Let's Brew - July 1917 Magee Marshall Government Ale

What joy! I’m able to bring you another luverly, watery Government Ale. Courtesy of Edd Mather, who has taken a look at the Magee Marshall brewing records.

It got me dead excited when I learned about that. Because Magee Marshall was a prominent brewery in Bolton and is mentioned by name in The Pub and the People, the brilliant Mass Observation book about working-class pub culture in the North of England.

July 1917 is a very significant date because that’s when the first restrictions on beer gravity were introduced. Half of the beer a brewery produced had to be below 1036º. But, on the other hand, the price of this beer was controlled. It retailed for a maximum of 4d per pint in the public bar. Brewers and drinkers alike took to calling such beer Government Ale. Which didn’t go down well with the government, which eventually banned the use of the name.

Most brewers produced a (for the day) low-gravity Mild as their Government Ale. It made sense, as Mild was the biggest seller for most breweries. Initially, these beers were much like modern Mild Ales. But as the UK’s grain supply became more and more stretched, new restrictions turned it into a non-intoxicating drink. Some were as weak as 1.1% ABV. Not really beer at all.

Magee’s Government Ale wasn’t a complicated beer. Just pale malt and sugar. Which begs the question: what colour was it? Probably not that dark, though it’s hard to know for sure. It could have been coloured with caramel.

Unsurprisingly, the hops are all English. By this phase of the war pretty much no foreign hops were being used.

Edd sent me the recipe in a rather different format from the one I usually use. So I’ve included both his and my formats.

July 1917 Magee`s Government Ale
pale malt	7.00 lb	93.33%
cane sugar	0.50 lb	6.67%
Fuggles105 mins	1.00 oz
Goldings 30 mins	1.50 oz
Goldings dry hops	0.125 oz
OG	1034.5
FG	1009.5
ABV	3.31
Apparent attenuation	72.46%
IBU	32
SRM	3
Mash at	147º F
Sparge at	163º F
Boil time	105 minutes
pitching temp	60º F
Yeast	Wyeast 1318 London ale III (Boddingtons)

July 1917 Magee`s Government Ale
OG	1034.5
FG	1009.5
ABV	3.40%
Malt ;
Maris Otter	93%
Cane Sugar	7%
Hops ;	IBU
East Kents	17
Bramling X	14
Dry Hop (east kents)	1 oz per barrel
Boil :	1.75 Hours
Mash Directions
Strike Temp:	73º C
Mash Temp:	64º C
Mash Length:	1.75 Hours
Sparge Temp (START AT 1.75 HRS):	73º C
fermentation temperature	16-18º C