Let's Brew Wednesday - 1877 Strangman X Ale

Here’s another confusing beer from Strangman. On the face of it, the name, X Ale, indicates that this was a Mild Ale. But it’s not that simple.

The gravity is very much in the range of a London X Ale. However, the hopping is a good bit heavier. At 14 lbs per quarter (336 lbs) of malt, the rate is about double that of London Mild Ales. And similar to the hopping rate of a London Pale Ale. It’s also higher than the hopping rate for Strangman Beer. Which makes no sense, as Ale should be more lightly hopped than Ale.

Not much to the recipe: just one type of malt and one of hops. The malt was made from English barley by Strangman themselves. The hops, from grower Springett, were, I assume, English. And were pretty fresh, being from the 1876 harvest.
 

1877 Strangman X Ale
pale malt	13.00 lb	100.00%
Fuggles 90 mins	2.25 oz
Fuggles 60 mins	2.25 oz
Fuggles 30 mins	2.25 oz
OG	1056
FG	1013
ABV	5.69
Apparent attenuation	76.79%
IBU	75
SRM	5
Mash at	152º F
Sparge at	165º F
Boil time	90 minutes
pitching temp	60º F
Yeast	WLP004 Irish Stout