tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5445569787371915337.post528675386070617379..comments2024-03-28T13:20:29.156-07:00Comments on Shut up about Barclay Perkins: Inside Aitken (part three)Ron Pattinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03095189986589865751noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5445569787371915337.post-33775607954914086232011-12-31T14:40:34.523-08:002011-12-31T14:40:34.523-08:00I would think all these various ways apart from ad...I would think all these various ways apart from adding pure colour were to use up something not otherwise saleable, e.g., returns or yeasty dregs, while giving the brew the desired sharp edge drinkers must have liked. The account has echos of Barclay's testimony from the early 1800's, or the mid-1800's accounts in the manuals which described adding old ale to new porter with the whole being put up in blending vats. You can see pictures in some old books of those vats which precisely were often supported on a gantry so the beer could be got at underneath. <br /><br />The Wilson's stout was IMO the same idea, the sugar and caramel would have assisted to make a tart-sweet brew, one which approximated early 1800's techniques which themselves seem an expedient to avoid storing all the beer in the blend for 6-12 months or more.<br /><br />Just today in New York while on holiday I ordered a cask porter in a flight (selction of four beers, you get 4 oz. of each). One of the other three was an American Imperial porter, strong and rich. The cask porter was a little off, not out and out sour, but half-way. I blended it with the Imperial stout about 4:1 and the result was better than each on its own IMO. The acid notes really worked well in small amount. I believe something similar was behind the porter described by this Scots witness and it was actually part of something very old in porter tradition.<br /><br />Speaking for myself I find these accounts of absorbing interest and I hope more will come from such "unofficial" sources.<br /><br />GaryGary Gillmannoreply@blogger.com