Wednesday, 13 May 2026

Let's Brew Wednesday - 1960 Youngs QSPA

A Youngs Special London Ale label featuring a drawing of a ram and silhouette of the London skyline.
Now this is a weird one. A very strong Pale Ale with the intriguing name of QSPA. What on earth could that “Q” stand for?

It looks rather like Export Pale Ale or Special London Ale. Was it an earlier version of that beer? I’m not even totally sure it was sold in this form. In a slightly earlier brew, there’s a note saying: “QSPA blended back with SPA”. Presumably, the SPA it was parti-gyled with.

It looks very much like a full-strength Pale Ale from before WW I.  So strong, I can’t imagine that it was sold on draught.

The recipe is the same as for all the other Pale Ales: base malt, flaked maize and sugar. Nothing very exciting about that.

You guessed it – the hops were two English types,  from the 1958 and 1959 harvests. 

1960 Youngs QSPA
pale malt 10.75 lb 79.15%
flaked maize 1.75 lb 12.88%
pale malt extract 0.33 lb 2.43%
No. 1 invert sugar 0.75 lb 5.52%
caramel 500 SRM 0.002 lb 0.01%
Fuggles 120 min 1.75 oz
Goldings 30 min 1.75 oz
OG 1062
FG 1017.5
ABV 5.89
Apparent attenuation 71.77%
IBU 39
SRM 6
Mash at 152º F
Sparge at 174º F
Boil time 120 minutes
pitching temp 59º F
Yeast WLP002 English Ale

 

 


Listen to brewer John Hatch explain how they brewed at Youngs in the 1990s.  

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