Sunday 14 September 2014

Hannover region beers 1878 - 1891

I bet you're starting to wish I'd never come across this book. If you're sick now, just think how you'll be feeling in a few months time when I'm still slowly crawling my way through the coal seam of data.

This time we're looking at beers from the Hannover region. So the north central bit of Germany. Once again, they're divided into Lagerbier and Schenkbier. That's a very rough division. Amongst the Lagerbiers there are Dunkles and Pilseners.

I'll say this straight up: these beers confuse the hell out of me. I can't see any clear division between the Schenkbier and Lagerbier. The average OG of the supposedly weaker Schenkbier is only 0.3 points lower than Lagerbier's average OG. That makes absolutely no sense. In terms of ABV, it's even worse. The average ABV of Schenkbier is a little higher than that of Lagerbier.

The Pilsensers, apart from the Städtisches Brauerei one, look pretty much what you expect: a gravity of 12º Plato and 75% attenuation. At least there's something normal in this set.

Only the first four Schenkbiers actually look like the real thing. Most look like Lagerbier, but some are even too strong for that and are wandering off into Bock country. It looks to me like a lot of beers have been misclassified

Hannover region Schenkbier 1878 - 1879
Year Brewer OG FG OG Plato ABV App atten-uation
1879 Harmuth & Worbs (Celle) 1040.6 1012.8 10.18 3.60 68.47%
1879 Achilles (Celle) 1042 1010.8 10.51 4.05 74.29%
1879 A. Schilling (Celle) 1044.7 1010.1 11.16 4.50 77.40%
1878 Bückeburger 1046.6 1014.9 11.62 4.10 68.03%
1879 Nienburger 1049.6 1015.6 12.33 4.40 68.55%
1879 Hannoverische Actien-Brauerei 1050.2 1017 12.47 4.30 66.14%
1878 Schilling (Celle) 1050.8 1012.9 12.61 4.92 74.61%
1879 Hannoverische Actien-Brauerei 1052.1 1015.1 12.92 4.80 71.02%
1878 Anderten (Schaale) 1052.4 1013.5 12.99 5.05 74.24%
1879 Hannoverische Actien-Brauerei 1052.4 1012 12.99 5.26 77.10%
1878 Vlothoer Brauerei 1052.6 1013.4 13.03 5.09 74.50%
1879 Mindener (Brettholz & Denken) 1053.4 1018.6 13.23 4.50 65.17%
1878 Union (Hannover) 1053.5 1015 13.25 5.00 71.96%
1878 Wülfel (Fontaine) 1053.9 1014 13.35 5.18 74.03%
1878 O. Bornemann 1057.5 1011.5 14.19 6.00 80.00%
1878 Osnabrück. Actien-Brauerei 1057.8 1017 14.26 5.29 70.59%
1878 Hannoverische Actien-Brauerei 1058.1 1015 14.33 5.60 74.18%
1878 Leidenroth 1058.1 1015 14.33 5.60 74.18%
1878 Hannoverische Actien-Brauerei 1058.6 1015.5 14.45 5.60 73.55%
1878 Osnabrück. Actien-Brauerei 1058.9 1014 14.52 5.85 76.23%
1878 Oeynhauser 1060.1 1020.8 14.80 5.09 65.39%
1878 Brande & Mayer 1065.3 1019 16.00 6.02 70.90%
Average 1053.1 1014.7 13.16 4.99 72.30%
Source:
Chemie der menschlichen Nahrungs- und Genussmittel by Joseph König, 1903, pages 1102 - 1156


The Lagerbiers at least look to be mostly in the right gravity range. The first two area little light, and a couple at the top end a bit heavy, but they are somewhere in the general neighbourhood of where they should be. Compared to Czech Lagerbiers, the average gravity is about four points higher. While it's generally comparable to the average gravity of Lagerbier from the Dresden area and Lower Austria. The level of acidity is one of the lowest we've seen so far, though still not great by modern standards.

Hannover region Lagerbier 1878 - 1891
Year Brewer Beer Style OG FG OG Plato ABV App atten-uation lactic acid %
1884 Schaumburg Brauerei in Stadthagen Lagerbier Lagerbier 1045.8 1015 11.43 3.99 67.25% 0.127
1879 Schilling (Celle) Lagerbier Lagerbier 1045.9 1015.1 11.45 3.99 67.10%
1878 Städtisches Brauerei in Hannover Lagerbier Lagerbier 1050.5 1015.8 12.54 4.50 68.71%
1884 Union-Brauerei in Hannover nach Pilsener Art Pilsener 1050.7 1013.1 12.59 4.89 74.16% 0.136
1891 National-Aktien-Brauerei Pilsener Pilsener 1050.7 1015.2 12.59 4.60 70.02%
1891 Aktien-Brauerei Streitberg Pilsener Pilsener 1051.3 1009.9 12.73 5.40 80.70%
1884 Vereins Brauerei Herrenhausen bei Hannover Lagerbier Lagerbier 1051.9 1015.8 12.87 4.68 69.56% 0.118
1891 National-Aktien-Brauerei Lagerbier Lagerbier 1051.9 1013.6 12.87 4.98 73.80%
1884 Hannoversche Aktien-Brauerei Lagerbier Lagerbier 1052.3 1014 12.97 4.98 73.23% 0.1711
1878 Städtisches Brauerei in Hannover Lagerbier Lagerbier 1052.4 1016.6 12.99 4.64 68.32%
1884 Schlombs-Brauerei Ahlten bei Lehrte Lagerbier Lagerbier 1052.4 1015 12.99 4.85 71.37% 0.141
1879 Einbecker Lagerbier Lagerbier 1053.1 1014.6 13.16 5.00 72.50%
1878 Städtisches Brauerei in Hannover Lagerbier Lagerbier 1053.2 1014.5 13.18 5.03 72.74%
1878 Städtisches Brauerei in Hannover Lagerbier Lagerbier 1053.6 1018.1 13.27 4.60 66.23%
1884 Städtisches Brauerei in Hannover Lagerbier Lagerbier 1053.7 1015.1 13.30 5.01 71.88% 0.132
1884 Hasenburg bei Lüneberg Lagerbier Lagerbier 1054.4 1017 13.46 4.85 68.75% 0.137
1884 Städtisches Brauerei in Hannover nach Pilsener Art Pilsener 1055.2 1014 13.65 5.36 74.64% 0.147
1891 Aktien-Brauerei Streitberg Lagerbier Lagerbier 1055.5 1012.5 13.72 5.60 77.48%
1884 Union-Brauerei in Hannover nach Münchener Art Dunkles 1056.5 1019 13.96 4.85 66.37% 0.147
1884 Lindener Aktien-Brauerei Lagerbier Lagerbier 1057.5 1017.1 14.19 5.24 70.26% 0.132
1879 Herrenhauser Lagerbier Lagerbier 1057.8 1016.2 14.26 5.40 71.97%
1878 Städtisches Brauerei in Hannover Lagerbier Lagerbier 1058.9 1015.8 14.52 5.60 73.17%
1884 Städtisches Brauerei in Hannover Doppeltlagerbier Lagerbier 1062.9 1026.2 15.45 4.74 58.35% 0.091
Average 1053.4 1015.6 13.22 4.90 70.81% 0.134
Source:
Chemie der menschlichen Nahrungs- und Genussmittel by Joseph König, 1903, pages 1102 - 1156

I would do some Schenkbier comparisons, were they to make any sense. But they don't, because this set looks wrong.

Westphalen next time, I think.

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