Draught Bass Pale Ale 1869 - 1993

I'm back with Draught Bass. This time looking at what it was like for more than a century.

Fortunately, I have plenty analyses of the beer. Thanks to its enormous popularity in the past. At the end of the 19th century, Bass in Burton was one of the largest breweries in the world. And Pale Ale was one of its main products. One of the classic IPAs, though Bass themselves never called it that. For them, it was simply Pale Ale.

We're only looking here at the draught version. Which was principally sold in the UK. With exports mostly in the form of the bottled version. Bass, along with Guinness, was one of the few beers which was sold in the tied houses of other brewers. And, unlike Guinness, it wasn't only in bottled form. The draught version appearing in some "foreign" tied houses.

Before WW I, Draught Bass had the classic Burton Pale Ale gravity of around 1065º. With a very high degree of attenuation leaving it getting on for 7% ABV. Why was the rate of attenuation so high? Because it was a Stock Pale Ale with a long secondary Brettanomyces fermentation.

After WW I, the gravity fell to around 1055º. Which is totally predictable. 1055º being the strongest draught beer got during the interwar period, Falling in with the gravity bands of the last set of price controls in the aftermath of WW I. It was the typical gravity of beers retailing for 8d per pint, which, as you can see, was the case here..

During WW II, the gravity held up surprisingly well, still being 1048 and over 5% ABV in 1944. During the 1950s, it stabilised at around 1045º. Where it remained, other than briefly rising to 1050º in 1965.

I'm quite surprised how much the colour jumped around. And how pale the colour sometimes was. 20 and below is definitely on the pale side for a Bitter. 

Draught Bass Pale Ale 1869 - 1993
Year	Price per pint (d)	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	Acidity	colour
1869		1065.9	1010.2	7.33	84.50%	0.17
1869	4	1067.0	1013.2	6.81	80.31%	0.28
1901		1064.0	1013.4	6.48	78.03%	0.144
1927		1055.5
1932		1054.7	1012	5.56	78.06%	0.05
1937	8	1055.0
1940	9	1051.6
1943	14	1047.6	1008.9	5.04	81.30%	0.08	26
1944	16	1048.1	1008.2	5.20	82.95%	0.12	21
1950	18	1049.7					23
1951	19	1049.9	1008.8	5.36	82.36%	0.07	26
1952	19	1046.4					24
1953	19	1044.7					26
1954	19	1046	1008.7	4.86	81.09%	0.04	20
1957	21	1044.6	1005.4	5.12	87.89%	0.04	21
1960	21	1044	1009.8	4.45	77.73%	0.04	19
1965		1050.5	1009.4	5.36	81.39%	0.04	16
1977		1044
1982		1044
1989		1044	1010.1	4.40	77.05%
1993		1043	1009.2	4.40	78.60%		19
Sources:
British Medical Journal August 28th 1869, page 245
Wahl & Henius, pages 823-830
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/001.
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/002.
Truman Gravity Book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number B/THB/C/252.
Good Beer Guide 1978
Good Beer Guide1983
Good Beer Guide 1990
1993 Real Ale Drinker's Almanac

 

Let's Brew - 1941 Youngs XXX Ale

Youngs were still producing their standard-strength Burton XXX, though they had dropped the stronger XXXX.

The gravity isn’t quite as high as in 1939 – it’s 6º lower – but a higher degree of attenuation leaves the ABV a little greater. We’ve seen something similar with Youngs other beers.

The recipe has changed a bit since 1939. The pale malt has been replaced by more mild malt. And the crystal malt content has almost doubled at the expense of the No. 3 invert sugar.

A drop in the hopping rate from 7 lbs per quarter (336 lbs) of malt forces down the calculated bitterness from 33 IBU to 21 IBU. Which must have been way more noticeable than the fall in gravity.

The hops themselves were Worcester and East Kent, both from the 1940 season.

1941 Youngs XXX Ale
mild malt	9.00 lb	81.82%
crystal malt 120 L	1.25 lb	11.36%
malt extract	0.25 lb	2.27%
No. 3 invert sugar	0.40 lb	3.64%
caramel 1000 SRM	0.10 lb	0.91%
Fuggles 120 min	0.875 oz
Fuggles 30 min	0.875 oz
OG	1051
FG	1016.5
ABV	4.56
Apparent attenuation	67.65%
IBU	21
SRM	20
Mash at	151º F
Sparge at	170º F
Boil time	120 minutes
pitching temp	58º F
Yeast	WLP002 English Ale

 

 

Youngs hops in 1943

A lack of excitement continues with the hops. Which are the same in every single beer. Just the two types, both from the 1942 harvest.  One Worcester, the other Mid-Kent “BG”. I’m guessing that stands for Brewer’s Gold.

What’s notable? All English hops and all from the most recent season. I think I can understand why. All English hops, because no hops had been imported since 1939. All from the most recent season because all the stocks of older hops had already been used up.

This demonstrates something about WW II brewing. UK brewers became almost totally dependent on UK-grown ingredients. Something which, WW I excepted, hadn't been the case since the first half of the 19th century. Though reductions in the strength and quantity of beer brewed after WW I, made the UK much less dependent on imported hops between the wars.

I hope you're enjoying all this stuff about Youngs during WW II. It's a preview of the book I'm writing about Youngs. Rather imaginatively called ""Youngs!". Who could have guessed that? 

Youngs hops in 1943
Beer	Style	hop 1	hop 2
A	Mild	Worcs. 1942	MK "BG" 1942
X	Mild	Worcs. 1942	MK "BG" 1942
PAB	Pale Ale	Worcs. 1942	MK "BG" 1942
PA	Pale Ale	Worcs. 1942	MK "BG" 1942
XXX	Strong Ale	Worcs. 1942	MK "BG" 1942
Source:
Young's brewing record held at Battersea Library, document number YO/RE/1/12.

 

What is Danziger Jopenbier?

 I take a look at one of the world's weirdest beer styles, Danziger Jopenbier. I beer so thick and treacly that you could barely drink it

 

Draught Bass

Or simply Draught Bass, as it was often called. Given the beer's return to popularity, I thought it might be interesting to take a look at how it changed over the years.

It's a beer than I've drunk every now and again. Sometimes more than others. 

When I lived in the East End in 1979, the only nearby pub in the Good Beer Guide was a Bass house. I spent many a happy evening there drinking Draught Bass and White Shield mixed. Both a tasty and powerful combination. Which was exactly what I was looking for at the time. A short road to oblivion

When the Grove in balderton became a Bass pub in the early 1980s, Draught Bass was one of the beers it served. Replacing keg beers from Courage's Newark brewery. When back home, I used to drink quite often in the Grove. Partly because a couple of mates lived just over the road. Rather nice, it was, the Bass.

A couple of years back, when I was in the Black Country and Burton  with the Goose Island people, we deliberately drank lots of Bass. Which had retained its popularity in that part of the country. And I was surprised at just how good it was. A wonderful example of a Burton Best Bitter. Why weren't the owners of the brand - AB Inbev - pushing it more? Well, pushing it at all?

Now they've woken up and put a little effort into the beer it's really taken off. What does that tell us? That AB Inbev were dozy bastards who had no idea of the treasure that they owned.

More to come about Draught Bass. 

Let's Brew Wednesday - 1941 Youngs PA

Just like PAB, PA has seen a fall in gravity since the outbreak of war. In its case, that was 5º. Again, an increase in the rate of attenuation has mitigated that fall somewhat. It still clocks in at 4.5% ABV, a very decent strength for a beer in 1941.

Which makes it surprising just how much PA Youngs brewed. Batches were usually 200 barrels or so. While the weaker PAB was only brewed 100 barrels at a time. And sometimes PA was brewed single-gyle. PAB only ever being brewed in a parti-gyle with PA.

There’s not much to say about the recipe, as this was parti-gyled with the PAB which we’ve just seen. In a nutshell, less sugar, more malt than in 1939.

One of the biggest changes since the start of the war is the hopping rate. Which is down from 8 lbs per quarter (336 lbs) of malt. And that is reflected in a much lower calculated bitterness level: 26 IBU compared to 42 IBU in 1939. 

1941 Youngs PA
pale malt	8.50 lb	90.23%
malt extract	0.25 lb	2.65%
No. 1 invert sugar	0.67 lb	7.11%
Fuggles 120 min	0.67 oz
Fuggles 60 min	0.67 oz
Goldings 30 min	0.67 oz
OG	1043
FG	1008.5
ABV	4.56
Apparent attenuation	80.23%
IBU	26
SRM	5
Mash at	152º F
Sparge at	174º F
Boil time	120 minutes
pitching temp	58.5º F
Yeast	WLP002 English Ale

 

What is Guinness Extra Stout?

A look at the history of an iconic beer - Guinness Extra Stout.

 

Youngs adjuncts and sugars in 1943

Onwards with adjuncts and sugars.

Now that Porter and Stout have been dropped, there’s no longer any oats. Just the government-mandated adjunct, flaked barley. Though, come to think of it, this is 1943. It’s possible that it could be oats. The brewing record is very vague, just saying “flakes”.

The average sugar percentage is up a little. About 0.75%. There's less No. 1 in the Pale Ales, but more No. 3 in the Mild Ales. I've no idea what that might mean.

Also up is the proportion of malt extract. From a bit under 3% to a bit over 3%. Not sure that I would call that significant.

What can I say about the caramel? It’s pretty much exactly the same as in 1940. Nothing more that I can spin out of that. 

Youngs adjuncts and sugars  in 1943
Beer	Style	flaked barley	malt extract	no. 1 sugar	no. 3 sugar	caramel	total sugar
A	Mild	12.02%	3.00%		6.01%	0.88%	9.89%
X	Mild	14.17%	3.15%		6.30%	0.79%	10.24%
PAB	Pale Ale	13.33%	3.33%	6.67%			10.00%
PA	Pale Ale	13.33%	3.33%	6.67%			10.00%
XXX	Strong Ale	12.39%	3.10%		6.19%	0.90%	10.19%
	Average	13.05%					10.06%
Source:
Young's brewing record held at Battersea Library, document number YO/RE/1/12.

 

Brussels

I was in Brussels with Dolores a couple of weeks ago. It had been a long time since my previous visit.

A decade or more ago I was a frequent traveller to Belgium. It's close to Amsterdam, easy to get to and has lots of interesting beer. No wonder that I went there often. But, in recent years, my travels have mostly taken me farther afield. As in, to other continents.

We stayed right in the centre, not far from the Grand Place. Which was handy for the city centre pubs. Not that we really got to visit many of them. Once, I knew my was around Brussels city centre. Not any more. I had to rely on maps.

Before we get any further, I really need to show you my breakfasts.

Not bad, eh? Bacon, scrambled egg and hash browns. That'll do me nicely. Along with some token fruit to appear healthy. In contrast to Dolores, who goes for a more diverse selection of food from the buffet.

I suppose that I should show you some pictures of my beers, too. Not that I drank all that many different ones.

One thing I did appreciate - and which you don't usually get in Amsterdam - is the choice of sizes for draught beers. Meaning that you can get a half litre, or even 75 cl, of a nice Tripel. It would have been rude not to take advantage. Though I didn't ever quite dare go for a 75 cl measure.

Why were we in Brussels? It wasn't just a random trip. It was Pete Slosberg's 75th birthday party, held in the Lambic-o-Droom just outside the city in Lot. I knew most of the people there. And all of them I'd met somewhere exotic doing the beer judging thing. Even the people from Holland and Belgium.

Brussels City Centre was very touristy. But not quite as bad as Amsterdam. I don't think anywhere is. It's the one upside of living in an expensive, tourist-infested town. Pretty much everywhere I go seems relatively cheap and uncluttered by tourists. 

What is Crimea Porter?

A short video about a very short-lived type of beer: Crimea Porter.

 

Youngs malts in 1943

Ingredients time now. Beginning, as always, with the malts.

There are fewer malts than in 1940, five rather than seven. There's a simple explanation for that: black and amber malt only appeared in Porter and Stout and those beers have been dropped. 

That's not the big story. Which is the reduction in the total malt percentage. Down from an average just short of 90% to 77%. Why such a drop? Because Youngs didn't use adjuncts in most of their beers pre-war. And during the war they were compelled to use adjuncts, at this point, that was flaked barley.

The Pale Ales have a base of all pale ale malt, without the standard pale malt that they had in 1940. While the Mild Ales remain a mix of mild malt and pale malt. The crystal malt content of the Milds and the Burton Ale is unchanged.

Enzymic malt, in both of the Pale Ales in 1940, is only in the full-strength Pale Ale here. But it wasn't consistent. It turns up sometimes in the Pale Ale parti-gyle. Only sometimes. Perhaps they were struggling to get supplies of it. 

Youngs malts in 1943
Beer	Style	pale malt	mild malt	PA malt	crystal malt	enzymic malt	total malt
A	Mild	30.04%	36.05%		12.02%		78.10%
X	Mild	37.80%	28.35%		9.45%		75.59%
PAB	Pale Ale			76.67%			76.67%
PA	Pale Ale			73.33%		3.33%	76.67%
XXX	Strong Ale	61.94%	6.19%		9.29%		77.42%
	Average						76.89%
Source:
Young's brewing record held at Battersea Library, document number YO/RE/1/12.

 

Let's Brew - 1941 Youngs PAB

What have a couple of years of war done to Young’s weaker Pale Ale? A few things. But nothing too dramatic.

For a start, the gravity has been reduced by 4º. Though a higher degree of attenuation leaves this version actually a teeny bit stronger. I think I would have been able to live with that. A slightly thinner, but more alcoholic, beer.

Exactly the same elements are present in the grist: pale malt, No. 1 invert sugar and malt extract. Though I have included in the base pale malt a small quantity of enzymic malt. I’m pretty sure that enzymic malt no longer exists, so I’ve just substituted pale malt.

There has been a change in the quantities of the grist elements. The quantity of No. 1 invert has been halved, replaced by more base malt. Meaning that the percentage of malt has increased, from 85% to 90%.

Two types of hops, Worcester and Est Kent, both from the 1940 harvest. 

1941 Youngs PAB
pale malt	7.00 lb	90.32%
malt extract	0.25 lb	3.23%
No. 1 invert sugar	0.50 lb	6.45%
Fuggles 120 min	0.50 oz
Fuggles 60 min	0.50 oz
Goldings 30 min	0.50 oz
OG	1035
FG	1006.5
ABV	3.77
Apparent attenuation	81.43%
IBU	20
SRM	4.5
Mash at	152º F
Sparge at	174º F
Boil time	120 minutes
pitching temp	58.5º F
Yeast	WLP002 English Ale

 

 

This is 4d Mild Ale

Another little video. This one taking a look at a specific 4d Mild Ale recipe: 1939 Youngs Ale.

 

My YouTubes

My YouTubes seem to be taking off. At least by my very modest terms. This is the link to my channel

https://www.youtube.com/@patto1ro

Recently, I've been concentrating on short - 5 minutes, or so - videos about beer styles. Which seem to be going down well.

Do you look that sort of content, or would you prefer I concentrate on something else? Let me know. I'm totally open to suggestions.

I quite enjoy doing the short videos. Partly, because they are short and don't take long to edit. Or record. It's just a single take with a few coughs and ers chopped out. As you can probably tell, I'm not too worried about the production values. It's about the content.

I'm trying to be informative, without getting bogged down in too much detail. Pretty much the opposite of my books. 

 Let me know if you think it's working. 

 

 

Youngs beers in 1943

Let’s jump a couple of years forward and see what things are like at Youngs in the middle of the war. How, exactly, had their beers changed?

The most obvious change is that three beers have been dropped: Porter, Stout and XXXX. The last isn't much of a surprise. The strongest beers were some of the first to disappear. The first isn't a great shock, either. All London brewers discontinued their Porters in the early war years.

But Stout, that's another matter. At the time, it was still a fairly standard draught beer in London. It's really odd for a London brewery to have no Black Beer in their portfolio. In fact, it was unusual for any English brewery to not brew a Stout.

Let's look at the remaining beers in more detail. Kicking off with the gravities. Which, unsurprisingly, have been reduced since 1940. Though the reduction was very inconsistent across the different beers.

The biggest fall was in PAB and XXX. In both cases around 15%. AX Ale was a little behind with a 12% drop. Interestingly, the smallest reductions were in PA, one of the strongest beers, and A, one of weakest. In the latter case, there's a pretty obvious reason. It didn't have anywhere further to go. Because of the tax system, 1027º was effectively the lowest economic gravity. You could brew a weaker beer, but you'd have to pay the tax for a beer of 1027º.

I'm not quite so sure why PA should have got off so lightly. Interestingly, after falling 1040º in 1942, the gravity was raised again in early 1943 to 1042.7º. Which is weird. The gravities of beers very rarely increased during the war.

The rates of attenuation are pretty similar to in 1940. Around 80% for the Mild Ales, 75% for the Pale Ales, 68% for XXX. Which means that The ABVs have fallen in line with the gravity drop. Though the two strongest - PA and XXX - are still both over 4%. Which was a pretty decent strength for this stage of the war.

There's also been a significant reduction in the hopping rates. In the case of the Mild Ales, it's fallen from 6 lbs per quarter (336 lbs) of malt to 4.5 lbs. For the Pale Ales, the reduction is from 7 lbs per quarter to 5.5 lbs. 

Youngs beers in 1943
Beer	Style	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	lbs hops/ qtr	hops lb/brl
A	Mild	1026.8	1005.5	2.81	79.33%	4.41	0.51
X	Mild	1029.9	1005.3	3.26	82.40%	4.40	0.57
PAB	Pale Ale	1032.9	1008.3	3.25	74.74%	5.56	0.74
PA	Pale Ale	1042.7	1011.1	4.18	74.05%	5.56	0.96
XXX	Strong Ale	1045.9	1015.5	4.02	66.20%	4.54	0.89
Source:
Young's brewing record held at Battersea Library, document number YO/RE/1/12.

 

Youngs beers gravity changes 1940 - 1943
Beer	Style	1940	1943	% drop
A	Mild	1029	1026.8	7.59%
X	Mild	1034	1029.9	12.06%
PAB	Pale Ale	1039	1032.9	15.64%
PA	Pale Ale	1047	1042.7	9.15%
XXX	Strong Ale	1055	1045.9	16.55%
	Average			12.20%
Sources:
Young's brewing record held at Battersea Library, document number YO/RE/1/9.
Young's brewing record held at Battersea Library, document number YO/RE/1/12.

 

 

What is Gold Label?

 Another one of my little videos. This time it's about one of my beery obsessions: Gold Label.

 

Let's Brew Wednesday - 1941 Youngs Ale

If you know anything in the UK tax system, you’ll understand why the gravity of Ale hadn’t fallen very much. A gravity of under 1027º wasn’t economically sensible.

A reasonable degree of attenuation leaves it at just a touch under 3% ABV. So just about intoxicating. And stronger than the beer in most of Europe at the time.

Have there been any changes to the grist? Well, a few. The base malt is now all mild malt, rather than a mixture of pale and mild malt. There’s rather more crystal malt. Possibly, to compensate for the quantity of No. 3 invert being halved.

There were two types of hops: Sussex from 1940 and spent hops. The latter are always fun in a recipe. How do I take them into account? With great difficulty is the answer. 

1941 Youngs Ale
mild malt	5.00 lb	82.37%
crystal malt 120 L	0.67 lb	11.04%
malt extract	0.175 lb	2.88%
No. 3 invert sugar	0.175 lb	2.88%
caramel 1000 SRM	0.05 lb	0.82%
Fuggles 120 min	0.50 oz
Fuggles 30 min	0.50 oz
OG	1028
FG	1006
ABV	2.91
Apparent attenuation	78.57%
IBU	14
SRM	14
Mash at	152º F
Sparge at	170º F
Boil time	120 minutes
pitching temp	59º F
Yeast	WLP002 English Ale