Friday, 2 January 2026

Boddington grists in 1901

A Boddington Strong Ale label with a coat of arms depicting a barrel and two bees.
Time to look at what went into these beers. Which, it turns out, wasn’t a whole lot.

Only two types of malt were employed: pale and black. That’s pretty minimal. Especially as only three beers – the two Stouts and the Strong Ale – contained black malt. And, even in those, the quantity is pretty small. There’s not really anything else to say about the malts.

Similarly, there were just two types of sugar: Garton and invert. Both of which are pretty vague descriptions. And pretty similar, as Garton was a producer of invert. I did wonder if they were different names for the same thing. Until I came across beers that included both.

In general, the malt content is very high. Over 90% in most cases. And there are no adjuncts of any type. Which, as you’ve probably noticed, wasn’t very typical. By 1900, most breweries had taken advantage of the opportunity to use unmalted grains given by the 1880 Free Mash Tun Act.

Boddington grists in 1901
Beer Style pale malt black malt Garton invert total sugar
TA Table Ale 91.30%   8.70%   8.70%
X Mild 92.86%   7.14%   7.14%
XX Mild 91.58%   8.42%   8.42%
XXX Mild 88.89%     11.11% 11.11%
XXXX Mild 93.75%     6.25% 6.25%
AK Pale Ale 90.70%     9.30% 9.30%
IPA IPA 91.84%     8.16% 8.16%
S Stout 86.98% 1.97% 5.52% 5.52% 11.05%
DS Stout 85.86% 1.42% 9.54% 3.18% 12.72%
BB Strong Ale 91.13% 0.19%   8.68% 8.68%
Source:
Boddington brewing record held at Manchester Central Library, document number M693/405/125.


 

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