Wenlock Pale Ale quality 1922 - 1925

We're nearly done. Only Whitbread to go after this. Oh, and Porter and Stout, obviously. Should keep me going well into 2015.

Time for a random newspaper article related to the Wenlock Brewery:

"The personal estate of Mr. Richard Alfred Glover, of Helinghyrst, Croydon, Chairman of the Wenlock Brewery Company (Limited), has been valued at £89,733 5s. 11d., and the gross value of the whole of the estate is estimated at £96,641 18s. The executors of his will, which bears date March 16, 1898, are his sons Frank Ernest Glover, of Chiswell-street, auctioneer, Henry Graham Glover, of Grove Park, Secretary to the Wenlock Brewery Company, and Edward Cecil Moore, of Crosby-square, accountant, to the last-named of whom the Testator bequeathed £100 ; to his sister-in-law, Emma Tummons, a life annuity of £50; to his wife, Mrs. Louisa Glover, £300, his household effects, the use and enjoyment of Helinghyrst, and a life annuity of £1,200 ; to his son Alfred Kynaston Glover, £5,000 in 2nd Mortgage Debentures of Glover and Sons (Limited) ; to his son Henry Graham Glover, 1,000 Ordinary Shares of Glover and Sons (Limited) ; to his son Leslie Richard Glover, 496 Ordinary Shares in Glover and Sons (Limited) ; to his son Sydney Herbert, £400 and an annuity during the lifetime of Mrs. Glover of £200 ; to his daughter Ruth Emily, an annuity during the lifetime of Mrs. Glover of £200, and in trust for his said daughter and her children 500 Ordinary Shares in the Wenlock Brewery Company ; and to his daughter Agnes Maud an annuity of £200 during the lifetime of her mother, and in trust for his said daughter and her children 500 Ordinary Shares in the Wenlock Brewery Company (Limited). The late Mr. Glover left his residuary estate in trust in equal shares for his four sons, Frank Ernest, Henry Graham, Leslie Richard, and Sydney Herbert, and he ordered that if one of his daughters whom he named should marry a gentleman whom he named, she should forfeit all interest under his will."
Morning Post - Friday 23 December 1898, page 3.

90,000 quid was a lot of money back then. It seems Glover had done well from the brewing trade. Other than showing what a good career move brewing was, about the only point of interest is the oblique reference to a named daughter and named gentleman. Clearly one of his daughters had a boyfriend Glover had taken a dislike to.

Wenlock's Mild came an impressive third from seventeen, with an average score of 1.17. Their Burton Ale came exactly halfway down the table, seventh from fourteen with an average score of 1. Not bad at all, overall.

This is an 8d/7d Ordinary Bitter. The gravity is below average for such beers but a higher than usual degree of attenuation leaves it with an ABV slightly above the norm.

Let's see how their Pale Ale scores:

Wenlock Pale Ale quality 1922 - 1925
Year	Beer	FG	OG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	Appearance	Flavour	score	Price
1922	PA	1006	1043	4.83	86.05%	bright	fair	1	8d
1922	PA	1006.5	1043	4.76	84.88%	bright	rather poor	-1	8d
1922	PA	1007	1044	4.82	84.09%	bright	good	2	8d
1922	PA	1006.2	1045.2	5.09	86.28%	bright	good	2	8d
1923	PA	1006.7	1044.4	4.92	84.91%	bright	bitter ? Yeast	-2	8d
1923	PA	1007.2	1043.7	4.76	83.52%	not quite bright	fair	1	8d
1923	PA	1006	1046	5.22	86.96%	bright	hard	-2	8d
1923	PA	1007.2	1047.2	5.22	84.75%	brilliant	good	2	8d
1923	PA	1008.4	1043.9	4.62	80.87%	not bright	sour	-3	7d
1923	PA	1007.6	1043.1	4.62	82.37%	fairly bright	poor	-1	7d
1925	PA	1006.6	1045.6	5.09	85.53%	not bright	v fair	2	7d
Average		1006.9	1044.5	4.90	84.56%			0.09
Source:
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/001

Oh dear. That's not great, is it? Seven out of eleven - or about two-thirds - were clear, which is something. Though three of the bright ones got bad scores for flavour. Only six of the eleven got positive scores for flavour giving an average score of 0.09. Or about a small a positive score as you could get.

My Wenlock advice? Stick to Mild.