Shepherd Neame grists in 1971

Time to look at what went into these beers. Starting off with the malts and adjuncts.

Pale malt was the only base employed. Nothing very unusual about that. More uncommon is the presence of crystal malt in every single beer. Which was a bit of a turnaround. Because up until at least 1966, they didn’t use crystal malt at all.

Even more odd is the presence of amber malt in one of the Pale Ale parti-gyles. It’s not a malt you’d usually find in a Pale Ale. In fact, you rarely see it in anything other than Porter and Stout. And then mostly before WW I.

I’m not 100% that the wheat was in malted form. It’s not clear from the brewing record. Though, as it just says “wheat” and not “flaked wheat” but it does say “flaked maize”. I assume wheat is there for its head-promoting properties.

Speaking of which, it’s a little strange that flaked maize only appears in the one Pale Ale parti-gyle. And not in the Mild and Brown Ale. Looking back through the logs, it’s another ingredient which was only introduced sometime after 1966. 

Shepherd Neame grists in 1971
Beer	Style	pale malt	amber malt	crystal malt	wheat malt	total malt	flaked maize
Brown Ale	Brown Ale	67.28%		4.81%		72.08%
Mild	Mild	67.28%		4.81%		72.08%
Light Ale	Pale Ale	60.55%	5.50%	5.50%	5.50%	77.06%	5.50%
Bitter	Pale Ale	84.65%		7.43%		92.08%
Best Bitter	Pale Ale	84.07%		8.24%		92.31%
Abbey Ale	Pale Ale	61.15%	5.73%	5.73%	3.82%	76.43%	3.82%
Old English Stock Ale	Pale Ale	60.55%	5.50%	5.50%	5.50%	77.06%	5.50%
Bishop's Finger	Strong Ale	59.57%	6.38%	6.38%	4.26%	76.60%	4.26%
Stout	Stout	85.71%		6.12%		91.84%
Source:
Shepherd Neame brewing book held at the brewery, document number H-5O5.