William Murray's beers in the 1930's

Time for part two of my series on William Murray's beers. Now we've moved on to the 1930's. Hard times for many British breweries.

Let's dive straight into the analysis pool. The first entry in the table is good news for my hammering points not just in but right out the other side tactic. It's a great example of a typical interwar bottled IPA. Remember these points: low-gravity IPAs have been around for a long time; this type of IPA was the norm in the 20th century, Bass and Worthington aside, stronger IPAs just didn't exist; 1036º is about the correct gravity, or maybe even a bit too high (X Ale had fallen from 1070º to 1036º between the 1830's and the 1930's, you'd expect IPA, which started at 1060-1065º to be about 1034º).

There's just one lonely Mild again. Looking much like an English Mild or even a modern one. That colour is about 60-70 EBC.

It looks to me as if there are two basic Pale Ales there. One around 1034º, the other 1040º. This is where I'm glad that I got to the Scottish Brewing Archive again. And that I for once shed my lazy arse and went through all the Maclays records I snapped. Because I have the details of their range of Pale Ales in the 1930's. Their range of IPA's I should say, because that's what their brewhouse names were in 1938. IPA 5d, IPA 6d and IPA 7d. Not for much longer, mind. They magically changed into Pale Ales the next year. Brilliant. There's another of those nails right through the floorboard points: the random way brewers used the terms Pale Ale and IPA.

Here they are:

Maclay's IPAs in 1938
Beer	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	lbs hops/ qtr	hops lb/brl
IPA 7d	1042	1015	3.57	64.29%	5.00	0.95
IPA 6d	1038	1015	3.04	60.53%	5.00	0.86
IPA 5d	1032	1014	2.38	56.25%	5.00	0.70
Source:
Maclay brewing record document M/6/1/1/3 held at the Scottish Brewing Archive

Murray's Pale Ales look to me like IPA 5d and IPA 6d.

I'm happy to see the Milk Stouts. As I said in the last part, Murray was famous for its Milk Stout. That's why I've so many label images for it. One of the other points I like to frantically beat with a hammer, is that Milk Stout wasn't necessarily weak. Some were, like Murray's. I've seen pre-war ones with gravities in the 1055-1060º range. Murray's do at least have the low attenuation I would expect.

Hang on. I've had a look at those Pale Ales more closely. One thing you need to know about interwar British beer is the great gravity shift of 1931. When the tax went up and brewers dropped the gravity of the beers so that their retail price stayed the same. It's what drove Mild down under 1040º. Bearing that in mind, my guess is that the first five Pale Ales in the table are the same beer. 1038º before 1931, 1034º after.

Now I think about it, the last three could be the same beer, too. They're after the tax dropped back down to the same level. Might not be, though. When the tax fell again, some brewers, rather than putting the beer back up to its old gravity, they knocked a penny a pint off the price.

Another hammer point: the Scottish love of currency units in beer names and their inconsistent and confusing use of them. So that 60/- isn't the same thing as a modern 60/-. And random, because there's no way a 54-gallon hogshead of those beers cost 60/- in 1938. Whitbread LA, a low-gravity Mild of 1028.5º, cost 76/- for a 36-gallon barrel*.

Moving on to the Strong Ale, called No. 3 like one of William Younger's. Which just happens to have the same gravity as Younger's version, 1055º**. The colour is dark, just like the No. 3 I remember well. I assume Murray's No. 3 must have been its direct competitor.

Wow. I can't believe I could write so much about a dozen beer analyses. Don't worry. I'm not worded out yet. There's one more instalment to follow.

William Murray beers in the 1930's
Year	Beer	Style	Price	size	package	FG	OG	colour	ABV	App. Atten-uation
1933	India Pale Ale	IPA		pint	bottled	1010	1036		3.37	72.22%
1939	Light Ale	Mild	6d	pint	draught	1008.7	1035.8	40 + 0.5	3.52	75.70%
1930	Pale Ale	Pale Ale		pint	draught	1011	1038	37	3.50	71.05%
1930	Pale Ale	Pale Ale		pint	bottled	1009	1038	39	3.76	76.32%
1932	Pale Ale	Pale Ale		pint	bottled	1009	1034		3.24	73.53%
1933	4d Pale Ale	Pale Ale		pint	bottled	1009.5	1032.5		2.98	70.77%
1933	Queen Brand	Pale Ale		pint	bottled	1010.5	1034		3.04	69.12%
1934	Pale Ale	Pale Ale		pint	draught	1012	1040		3.63	70.00%
1937	60/- Pale Ale	Pale Ale		pint	bottled	1008.8	1039.8	11 – 12	4.03	77.89%
1939	60/- Ale	Pale Ale		pint	bottled	1011	1039	12 – 13	3.63	71.79%
1933	Milk Stout	Stout		pint	bottled	1018	1036		2.31	50.00%
1937	Milk Stout	Stout	6d	pint	bottled	1019.2	1044.8		3.30	57.14%
1939	Strong Ale No.3	Strong Ale	10d	pint	draught	1009	1054.9	40 + 10	6.00	83.61%
Sources:
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/001
Thomas Usher Gravity Book document TU/6/11 held at the Scottish Brewing Archive
Younger, Wm. & Co Gravity Book document WY/6/1/1/19 held at the Scottish Brewing Archive

* Whitbread price list pasted into a brewing book held at the London Metropolitan Archives document number LMA/4453/D/09/124.

** William Younger brewing record held at the Scottish Brewing Archive document number WY/6/1/2/70.