Scotland month

Scotland. It's my new theme. You have to theme things up every now and again. And September and Scotland both begin with the letter S.

First there will be a series of Scottish Let's Brews. Some of those much misunderstood Scottish styles, like Heavy Wee and Smoked Scotch. Maybe even a Scottish Stout, if you're lucky. Shillings or numbers - which do you prefer? There are numbers 1 to 4. Then 50/-, 60/-, 80/-, 100/-, 120/-, 140/- and 160/-. Don't ask me what the difference is between the two sets. There's a big overlap in terms of gravity. And no obvious consistent difference in the hopping. But they must exist for some reason, mustn't they? I wonder how many other brewers had five different beers over 1100º?

Then I'll be applying my mighty intellect to the Scottish beer analyses I've collected. Am still collecting, almost even as we speak. Seeing if I can finally identify what makes a beer Scottish. Other than a ridiculously high gravity. Wish me luck.

To kick things off, here's a table of Scotch Ales from between the wars:

Scotch Ales 1920 - 1939
Year	Brewer	Beer	Price	size	package	Acidity	FG	OG	colour	ABV	App. Atten-uation
1920	Usher	Old Scotch Ale		pint	bottled		1026	1080.7		7.11	67.78%
1920	Usher	Old Scotch Ale		pint	bottled		1008	1078		9.24	89.74%
1920	Usher	Old Scotch Ale		pint	bottled		1022	1078		7.30	71.79%
1921	McEwan	Old Scotch Ale		pint	bottled		1028	1086		7.54	67.44%
1922	McEwan	Old Scotch Ale (ex Brussels)		pint	bottled		1025	1090		8.49	72.22%
1922	Usher	Old Scotch Ale (ex Brussels)		pint	bottled		1000	1071		9.42	100.00%
1922	Usher	Old Scotch Ale (ex Brussels)		pint	bottled		1000	1072.8		9.67	100.00%
1923	Usher	Old Scotch Ale (ex Brussels)		pint	bottled		1016	1082		8.66	80.49%
1923	Usher	Old Scotch Ale (ex Brussels)		pint	bottled		1017	1083		8.66	79.52%
1923	Usher	Old Scotch Ale (ex Brussels)		pint	bottled		1016	1082		8.66	80.49%
1925	Younger, Wm. & Co	No.1 Strong Scotch Ale	9d	half pint	bottled		1013.8	1084.7		9.34	83.71%
1925	Younger, Wm. & Co	No.3 Scotch Ale	7.5d	half pint	bottled		1009.3	1053.8		5.81	82.71%
1928	McEwan	Scotch Ale		pint	bottled		1017.2	1069.6		6.83	75.29%
1932	Younger, Wm. & Co	Scotch Ale	9d	pint	draught	0.05	1011.8	1051		5.10	76.86%
1932	Younger, Wm. & Co	Scotch Ale	9d	pint	draught		1010.2	1048		4.92	78.75%
1932	Younger, Wm. & Co	Scotch Ale	9d	pint	draught	0.07	1012.6	1050		4.86	74.80%
1933	Usher	Old Scotch Ale		pint	bottled		1022	1096		9.72	77.08%
1939	McEwan	Scotch Ale			bottled	0.13	1019.6	1086.2	4 + 40	8.73	77.26%
Sources:
Thomas Usher Gravity Book document TU/6/11
Whitbread Gravity Book

You should notice something immediately. Two quite different beers being sold as Scotch Ale: one of 8 or 9% ABV and another of 5% ABV. Younger's ones explain it the best. The Stronger is their No. 1 Ale, the weaker No. 3 Ale. The latter being a beer which had been available, off and on, since I've been drinking. It may even still exist.

Then there are the Scotch Ales brewed for the Belgian market. There must have been money it, judging by the number of brewers involved.Including some, like John Smith, that were in, er, England.

That reminds me. I must go through more Younger's logs. In particular the ones from the 1930's and 1940's. Only had them for two years. A backlog of logs is building. Even though I've not harvested many new ones this year. So much information, so little time.