Scottish Shilling Ales in the 1840s

These beers formed the bulk of production in Scotland until the growth of Pale Ale in the second half of the century. The name derived from the wholesale price per 54-gallon hogshead. They have no connection with the 60/-, 70/- and 80/- of post-WW II.

Though not everything with a shilling designation was what I’m calling a Shilling Ale. You also had things like 54/- Stout or 60/- Pale Ale. Shilling Ales were essentially the Scottish version of Mild Ale. Unlike English Mild Ales, however, they were mostly sold in bottled form. After racking, hogsheads or half hogsheads were sent to bottlers, who repackaged the beer and sold it.

At William Younger in the late 1840’s, there were seven Shilling ales, ranging in gravity from 1043º to 1134º. That’s a considerable spread, but they did have several features in common, such as a poor degree of attenuation and relatively modest hopping, though this wasn’t always the case at the top end of the strength range.

To put the hopping into context, English Mild Ales at this time had 8-9 lbs of hops per quarter. Looking at the hopping per quarter of malt allows the comparison of beers of different gravities. You can see in the table below that the rate was rather lower, around 4lbs per quarter, for most of William Younger’s Shilling Ales.

Scotch Ales in the 1840's
Price	OG	FG	ABV
£3	1080-86	1032-35	6.625
£4	1090-95	1036-39	7
£5	1100-1108	1040-44	7.75
£6	1110-1116	1045-47	8.375
£7	1120-1125	1048-50	9.25
Source:
Scottish Ale Brewer, WH Roberts, Edinburgh, 1847, page 117

William Younger Shilling Ales 1848 - 1849
Date	Year	Beer	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	lbs hops/ qtr	hops lb/brl
19th Apr	1848	42/-	1043	1012	4.10	72.09%	15.00	2.65
19th Feb	1848	60/-	1074	1037	4.89	50.00%	3.33	1.18
13th Mar	1848	80/-	1088	1038	6.61	56.82%	4.00	1.69
5th Oct	1848	100/-	1101	1039	8.20	61.39%	4.52	2.16
18th Feb	1848	120/-	1112	1045	8.86	59.82%	4.17	2.70
11th Mar	1848	140/-	1130	1059	9.39	54.62%	7.61	4.71
4th Apr	1849	160/-	1134	1063	9.39	52.99%	12.96	7.94
Source:
William Younger brewing record held at the Scottish Brewing Archive, document number WY/6/1/2/3.

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