Sunday 25 December 2011

Scottish IPA 1947 - 2004

Look at that. I'm getting so modern. Writing about something in the 21st century. It makes me feel all weird.

IPA has been brewed in Scotland for a long time. More than 170 years, to be precise. Despite the fact that few outside Britain associate Scotland with the style at all. Or are only away of such latecomers as Deuchars or Twisted Thistle. As we've learned these beers are just the most recent in a long lineage.

The Scottish IPA that's been around the longest - it was one of the first to be brewed - is Younger's IPA. It's one of the first IPA's I tried. Believe me, that was yonks ago. Back when I could still see my feet and walk up two flights of stairs without collapsing in a wheezy heap. It's not many people's idea of an IPA nowadays, but it has been around for an awfully long time. Let's think. Is there one that's been brewed longer? It depends if you count Draught Bass an IPA, I suppose. Other than that and White Shield, I don't think there are any contenders.

The two conflicting strands of Scottish IPA are clearly visible in the table below. There's the type typified by William Younger's draught IPA and McEwan's Export IPA. Beers somewhere in the 1040's. It's nice to see that some of the more modern versions - Broughton and Deuchars - fit into this mould.

The other type is the piss-weak bottled variety. As epitomised by Younger's bottled IPA from 1954. Beers with a gravity around 1030º. You'll notice one - Bernard's from 1949 - is billed as a 90/-, despite having a gravity below 1030º. Remember what I told you about the use of 90/- for Strong Ale being very recent? This is an example of 90/- being used with a completely different meaning.

One thing just about every beer in the table has in common is a decent level of attenuation. Something which isn't always the case with Scottish beer. Only one beers has an apparent attenuation of less than 70%. High attenuation is something you would expect in an IPA. One of the skills in brewing IPA for export to the tropics in the 19th century was to get the attenuation as low as possible, so there was no food for anything nasty during the long voyage.

One last point about colour. Somewhere in the low 20's EBC is what you'd expect an IPA to be. The canned Bernard's from 1958 is more than double that at 50. But as we've already learned, the Scots often liked their Pale Ales quite dark.

Here's the table:


Late 20th century Scottish IPA
Year Brewer country Price size package Acidity FG OG colour ABV App. Atten-uation
1947 Younger, Geo India Pale Ale 120/- 14d half bottled 1010 1042 4.16 76.19%
1949 Bernard 90/- India Pale Ale pint bottled 1006.5 1029.5 2.98 77.97%
1949 Fowler India Pale Ale (Extra Pale) pint bottled 1009 1030 2.72 70.00%
1949 McEwan India Pale Ale Export pint bottled 1008 1045.5 4.89 82.42%
1949 McEwan & Co. Export IPA half bottled 0.06 1008.5 1046.8 19.5 brown 4.99 81.84%
1950 McEwan Export IPA 1/1.5d half bottled 0.05 1012.6 1048.8 25 B 4.70 74.18%
1954 McEwan India Pale Ale bottled 0.05 1008.2 1048.6 24 5.27 83.13%
1955 Younger, Wm. India Pale Ale 9.5d half bottled 0.04 1006.9 1030.2 22 3.02 77.15%
1957 McEwan Export India Pale Ale 2/2d 16 oz can 0.05 1010.7 1046.4 22 4.64 76.94%
1958 Bernard India Pale Ale 21d 16 oz can 0.04 1008.9 1030.6 50 2.71 70.92%
1958 Bernard IPA (Bottling) pint bottled 1010 1030 2.59 66.67%
1959 Usher India Pale Ale 10d half bottled 0.03 1008.4 1032.3 18 2.99 73.99%
1961 Jeffrey & Co Export IPA 15d half bottled 0.05 1010.8 1042.3 24 3.94 74.47%
1961 McEwan Export India Pale Ale 17d half bottled 0.04 1011.6 1045 20 4.18 74.22%
1961 McEwan Export IPA 15d half bottled 0.05 1012.2 1048.1 22 4.49 74.64%
1972 Younger, Wm. IPA 13.5p pint draught 1008.2 1043.5 4.59 81.15%
1977 Younger, Wm. IPA pint draught 1043.2
1979 Younger, Wm. IPA pint draught 1043.2
1981 Younger, Wm. IPA pint draught 1043.2
1982 Younger, Wm. IPA pint draught 1042.2
1983 Younger, Wm. IPA pint draught 1043
1986 Younger, Wm. IPA pint draught 1042
1989 Younger, Wm. IPA pint draught 1042
1993 Caledonian R&D Deuchars IPA draught 1008 1038 3.9 78.95%
1994 Borve Tall Ships IPA pint bottled 5.00
1994 Caledonian Deuchars IPA pint bottled 4.60
2001 Caledonian Deuchars IPA IPA 1008.7 1038 3.8 77.11%
2001 Caledonian Lorimers IPA IPA 1014 1054 5.2 74.07%
2004 Broughton Clipper IPA IPA 1009.7 1042 4.2 76.90%
2004 Broughton Greenmantle IPA IPA 1009.7 1042 4.2 76.90%
2004 Cairngorm Highland IPA IPA 1008.3 1036 3.6 76.94%
2004 Caledonian Deuchars IPA IPA 1009.7 1039 3.8 75.13%
2011 Belhaven Twisted Thistle bottled 5.3
Sources:
Thomas Usher Gravity Book document TU/6/11
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/002
T & J Bernard's brewing records held at the Scottish Brewing Archive
1993 Real Ale Drinker's Almanac
Good Beer Guide 1978, 1980, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1987, 1990, 2002, 2005
The Best of British Bottled Beer
Daily Mirror July 10th 1972, page 15

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