Monday 25 November 2019

Northern Brown Ale after WW II

The North is probably where Brown Ale was the most diverse. Partly due to the tradition of Strong Brown Ales in the Northeast. For this reason, I’ve split the examples into two tables, one for standard-strength versions, another for strong ones.

Even though these are “standard” Brown Ales, a couple are surprisingly strong, with gravities around 1040º. I’m guessing that these probably aren’t tweaked versions of Mild, as the gravities are just too high. You didn’t really get Mild of that strength in the North.

Some examples are much better value than others. Walker’s Brown Peter is considerably stronger than Duttons Nut Brown – 10º and 1% ABV – yet retailed for the same price. Easy enough for brewers to get away with when there was no indication of a beer’s strength on the label.

There’s quite a range in degrees of attenuation from under 60% to over 80%. Taddy Brown Ale being the poorest attenuated and Brown Peter the best.

Most examples are reasonably dark, though there are a couple in the 40-50 twilight zone between pale and truly dark.

Some Brown Ales from the Northeast of England are in a very different style. Stronger, and at the palest end of the style’s colour spectrum.

Averaging around 1050º and 5% ABV, I assume that Double Maxim was brewed in reaction to Newcastle Brown, a beer brewed by their biggest local rival. As we’ll see later, this type of beer wasn’t just limited to the Northeast of England. Some Scottish breweries produced similar beers.


Standard Northern Brown Ale after WW II
Year Brewer Beer Price per pint (d) OG FG ABV App. Atten-uation colour
1952 Duttons Nut Brown Ale 20 1029.9 1005.8 3.13 80.60% 56
1952 Greenhall Whitley Wilderspool Brown Ale 20 1038.7 1008.5 3.92 78.04% 80
1952 Hammonds United Brown Jack Ale 18 1029.5 1005.8 3.08 80.34% 105
1952 Hey & Son White Rose Ale 20 1040.7 1007.9 4.27 80.59% 60
1951 Peter Walker Brown Peter Ale 20 1039.2 1008.3 4.02 78.83% 90
1952 Peter Walker Brown Peter Ale 20 1038.6 1006.7 4.15 82.64% 44
1948 Samuel Smith Taddy Brown Ale 18 1032.5 1013.8 2.41 57.54% 95
1952 Samuel Smith Taddy Ale 15.5 1034.5 1008.5 3.37 75.36% 90
1948 Tennant Bros. Brown Ale 18 1031.8 1010.2 2.79 67.92% 68
1952 Tetley Family Ale 15 1035.5 1009 3.44 74.65% 54
1950 Vaux Maxim Ale 14 1033.5 1009.7 3.08 71.04% 105
Average 18.0 1034.9 1008.6 3.42 75.23% 77.0
Source:
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/002.

 
Strong Northern Brown Ale after WW II
Year Brewer Beer Price per pint (d) OG FG ABV App. Atten-uation colour
1949 Newcastle Breweries Brown Ale 22 1051.6 1012.2 5.12 76.36% 46
1951 Newcastle Breweries Brown Ale 22 1052.5 1011.8 5.30 77.52% 44
1950 Vaux Double Maxim 19 1048.7 1011.2 4.88 77.00% 46
1952 Vaux Double Maxim 23 1049 1009.8 5.10 80.00% 48
Average 21.5 1050.5 1011.3 5.10 77.72% 46.0
Source:
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/002.



3 comments:

Thom Farrell said...

Did Newcastle Brown Ale represent a new style of beer when it was introduced in 1927?

Tandleman said...

Used to drink a lot of Brown Peter in Liverpool in the 80s. Did the colour really change so much over a year though? 90 - 44? It was a fairly dark brown in the 80s though not as much as Manns.

1951 Peter Walker Brown Peter Ale 20 1039.2 1008.3 4.02 78.83% 90
1952 Peter Walker Brown Peter Ale 20 1038.6 1006.7 4.15 82.64% 44

Mike in NSW said...

Traditionally Newcastle Brown Ale was a blend of two beers - a light beer called Newcastle Amber Ale and a much stronger brown ale that was not available to the trade. I recall Amber Ale as being pretty dreadful -it came in the same pint clear bottle as the Brown with an almost identical label featuring blue, not brown. I believe that when the Tyne Brewery closed and production moved to Dunston, Brown Ale was switched to a single gyle.