Friday 18 March 2016

Canadian Ale in 1909 (part two)

Back with beer in pre-WW I Canada again. It’ll take a while, because I’m just doing one pair of pages at a time. Why? I’m lazy and I need to spin this out a bit.

This set has a few more of the real beer names. Most being IPA. I can’t say that surprises me after looking at Labatt’s brewing records from the 1890’s. IPA was about three-quarters of what they brewed. Obviously, IPA was a very popular style in Canada around the turn of the century.

I was cheered to spot an XXX Ale in this set. They were very common in Ale breweries in the USA. There a typical Ale range would be XXX Ale, Stock Ale, IPA, Porter and Stout. Though in the US, XXX Ale seems to be a local development of English X Ales, that is basically a sort of Mild Ale. Though the term was rarely used in the US, Present Use being preferred.

Right. On with this set. Comparing the IPA’s and Pale Ales is revealing. For a start, it shows no significant variation in gravity between the two types. In the Labatt records, Pale Ale is 1050º and IPA 1055º. But the conclusion that IPA is always the stronger of the two doesn’t appear to be borne out by the analyses. True, the IPA’s have on average a slightly higher OG, but the Pale Ales are skewed by a couple of unusually weak ones. And the four strongest are all Pale Ales. Though we should be a little cautious as many of the Pale Ales don’t give the brand name. Some could have been marketed as IPA.

Once again, the level of attenuation is very high, averaging around 85% for both types. In general, these Canadian Ales have lower OGs than similar British beers of the period, but are more highly attenuated, leaving beers of an equal or even slightly greater ABV.

I’m not sure what the reason for the difference in the rate of attenuation is. Possibly the manufacturing process. Or perhaps because these are beers as sold, and I’m looking at brewing records. The racking gravity, which is what I see, would be higher than the final FG. Most of the British beers were sold in cask form so needed some residual sugars for secondary fermentation.

Looks like Labatt had dropped the gravity of their Stock Ale. In 1893, it was 1064º. Or maybe they’d stopped it being a separate brew and made just a tweaked version of their IPA.

More to come, obviously.


Canadian Ale in 1909 (part two)
Brewer Town Beer Style OG FG ABV App. Atten-uation
Beauport Brewing Beauport India Pale Ale IPA 1046.9 1009.1 5.24 80.60%
The National Breweries Montreal Ecker's Indian Pale Ale IPA 1050 1009.4 5.63 81.20%
Dawes & co. Lachine, PQ Black Horse India Pale Ale IPA 1050.8 1005.4 6.24 89.37%
Jno.H.R. Molson & Bros Montreal India Pale Ale IPA 1051.4 1006.1 6.24 88.13%
John Labatt Ottawa India Pale Ale IPA 1053.4 1009.7 6.10 81.84%
Dawes & co. Ottawa Dawes India Pale Ale IPA 1055 1007.3 6.63 86.73%
average IPA 1051.3 1007.8 6.01 84.64%
Reinhardt & Sons Montreal XXX Pale Ale Pale Ale 1036.5 1003.6 4.63 90.14%
Silver Springs Brewery Sherbrooke Ale Pale Ale 1043.4 1007.4 5.00 82.95%
Rock Springs Brewery Quebec Ale Pale Ale 1046.3 1009.6 5.16 79.27%
Silver Springs Brewery Sherbrooke Ale Pale Ale 1046.3 1007 5.24 84.88%
L. Davis Ottawa O'Keefe's Amber Ale Pale Ale 1047.6 1010.1 5.24 78.78%
Capital Brewing Co. Ottawa Capital Ale Pale Ale 1049.4 1006.1 6.02 87.65%
James Roy Belleville Ale Pale Ale 1049.5 1006.1 6.02 87.68%
Jno.H.R. Molson & Bros Montreal Ale Pale Ale 1049.7 1004.3 6.24 91.35%
John Labatt London, Ont. Ale Pale Ale 1051.7 1008 6.02 84.53%
Carling Brewing & Malting Ottawa Pale Bitter Ale Pale Ale 1055.8 1009.7 6.32 82.62%
Port Hope Brewing & Malting Port Hope Ale Pale Ale 1056.2 1008.1 6.63 85.59%
John Fisher Portsmouth Ale Pale Ale 1057.9 1006.6 7.01 88.60%
J. McCarthy & Sons Prescott Ale Pale Ale 1059.3 1007.9 7.01 86.68%
average PA 1050.0 1007.3 5.89 85.44%
John Labatt Ottawa Extra Stock Stock Ale 1055.6 1009.7 6.32 82.55%
Source:
"Ale and lager beer" by McGill, A. (Anthony), 1910, pages 4 - 19.

2 comments:

Jeremy Drew said...

Do you wonder what sort of establishment these beers were drunk in?

Stephen Leacock gives a description from 1910:

http://www.online-literature.com/stephen-leacock/literary-lapses/31/

It sounds as if there was an issue with pneumatic beer pumps.

Ron Pattinson said...

Jeremy Drew,

how weird.