London Semi-Stock Pale Ale 1880 - 1899

More pointless style descriptions from a book I probably won't finish for at least another couple of years. If ever.

Slightly weaker than full-strength PA is what I’m calling Semi-Stock Pale Ale. That was a real thing, being a weaker type aged for only 3 months rather than the 12 months of the stock version.  I’m not sure if that was really the case with these beers. It’s a convenient label rather than anything else.

Whatever you call it, this type of beer was the second-class type of Pale ale. Around 5º lower in gravity than the first-class type. As you would expect, the alcohol content is also lower, by about 0.5% ABV.

Even more scaled-down is the hopping. Down 13% in terms of per quarter (336 lbs) per quarter and 22% per barrel. It’s safe to assume that the bitterness levels would have been lower.  You’ll find this confirmed in the recipe section. For example, I calculated Barclays PA 75 IBU and XLK 56 IBU. 

London Semi-Stock Pale Ale 1880 - 1899
Year	Brewer	Beer	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	lbs hops/ qtr	hops lb/brl
1886	Barclay Perkins	XLK	1053.0	1011.1	5.55	79.09%	10.08	2.21
1900	Barclay Perkins	XLK	1053.5	1012.5	5.43	76.70%	10.00	2.16
1887	Fullers	XK	1057.1	1016.1	5.42	71.84%	11.58	2.84
1897	Fullers	XK	1054.8	1015.5	5.20	71.72%	13.39	3.27
1890	Whitbread	2PA	1054.6	1011.0	5.76	79.84%	10.79	2.78
1890	Whitbread	2PA	1055.4	1010.0	6.01	81.95%	11.69	2.99
1895	Whitbread	2PA	1052.9	1012.0	5.41	77.32%	11.94	2.82
	Average		1054.5	1012.6	5.54	76.92%	11.35	2.73
Sources:
Barclay Perkins brewing records held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document numbers ACC/2305/1/593, ACC/2305/1/584.
Fullers brewing records held at the brewery.
Whitbread brewing records held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document numbers LMA/4453/D/01/055, LMA/4453/D/01/056, LMA/4453/D/01/061.