Friday 22 November 2019

Midlands Brown Ale after WW II

Brown Ale really took off after WW II. It would have been bigger during the war, but shortages of bottles, crates and even crown corks restricted the production of bottled beer. It also profited from the shift from draught to bottled beer, prompted by the often poor quality of cask beer.

As, just like with Mild, there were considerable regional variation in Brown Ales, I’ve split them up geographically.

Beginning with the Midlands. This was a real stronghold of Mild and the examples tended to be a bit stronger than average. This tendency can also be seen in the region’s Brown Ales. No surprise, really, as most of them were doubtless really bottled versions of the brewery’s Mild.

dry beers. The exception being the 1952 Northampton example, which, with a finishing gravity of 1013º, must have been reasonably sweet.  The high attenuation also means that the ABV of a majority of the samples is 315% ABV or higher.

The colours are all over the place. Most fall in semi-dark territory. Though the two from the Northampton Brewery are very dark. The 1952 example being almost as dark as a Stout.

Midlands Brown Ale after WW II
Year Brewer Beer Price per pint (d) OG FG ABV App. Atten-uation colour
1952 Ansell Nut Brown Ale 16 1036.2 1005.8 3.96 83.98% 48
1949 Davenport Brown Ale 13.5 1031 1004 3.51 87.10% 60
1948 Everards Nut Brown Ale 18 1030.8 1003.7 3.53 87.99% 62
1948 Northampton Brewery Brown Ale 18 1032.4 1008.4 3.11 74.07% 150
1952 Northampton Brewery Brown Ale 18 1038 1013 3.23 65.79% 200
1952 Shipstone Nut Brown Ale 15 1033.3 1006.7 3.45 79.88% 62
Average 16.4 1033.6 1006.9 3.47 79.80% 97.0
Source:
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/002.

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