We were looking at Whitbread's 1973 set of beers. Time now for the other fermentables: adjuncts and sugar.
What should be remembered here is that Whitbread had long been a holdout in the use of adjuncts. Only starting to use them in 1965. Much later than most of their rival brewers. Other than wartime, of course, when they had no choice but to.
I assume that the flaked maize in Gold Label is to lighten the body. Along with all that sugar. Od a type which only appears in the other beer seeking paleness, Export Pale Ale.
Torrefied barley turns up in the Mild and Stouts. My guess is for head retention. The same beers also include CDM (Caramelised Dextro Maltose). Which would have added both body and colour.
I’ve no idea what LPS and SLS were. Other than some sort of syrup. Given the beers it’s in, SLS must be pale. LPS, probably not, as it pops up in the dark Best Mild and Final Selection.
| Whitbread adjuncts and sugar in 1973 | ||||||||
| Beer | Style | flaked maize | torrefied barley | total adjuncts | CDM | LPS | SLS | total sugar |
| Best Mild | Mild | 9.45% | 9.45% | 1.45% | 6.55% | 8.00% | ||
| Trophy | Pale Ale | 0.00% | 15.09% | 15.09% | ||||
| Tankard | Pale Ale | 0.00% | 15.09% | 15.09% | ||||
| Export Pale Ale | Pale Ale | 0.00% | 10.26% | 10.26% | ||||
| Mackeson | Stout | 9.88% | 9.88% | 3.13% | 3.13% | |||
| Extra Stout | Stout | 9.88% | 9.88% | 3.13% | 3.13% | |||
| Final Selection | Strong Ale | 0.00% | 9.30% | 9.30% | ||||
| Gold Label | Barley Wine | 9.01% | 9.01% | 21.71% | 21.71% | |||
| Source: | ||||||||
| Whitbread brewing record held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/09/141. | ||||||||
I do wonder who likes posts like these. They're exactly what I'd like to read. But I'm a bit strange.
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6 comments:
Put me in the "bit strange" box too then.
I was born in 1970, so my beer drinking memories start in the late eighties, but I still enjoy reading about beers I never drank (Frank Baillie's Beer Drinker's Companion published in 1973 is an invaluable guide to that decade). There's a word I discovered not long ago, "anemoia", which means a nostalgia for things you never personally experienced. It's the same feeling I get looking at old photos of football and rugby league grounds that were pulled down before I had the chance to see them.
I enjoy them. Partly for homebrewing research purposes but mostly because I'm fascinated by what really goes into the every day things that form the bulk of our lives but don't get much thought.
Well, I do - I find them intriguing. I've often wondered how brewers, over the years, have been able to avoid mentioning most of this stuff - colourings, adjuncts etc - on labels - while the food industry for instance, has been 'forced' to have been somewhat more open - relatively speaking. Thank you for your tirelessly and informative efforts. Sev
Matt,
I've been using the Beer Drinker's Companion as one of my sources. I've extracted all the beer details. Not sure exactly how I'll use them.
I don’t know adjuncts can vary from rye, oats, sorghum, wheat, lactose, cocoa nibs, cherries, lactose, spices to the nasty stuff like said colourings.
Oscar
An adjunct is an added ingredient which utilises the malt enzymes to extract fermentable sugars.
It is not simply an added ingredient.
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