Monday 26 November 2018

Burton IPA after WW II

The war had minimal impact on bottled Bas Pale Ale. I can’t think of another mass-market beer of which that’s true. Especially as, unlike some strong beers that returned to their pre-war strength in the 1950s, its production was uninterrupted.

Amazingly, the gravity of Bass Pale Ale after WW II was slightly higher than it had been before the war. That’s definitely a real rarity. One thing that remained the same, however, was the high degree of attenuation

A gravity of over 1050º was very unusual in the late 1940s when average OG was in the low 1030ºs. I’m not sure how Bass was able to do that, unless, as in the case of beer zoning, different rules applied to them.

At Worthington something similar was happening after the war, though in this case the gravity increased even more. By the mid-1950s, Worthington IPA had returned to something close to its pre-WW I gravity. The colour is very pale for a Pale Ale of its strength. More usual would have been in the high 20s. Anything below 20 is pretty pale.

White Shield was the bottle-conditioned version of Worthington IPA, Green Shield the filtered and artificially-carbonated version. Eventually White Shield and Bass Red Triangle (the bottle-conditioned version of Bass Pale Ale) became the same beer.


Bass Pale Ale after WW II
Year Price per pint OG FG ABV App. Atten-uation colour
1946 1053.8 1011.2 5.55 79.18% 20.5
1946 1054.8 1010.1 5.83 81.57% 20
1946 1051.9 1008.2 5.71 84.20% 18
1948 18.5 1054.2 1009.1 5.89 83.21% 17.5
1948 1053.8 1008.9 5.86 83.46%
1949 1054 1008 6.01 85.19%
1949 28 1054.1 1008.6 5.94 84.10%
1950 1058 1008.3 6.51 85.69% 21
1950 31 1057.1 1007.6 6.48 86.69% 19
1950 37 1056.1 1004.6 6.76 91.80% 19
1948 1047.8 1009.75 4.95 79.58%
Sources:
Truman Gravity Book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number B/THB/C/252.
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/002.


Bottled Worthington IPA after WW II
Year Beer Price per pint OG FG ABV App. Atten-uation colour
1947 IPA 22 1053.2 1003.3 6.55 93.80% 20
1948 IPA 24 1054.1 1005.1 6.42 90.57% 20
1948 IPA Export 1053.2 1006.3 6.14 88.16% 19
1951 India Pale Ale 29 1056.7 1007.2 6.48 87.30% 18
1951 India Pale Ale 32 1054.6 1006.1 6.35 88.83% 19
1953 India Pale Ale 1061.1 1013.5 6.21 77.91% 27
1955 India Pale Ale (Green Shield) 1063.3 1009.4 7.06 85.15% 18
1955 India Pale Ale (White Shield) 1063.7 1002.9 8.02 95.45% 18
1959 India Pale Ale 32 1051.6 1011.5 5.22 77.71% 18
Sources:
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/002.

8 comments:

A Brew Rat said...

Ron, does any of your books have recipes for these IPAs?

StuartP said...

FG 1003 - how do you even do that?!

Mike Austin said...

Ron,
We never hear about the other beers brewed by Bass at burton for their tied houses, etc. I'm thinking of mild, stout, etc.
Do we have any insight as to what they were like? I vaguely remember a Worthington light mild, that was a decent enough drink.
Mike

Ron Pattinson said...

A Brew Rat,

not Bass or Worthington, I'm afraid. There's a recipe for Truman's equivalent beer, P1 B from 1954, in Bitter! And in Austerity! there's P1 B from 1953 and 1954.

Ron Pattinson said...

StuartP,

Brettanomyces.

Ron Pattinson said...

Mike Austin,

yes, I do. More to come on that soon.

StuartP said...

Brettanomyces in 1955 beer - on purpose?

Ron Pattinson said...

StuartP,

well it was definitely in the 1930s version of Bass Pale Ale.