did. At least that's what we told them to do. They could have crept out. But I'm pretty sure Lexie was too interested in "A Shot at Love" to leave the room.

Stockholm is a big city. Which there's much more to it than just the centre. For pubs, the Södermalm district is hard to beat. Both Akkurat and Oliver Twist are located there. But neither were our destination on Wednesday evening. Akkurat was out of the game, being closed for Summer. As we were planning on eating, our choice was simple: Soldaten Svejk.

There's a big difference in the price of lunch and dinner in Sweden. At lunchtime, you can get a main course, salad and soft drink for 70 - 80 crowns. In the evening, you'll be lucky to get just a main course for double the price. Soldaten Svejk is an exception. They have meals for around 100 crowns. That's roughly 10 euros. Bargain.

Those of you with a shred of culture will have already guessed what sort of pub Svejk is. For the ignorant amongst you, it's a Czech pub. And not a bad one. There's a great range of draught Czech beer. Not just obvious stuff like Pilsner Urquell, Budvar and Krušovice. Quality stuff like Bernard. I had a dark Bernard, Dolores a light.

The food is proper Czech fare, too. Schitzel, goulash and an old favourite of mine, smazeny syr (fried cheese). Which is what I ate (just in the remote chance that you might be interested in my diet.)

We only had the one beer. Not been a very beery trip so far, has it? Will it get more so in the last two days? Tune in tomorrow to find out.



Krogen Soldaten Svejk
Östgötagatan 35,
11826 Stockholm.
Tel: 08 641 33 66
http://www.svejk.se

Stockholm (part three)

Wednesday was Vasa day. That's the 17th century warship. The one that, like a surprising number of other flagships, never made it out of harbour on its maiden voyage.

But this is a beer blog, not a history blog. So back to the fizzy stuff. The plan was to take the ferry from Gammy Stan (I wonder who Stan was? Must have been important if they named the centre of town after him.) I live in Amsterdam, so I know all about tourist overload. But Vasterlangatan was still a shock. Lexie was happy, though. He bought himself a Swedish flag. He has a thing about flags. I wonder where that DDR flag is? I hope Dolores didn't throw it away like the portrait of Erich Honecker.

It was hot. Very hot. And 11:15. Time for a beer. I would have gone into Zum Franziskaner. But they don't open until 11:30. I wasn't going to wait 15 minutes for a beer. I'm not made of steel. Luckily there was an O'Leary's at hand.

"A Carnegie Porter, please." "A what?" Unlike the O'Leary's built into our hotel, they didn't sell Carnegie Porter. The draught beer selection was totally thrabbly. Falcon, Carlsberg, Guinness, Kilkenny. Multinational shit. The nice waitress brought me a menu so I could give the bottled options a look over. The choice wasn't much better. I did something I usually try to avoid. Ordered a non-local beer. A Spaten. I know, Spaten is part of a multinational concern. But it's better than Carlsberg.

The nice waitress brought us some popcorn. For free. That's lunch for the kids sorted out. Possibly dinner, too.

Almost forgot to mention. I almost fell over the Glenfiddich Warehouse No. 68. I was attracted by the German inscriptions on the first floor. It was a while before I noticed it was one of my target pubs. What luck. And only 5 hours to go before it opened. "Dolores, do you mind waiting here a little?"

We didn't take the ferry to the Vasa museum after all. There was a queue several hundred yards long. We took the rather more prosaic option of the bus. I would relate our experiences inside the museum. But I'm hot and typing ties up my drinking arm.

Stockholm (part two)

Two days gone already. And do you know what? I still haven't made it to any of my target pubs.

I was already aware that Akkurat, Stockholm's premier beer boozer, would be shut for the summer. Well, you can add to that Monk's Cafe. At least for this week. They're decorating.

We're staying fairly centrally in town. It can't be more than a ten-minute walk to Centralstation. So yesterday, after a hard day hiking around Skansen (the open-air museum) me and Dolores dumped the kids in the pool and headed off for Monk's Cafe. Over the bridge with the vertiginous views of the railway tracks. Monk's Cafe isn't much past that. But, as you already know, it was closed.

We went in search of somewhere else to have a quiet beer. The only other place in my guide reasonably close by is Belgo Bar. Now that's something I'm not doing. Coming to Sweden and drinking Belgian beer. I can - and do - do that at home. Ten minutes stroll uncovered nothing but cafes. I thought everyone here was a raging alcy. Turns out they're actually coffee addicts. What a disappointment.

We did find a Styembolaget. One of the shiny new ones, with even the spirits enticingly draped across the shelves. It takes some getting used to. Do you know something weird? I sort of miss the Soviet-style queueing ones, where all the dangerous booze was stored well away from the eyes of the putative punters. I got an Arboga Majbock, Jamtlands Pelgrim and a couple of Oppigards beers. The Oppigards Porter wasn't bad. And the Majbock at least had a little poke.

Sweden has changed a lot since my first visits. Beer stronger and 5.6% ABV is now legal. The systembolaget shops have the drinks arranged on shelves and everything is dirt cheap. Sorry, the last one isn't true. Just my wishful thinking.

Yesterday, Dolores and I ended up in the uninspiring sports bar on the corner. Her Falcon Export and my Carnegie Porter only cost 12 euros. What a bargain.

Stockholm (part one)

Summer holiday time. The Pattinson family is spending its summer holiday in Stockholm.

Why Stockholm? It was Andrew's choice. Just like me, he dissolves into sweat the moment the temperature hits 20.000000000001 degrees C. He was dead disappointed when we arrived yesterday. With the weather: sunny and warm. I bet he plumps for Iceland next year. He's already started softening me up. "It's dead cheap now, dad. Since their economy collapsed. Things only cost a third of what they used to, when you pay in euros." I didn't spoil things by pointing out that everything used to be four times the price of Holland.

There hasn't been much time for dragging the kids around pubs yet. I did get them into one, just around the corner from our hotel. An American-themed sports bar. They insisted we went in. Really. OK, they were starving and wanted a cooked meal. I wasn't desperate to eat, but I thought I'd join them in a little snack. Things didn't work out quite as planned.

I had 650 crowns on me. That's about 60 euros. Surely plenty. I carefully added up the price of the kids food and drinks. 460 crowns. What a choice. If I ate, there wouldn't be enough money for a beer. No contest, really. I had two Carnegie Porters. A liquid meal, of sorts.

With the kids safely locked in hotel, there was time for parent time. The special parent time. Just like the happy time (before the kids were born.) I was prepared for exactly that eventuality. I've two pubs in my Stockholm Pub Guide that are on the same island as our hotel, Kungsholmen. The Nils Oscar Bar and Mackinlay's Inn. Within spitting distance of each other, too.

My guides are renowned for their detail and accuracy. It's just keeping them all up to date is a pain in the arse. My Stockholm guide really needs attention. Just as well I'm here. The Nils Oscar Bar was nowhere to be found. Oh well, at least Mackinlays Inn was at hand.

We found a seat at the back and took a look at the beer menu. There was a whole row of stuff from Nynäshamns Ångbryggeri. Dolores had a pint of Bedarö Bitter. I went for a Brännskär Brown Ale. What can I say. I've rarely drunk something that tasted less like a Brown Ale. Way too bitter. And with all the wrong malt flavours. It tasted like bitter gall. As did Dolores's beer. We only had the one.

Illegal pub

Here's a tale of an illegal pub, as reported in the News of the World (Sunday, June 15, 1856, page 7)

"A Den of Profligacy and Vice
Mary Phelps was charged with selling beer, gin, and other fermented liquors, at a court in Golden lane, St. Luke's, without being licensed for the same. - Inspector Brennan said that the practice of selling beer, and a vile composition which the vendors called gin, after the licensed houses had closed, and also on a Sunday morning, had lately become so prevalent in the courts of Golden Lane, and the complaints of the drunkenness and vice at the police station so numerous, that the police had received strict injunctions to put them down; but such was the systematic way in which the trade carried on, that it was not until parties unconnected with that body were employed that a case could properly be brought forward. Defendant could not plead ignorance of the law, having before been fined for a similar offence, and her mother and father had also been imprisoned and fined for the like. The house in which the defendants lived was the resort of the worst thieves and prostitutes, and he mentioned several instances of profligacy and vice which he had witnessed, and which caused a sensation in court. - The defendant said she has a small family to support, and hoped his worship would look over it. - Mr. Tyrwhitt said he should fine her 40s, or a month's imprisonment with hard labour. - The money not being forthcoming, the prisoner was taken off."

I wonder what the "several instances of profligacy and vice" were that so shocked the court?

No German beer in Paris yet

I love old brewing magazines. It's not just the statistics. There's loads of other weird stuff, too.

I've been spending the few quiet moments I snatch in the evening browsing "The Brewers' Journal" of 1940. I know. I should stop living in the past. Especially the two wars. But I just can't help myself.

The reports of former Paris correspondent of "The Brewers' Journal" are particularly striking. France in the immediate aftermath of the German occupation is not something I've heard much about before. This aricle was written in September 1940.

"Cafés and bistros are re-opening, and the large numbers of German soldiers and "tourists" brought to Paris, Nancy, Rheims, Chartres and other centres make for a substantial rise in consumption. The German news agencies may issue stories of the continued search for a non-alcoholic beer substitute, German men and women may be exhorted to follow the Fuehrer's example and drink only "weak lemonade or fizzy water", in the Paris cafés German visitos, officers and men insist on beer. Even wine is not equally popular, and as to apéritifs, the invaders consider them with utmost distrust.

Some importers and large café proprietors have endeavoured to obtain German beer. They placed orders with Munich, Berlin and other firms with whom they had done some trade before the war, but the German breweries cannot supply them. The chief obstacle seems to be just the factor which propmpted the French to invite the supplies - they wish to rid themselves of the Mark notes which they are accumulating. The German "customers" pay in mark exchange for the sumptuous meals which they take in French restaurants or coffee-houses, and the proprietors' anxiety to pass on these notes as soon as they can will be appreciated. The authorities in Germany, however, seem in no hurry to send such beer as they have, and see their marks come back in return. We cannot say whether this is also true of the Alsace and Lorraine districts. It is not unlikely that there supplies can be obtained from the Mannheim and Kehl breweries."
"The Brewers' Journal 1940" page 727.

The idea of German tourists in wartime Paris is rather weird. Though forcing people to accept their ultimately worthless mark notes isn't such a surprise. The nazis did practice a weird type of financial policy. It seems to have been mostly based on theft of one kind or another. All good stuff for my film "Vive la Résistance!" I'll do my best to work some of this in. The hero is, after all, a café owner.

Decline in pub licences 1905 - 1952

I managed to unearth some more figures for pub closures. I though I'd share them with you.

This particular set of figures highlights the forced closures caused by the authorities revoking licences. They appear in the "refused" columns. Pubs that closed for economic reasons are in the "Licences lapsed" column.


The decline was sharpest in the first period covered, almost 7,000 pubs at an average of just under 27 a week. The next five years were barely any better, with over 22 pubs closing each weak. Not much fewer than 12,000 pubs disappeared in just 10 years.

Things aren't quite as bad as that yet. We'll need to wait another 9 years to see if the first decades of the 21st century will be as bad for pubs as those at the start of the 20th century. I hope they aren't.

Even more on C Ale

"A Short History of our National Beverage" arrived yesterday. It's a little pamphlet put out by Groves & Whitnall in the 1930's. You can probably guess why I bought it.

Sure enough, C Ale gets a mention. This is the paragraph describing Groves & Whitnall's bottled beers:

"Burton itself cannot produce anything which, in its class, is superior to our Bitter Beer. Our famous "C" Ale is similar to the best Burton "Mild". Our strong Old Ale or "Barley Wine" stands pre-eminent and apart from all others, and our "Special" Ale in bottle is fittingly described by its title."

So C Ale was like a Burton Mild. That's progress, of a kind. I wonder what exactly they mean by a Burton Mild?

Pub closures

Time for a "putting things into perspective" post. On the topic of disappearing pubs.

Things soon get hyped up. Especially when newspapers get involved. They love throwing around terms like "unprecedented" and "never before". It applies to more than just the beer worrld, but I'm limiting myself. To just pubs.

"Pubs closing at an unprecedented rate." That's the current refrain. But how true is it? I just happen to have the figures for the number of pubs in England and Wales for the period 1900 to 2004. Let's take a look at them, shall we?

In 1900 there were 102,189 pubs in England and Wales. That's the time when local magistrates were actively trying to reduce the number of pubs. You can see just how successful they were. By 1920 there were just 83,432, a drop of 18,757. On average, just over 2.5 pubs closed every day throughout that 20 year period. While at the same time the population increased by 16%. While in 1900 there were 298 people per pub, by 1920 it was 422. So, taking into account population changes, the number of pubs fell by a massive 41%.

After 1920, the number of pubs continued to decline, but at a much slower rate. The nadir was reached in 1972, when just 63,732 remained. That's slightly more than one a day.



The next bit is what surprised me. The number of pubs then began to increase again. In 2004, the last year I've got figures for, it was up to 81,455. An increase of 17,723, a rate of 1.5 new pubs per day. All the pub losses from the 1920's to the 1970's had bee wiped out. I was gob-smacked when I realised that the number of pubs had been increasing all through my drinking life.

This graph makes the long-term trends very clear:



It's sad that many landlords are losing their businesses and their homes. But let's not get hysterical. The rate of closures isn't "unprecedented". Painful, but not unprecedented.

Let's Brew Wednesday - 1877 Whitbread KKK

Another K Ale this week. A Strong Ale, I suppose you would call it.

And when they say Strong Ale, they mean it. This has a OG of over 1080, yet it was brewed as a draught beer. Victorians probably saw it as a session beer. But they were made of stronger stuff than us moderns.

In the middle of the 19th century, London brewers had two parallel lines of Ales. X Ales and K Ales. They were essentially the same, except the K Ales were much more heavily hopped. Initially there were X, XX, XXX, XXXX and KK, KKK, KKKK. These were pared down and by 1900 brewers like Whitbread and Barclay Perkins brewed just X, KK, KKK and sometimes KKKK.

Here's Kristen with all the brewy details . . .


1877 Whitbread KKK
Whit 1877 KKK...I love this one as I've made it before numerous times. It was one of the first I did with the KKK and KK. Just a little different. The one is actually really special b/c the logs aren't the normal Whitbread ones. This one seems to stem from the head brewers personal log book. Much more simply laid out but missing a lot of the detail that the whole logs have. So, the volumes are kind of screwy but the end result is the same. This beer has a massive quantity of what is called 'return' which accounts for a lot of the volume. The return is basically spare water thats ran through the grist to get everything out of it. When you think about this beer it tastes very very similar to the Thomas Sykes ale just a little big lower in alcohol.

So...on to the recipe then.

Grist and such
One of the simplest grain bills. A pale malt and simple invert #1. I very much like Maris otter for this as it gives probably the best character for strong English beers. I guess you could swap in some Golden Promise but it will lend a biscuit character. Stay away from Halcyon, Optic and any US if at all possible. For the invert, make your own using turbinado or just use Lyles Golden syrup...its close enough.
Mash
If you are paying attention to numbers at all you'll see that the apparent attenuation is only 60%. We'll that all comes from here. The mash temp is really high at 156F so if you feel like your are uncomfortable drop it down to 153...you'll miss a lot of this beers character. There are plenty of dextrins in this sucker to make it very robust.

Hops
Nearly 6lb of hops per barrel! Holy trucker...this thing has so many hops in it I guarantee that the IBU count is off. They are all very very fresh and all very very English. Nothing is listed for dry hopping but I would assume that there would be at least 2-4oz per bbl so go ahead and experiment.

Fermentation
Quite an extended fermentation for the time in that it took about 7 days. It starts quite low at 61F but then gets up to 71F quite quickly. With the Whitbread yeast there will be a bunch of fruity esters and just a touch of higher alcohol from the temperature.





Tasting notes
Beaming golden orange. Honey-glazed sugar cookies. Ginger spice and a touch of Angostura. Pears, apples and peaches. Hints of alcohol pepper but not hot. Luscious, rich and velvety on the back end. Drying hop resins and a punch of bitterness keeps the sweetness from being cloying.

Bohemian lager in 1886

I've just remembered. This is supposed to be a summer of lager, not a summer of merchandising. Time to plunge my hand into the gravity table pot and see what I pull out.

Let's see what this is. Not too fat and not too sticky. Should do. It even illustrates a point. Perfatasterrific. Here we go then, some Bohemian lagers analysed in 1886.

Exactly what point might that be? I hear you ask. The Czech love of výčepní pivo. Schankbier if you're a German-speaker. Or desítka. The lagers below are unusually weak for everywhere except the Czech Republic. Just 9º or 10º Plato. And under 4% ABV. You wouldn't have found any lagers that weak in Bavaria.

The attenuation is surprisingly low, too. For a majority, it's less than 70%. My guess is that today it would be closer to 80%.

I wonder how many of the breweries still exist?


More lager fun on the way.

Unless I change my mind again.

Tacky Merchandise

Not enough of you have been buying. It's time to tart my Shut up about Barclay Perkins range of Tacky Merchandise again.

Who can live without a mouse mat depicting a Barclay Perkins FSt log from 1850? I know I couldn't. That's why I've ordered a round dozen - one for each of my computers, plus a spare for each. For those wanting a more modern look, there's a mat with a 1936 IBS and RNS log. Any beer geek would love to own one of these high-quality, limited edition pieces of tack. Sorry, valuable collectables. Homebrewers - find inspiration as you answer your emails.




Or how about a Colditzer Schwarze Sau mug? Colditz, the DDR and a black pig. It literally has it all. Using the colours of the German flag, it's also vaguely patriotic. If you're German. (Which everyone else in my family is.) It looks so good, I might even buy one myself.

Visit the Shut up about Barclay Perkins Tacky Merchandise shop today and buy yourselves a little piece of history.

North American Shop

European shop



make custom gifts at Zazzle

First Guinness of summer

It's a sure sign of summer . . . hang on, I've already done that . . . more than once.

The first Guinness of summer needed to be documented. That's what I thought. But I am pretty weird. So maybe you disagree. About the first Guinness needing to be documented. You doubtless agree about the weird bit.

It looks lovely, doesn't it? The Guinness to the right.Behind it is our garden. It looks more like a jungle every year. Plants clutter it much like books litter our house.

Sun and Guinness. They go together like a . . . . Can anyone think of a word that rhymes with Guinness?

Arnhem Openlucht Museum

And the day started so badly. With Lexie closing himself in his room, protesting "I'm not going." "Brilliant", I thought. The day was barely started and already spoiled.

Dolores eventually talked him around. I'd already got past the "I'll smash all your toys with a hammer" phase. There's nowhere really to go after that.

For once the NS is doing something I applaud: upgrading Amsterdam Zuid station. Many trains now avoid overcrowded Centraal and call at Zuid instead. That's brilliant for us. Bus 15 to Zuid (when it turns up) only takes 10 minutes. The 2 tram to Central takes half an hour.

Here I am getting ahead of myself. I forgot to mention why we were travelling. Cheap train tickets from Blokker. They sell them a few times a year. You can travel anywhere in Holland (at the weekend) for just 10 euros. But they're only valid for a limited time. We'd only got this weekend or next to use them up. ("I'll take the 30 euros off your account", that was another futile threat I'd made to Lexie.)

There are direct trains from Zuid to Arnhem. It only takes an hour, despite Arnhem almost being in Germany. Very handy. The Dutch train system still isn't bad. The service runs every half hour.

What did we talk about on the train? Whether Stalin was in heaven, that came up. And The Crusades. The age of the earth. I'm sure I was right. It is 7,000 years, isn't it? Andrew came up with the ridiculous figure of 2 billion years.

Lexie had forgotten his opposition to the trip even before we got on the train. By the time we reached Arnhem there was just one thing on his mind: bacon. The ready availability of bacon sandwiches is the root of Lexie's love for Britain. "Let's go to the Albert Heijn." He's noticed they sell bacon and egg sandwiches.

On the number 3 bus to the museum we sat behind a group of weird South Africans. (Tattoos and purple-died hair don't really work for women over 50.) But at least we'd know when to get off. They were clearly headed the same place as us.

Before we go any further, I really hadn't looked this up before leaving home. I remembered reading something in the PINT magazine about them brewing in the Openlucht Museum. So the first thing I looked for on the map was a brewery. My god, there it was: brouwerij. "Let's get on the tram." It's never difficult to get the kids onto a tram. The brewery was just one stop down line.

I'd expected a few old tubs where maybe they did a bit of home-brewing now and again. The shiny new kit was a bit of a shock. What with the little lab and the sacks of malt, it was clearly a serious brewery. They were giving out free samples. Of quite a nice Witbier. "That's nice." Can't get higher praise than that from Dolores.

There was an old brewery, too. That wasn't for brewing in. You know what it reminded me of? The communal brewery in Windischeschenbach. The one they still brew Zoigl in.

Dolores asked the nice man giving out the samples "Do any of the cafes in the museum sell your beer?" "Yes, the one over the road. Just ask for beer." What were we waiting for. I felt like Digby Chicken-Caesar. "To the café!"

I haven't explained what an open-air museum is, have I? I'm doing this all in the wrong order. It's where they take historical buildings that would otherwise have been demolished and move them to a park. That's about it really. They like them in Sweden.

The café was very pleasant. Nice garden. And, doing the museum bit 100%, only sold period drinks. A bit rough on the kids, who wanted to rot their teeth with cola, great for me. There was a single beer tap selling a pils-like sort of beer. From the brewery, of course. It wasn't bad. Especially when Dolores wandered off with the kids and I had time for a second beer in peace.

After that we went around the rest of the museum. Then got the train home. I've truncated the last few hours. You're not really interested in textile workers cottages, are you?

I almost forget one of the most important pieces of information. The name of the brewery:

’t Goeye Goet
Schelmseweg 89,
6816 SJ Arnhem.
Tel: 026-3576111
Fax: 026-3576147
info@openluchtmuseum.nl
http://www.openluchtmuseum.nl

Another sure sign it's summer. I've started writing about travels with my kids.

New pub guide

I've written a new pub guide this week. Not that you'll get to see it. It's a private guide to Fränkische Schweiz.

I've probably bored you with hundreds of times before. That's how most of my guides started out. As my own personal guides. Having them as web pages was a good way of making sure they didn't get lost. And that I could see them from anywhere in the world.

As it's really is just for me (and Mike, I suppose) it includes some rather specific bits of information. Like weekend bus timetables. And maps of the places I plan visiting (Pretzfeld, Ebermannstadt, Muggendorf and Gößweinstein.

One pleasant surpise as I planned. I can get to Hohenschwärz for Sunday dinner. At the wonderful Brauerei Hofmann. One of my favourite places on the planet. Pork, dumplings and a gallon or so of Hofmann Export sure sounds like heaven to me.

Annafest guide

I know I've already told most of you this, but for the newcomers: I'm going o the Annafest this year. The best sentence since "You've been accepted for Czech summer school".

Compulsive behaviour. My speciality. [Why do English(US) spell checkers think it can't be a noun?] You read this blog. You must have twigged where I'm going. Especially if you've bothered to read the title.

I had to write a guide. The first in many years. One reason I started my blog was to tart my website (http://www.europeanbeerguide.net/) Website neglect was the real outcome. I used to bang out a new guide every month.

God. I'm getting dull. Shouldn't I be reminding you that the next hymn is number 289. "For those in Peril on the Sea"? Am I totally fwoppeled?

Going to the Annafest? You should be. At least for the next couple of years. Then I'll start moaning about all you bloody tourists ruining it. Learn to love lager. I did.

If you are woman/man/person enough to go to the Annafest, you might find this handy. Pub guides to Bamberg and Forchheim, stuff about the local breweries, and a bit about the Kellerberg. Just look at that glass of Neder Export. That's what I want to call breakfast in my retirement.

And it's free. [The guide, not Neder Export. That costs 2 euros or more for a half litre. Those robbing bastards.]

You can get it [the guide) here:

http://www.europeanbeerguide.net/Annafest_Guide.pdf

Yet more C Ale

Reader Geoff Ikin has very kindly sent me some label images of various C Ales. They don't help much about the meaning and origin of C Ale, but they look pretty. I'm a sucker for old labels.

Of course, C could just be a random letter, like Worthington's "E". There were basically three systems of brewhouse code.

1. The "normal" system: X, XX. XXX, PA, KK, KKK, P, S, SS, SSS.
2. The Bass system: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, P2, P3, P4 with 1 being the strongest, 6 the weakest and a P prefix designating a Porter/Stout.
3. The Worthington system: A, M, S, J, E

Maybe Boddingtons can provide a clue. They used these codes for their beers:

A Pale Ale
BB Mild Ale
CC Strong Ale

The JW Lees C Ale is also billed as a Strong Ale. That might explain what it is, if not where the hell the name came from.

There are a couple of other pieces of evidence that point to a Strong Ale. Groves & Whitnall discontinued theirs during the war and brought it back in 1950. Many strong beers disappeared during the war. Also, theirs was bottle-conditioned. Lower-strength beers were usually artificially carbonated.

Any other ideas are very welcome. I don't think I've come up with a very robust theory yet. I wonder if the brewing records still exist for any of these breweries? As Lees are still in business, there's a good chance they might have kept their old logs. Anyone have a good contact within the brewery?

Finding a brewing record would at least settle the nature of the beer, if not its origin.

Shameless self-promotion

There's nothing worse than a purportedly independent beer writer using his work to promote his own financial interests. Shameless self-promoting bastards. Pardon my French.

Integrity is my greatest asset. How could I compromise that for money? I'd be crzay. Your trust in my impartiality underpins this blog. I dare to back up my words with hard, cold facts. Can you say that Mr. XXXX [original letters blanked out]?

That's why I'm delighted to announce my own line of Tacky Merchandise. Designed to enrich the left hand side of the Pattinson family. It's a long story. And my daily ration of St. Bernardus Abt is drunk. A bit like me.

This is what people are saying about Shut up about Barclay Perkins Tacky Merchandise:

"Low-quality, expensive, poorly-designed, exploitative crap."
"Like Stalin - but worse."
"Have these bloggers no shame?"
"Offensive in a totally charmless way."
"******* ** ******* ******* *** ********* ***** shite"
"Life is no longer worth living."

You could experience the same ecstasy (my products contain no illegal substances of any kind) by purchasing Shut up about Barclay Perkins Tacky Merchandise.

It must be summer

I put a bottle of Guinness Special Export in the fridge yesterday. A sure sign that the summer is here. It was so warm, I added ice to my Hummel Räucherator. ("Urgh, that smells funny," was Dolores's reaction when I suggested she try it "like ham.")

That's about my only concession to Summer. Icing my beer when I get home from work, tired and sweaty after being squeezed into a number 15 bus. (The summer tram and bus schedule has just started. It means one thing: fewer trams and buses. Great. There aren't enough 15's in the normal schedule.) Other than upping my Guinness Special Export consumption when it's really hot, the passing seasons have no effect on my drinking habits. I still survive on a diet of St. Bernardus 6, 8 and 12.

I don't understand why people swap to pale, light, lagery beers as soon as the temperature rises over 20º C. I just don't get it. My taste buds don't change. My personal preferences are unaltered. Why should I suddenly abandon my favourite beers? Crisp, cool, refreshing. Is lager really that? Or have we all just been brainwashed by the marketing men at the Megabrewery Corporation?

A lightly-chilled bottle of export-strength Stout. What could be more summery than that?

Barclay Perkins 1936 KKKK water treatment & caramel

I've finally got around to looking up the water treatment for yesterday's Let's Brew recipe. The same as KK, it said in the log.

A page at the front of the log lists all the different treatments. There were five different ones in total. Here's the KK entry:

Company's liquor. Treated cold 3 ozs salt & 3 ozs gypsum per barrel in HLB (hot liquor back). Boiled overnight. Half hour before mashing add 1/8 pint per barrel BiSulphate of lime.
Salt in coppers - 1oz per barrel.

Fascinating stuff, eh? If you look at the image you'll see that the treatments varied considerably between the different beers. Looking just now, it struck me that the Brown Ale (DB) had the same water treatment as the Bitters (PA, IPA, XLK). With considerable amounts of gypsum being added.

As for the caramel, I've found details in an earlier brewing book (1925). That gives the caramel as 22,000º Lovibond (one inch cell). 1.5 pounds of caramel was added per 100 barrels to raise the colour of the beer by 1º.

It's from a decade earlier, but I imagine the procedure was much the same in 1936.

I think that's all the outstanding questions answered on KK. Isn't it?

C Ale again

Right, I've had a proper look in "Manchester Breweries of Times Gone By, Vol 2". Here's what little it has to say on the subject of C Ale.

The printed bill (from 1898) on which I saw the codes C and CBB was from the Cornbrook Brewery. According to the text, their beers included City Bitter and CPA. The latter I would guess really stands for Cornbrook Pale Ale. City, well that could be a possibility.

Here's a quote from page 12 of "Manchester Breweries of Times Gone By, Vol 2":

"The brewery's [Openshaw] included best mild and bitter, Grade A pale ale, Openshaw Stout and also a "C" Ale. "C" Ale seems to have been a local brew, the origin of which is uncertain. Groves and Whitnall of Salford became well known for their version of "C" Ale in the 1890s; it was discontinued during the last war but reintroduced in 1950. John Henry Lees of Moss Side also brewed a "C" Ale, as did Wilsons Brewery."

I've tried searching the interweb, but something like C Ale is a bastard to find. Any help would be much appreciated. Someone must still remember C Ale. It was still being brewed in the 1950's. That's easily within living memory.

Let's Brew Wednesday - 1936 Barclay Perkins KKKK

Today it's the turn of a beer I'm dying to try myself. A powerful, seasonal Strong Ale from my favourites Barclay Perkins.

Between the wars, Barclay Perkins brewed a massive range of beers. 22, if you include the darkened versions of X and XX. Many were produced in tiny quantities, as you can see from the tables below. This was possible because they had a small batch brewhouse. In the main brewery, each brew was 500 to 1,000 barrels. Way too much for a beer like Russian Stout, even though it was only brewed once a year. Some beers were brewed in batches as small as 18 barrels.




Where did KKKK fit in? This was a Strong Ale sold in the winter. Judging by Barclay Perkins adverts, it seems to have been a draught beer. My guess is that it was sold from a pin on the bar. Much like some Old Ales still are today. For the period, it was unusually strong. Few beers had gravities higher than 1055 or so.

That short introduction over, it's time to hand you over to Kristen . . . . (I think he likes it, BTW) . . .


Almost forgot. This beer is perfect for your christmas pudding . . . . . now really over to Kristen . . . .


Barclay Perkins (BP) 1936 KKKK

Big ass brown mame a jamma. Huge beer with a ton of hops. Something very unique and not seen anymore in any place. Think turbo charge brown IPA. If you are on the fence about any beer. MAKE THIS ONE!!!!




Grist and such
Tons of No2 invert syrup and crystal really put the focus on this beer to the dark fruits and deep caramel tones. 80% of the grist is malt with a VERY heavy dose of the californian 6-row at nearly 1/3 of the total grain bill. This brewery is quite different in that they use a number of different 'caramel' colorants. Most use just one...that standard dark. This beer uses a much lighter caramel. Not sure why. Maybe it was giving a touch of flavor as well as the color!? All in all not a really different type of grain bill for standard brown ale. The difference lies in the quantities per barrel. This beer weighs in at 1.078. A big beer in any light!


Mash
The mash is actually quite high for this beer at 153F. With all the non-reducing sugars left from the invert and crystal and this high mash temp really will make this beer finish quite 'thick' as can be seen from the finishing gravity of 1.027.


Hops
Lots and I mean LOTS of very fresh goldings hops at 3.64 lbs/ barrel! The nearly 80 bu's these provide will make the sweet finish of this beer seem much drier than it normally would. In addition, 4oz of hops were added per barrel changing the overall aroma of this beer.


Fermentation
Usually beers were kept quite low. I only mention this in that this beer was fermented damn near 72F. At this temp it would completely change the profile! It would no longer have the big fruit of the 60-ish fermentation but would have more of a peppery alcoholic character along
with some of those spicy phenols.


Tasting notes
Dark toffees wrapped in orange rind with a ton of spice. Caramel middle is very rich and grainy but dries out in the finish it a big smack of hop resins. The spice, hop resins and 6-row astringency really extent the finish and keep this beer from being cloying. Quite refreshing for
such a large beast.