Wednesday 19 December 2012

Thomas Usher's beers in the 1940's

Sadly I have no details of Usher's beers during the war years so we've jumped over that and gone straight into austerity. Or should that be Austerity? Surely one of the most miserable periods in British history. All of the inconveniences food-wise, without any of fun. At least the bombing had stopped.

Working through the styles alphabetically again because, to be honest, I can't be arsed to think of a new way of doing it. Oh, look at that. They've changed Amber Ale. I can see it's no longer a version of PA 60/-. Clearly it's moved up a grade and is now PA 70/-. I can barely contain my excitement.

Now on to those Pale Ales. They did make up the vast bulk of what Usher brewed. The war has taken its toll on their gravities. And one has gone to the great ullage tank in the sky. It's pretty obvious why IPA disappeared: PA has taken the baseline gravity slot. I've prepared an additional table to demonstrate this and the changes in gravity over the war:


1928 1931 1946 1947 1948 1949
IPA 1032
PA 1035 1034 1029 1028.5 1028
PA 60/- 1041 1040 1031 1032.5 1031.5 1031.5
PA 70/- 1048 1047 1037.5 1037.5 1037.5
PA 80/- 1055 1055 1044.25 1044.5 1044.5 1044.5

Neat eh? It makes it simple to see what the war did to Usher's gravities. It knocked approximately 10 points off them. Which left 80/- not much stronger than 60/- had been in the 1930's.

What else can I see? That Export seems to be becoming the name for 80/-. And that the gravities of 60/-, 70/- and 80/- haven't really changed since 1949. More than 60 years. That's an incredible amount of stability, if you compare it with what happened in the 60 years before 1949.

This has me puzzled still. Why is 70/- sometimes called 105/- and 80/- 120/-? I can see the pattern, but why do it? 

No Stouts this time so we'll be ending on Strong Ale. There's something unusual about the Strong Ale/Scotch Ale. The 1948 version is as strong as the one from the 1920's. Something that could be said about virtually no British beer. With a gravity of over 1090º it must have been one of the strongest beers available in Britain.

Almost, but not quite, done with Usher. I've a few more beers from the 1950's and 1960's.



Thomas Usher's beers in the 1940's
Year Beer Style package FG OG colour ABV App. Attenuation
1947 Amber Ale Amber Ale bottled 1009 1037 3.63 75.68%
1947 Amber Ale Amber Ale bottled 1012.5 1038 3.30 67.11%
1946 60/- Ale Pale Ale bottled 1008.5 1029.5 2.72 71.19%
1946 60/- Ale Pale Ale bottled 1008.5 1031 2.91 72.58%
1946 Export Pale Ale bottled 1011.25 1044.25 4.28 74.58%
1947 60/- Ale Pale Ale bottled 1006.5 1027.5 2.72 76.36%
1947 Pale Ale Pale Ale bottled 1009.5 1029 2.52 67.24%
1947 PA 60/- Pale Ale bottled 1011 1031 2.58 64.52%
1947 PA 60/- Pale Ale bottled 1011 1031.5 2.65 65.08%
1947 PA 60/- Pale Ale bottled 1006 1032.5 3.44 81.54%
1947 70/- Ale Pale Ale bottled 1008.5 1036.5 3.63 76.71%
1947 PA 70/- Pale Ale draught 1008.5 1037.5 3.77 77.33%
1947 PA 80/- Pale Ale bottled 1013 1044.5 4.08 70.79%
1948 PA Pale Ale bottled 1011 1028.5 2.26 61.40%
1948 PA 60/- Pale Ale bottled 1012.5 1031.5 2.45 60.32%
1948 PA 60/- Pale Ale bottled 1008.5 1031.5 2.98 73.02%
1948 105/- Ale Pale Ale bottled 1007.5 1037.5 3.90 80.00%
1948 PA 70/- Pale Ale bottled 1011.5 1037.5 3.37 69.33%
1948 120/- Pale Ale bottled 1011.5 1044 4.22 73.86%
1948 80/- Ale Pale Ale bottled 1010.5 1044.5 4.42 76.40%
1948 XP Pale Ale bottled 1015 1044.5 3.82 66.29%
1948 120/- Pale Ale bottled 1009 1045.5 4.75 80.22%
1949 PA Pale Ale bottled 1011.5 1027.5 2.06 58.18%
1949 Pale Ale Pale Ale bottled 1008.7 1027.9 32 brown 2.48 68.82%
1949 PA Pale Ale bottled 1011 1028 2.19 60.71%
1949 PA 60/- Pale Ale bottled 1010.5 1030 2.52 65.00%
1949 PA 60/- Pale Ale bottled 1014 1031.5 2.25 55.56%
1949 PA 60/- Pale Ale bottled 1011.5 1031.5 2.58 63.49%
1949 PA 70/- Pale Ale bottled 1013.5 1036 2.91 62.50%
1949 PA 70/- Pale Ale bottled 1008.5 1037.5 3.77 77.33%
1949 Pale Ale Pale Ale bottled 1007.6 1038.4 29.5 B 4.00 80.21%
1949 80/- Ale Pale Ale bottled 1015 1044.5 3.82 66.29%
1949 PA 80/- Pale Ale bottled 1014.5 1044.5 3.88 67.42%
1947 Old Scotch Ale Scotch Ale bottled 1020.5 1073.5 6.90 72.11%
1948 Strong Ale Strong Ale bottled 1024.5 1090.5 8.63 72.93%
Sources:
Thomas Usher Gravity Book document TU/6/11 held at the Scottish Brewing Archive
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/002


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