Shut up about Barclay Perkins

I'm number five!

2012-02-02T04:05:00.000-08:00

In the Wikio rankings. I'm so proud.

Can't say I quite understand how they come up with the rankings. A couple of months ago I was in position 20-something. The number of visitors I get hasn't changed appreciably in that time.

If only it meant something in terms of money.

Did I mention my plan? My get-someone-to-pay-me-to-research plan. It's based on optimism and an unreasonable faith in human nature. Surely there must be bearded beery philanthropist somewhere?

Why that image? I just like remembering Shippos.

Let's Brew Wednesday - 1879 William Younger No.3

2012-02-02T00:05:00.000-08:00

It's Thursday, it's five to five, it's . . . . Crackerjack! Let's brew, really. A day late. Well, 8 days late, technically. But who's counting?

This is a terrifically exciting day for me. Because we're getting into known territory. For me, at least. Let me explain. I have a special relationship with Younger's No. 3 (not quite like Britain's special relationship with the USA - we treat each other with mutual respect).

But to explain it we'll need to travel back in time, to the dark days of the early 1970's, when the flares were wide, the colours gaudy, and the power regularly cut. A fun time to be an impecunious teenager, not quite of drinking age. There was a way around the twin barriers of age and poverty: brew your own.

My brother was a CAMRA member and What's Brewing had a regular home brewing section. One month they published a clone recipe for Younger's No. 3, a beer that had been discontinued. "Dark Bitter" is how I think they described it. Makes you laugh now. Though I'm not sure a modern style dilettante would do much better. Burton would have been the most apposite descriptor. It looked an interesting beer so we brewed it up.

I recall it being one of our better extract efforts. The dark grains helped hide the extract twang. We must have brewed a fair bit, because I have several memories of drinking it. I took along a couple of bottles to the first party I attended. Happy days.*

Later Younger (well, S & N) resurrected No. 3. It was preferred drink in their pubs. Not a bad drop, when looked after. Which brewery would it have come from then, back in the 1980's? Abbey? Fountain?

When I was in my last job in London (1984 -1985) an S & N pub just off Gloucester Place was our local. At least for lunchtime and hometime pints. They had two or three cask beers, including No.3. I must have drunk a fair few pints of it over the 18 months I worked there. It was still a decent beer. And had the advantage of being dark and not Bitter.

Little did I realise the history nor the dramatic transformation that No.3 had endured. The beer I'd drunk was literally a shadow of its former self: it was, like a shadow, darker than the original, but infinitely thinner.

If you've been waiting for me to describe the beer from the recipe, you've waited in vain. My head is somewhere else today. Trying not just to remember the name of that pub off Gloucester Place, but its location. I can't seem to track the bugger down on Google maps. John Cumberpatch was one of my colleagues. Now there's a coincidence.

Best hand you over to Kristen while there's some semblance of coherence . . . .

See Younger's 1879 No1 for instructions

FYI - These next No3’s will be pretty much the same as the No1’s of the same year. If there are any differences, we’ll chat about it here. This one, there are none.

* Not really. Miserable, boring days I'm glad are long gone.

Why paying writers matters

2012-02-01T04:05:00.000-08:00

Because otherwise they might not bother.

To make a change from plugging my own books, I'm going to plug someone else's work. Evan Rail's, to be precise. And it isn't just because I get a mention in it (flattering as that might be).

Oh yes, what is it I'm pushing? (Getting this all twisted around again. That's what happens when you start writing and only bother thinking after the first two paragraphs.) Evan Rail's essay Why Beer Matters. That's it.

What's it about? I would have thought that was pretty effing obvious from the title. OK, I'll spell it out for you: it's about why beer matters. He didn't need to convince me. I've thought that since, well, a few seconds after that first pint of Barnsley Bitter hit my lips.

On a purely (and extremely selfish note). I'm intrigued to see how he gets on flogging stuff through Amazon, Might be worth considering myself.

England vs Scotland, part 3a: early 1850's standard Mild Ale

2012-02-01T00:05:00.000-08:00

Taking an idea, running with it, dropping it, picking it up again, tripping over, standing back up, bumping into someone and dropping it, picking it up once again and doing some more running. That's what I do. Start with a simple enough idea, but pursue it way beyond logic or reason.

So it is with my comparison of William Younger's beers with those brewed in London. It took me multiple posts to cover the first two decades, the 1930's and 1840's. There won't be as many for the 1850's. Oh no. There will be twice as many. Why? The Crimean War. As usual, an increase in the tax on beer (indirectly through the tax on malt) quickly followed the declaration of war. Just as ineluctably, a gravity drop followed the tax increase. Comparing a beer from 1857 with one from 1850 just isn't fair.

Once again, I've a whole bunch of Younger beers I can't do anything with. Because there are no London beers of similar gravity. Most are 42/- with a gravity in the 1040º's. Maybe I should have included them in this table. They'd have raised the average hopping rate per barrel. One had a whopping 3 pounds per barrel, despite having a gravity of just 1047º.

But I didn't, so the first table is Mild Ales in the range 1060º to 1069º. Here are the numbers in neat rows:

England vs Scotland early 1850's Mild 1060º - 1069º
Date	Year	Brewer	Beer	OG	FG	ABV	App. Attenuation	lbs hops/ qtr	hops lb/brl	boil time (hours)	boil time (hours)	boil time (hours)	Pitch temp	max. fermentation temp	length of fermentation (days)
30th Sep	1850	Whitbread	X	1067.3	1024.9	5.61	62.96%	7.85	2.36	1.5	2		64	74	6
15th Feb	1851	Whitbread	X	1067.6	1024.9	5.64	63.11%	12.50	3.91	1.5	2	2	64	74	7
12th Oct	1852	Reid	X	1069.3	1024.9	5.86	64.00%	12.26	3.63	1.5	3		57	72.5	5
1st Nov	1852	Reid	X	1069.3	1024.9	5.86	64.00%	11.24	3.32	1.5	3		57	72	5
29th Aug	1853	Reid	X	1069.3	1020.8	6.41	70.00%	12.00	3.60	2	3		56.5	75	7
Average				1068.5	1024.1	5.88	64.82%	11.17	3.36	1.60	2.60	2.00	59.7	73.5	6.0
21st Jun	1854	Younger, Wm.	60/-	1062	1032	3.97	48.39%	4.82	1.31	1.67			58	65	6
24th Jun	1854	Younger, Wm.	60/-	1062				5.34	1.56	1.75			60
11th Nov	1853	Younger, Wm.	X	1062	1027	4.63	56.45%	8.00	2.47	1.08	1.25	1.67	57	67	8
19th Nov	1853	Younger, Wm.	X	1062	1029	4.37	53.23%	7.57	2.26	1.08	1.25	1.5	56	67	7
26th Nov	1853	Younger, Wm.	X	1062	1029	4.37	53.23%	7.48	2.18	1.08	1.33	1.5	56	66	7
2nd Dec	1853	Younger, Wm.	X	1062	1027	4.63	56.45%	8.00	2.96	1.5	1.67		56	66	8
3rd Dec	1853	Younger, Wm.	X	1062	1029	4.37	53.23%	7.52	2.19	1.08	1.33	1.5	57	65	7
3rd May	1853	Younger, Wm.	X	1066	1024	5.56	63.64%	8.00	2.67	1.25			57	69	8
4th Apr	1853	Younger, Wm.	X	1067	1026	5.42	61.19%	7.33	3.67	1.75			58	66	6
17th May	1853	Younger, Wm.	X	1067	1028	5.16	58.21%	9.00	2.91	1.25	1.17		58	68	7
28th Apr	1853	Younger, Wm.	X	1068	1032	4.76	52.94%	8.00	2.97	1.33	1.5		57	68	8
5th May	1853	Younger, Wm.	X	1069	1027	5.56	60.87%	8.64	2.77	1.5	1.5		59	67	7
Average				1064.3	1028.2	4.80	56.17%	7.47	2.49	1.36	1.38	1.54	57.4	66.7	7.2
difference				-4.3	4.1	-1.08	-8.65%	-3.70	-0.87	-0.24	-1.23	-0.46	-2.3	-6.8	1.2
Sources:
William Younger brewing record document number WY/6/1/2/5 held at the Scottish Brewing Archive
Whitbread brewing record document number LMA/4453/D/01/014 held at the London Metropolitan Archives
Reid brewing record document number 789/273 held at the Westminster City Archives

Hopping rates, hopping rates. Confusing devils, they are. On the face of it, William Younger's beer had about 25% fewer hops per barrel. But, if I knock out the 7 beers with a gravity of 1062º, (so only compare the ones with similar gravities to the London beers) that drops to just 10%. Not really any huge difference, especially given the large variation between different individual beers. I'd say: in the early 1850's Younger's standard Mild Ales were on average a little less heavily hopped than equivalent London beers.

Thankfully I've more London boil times in this set. Once again, the pattern isn't hard to spot: Younger's boil times were shorter. Especially of the second wort. I've 100% confidence with this one: in the early 1850's Younger's standard Mild Ales had much shorter boils than equivalent London beers.

We're going to have to watch two things with fermentation temperatures. Not just how those of Younger compared to those of London brewers, but how Younger's changed over time. If you pay careful attention to the numbers you'll notice how nothing remained constant for long. When we've finished the England vs Scotland thing, I'll produce tables to show the changes and Younger. A sort of Younger vs Younger thing. The difference in pitching temperatures here is small. Younger's beers were pitched on average almost 2º F cooler. The maximum fermentation temperature was almost 7º F cooler. It's pretty clear: in the early 1850's Younger's standard Mild Ales were fermented cooler than equivalent London beers, on average around 4 - 5º F.

You don't need me to tell you that Younger's beers took longer to ferment. A day and a bit on average. Despite some being lower gravity that any London beer. Another simple one: in the early 1850's Younger's standard Mild Ales took about a day longer to ferment than equivalent London beers.

We're getting used to seeing lower attenuation at Younger than in London. It's very clear in this table. Despite the average OG of Younger's beers being 4º lower, the FG was 4º higher. Once again, many of Younger's beers have under 60% apparent attenuation. On average Younger's beers are 1% ABV weaker, though remember that some are lower gravity than any London beer. In the early 1850's Younger's standard Mild Ales were less attenuated and lower in alcohol than equivalent London beers.

If you think the differences aren't huge in the sets we've seen so far, wait until we hit the 20th century.

Just a few hours of discount to go!

2012-01-31T09:14:00.000-08:00

The super-duper Lulu 25% off in January offer has almost expired. Just a few hours to get one of my groovy papery things for a quarter less duku!

Just remember to use this code when oerdering:

LULUBOOKUK305

I won't be repeating all the covers again. Arsing issues. You can see them all in the column to the left, anyway. just click on the garish daub that attracts you most and you could soon be in possession of a precious heirloom. Or something to prop up a table. The choice is yours.

A few minutes left before Pointless. May as well continue until then. What do I want to tell you? I know. Crimea Porter. Did I mention that? I found a Government of Crimea Porter. Cool, eh? I'd already found all those references to Porter being supplied to the troops and to hospitals. Now I know exactly what that beer was.

Oh, and there was a Easy India Company contract beer as well. I'm pretty sure it's an IPA.

I came across both in my last visit to the London Metropolitan Archives in December. I didn't get to archives much last year. Just twice to the LMA, one in Wolverhampton and Fuller's private records a couple of times. Must do better this year.

I really should have bothered to check for nearby archives before my trip to Newark last summer. It's since been pointed out to me (thanks Marquis) that Shipstone's records are in an archive in Nottingham. Not that far from the station. Aaagh! Looks like there are brewing records amongst them. Best keep being nice to my brother.

Pretty Things. They've a dead good Once Upon a Time coming up. Something I'd dreamt of. Can't say too much about it yet. Confound, confuse and drive to despair. That's what it will do.

I would say more, but I need time to rinse my Chimay glass with cold water, pop the cap and then slowly pour an Abt into it. Sorry. (And explain exactly what I was about to do. Had to allow for that. And this. Best stop before madness.)

William Younger adverts from the 1920's (part five)

2012-01-31T00:05:00.000-08:00

I wasn't kidding when I said I was going to run this theme into the ground. And keep on going until I hit the earth's molten iron core.

This set is an odd let. See what you think.

"WE understand you have discovered the secret of eternal youth."
Father William: "Rather ! I get YOUNGER every day."

WILLIAM YOUNGER'S SCOTCH ALE has been a favourite beverage for nearly 200 years. Robbie Burns, the great Scots poet, drank it for the same reason that good judges drink it now— because there is no other malt liquor to equal it.

A foaming tankard of this rich brown Ale gives the crowning touch to a hearty meal.

William Younger's
Scotch Ale
Brewed in Edinburgh
The beer with a bite in it.

Branches at London, Manchester, Leeds, Newcastle, Middlesbrough.
Nottingham Evening Post - Thursday 4 December 1924, page 2.

Are these three respectable old gentlemen real people or just from the cartoonist's fantasy? I suspect they're real. And connected with eternal youth. I'm sure one of you clever lot can help me out.

An unexpected use of the term malt liquor in there. It gradually fell out of use, except in legal formulations, in the 19th century as the distinction between Ale and Beer blurred. It's particularly odd in this context, which is informal. I really can't see why it's been used here, other than to sound posh.

"Rich brown Ale" sounds more like the No. 3 I know. Had it changed colour or are all of these descriptions just advertising copy, not necessarily closely linked with reality?

On bleak cold nights, to keep you snug,
Scotch Ale's as good as an extra rug.

"I'm going to get YOUNGER every day this year."

William Younger's
Scotch Ale
Brewed in Edinburgh
The beer with a bite in it.

Branches at London, Manchester, Leeds, Newcastle, Middlesbrough.
Nottingham Evening Post - Friday 9 January 1925, page 4.

This is a different variation on the Father William getting YOUNGER riff. This time he's alone. There aren't even any fallacious health claims. Nice little rhyme. Must try to remember that. Not sure in which context I'd be able to use, but you never know.

The "YOUNGER" Generation

"Hale, Hearty and Happy we be,
Younger's SCOTCH ALE is the ale for we."

IT is more than the flavour that makes Wm. Younger's SCOTCH ALE so popular. There are hidden qualities. Its power to invigorate; to cheer; to give zest to life, make SCOTCH ALE a first favourite. It is a malt liquor; in general opinion, unsurpassed on any point. Order supplies and you will agree that this is true.

William Younger's
Scotch Ale
Brewed in Edinburgh
The beer with a bite in it.

Wm. Younger & Co. Ltd., London Stores, 49 Belvedere Road, London, SE 1. London, Manchester, Leeds, Newcastle, Middlesbrough.
Nottingham Evening Post - Wednesday 20 February 1924, page 6.

Who are those four grinning oldies? The one second on the left reminds me of Sydney Nevile. That's him to the right. A legendary figure that spent over 70 years in the brewing industry, the latter two-thirds at Whitbread. I doubt it is really him He was only in his 50's at the time of the advert.

Any guesses as to who any of the chaps are? Or are they just fantasy old bloke figures?

Good to see all those invigorating claims back again. However bogus. And there's malt liquor again, too.

This must be one of the lamest piece of advertising copy ever: "It is a malt liquor; in general opinion, unsurpassed on any point. Order supplies and you will agree that this is true." It sounds like we're in about 1850.

This is so much more fun than fiddling with numbers and doing real research. A good enough reason to continue.

Almost forgot. I think I might have an image of the label that's on those bottles:

What do you reckon?

Just one day of discount left!

2012-01-30T09:19:00.000-08:00

Just one day left to buy any of these wonderful titles at a 25% discount. Just remember to use this code:

LULUBOOKUK305

I've been very pleased with Lulu so far. They seem more reasonable than traditional publishers. I appreciate this January discount. Very sporting of them.

The kids have been trying to rip off each other's ears again. Typically, in an argument what to watch on the telly. No hospital treatment required this time. You can run off concussion, can't you? Thought so. He'll be fine after cycling to school. It's nearly light when he leaves.

I'm plotting a visit to Glasgow later this year. For one pretty obvious reason. And Glasgow Beer Week. That, too. And a few Rab C. Nesbitt sites. Anyone know the real identity of Restitution Street? Is the Giblet safe to enter? I've been told I have a slight English accent. That shouldn't matter, should it?

Have to sign off now. Tea and a second Abt beckon from across the room. Foxy little devils. You understand, surely, why I need to go?

Just time for the commercial bit.

Click on the book cover to buy!

Bottling at Aitken in the 1940's

2012-01-30T00:05:00.000-08:00

I feel like I'm getting to know Aitken quite well. And not just the Aitken family, but also the people who worked for them. Back in 2002 there was an issue of the Scottish Brewing Archive Journal dedicated to Aitken. With reminiscences of former employees. Great stuff.

This is Jimmy Manson's description of his time working at Aitken during WW II. It's full of details about the operation of the bottling department.

"IT WAS mainly women who worked the machines in the bottling hall. In 1940 the women were needed to do more essential work for the war effort. Young boys were taken on to do their jobs in the brewery, and so I found myself employed in the bottling hall in 1940. at the age of 14. I remained inside the hall for two years, and then outside, still working with bottles, until 1948.

The work was hard, but it was enjoyable. The hall was below ground level, and there was quite an echo inside. Occasionally someone might start singing, and the sound would be all over the place. It was wet in places, and both the women and men wore clogs, which the brewery supplied for nothing. Some old women still worked there during the war. There was Mary Young, who was the sister of the bottling hall gaffer, and Jean Hendry, who was in her 60s. Jean used to give me a list and I would go down to the Co-op at lunchtime to get her messages."
Scottish Brewing Archive Journal volume 4, 2002, page 5.

Clogs were provided because of the wet floor, which played hell with leather-soled shoes. It was just the same when I worked on the keg filler at Hole's. We were provided with wellies. Not just any wellies, steel toe-capped ones. You needed to protect yourself not just from the wet but also those heavy bloody kegs. You wouldn't want a full one landing on your unprotected toes.

Interesting use of the word “messages” to mean shopping. The Dutch word for shopping is “boodschappen”, which literally means “messages”. Not sure what significance that might have, but I thought I’d mention it.

"The bottles used were either new or returned empties. If empties, you had to take a note of the number of bottles so that customers could be credited. We were so busy that Willie Hunter was taken on to work with me. He noted the number of empties and I unloaded the lorries bringing them in. Sometimes we had to wait after five o'clock for lorries coming in, and sometimes we worked on Sundays, for double time. We always worked until 12pm on Saturdays. When Falkirk were playing football at home, three boxes of Export were sent down to the ground, probably for entertainment after the game. I always went down to the ground with the beer and received a complimentary ticket for the game that day."
Scottish Brewing Archive Journal volume 4, 2002, page 5.

It's pretty much forgotten now, but working on a Saturday morning used to be the norm. During the war, hours were even longer. My mum told me that at some points in the war she worked 12-hour shifts 7 days a week. War is, indeed, hell. It sounds very innocent, turning up at the football ground with three crates of beer. But hang on, could that have been during the war? The Scottish League was suspended. Though there were other games played.

Finally onto the meat of the bottling process:

"We got new glass bottles from both the Alloa Glassworks and a place in Guildford. Slim half-pint green glass bottles came from Alloa, and heavier, dumpier brown glass bottles came from Guildford. All our pint bottles were made from brown glass, and these came from Guildford.

When bottles came in they were unloaded from the lorries and placed on a roller to be sent down to two lassies who look them out of the boxes and put them, eight at a time, in the washing machine They were then sent round on a roller to the holding machine, where they were filled with beer. The machines could be adjusted to take into account the different size of bottles. From there they were sent on to the topping machine, where they were either lined with an internal screw-top or a metal crimp-top. The bottles were then stacked on trays and sent through the pasteuriser, before being sent on to the labelling machine. There was very little manual work involved other than the moving of bottles on or off rollers, as the machines did everything themselves, whether washing, filling or labelling.

Beer was supplied to the bottling hall from two cellars. In each there were rows of hoggets [hogsheads] on gantries. One cellar was for 90/- and Export, and the other was for a light ale that was bottled in pint screw-tops and dumpy crimp-tops. The latter was called 'Fourpenny' by the workers, and was generally known as Yellow Label. The beer was piped from all the hoggets into cylinders, then it was passed through a filter before arriving at the bottling machine. Jock Brown was in charge of four cylinders. During the war all Aitken's draught beer was light. The 90/- and Export was bottled."
Scottish Brewing Archive Journal volume 4, 2002, pages 6 - 7.

You can see the synergy that existed within Scottish industry. The glassworks complemented the breweries in Alloa. Mostly car parks now, Alloa's factories. It's hard to imagine now just how prevalent manufacturing industry once was in Britain's towns.

Green glass bottles? That's not very good, is it? I'm surprised. I'd have expected all their bottles to be brown. Bottles with internal screw tops were the first improvement on natural cork stoppers. They remained in use up until at least the 1970's (I can remember buying quart screw-top bottles of Whitbread from Mr. Fisher's offie opposite when I lived in Leeds. Must have been 1978 or 1979.) Long after the introduction of crown corks (here called crimp-tops).

I'm surprised that the beer was still being put into hogsheads before bottling. I'd have expected it just to go into a tank after primary fermentation. Surely filling into hogsheads was only necessary if the beer were to be bottled elsewhere (like Bass or Guinness).

Let's summarize the process: the beer is delivered to the bottling cellar in hogsheads, it's transferred from there into a cylinder, en route between there and the bottling machine it was filtered, once the bottles had been filled tops were put on and they were pasteurised.

Now onto the beers themselves. Luckily I have details of some of them. In 1938, 90/-had a gravity of 1039º. That's similar to Whitbread's IPA or Barclay Perkins bottled XLK. For the period, that's more like a Light Ale than a Pale Ale. In London, standard draught Bitter was about 1045º, Best Bitter 1050º. By 1949, Aitken 90/- was just 1030º.

The details I have for Export are from a little before and are a little after this period. In 1934, it had an OG of 1055º. I'd expect it was of a similar gravity when the war started. That's the strength of a good Best Bitter. In 1954, it was 1043º, still a respectable strength for the time. Based on other beers, it probably bottomed out at about 1038º just after the war's end.

Though I've details of other Aitken Pales Ales, I can't identify any of them as that light ale or Fourpenny. I could make a totally random guess, but there's no point. I'd rather stick with facts.

New Market Bar Falkirk

2012-01-29T00:05:00.000-08:00

A photo-inspired piece this time. Just some thoughts that struck me after rolling my eyes over a picture of a Falkirk pub.

The pub in question was an Aitken's house. I don't know if they actually owned it or not. As it was directly opposite the brewery, it's not impossible.

Here's the photo:

My guess would be that it dates from the 1920s or 1930s. That's based on two things: the way the draymen are dressed and the amount of bottled beer.

But what does this photo tell us? Several things. For a start that Aitken still had horse-drawn drays between the wars. Not particularly unusual for the period. Especially for local deliveries. As I said, this pub was directly opposite the brewery. Hang on. I'll show you.

1. marks the New Market Bar and 2. the new Aitken brewery. I'm not sure why they bothered with the dray. They could have just rolled the barrels over the street.

Lint Riggs, the street running down the pub's side looks like it was completely remodelled around 1900, with new buildings down both sides of its entire length. I assume the New Market Bar replaced the Market Inn which had stood at the other end of the street. You can see it on the map above.

Returning to my subject, what's odd about that dray? How few barrels there are on it. Most of the space is taken up with crates. It looks as if just a single barrel (and it is a 36-gallon barrel) is being delivered. That's the one next to the sack at the back of the dray. The other barrel looks like an empty, but I could be wrong. That implies that the pub didn't have a great range of draught beer. I can only see four barrels in total. At this time a London pub would have sold four or five different draught beers. My guess is the the New Market probably sold one or two.

That would make Falkirk more similar to Bolton than London in the beer range typically supplied. Many Bolton pubs sold either just Mild and Best Mild or Mild and Bitter. Which I suppose isn't surprising. Both were provincial industrial towns.

The building is still there (albeit with plants growing out of the masonry), but the Market Bar is no more. It's now called the Goose and looks rather like a Wetherspoons from the outside..

Loads more Aitken fun to come.

Aitken's Old Brewery (part two)

2012-01-28T00:05:00.000-08:00

We're back in the old-ish Aitken's brewery. Though as you read the passage below you'll realise that it had already been greatly altered and enlarged.

The original brewery was all on the south side of Newmarket street. But during the 19th century a new, much larger set of buildings had been added on the north side. These wren't concerned with brewing, boiling or fermenting, but were ancillary buildings such as stores.

"Retracing our steps, we came to the mashing-stage, 40 feet square, situated in the centre of the brewhouse. Here we were shown two mashtuns, constructed entirely of copper, and commanded by a Steel's mashing machine. They both contain gun-metal draining-plates, and each is capable of mashing twenty quarters of malt. The underbacks are below the tuns, from which the wort is pumped up direct to the coppers. We have previously written so much on the nature and object of the mashing vessels used in the breweries, that, on the present occasion, our attention will be more particularly directed to the next and following processes."
"The Noted Breweries of Great Britain and Ireland, vol. 2" by Alfred Barnard, 1889, page 194.

That's what I've been waiting for: the capacity of the mash tuns. At 4 barrels a quarter, that's 80 barrels a brew per mashtun. Assuming one brew in each per day and 300 brew days a year, that comes to 48,000 barrels annually. Not enormous by English standards, but a reasonably-sized regional brewer in Scotland. Thanks for not bothering to describe them in any more detail, Alfred. At least there's an illustration.

Looking at the way that bloke is standing in the mash tun, it doesn’t look like it has internal rakes. Which tells me something. What? That they almost certainly didn’t perform underlet mashing like London brewers. About an hour into the mash more hot water is added to the mash from below (via the underlet, hence the name) to increase the temperature of the bed. It’s a simple form of step mashing. Whitbread were still mashing this way at Chiswell Street in the 1970’s.

Underlet mashing is one of the reasons many London brewers retained internal rakes even after installing a Steel’s masher. Because the practice was to have the rakes revolve once or twice after the underlet to mix the hot water added thoroughly with the grain.

"After this we made our way to the cooling department, covering the top storeys of the adjoining building, and overlooking the main thoroughfare. One of the most striking objects it contains is the hop-back, a large vessel with a graduated bottom, constructed entirely of copper, and containing across its breadth, at the far end, two rows of copper draining-plates. This vessel is used as a combined hop-back and open cooler, and is unlike any we have seen before.

In the same apartment there are two Morton's refrigerators, cooling at the rate of thirty barrels per hour each, where the ale wort is further cooled over the mazy lines of innumerable cold-water pipes before passing into the great copper mains, which convey it to the fermenting rooms."
"The Noted Breweries of Great Britain and Ireland, vol. 2" by Alfred Barnard, 1889, page 194.

I wouldn't have minded an illustration of that cooler/hop back device. I can't quite get an image of it in my head. We all know what a Morton's refrigerator is, don't we? No? OK then. It's a bed of horizontal copper pipes through which chilled water flows. Wort flows over the pipes and is cooled.

"Our progress was now downwards, and after inspecting the furnace fires, or copper hearths, as they are called, we made our way back to the courtyard.

Passing beneath the archway, immediately within, on the left-hand side, appears the magnificent tun-room, re-built in the year 1866 and again considerably altered and enlarged in 1878. The building is of solid construction, and is lighted by nine windows in the roof, which contains improved patent ventilators, is ceiled with pitch-pine, and is supported by immense iron columns All the vessels are elevated on brick piers, and fronted by a gallery, which adds much to the impressive effect. The illustration, which heads this chapter, is taken from a photograph, and shows a section of the interior of this tun-room. There are fifteen vessels in this department, all constructed of polished pine, nine of them are fermenting squares, and the other six settling backs, and each is fitted with an attemperator. The copper mains, by which they are filled, are in short lengths and detachable, so as to be easily cleaned. At one corner of the room there is a small Otto gas engine, used for pumping the beer from the tuns into the backs. From this side of the brewery the beer is conveyed through great copper mains, laid under the street, to the racking-rooms on the north side of the brewery. Before leaving this place, we paid a visit to the engine-room, situated under the mashing-stage, and containing an engine of fifteen horse-power, and a large steam boiler. Here also are two sets of pumps for the coolers and refrigerators, reversible, in case of breakdown, and the two great metal underbacks, each fitted with duplicate stopcocks. Walking through this apartment we came to a paved chamber where the spent hops are pressed. The machine is worked by hydraulic pressure, and the wort expressed from the hops is pumped up again to the refrigerators, from which it passes to the fermenting vessels.
"The Noted Breweries of Great Britain and Ireland, vol. 2" by Alfred Barnard, 1889, pages 194-195.

It's clear that Aitken's brewery had been increasing its size and updating its equipment frequently in the second half of the 19th century. Boom days for Scottish brewing.

I'm not 100% sure what is meant by "nine of them are fermenting squares, and the other six settling backs". Fermenting squares I understand. You can see them in the illustration. Settling backs sound to me like part of a dropping system. It's a shame there's not more description of how these two types of vessel were used.

Fullers had fermenting rounds from which fermenting wort was dropped into settling squares. The way Fullers system of fermentation worked, the beer was only in the rounds 24 hours and several days in the squares. I can't see that working with the setup at Aitken, where there were fewer settling backs than fermenting squares. My guess would (and this is only a guess) that the beer was transferred to the settling backs when fermentation was pretty well complete. That would tally with the description of beer sometimes being put into squares in Edinburgh breweries, mostly to cool it down.

Those fermenting squares look pretty large to me. Look at the height of the things. I reckon they must be 12 feet square and the wort at least six feet deep. A quick calculation (an imperial gallon is 277.42 cubic inches) gives me a figure of about 150 barrels. That's much bigger than the piddling 40 or 50 barrel ones they had at William Younger. Which might explain why they need the settling backs. A larger volume of fermenting wort generates more heat.

Pressing spent hops to squeeze out the last drops of wort was becoming commonplace in large industrial breweries. I'm sure it still goes on today. But what about the quality of the wort extracted? Wouldn't it tend to be full of crap from the hops?

There will be at least more more instalment on the old Aitken brewery. Then we can move on to the recollections of former Aitken employees.

Only a few days left!

2012-01-27T11:23:00.000-08:00

In the amazing get my books at a 25% discount. Wow. I'm tempted to buy some myself*.

Funny one this. Properly released or hung on razor wire with hounds barking? I've stopped caring. Ever since I took that class. "Learn not to give a shit." It changed my life.

As it's made it into the outside world, albeit with a broken ankle from the fall, I suppose it's OK to tell you. But remember, should you spot it, don't approach, call the police.

Buy "Mild! plus" now!

Do you think the imperative, larger typeface and exclamation mark have any effect? I'm doubtful. But, just in case it does:

Buy "Mild! plus" now!

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* I cannot take advantage of the discount.

William Younger adverts from the 1920's (part four)

2012-01-27T00:05:00.000-08:00

I'm not one to ignore my readers*. The encouraging voices have led me to continue my William Younger's advert series. I thought I was the only one that loved this stuff.

The general tone is similar to the last set, but with one difference: the characters depicted don't appear to be specific individuals.

Father William: "No good to me. I get YOUNGER every day!"

William Younger's Scotch Ale is brewed from the water that made Edinburgh Ales famous as far back as the sixteenth century! William Younger's brewery is on the site of a brewery notable for its Ale in days of Mary, Queen of Scots. The rich golden glow, the fine "nutty" flavour and the stimulating, refreshing and tonic qualities make William Younger's SCOTCH ALE appeal irresistibly to the man who loves good ale.

William Younger's
Scotch Ale
Brewed in Edinburgh
The beer with a bite in it.

Branches at London, Manchester, Leeds, Newcastle, Middlesborough.
Nottingham Evening Post - Thursday 23 October 1924

Dodgy historical claims. There's nothing new in them. Trying to connect William Younger with the 16th century (as the first set of illustrations also seemed to do) is really taking the piss. Late 18th century is when they started brewing. And surely the Abbey brewery was on the site of an, er, abbey. Maybe they've just assumed that had a brewery. Not that I believe Scotch Ale was well known in the 16th century. It's only in the 18th century that Scottish beer was exported in any appreciable quantity to England.

As much as I appreciate the description of the beer, it's left me scratching my head again. Golden glow? Surely No. 3 was dark in the 1920's? Or were they still making a pale and a dark version? In some of the logs it sometimes says just "3" and others "3 Pale". Annoyingly, I have no colour values for No. 3 for this period. Only No. 1. That was definitely dark brown.

The Elders and the Youngers

TO cure a prohibitionist of his folly, get him to taste William Younger's SCOTCH ALE; it will make him an ardent advocate of moderate drinking.
SCOTCH ALE refreshes, stimulates nourishes; it diffuses through the body a genial glow which offsets the discomforts of a bleak winter's day.

William Younger's
Scotch Ale
Brewed in Edinburgh
The beer with a bite in it.

Branches at London, Manchester, Leeds, Newcastle, Middlesborough.
Nottingham Evening Post - Thursday 6 November 1924, page 8.

I take it the elders are some sort of religious elders. From one of Scotland's bible-bashing churches. Turn them into advocates of moderate drinking. So make them beer advocates. Maybe they could build their own website.

Again we have some dubious health claims. Though I do find Abt gives me a pretty good inner glow on a cold winter day. And on a warm summer day.

Old Soldiers never die
They get YOUNGER every day

When George II sat upon the throne William Younger's SCOTCH ALE was even then a famous brew - and every year that has passed has added to the popularity of this magnificent Ale.

Malt and hops - and malt and hops only, brewed in the crystal pure water of Edinburgh. That is the secret.

William Younger's
Scotch Ale
Brewed in Edinburgh
The beer with a bite in it.

Branches at London, Manchester, Leeds, Newcastle, Middlesborough.

Nottingham Evening Post - Thursday 20 November 1924, page 7.

George the II died in 1760. And though the brewery claimed to have been founded in 1749, Zythophile has provided strong evidence that a more realistic date was 1778. So no, Younger's Scotch Ale wasn't famous when George II was alive.

And there's that malt and hops stuff again. But know they've taken it further and said malt and hops only. The lying bastards. I think even back then that wasn't allowed. Lying about the ingredients like that.

I've still got a stack of these ads. Just tell when you start getting bored.

* Unless it suits me.

Cover book new another

2012-01-26T12:19:00.000-08:00

Rearrange the words in the title and win a prize.

You can probably recognate where the covers are going in this series. Jeff is looking particularly manly this time around.

Mini book, mega book. Where's the dividing line? Don't ask me. Really don't ask me. I get angry when pestered.

"You think I'm a boring old twat."

"No. I know you like boring architecture programs."

"How can you call Pugin boring? Ugly, retrogressive, yes."

"They're just crude lumpy things."

"You can't call them that."

Buy "Bitter!" now. I need to watch the Pugin programmme..

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Aitken's Old Brewery

2012-01-26T00:05:00.000-08:00

Alfred Barnard - where would I be without him? Having to make do with poorly-written newspaper reports draughted by journalists with no understanding of brewing. Barnard's writing is joyful and his eye for detail uncanny. It's not just the quality of his brewery reports but their quantity that make him such a crucial figure. He really did visit just about every significant brewery in the UK. With one inexplicable exception: William McEwan. Strange that he didn't merit an entry in the Oxford Companion to Beer.

A bit annoying, that. Because, while I have decent enough descriptions of William Younger from other sources, I've none of McEwans. Judging by the profits it generated, it must have been in at least the top 20 UK breweries and probably the top ten.

But I'm wandering away from my theme like a concussed man with 10 pints in his belly. Which, funnily enough, is precisely how I feel. Aitken. That's the theme. His old brewery.

The timing of Barnard's visit was unfortuitous in some instances. Several of the breweries that interest me he visited just before major rebuilding works. Like Hole's. Aitken, too. Within 10 years the brewery Bernard visited was abandonned and searching vainly for a new owner. While progress progressed in the new brewery on the opposite side of Newmarket Street.

Let's get started. Oh, the new brewhouse he talks of is the old new brewhouse, if you see what I mean. Barnard says that he was shown around by the senior partner. That was presumably John Aitken, who died in 1898.

"Entering the brewhouse yard, we passed up a long arched passage, when we found ourselves in a paved courtyard, in the centre of which a tall chimney shaft rears its head. Facing us, as we entered the enclosure, is the old family residence, in which the grandfather and father of the present partner were born, a part of which is now appropriated to the business, and the remainder used as a dwelling house for the foreman of the works. The original brewhouse, built by the founder, is on the right of the yard, the ground floor of which is now used as a yeast store, and the floor above as the hop loft. This building is fronted by the more modern brewery, which faces Newmarket Street, and extends back a distance of 150 feet. Entering the new brewhouse, we passed up a staircase to the grist room, to which place the malt is hoisted by a block tackle, and delivered into the receiving hopper. The mill room is below, and occupies a recess of the mashing stage. It contains a pair of steel malt-rolls, capable of grinding twenty quarters per hour. Over the mill there is a screening machine, by which the malt is finally cleaned before being crushed. To the mill room succeeds the grist loft The grist travels upwards by a set of elevators, which deliver it to the malt hoppers over the tuns.
"The Noted Breweries of Great Britain and Ireland, vol. 2" by Alfred Barnard, 1889, pages 192-193.

It was typical for some staff to live, or at least stay overnight, on-site. Most breweries had a head brewers house, which had often started life as the owners residence. Of course, at one time it was common for the one of the owners to be head brewer. This became less the case towards the end of the 19th century when the partners tended to become full-time managers and employ a head brewer.

"Ascending the staircase, we passed through a doorway into the copper room, the highest place in the brewery, where is to be seen a domed copper of 140 barrels content, which is heated by steam coils, accelerated by fire. From the windows we saw, on the other side of the valley, the Forth gleaming in the distance and glimmering through the trees, having for its background our old friends, the Ochil hills. Amid a dense mass of steam we could discern from this stage, the mashing proceedings below, and inhale the delightful odour of malt and hops.

On the same level we were shown two open coppers, each of eighty barrels content, with parachute fountains therein, to control the boiling. We peeped into one of the coppers not in use, it was as clean, bright and shining as a new pin. The roof of this brewhouse is open to the rafters, and, in addition to the windows in the wall, is lighted on one side by a skylight On the other side there is a capacious cold liquor tank for supplying the coppers. Descending a few steps, we reached the brewer's room and laboratory, the walls and ceilings of which are lined with pitch pine. The sides of this pretty room are fitted with shelves for specimens and samples, they also contain all necessary scientific apparatus used by brewers. Below this and the adjoining rooms is the hop-loft, occupying what was once the chief suite of rooms in the old house. The windows are darkened with blue glass, and the room is capable of storing 250 Pockets of hops.
"The Noted Breweries of Great Britain and Ireland, vol. 2" by Alfred Barnard, 1889, page 193.

Now that's confusing. They've three coppers, one domed and two open. The larger one sounds like the coppers that were common in England, enclosed and heated by steam. Though "accelerated by fire" implies that it was also directly heated. Unfortunately we're not told how the smaller coppers are heated. Damn. I'd been hoping to put another nail in copper carmelisation's coffin.

Having their own lab shows they were taking the business of brewing seriously. True, most large breweries had one by this time, but Aitken wasn't really all that big. An 80-barrel copper implies quite a small batch size. When we look at the mashing department in the next instalment we'll see confirmation of this.

Barnard's tour was in an illogical order, in terms of brewing. Surely you should look at the mash tun first, then the copper. Never mind. I would have swapped it around but, you know, I like, can't be arsed. I want to save my brain power for something more important. Like selecting lunch.

You'll never guess

2012-01-25T10:54:00.000-08:00

another new cover.

Noticed the two strands? Easy enough to explain. Two people create them. (Three, sort of, as I handle all the text.)

This time it's a particularly abstract and obscure effort from Andrew. "If you like that sort of thing." Dolores said. Indeed.

I'm warming to the idea of a poll of whose covers are best. Divide and rule. I'm British, I should know all about that. It's in the blood.

Yes, an internecine strife-provoker should help continue my dominance. At least for a while. Andrew gave me a very scary bear hug yesterday. I'd best not upset him too much. He may rip my head off. If he's too busy fighting Lexie, he may leave me alone.

A poll on the best new cover. Good as a slap in the face with a duelling glove.

Feel free to rip apart my crummy typography. That orange. I know. And such an unimaginative typeface. The text itself isn't much better. "Pubs in western Germany". What bollocks is that? You should see the grilleaux on the back. Embarrassing.

But to read it you'll need to

Buy "Trips! (West)" now.!

Normal drill, until the end of January this code will knock 25% off the usual price:

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England vs Scotland, part 2f: the 1840's

2012-01-25T00:05:00.000-08:00

The day has come! We're finally finished with the 1840's. We've laughed, we've cried, we've sat down when the excitement got too much.

If you've been playing close attention you might have noticed something missing: Porter and Stout. There's a good reason for that. I managed to not find a single one in the William Younger's log, despite having well over 100 beers. I know from other years that they weren't brewing huge amounts of either. Maybe I just selected the wrong months. Whatever, it's irritating because I can't do a full comparison. Don't despair. In the next set, the 1850's, I've plenty.

True to tradition, I'll show you the numbers first:

Date	Year	Brewer	Beer	Style	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	lbs hops/ qtr	hops lb/brl	boil time (hours)	boil time (hours)	boil time (hours)	Pitch temp	max. fer-ment-ation temp	length of fer-ment-ation (days)
25th Feb	1841	Truman	XXK Ale	Stock Ale	1094.2	1034.6	7.88	63.24%	11	4.92				58	77	12
15th Jan	1846	Truman	KXX Ale	Stock Ale	1098.6	1021.9	10.15	77.81%	14.0	5.93				58.5	77	12
7th Apr	1841	Whitbread	KXXX	Stock Ale	1100.6	1029.9	9.34	70.25%	9.36	4.06	2	2	3	60	79	12
14th Apr	1841	Whitbread	KXXX	Stock Ale	1100.8	1029.9	9.38	70.33%	9.42	4.13	2	2	3	60	79	7
19th Mar	1841	Whitbread	KXXX	Stock Ale	1101.9	1028.5	9.71	72.01%	9.09	3.78	2	2	3	60	79	7
10th Apr	1841	Truman	XXXK Ale	Stock Ale	1102.5	1024.1	10.37	76.49%	14	7.74				60	78.5	10
22nd Apr	1841	Whitbread	KXXX	Stock Ale	1102.5	1029.9	9.60	70.81%	5.96	2.55	2	2	3	60	79	8
15th Jul	1840	Truman	XXXK Ale	Stock Ale	1103.9	1032.4	9.45	68.80%	12	6.22				58.5	77	9
17th Feb	1846	Truman	KXXX Ale	Stock Ale	1104.7	1023.0	10.81	78.04%	15.0	7.81				58	80.5	11
13th Jan	1846	Truman	XXXK Ale	Stock Ale	1106.9	1025.2	10.81	76.42%	14.7	7.18				58	80	12
1st Mar	1841	Truman	XXXK Ale	Stock Ale	1106.9				12	6.44				58.5	78.5	13
17th Mar	1841	Truman	XXXMK Ale	Stock Ale	1108.3	1034.1	9.82	68.54%	8.0	4.21				58.5	81	11
1st Apr	1846	Truman	KXXXX Ale	Stock Ale	1114.1	1032.7	10.77	71.36%	16.0	9.70				58	81	15
5th Mar	1841	Truman	XXXXK Ale	Stock Ale	1117.7	1038.8	10.44	67.06%	14	7.65				58		12
28th Jan	1846	Truman	XXXXK Ale	Stock Ale	1118.0	1034.9	10.99	70.42%	16.0	11.19				58	78.5	15
Average					1105.4	1030.0	9.97	71.54%	12.04	6.23	2.00	2.00	3.00	58.8	78.9	11.1
27th Mar	1849	Younger, Wm.	140/-	Ale	1124	1053	9.39	57.26%	11.50	8.53	1	1		52	71	10
9th Mar	1848	Younger, Wm.	140/-	Ale	1126	1052	9.79	58.73%	10.00	7.50	1			53	71	12
7th Oct	1848	Younger, Wm.	140/-	Ale	1126	1055	9.39	56.35%	6.18	3.94	1.08			57	72	10
16th Nov	1849	Younger, Wm.	140/-	Ale	1126	1055	9.39	56.35%	6.13	5.94	1.08			54	72	9
29th Dec	1848	Younger, Wm.	140/-	Ale	1127	1055	9.53	56.69%	8.90	5.45	1			56	56	9
9th Jan	1849	Younger, Wm.	140/-	Ale	1127	1053	9.79	58.27%	9.14	5.29	1			54	72	10
2nd Apr	1849	Younger, Wm.	140/-	Ale	1127	1057	9.26	55.12%	12.00	8.49	1.08	0.92		54	71	10
19th Feb	1848	Younger, Wm.	140/-	Ale	1128	1053	9.92	58.59%	7.91	4.84	0.92			54	71	9
15th Mar	1848	Younger, Wm.	140/-	Ale	1128	1059	9.13	53.91%	7.65	4.41	0.92			53	69	11
7th Apr	1849	Younger, Wm.	140/-	Ale	1128	1058	9.26	54.69%	12.00	8.70	1			53	70	11
17th Apr	1848	Younger, Wm.	140/-	Ale	1129	1056	9.66	56.59%	7.00	4.81	1	1		53	72	10
16th Jan	1849	Younger, Wm.	140/-	Ale	1129	1056	9.66	56.59%	8.14	6.33	1			54	71	9
27th Sep	1849	Younger, Wm.	140/-	Ale	1129	1059	9.26	54.26%	8.00	6.19	1			56	72	9
11th Mar	1848	Younger, Wm.	140/-	Ale	1130	1059	9.39	54.62%	7.61	4.71	0.92			53	69	11
27th Jan	1849	Younger, Wm.	140/-	Ale	1130	1057	9.66	56.15%	5.81	5.63	1			53	70	12
6th Jun	1849	Younger, Wm.	140/-	Ale	1132	1057	9.92	56.82%	11.00	8.32	1.08			54	72	10
4th Apr	1849	Younger, Wm.	160/-	Ale	1134	1063	9.39	52.99%	12.96	7.94	1			53	70	11
13th Nov	1849	Younger, Wm.	S	Stock Ale	1095	1028	8.86	70.53%	10.31	4.85	1			55	67	10
7th Apr	1849	Younger, Wm.	S	Stock Ale	1097	1031	8.73	68.04%	12.00	4.92	1			54	67	10
12th Nov	1849	Younger, Wm.	XS	Stock Ale	1108	1036	9.53	66.67%	11.50	6.73	1			55	69	10
Average					1127.9	1055.9	9.45	57.96%	9.29	6.18	1.00	0.97	0.00	54.0	69.7	10.2
*difference*					*22.4*	*25.9*	*-0.52*	*-13.58%*	*-2.75*	*-0.06*	*-1.00*	*-1.03*	*-3.00*	*-4.8*	*-9.2*	*-0.9*
Sources:
Truman brewing record document numbers B/THB/C/122 and B/THB/C/127 held at the London Metropolitan Archives
William Younger brewing record document number WY/6/1/2/3 held at the Scottish Brewing Archive
Whitbread brewing record document number LMA/4453/D/01/004 held at the London Metropolitan Archives

A word of caution. The Scottish and London beers in this set aren't a perfect match. The strongest London beer has a gravity of 1118º. Virtually all the Scottish beers have a higher OG. The average OG of the Scottish beers is more than 22º more.

Bearing that in mind, let's look at the hopping rates. This time Younger's beers come second, but by a tiny amount. For once, the greater variation is amongst the London beers, with both the most and the least heavily hopped. Factor in the gravity difference, and the London beers are a clear winner. How do I do that? Look at the hopping rate per quarter. It's 23% higher in the London beers. So: in the 1840's Younger's Stock Ales were on average less heavily hopped than equivalent London beers.

It's unfortunate that I only have the boil times from Whitbread of the London brewers. Though I do know from later years that Whitbread's weren't untypical. 70 minutes was the Longest Younger boil. That's very short, especially for a strong beer. This one is easy: in the 1840's Younger's Stock Ales had much shorter boils than equivalent London beers.

I'm definitely seeing a pattern in fermentation temperatures across all the styles. I'm starting to get quite confident about this. It's the same story here. The pitching temperature of Younger's beers was on average almost 5º F cooler. The maximum fermentation temperature was almost 9º F cooler. Excuse me if you've heard this before: in the 1840's Younger's Stock Ales were fermented cooler than equivalent London beers, on average around 7 - 8º F.

Given the higher gravity and cooler fermentation temperature, it's a surprise to discover that on average Younger's beers took almost a day less to ferment on average. The rather surprising conclusion is: in the 1840's Younger's Stock Ales took less time to ferment than equivalent London beers.

This might explain the difference in fermentation time. Younger's beers had a much lower degree of attenuation. Under 60% on average. But again, it's caveat time. I'm not convinced the 140/- and 160/- are really Stock Ales.If you look at the last three Younger beers, they are definitely Stock Ales. And their degree of attenuation is much closer to the London beers. But still lower. Funnily enough, despite their huge gravities, none of Younger's beers is above 10% ABV, while half the London beers were. In the 1840's Younger's Stock Ales were less attenuated and lower in alcohol than equivalent London beers.

I would give you a summary of all the styles now, highlighting any difference s with England. But I feel shit. I left my breakfast at the side of the road on the way to the bus stop this morning. Not nice. You'll have to wait a day or two for my roundup.

Yet another new cover

2012-01-24T09:48:00.000-08:00

You can tell how desperate for dosh Lexie currently is. He's created a whole bunch of new covers (front and back). Lust for an iphone is the cause.

Buy "Decoction!" now!. remembering, of course, to enter this code that will knock 25% off the price until the end of January:

LULUBOOKUK305

Brothers - you know how competitive they are. Andrew and Lexie have been trying to get me to start a poll as to your favourite cover. I'm reluctant to give it a go. Too much like argument fodder.

William Younger adverts from the 1920's (part three)

2012-01-24T00:05:00.000-08:00

More ads, you spoilt children. And here something vaguely intriguing happens. Probably not for everyone. But if you're still here after months and months of Scotland, it may tickle your curiosity.

The two previous sets of ads were from January to March 1923. If you can think back that far, you'll recall Scotch Ale was being pushed as a warming winter bevvy. See how the ads had changed after the summer break:

"Good luck- Professor Coné, every day I get 'YOUNGER' and younger."

TO warm your blood and fortify your system on raw cold days, drink Wm. YOUNGER'S SCOTCH ALE. It produces a cheerful glow and a healthy stimulation which no other Malt Liquor surpasses. That is why it has so quickly become the favourite with all who enjoy a glass of GOOD Ale.

William Younger's
Scotch Ale
Brewed in Edinburgh
The beer with a bite in it.
Nottingham Evening Post - Thursday 13 December 1923

See the transformation? Gone are those smiling landlords in tights and foaming tankards. And there's Father William, rather natty in his tartan kecks and waistcoat. They're still making dubious claims about its stimulating and warming properties, but now it's in a modern setting.

Anyone know who the hell Professor Coné was? For once, Google was no help.

"Youth will be served you know. Father William"
"Yes. and if youth's wise It insists on being served with 'YOUNGER'S'"

There's a grand satisfaction in a glass of Wm. YOUNGER'S SCOTCH ALE. It appeals to the palate as no other malt liquor does. Sparkling, sound and stimulating, it upholds the reputation of centuries enjoyed by Edinburgh Ales.

William Younger's
Scotch Ale
Brewed in Edinburgh
The beer with a bite in it.
Nottingham Evening Post - Thursday 27 December 1923

In addition to suspect health claims, they're now also encouraging the young to drink. That's another no-no according those stuffy modern rules. As jokes go, the opening conversation is even worse than my efforts. They don't get any better. A series of obvious puns on the name Younger, mostly.

I can't say that the bloke with the fag in his gob strikes me as looking particularly youthful. Then again, footballers of the day all looked about 50.

"You are old, father William." the youth did say—
"All nonsense, my lad I get 'YOUNGER' each day!"

For hundreds of years - since the monks of Holyrood first brewed - Edinburgh has been famous for her Ales and THE Edinburgh Ale of to-day is that wonderful Malt Liquor Wm. YOUNGER'S SCOTCH ALE. Pure Hops and Malt - brewed with the famous Edinburgh Water.

William Younger's
Scotch Ale
Brewed in Edinburgh
The beer with a bite in it.
Nottingham Evening Post - Thursday 24 January 1924

This and the previous advert emphasise the good reputation that Edinburgh had long had for the quality of its Ales. Though I suppose the "brewed in Edinburgh" tagline had already been doing that. And where is Younger's brewed now? Bedford. I doubt they'd give that much prominence in an advert.

There's that pure malt and hops claim again. Lies. Worse, damn lies. How could they get away with that? 40% maize grits, that's what Younger's beers were really brewed from in the 1920's.

The bloke in the weird clothes with the pitchfork has me puzzled. Who the hell is he supposed to represent? He reminds me of Jack from a panto of Jack and the Beanstalk.Either that or an armed morris dancer.

There's quite a bit more of this. Younger's advertised regularly and rarely repeated ads. Enough to keep me going for weeks yet.

Another new cover

2012-01-23T07:32:00.000-08:00

Lexie has been busy over the weekend. Not totally voluntarily. But once he'd finished, I did untie him. That's the sort of caring father I am.

Despite the duress, his work was top-notch. As you can see from the image to your right. I'm very happy with it. Only half a dozen more and Lexie will be able to roam free whenever he likes.

Buy "Brown Beer!" now. And let Lexie have a childhood.

And don't forget, until the end of January you can get 25% off with this discount code:

LULUBOOKUK305

England vs Scotland, part 2e: the 1840's

2012-01-23T00:05:00.000-08:00

It's finally bye bye to Mild in this interminable series. Something completely different thistime: Pale Ale.

I'll start with a caveat. There are only seven beers from just two breweries. A rubbish sample size. I would be very reluctant to draw too much in the way of conclusions from this handful of Pale Ales.

That fact in itself tells us something. Of the three large London breweries for which I have long sets of brewing records (Whitbread, Truman and Barclay Perkins) only Truman brewed a Pale in the 1840's. As I've mentioned several times before, the Scots were ahead of the game when it came to Pale Ale. That was a big factor in the success of Edinburgh and Alloa brewers: anticipating the demand for Pale Ale.

Date	Year	Brewer	Beer	Style	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	lbs hops/ qtr	hops lb/brl	boil time (hours)	boil time (hours)	boil time (hours)	Pitch temp	max. fer-ment-ation temp	length of fer-ment-ation (days)
23rd Oct	1845	Truman	Pale Ale	Pale Ale	1066.2	1017.5	6.45	73.64%	20.0	5.92				61	76.5	10
16th Mar	1846	Truman	Pale Ale	Pale Ale	1066.8	1019.1	6.30	71.37%	25.0	7.44				60	77	12
Average					1066.5	1018.3	6.38	72.50%	22.50	6.68				60.5	76.8	11.0
10th Jan	1849	Younger, Wm.	Export	Pale Ale	1061	1018	5.69	70.49%	20.00	5.41	1	2		56	65	6
24th Jan	1849	Younger, Wm.	Export	Pale Ale	1062	1015	6.22	75.81%	20.00	5.83	1.33	1.33		56	66	7
3rd Apr	1849	Younger, Wm.	Export	Pale Ale	1062	1014	6.35	77.42%	20.00	5.68	1.17	1.17		56	67	8
14th Nov	1849	Younger, Wm.	Export	Pale Ale	1063	1012	6.75	80.95%	20.00	5.95	1	1		56	67	9
7th Jun	1849	Younger, Wm.	Export	Pale Ale	1071	1017	7.14	76.06%	20.00	6.32	1			55	66	8
Average					1063.8	1015.2	6.43	76.15%	20.00	5.84	1.10	1.38		55.8	66.2	7.6
difference					-2.7	-3.1	0.05	3.64%	-2.50	-0.84	1.10	1.38	0.00	-4.7	-10.6	-3.4
Sources:
Truman brewing record document number B/THB/C/127 held at the London Metropolitan Archives
William Younger brewing record document number WY/6/1/2/3 held at the Scottish Brewing Archive

Rather than go through point by point as usual, I'll restrict myself to more general comments. The beers are generally pretty similar. Truman's has a slightly higher OG, but Younger's is a bit more attenuated, leaving the ABV almost identical. That's a bit of a turnaround. So far in my comparisons the London beers have always been the most attenuated. I can't see any huge difference in the hopping. All the beers in the table contain a shitload. Considering how similar the beers are in other respects, the difference in fermentation temperatures is striking. The maximum temperature of Truman's beers averaged over 10º F more. Yet weirdly, the Younger's beers fermented for more than three days less on average.

Whatever the differences with Truman's, Younger's Pale Ale looks the part for the mid-19th century: moderate gravity, quite high attenuation, loads of hops. And nothing at all like the cliché of Scottish beer.

An Irish tied house

2012-01-22T00:05:00.000-08:00

What a real treat - a post that isn't about Scotland. True, I did find it when looking for stuff on Scotland, but it's most definitely about Ireland.

Court cases and tied houses. Two topics dear to my heart.

"EIRE HIGH COURT.

Cork Brewery Appeal.—Trading Agreement in Question. In the High Court of Eire last month an important case was heard before the Chief Justice, Mr. Justice Fitzgibbon, and Mr. Justice Murnaghan. An appeal was made on behalf of Andrew O'Donovan, publican. 22 George's Quay, Cork, from a judgment of the High Court, dismissing his appeal from a decision of Circuit Judge O'Donnell at Cork, granting an injunction in favour of James J. Murphy and Co., Ltd., brewers, Cork, restraining Mr. O'Donovan from selling on his licensed premises stout or porter other than the products of Messrs. Murphy and Co., Ltd.

The case for Messrs. Murphy and Co., Ltd., was based on a trading agreement of May 23rd, 1935, in respect of the licensed premises, of which originally they were lessors by a lease of December, 1893, which provided that Mr. O'Donovan should deal exclusively with them for porter and stout. The parties to the agreement were Messrs. Murphy and Co., Ltd., Mr. O'Donovan, and a former licensee who had transferred his interest in the premises to Mr. O'Donovan.

It was submitted on behalf of the appellant that the agreement was illegal and void, as being in unreasonable restraint of trade ; and that it was void in so far as it provided that the licence should be in the custody of Messrs. Murphy and Co., Ltd., and sought to create in them an interest in the licence.

The Court, without calling on counsel for the respondents (Messrs. James J. Murphy and Co., Ltd.), unanimously dismissed, with costs, the appeal.
"The Brewers' Journal 1938", June 15th 1938, page 303.

Unreasonable restraint of trade? Sounds like a perfect description of the tied house system. That's the whole point of it, keeping your competitors' beer out of pubs. I'm not surprised that the court ruled in favour of Murphy.

It's a peculiarity of Irish brewing that only in Cork did breweries - Murphy and Beamish & Crawford - build up estates of tied houses. I've seen it argued that the Cork brewers owed their survival to this. Elsewhere Guinness bought or bullied their way into pubs driving out competitors. Not sure if it's true, but it is striking that the only decent-sized Porter breweries to survive (other than Guinness, obviously) were in Cork.

Note that the tie agreement is only for Porter and Stout. There's a reason for that. It's all Murphy brewed. Though by the time of this dispute their Porter was all but dead.

New cover for Porter!

2012-01-21T03:12:00.000-08:00

Sometimes, just very occasionally, I pay attention to readers' comments. It was mentioned a while ago that the cover of "Porter!" wasn't quite up to the standard of my other books. Then Lexie asked me yesterday if I had any jobs for him to do . . . . .

I'm proud to announce the new Lexie cover to "Porter!". Sort of like the old one, but different. And remember, until the end of the January you can buy "Porter!" at a discount of 25%! All you need to do is enter this discount code:

LULUBOOKUK305

Thank you Lexie.

Proprietary yeast

2012-01-21T00:05:00.000-08:00

Yeast. A vital element in producing beer. Larger brewers carefully nurture their strain, coddling it like a small child. Small brewers carefully choose the yeast most suited to each of their beers. In the past they were much less precious about yeast.

In London brewers' logs I occasionally come across references to other brewers yeast. Reid using Meux yeast. Or Truman using Whitbread's. The occasional reference is all it is. London brewers did borrow yeast from others, but not that often.

Go North to Edinburgh and the situation is very different. Just looking at a blank sheet in William Younger's brewing records tells you they brought in yeast more often: there's a special column to specify from which brewery:

Here's part of a Younger's log from December 1851. It covers a period of 9 days, in which you can see that they used 4 different breweries' yeast:

Haldane, Ritchie, Drybrough, and Jeffrey were the yeast suppliers. On other pages there are several others: Blair, Campbell, Bernard. I can't find any beer that was brewed with their own yeast. The Usher's logs I have show use of other brewers' yeast, though not as promiscuously as at Younger.

This page is typical. Yeast from several different breweries used apparently randomly. You'll find the same beer brewed on consecutive days but with a different yeast. Sometimes yeast from two different breweries is used for one batch. There's no rhyme or reason to it.

What does this tell us? That Scottish brewers didn't worry about having their own yeast strain. They seem happy to use any healthy yeast that happened to be to hand. Why was that? Did the yeast have so little impact on the flavour profile of the finished beer? Were all the strains of Edinburgh brewers broadly similar? Or were punters used to a bit of variation in flavour?

Or do modern brewers that make too big a deal of the strain of yeast they use? I'll have to try asking one.

William Younger adverts from the 1920's (part two)

2012-01-20T00:05:00.000-08:00

Back with the Younger's ads. I thought you'd enjoy them. If only for the pictures. And the bullshit copy.

There's something interesting that happened during 1923. But I'll tell you about that in the next instalment of this fascinating series.

Here's the first:

Nottingham Evening Post Friday 19th January 1923.

"Since Beer was Brewed
in this island of ours none better has ever been brewed than Wm. Younger's Scotch Ale. This honest product of good malt and hops is today in greater favour than at any period in it long history because its soundness, its flavour, and its quality are those in which our forefathers delighted. Cheering, stimulating, warming - it is just the right winter drink for Britons.

William Younger's
Scotch Ale
Brewed in Edinburgh

The beer with a bite in it. "

That's definitely No. 3 on the barrel again. I'm certain now that's the beer being advertised. Here they go with the dodgy claims again - cheering, stimulating, warming. Maybe they'd get cheering past the Advertising Standards people. Maybe. Absolutely no way they could say stimulating.

And there's that claim about pure malt and hops again. I happen to have Younger's brewing records from 1922 and 1923. Let's see, there's a No. 3 that was brewed 6th October 1922. Was it pure malt and hops? Like buggery. Of the 28 quarters used in brewing 11.5 were maize grits. That's a long, long way short of pure. Admittedly, it didn't contain any sugar.

Nottingham Evening Post Friday 16th March 1923.

"To the Last Drop
You will thoroughly relish that wonderfully fine ale - Wm. Younger's Scotch Ale. As a winter drink it is ideal: stimulating, warming and nourishing. Its fragrance and flavour tell the tale of pure malt and hops and ideal brewing. The proof is that the demand is steadily increasing everywhere. You'll be right if you order

William Younger's
Scotch Ale
Brewed in Edinburgh

The beer with a bite in it."

I'm convinced these are both Elizabethan dress. Bizarre. I suppose they were just trying to conjure up pictures of merry old England.

Pushing Scotch Ale as a winter drink is very much a theme. And sure enough, all the adverts appeared in the colder months of the year. In London, Younger's No.3 occupied the same slot on the bar as Burton, which was also more of a winter than a summer drink.

One thing has been puzzling me. Where was this No. 3 sold in Nottingham? The lack of bottles in the adverts suggests that it was a draught beer (though I could be wrong about that). Whose pubs was it sold in? Or was it just in the free trade? My recollections of Nottingham are of wall to wall tied houses. So many questions.

England vs Scotland, part 2d: the 1840's

2012-01-19T00:05:00.000-08:00

The end of the Milds is in sight. Or rather, here already. I'm already dreading trawling through the next set of William Younger logs. It's about 20 hours of work. Just as well I don't have a family.

This set is in the range 1100 to 1120º. Imperial Mild, you could call it. Really there just be a fourth group, 1120 and above. Except there are no London beers of that strength. To be honest, I wasn't totally sure how to classify the stronger shilling Ales from Younger. The weaker ones are definitely Milds. But what about 140/- and 160/-? In later years there's a clear pattern. Shilling Ales are the versions for bottling. The draught versions of the same beers were either X, XX, XXX Mild Ales and the stronger ones Stock Ales: XS, XXS, etc. We'll have to see. I may throw in some of the 140/- and 160/- Ales into the Stock Ale comparison, too.

Let's begin with the numbers:

Date	Year	Brewer	Beer	Style	OG	FG	ABV	App. Attenuation	lbs hops/ qtr	hops lb/brl	boil time (hours)	boil time (hours)	boil time (hours)	Pitch temp	max. fermentation temp	length of fermentation (days)
20th Apr	1841	Whitbread	XXX	Mild	1101.4	1030.7	9.34	69.67%	7.45	3.11	1.5	2	3	60	78	3
25th Aug	1840	Truman	XXX Ale	Mild	1104.7	1029.9	9.89	71.43%	7	4.07				60.5	75.5
14th Jul	1845	Truman	XXX Ale	Mild	1105.5	1031.0	9.86	70.60%	10.0	5.94				58.5	80	9
11th Jul	1840	Truman	XXX Ale	Mild	1106.1	1031.9	9.82	69.97%	9	4.97				59	75	11
12th Jan	1846	Truman	XXX Ale	Mild	1106.6	1031.9	9.89	70.13%	7.0	3.38				58	80.5	11
3rd Sep	1845	Truman	XXX Ale	Mild	1107.2	1034.3	9.64	67.96%	11.0	5.34				58.5	82	9
17th Sep	1840	Truman	XXX Ale	Mild	1110.5	1035.2	9.97	68.17%	9	5.63				58.5	77	8
8th Sep	1840	Truman	XXX Ale	Mild	1112.2	1037.9	9.82	66.17%	10	6.41				59	72	9
Average					1106.8	1032.9	9.78	69.26%	8.81	4.86	1.50	2.00	3.00	59.0	77.5	8.6
17th Feb	1848	Younger, Wm.	100/-	Ale	1100	1039	8.07	61.00%	3.87	2.00	1.08	1		55	67	8
6th Jul	1848	Younger, Wm.	100/-	Ale	1100	1034	8.73	66.00%	7.00	3.42	0.92			58	72	10
12th Sep	1849	Younger, Wm.	100/-	Ale	1100	1041	7.81	59.00%	7.00	3.33	1	0.92		55	70	9
5th Oct	1848	Younger, Wm.	100/-	Ale	1101	1039	8.20	61.39%	4.52	2.16	1			59	70	9
6th Oct	1848	Younger, Wm.	100/-	Ale	1101	1039	8.20	61.39%	4.65	2.25	1	1		57	69	9
29th Mar	1849	Younger, Wm.	100/-	Ale	1101	1030	9.39	70.30%	10.00	5.14	1.25	1.25		54	68	11
20th Sep	1849	Younger, Wm.	100/-	Ale	1101	1039	8.20	61.39%	8.00	4.00	1.08	1.08		56	71	11
11th Oct	1848	Younger, Wm.	100/-	Ale	1102	1036	8.73	64.71%	4.52	2.22	1	1		55	69	8
6th Sep	1849	Younger, Wm.	100/-	Ale	1102	1035	8.86	65.69%	8.00	3.87	1	1		55	69.5	9
10th Sep	1849	Younger, Wm.	100/-	Ale	1102	1039	8.33	61.76%	7.00	3.39	1	0.92		56	70	10
25th Sep	1849	Younger, Wm.	100/-	Ale	1102	1039	8.33	61.76%	6.00	3.00	1.08	1.08		55	71	10
13th Nov	1849	Younger, Wm.	100/-	Ale	1102	1038	8.47	62.75%	5.00	2.63	1.08	1.17		55	69	10
23rd Mar	1847	Younger, Wm.	120/-	Ale	1103	1040	8.33	61.17%	5.00	2.59	1	1.17		54	70	10
6th Jan	1849	Younger, Wm.	100/-	Ale	1103	1039	8.47	62.14%	4.69	2.27	1	1		54	68	10
17th Jan	1849	Younger, Wm.	100/-	Ale	1104	1039	8.60	62.50%	4.19	2.13	1	1		57	68	9
25th Jan	1849	Younger, Wm.	100/-	Ale	1104	1040	8.47	61.54%	4.10	2.00	1.08			54	68	10
28th Mar	1849	Younger, Wm.	100/-	Ale	1104	1041	8.33	60.58%	5.00	2.50	1	1		54	68	10
5th Jun	1849	Younger, Wm.	100/-	Ale	1105	1037	9.00	64.76%	8.00	4.07	1.08	1.08		55	69	10
6th Apr	1849	Younger, Wm.	100/-	Ale	1106	1040	8.73	62.26%	5.00	2.54	1			54	68	10
21st Apr	1848	Younger, Wm.	120/-	Ale	1111	1040	9.39	63.96%	9.02	5.09	1.17	1		54	71	9
19th Mar	1847	Younger, Wm.	140/-	Ale	1112	1046	8.73	58.93%	10.00	6.49	0.83			54	72	10
12th Mar	1847	Younger, Wm.	140/-	Ale	1112	1046	8.73	58.93%	11.88	6.49	1			54	71	10
18th Feb	1848	Younger, Wm.	120/-	Ale	1112	1045	8.86	59.82%	4.17	2.70	1			58	61	10
16th Mar	1848	Younger, Wm.	120/-	Ale	1112	1044	9.00	60.71%	5.00	3.43	1			54	70	9
10th Oct	1848	Younger, Wm.	120/-	Ale	1112	1046	8.73	58.93%	5.00	3.28	1.17	1.66		56	71	10
1st Jun	1849	Younger, Wm.	120/-	Ale	1113	1038	9.92	66.37%	11.00	6.60	1.17			54	69	10
19th Mar	1847	Younger, Wm.	140/-	Ale	1114	1046	9.00	59.65%	10.00	6.15	0.83			56	72	10
30th Mar	1849	Younger, Wm.	120/-	Ale	1114	1041	9.66	64.04%	10.00	5.75	1.17	1.17		53	71	10
19th Jan	1849	Younger, Wm.	120/-	Ale	1115	1047	9.00	59.13%	5.50	3.38	1			54	72	10
5th Apr	1849	Younger, Wm.	120/-	Ale	1115	1040	9.92	65.22%	13.58	6.36	1.08			55	69	10
30th May	1849	Younger, Wm.	120/-	Ale	1115	1045	9.26	60.87%	11.00	6.77	1.08			54	69	10
21st Sep	1849	Younger, Wm.	120/-	Ale	1115	1047	9.00	59.13%	7.92	5.00	1			56	72	9
8th Jan	1849	Younger, Wm.	120/-	Ale	1116	1043	9.66	62.93%	5.50	3.38	1			55	71	11
26th Sep	1849	Younger, Wm.	120/-	Ale	1116	1048	9.00	58.62%	6.00	3.66	1			56	72	9
26th Jan	1849	Younger, Wm.	120/-	Ale	1117	1045	9.53	61.54%	6.00	3.69	1.08			53	72	11
Average					1107.5	1040.9	8.82	62.02%	6.95	3.82	1.04	1.08	0.00	55.1	69.7	9.7
difference					0.8	8.0	-0.96	3.10%	-1.86	-1.04	-0.46	-0.92	-3.00	-3.9	-7.8	1.2
Sources:
Truman brewing record document numbers B/THB/C/122 and B/THB/C/127 held at the London Metropolitan Archives
William Younger brewing record document number WY/6/1/2/3 held at the Scottish Brewing Archive
Whitbread brewing record document number LMA/4453/D/01/004 held at the London Metropolitan Archives

Hopping rates continue to confuse. At first glance it looks clear: Younger's beers have on average 1 lb less per barrel. But it's not that simple. The four most heavily hopped beers are all from Younger. As are the 12 least heavily hopped. There's a great deal of variation. The differences between even one specific type are large. One 100/- has over 5 lbs per barrel, another just 2 lbs. Part of it appears seasonal - i.e. the hopping is heavier in the summer - but that doesn't explain all the variation. You're going to want some sort of conclusion, aren't you? Bit tricky. How about this: in the 1840's Younger's Imperial Milds were sometimes more heavily hopped and sometimes less heavily hopped than equivalent London beers.

With only one London beer to compare to, there's not much I can say about boil times. Except that the Scottish ones are extremely short, with none longer than an hour and a quarter and many under an hour. No comparison, but a conclusion of sorts: in the 1840's Younger's Imperial Milds had very short boils.

Fermentation temperatures have shown one of the clearest patterns so far. It's repeated here. The pitching temperature of Younger's beers was on average 4º F cooler. The maximum fermentation temperature was almost 8º F cooler. Excuse me if you've heard this before: in the 1840's Younger's Imperial Milds were fermented cooler than equivalent London beers, on average around 7 - 8º F.

There's no surprise with the length of fermentation, either. Just over a day longer on average for Younger's beers. Though, if you remove the Whitbread beer which had a much shorter fermentation time than any other beers in the class, the difference is only 0.2 days. Or bugger all in layman's language. So: in the 1840's Younger's Imperial Milds took marginallly longer to ferment than equivalent London beers.

I was surprised by the average attenuation of Younger's beers in this class. It's the highest of any of the groups of Younger's Milds. I'd have expected it to be the other way around. The result is that the gap with London Milds is much smaller, just under 5% or about half what it was for the other groups. With lower attenuation, it's no shock than the ABV of the Younger's beers is lower. About 1% ABV, on average. Which is why I'm slightly confused by the difference in FG - a full 8 points. Or nearly 25%. It's a fair comparison, too, as the average OG is very similar for both groups. I'm starting to sound like a broken record: in the 1840's Younger's Imperial Milds were slightly less attenuated and lower in alcohol than London Milds of a similar gravity.

Mild finally done, where to go now? As I'm working alphabetically through the styles, it'll be Pale Ale.

House hockey

2012-01-18T12:18:00.000-08:00

I've started indulging again. In sport. And not just the throwing darts, smashing balls into pockets or speed drinking type. Fun though those my be.

Ice hockey is Lexie's latest obsession. I'd try and bully his interests out of him, but, you know, I have a few weird interests myself. Much less mainstream than ice hockey.

I'm not made of money. How many times have I said that? It's one of my mum's. I've found myself repeating many of her phrases. I can't afford to buy Lexie real ice hockey gear or pay for membership of a club., So we've gone for the next best thing: house hockey.

Our doorzon living room has a crappy laminate floor that we've been meaning to replace since before the ink had dried on the contract. I'm not the nowiest sort of bloke. Until now, it remains in place. Looking back at the way the kids treated the floor, I'm glad we didn't buy a beautiful oak one. You wouldn't believe how some of that kid stuff stains.

Ugly, but rubbish enough that damage is irrelevant. And quite slippy. Perfect for our indoor funhouse. A dry ice hockey rink.

It's not huge, our rink. (Neither is my house.) Maybe 3 metres by 2 and a bit. With some funny corners. Blocked off by shoes, my briefcase, the kids' school bags, draught excluders and the spare bits of wood we unaccountably always have in our living room. A bit of anti-bird net sellotaped between two chairs is one goal. The other is the stairs. Family living. Chaos with the odd hug.

I'm very proud of our sticks. It's incredible what you can do, if you watched enough Blue Peter as a child. There being eff all else on when I was a nipper, I saw loads. I found everything I needed in the living room. A wood off-cut (an unaccountable) sliced at an angle and attached at a stick-like angle. With gaffer tape. It's surprisingly robust.

Our living room wood store was spitting sawdust when we got around to making a stick for me. No problem. A tightly rolled up newspaper taped together filled in perfectly for the small sticky-out bit. As long as you didn't touch it. Or look vaguely in its direction. Even with gaffer tape, not robust.

I'll not bore you with a description of the puck's construction. Crumpled up paper and masking tape. That's all you need to know.

Preparations over, Lexie and I stood face to face, facing off. The crowd* tensely silent.

"One, two, . . ." as usual, Lexie went on two "three". A neat sidestep and Lexie had netted before I'd touched the puck.

We matched scores, drawing ever closer to the five goals that would bring victory. My skillfull use of weight and height counterbalancing Lexie's clumsy use of guile and close control.

Lexie eddged ahead to 4 - 3. Just one goal and he'd be celebrating victory in the traditional Pattinson way (unless his mother was looking). I anticipated Lexies's usual faceoff play and stole the puck, slamming it wildly towards goal. Sliced - and, let's face it, masking tape isn't the smoothest of surfaces - it slithered towards the net, lodging inside just before Lexie could scoop it away.

The last goal would decide everything. Lexie took the puck from the faceoff and shot immediately, for once, it spluttered wide, but stayed in play. I pounced.

Victory lay in my sights. I shot. But I'd pulled it. The net bulged, but it was the part hanging outside the table leg. A miss. Lexie won the faceoff and clipped a shot just inside the post. 5 - 4.

The little twa. . .., bas . . ., ars . . . , .talented child. Bless him.

I'm a very gracious loser. Except when it's undeserved. Which, funnily enough, is always. Weird, eh?

I suspect my training regimen may be to blame for my inexplicable coming-almost-first (I won't utter the d-word). Two St. Bernardus Abts, downed quickly before the start. That'll for change tomorrow's rematch. I'll be stepping up to three.

* Dolores. She was cooking our tea.

Let's Brew Wednesday - 1879 William Younger No.1

2012-01-18T00:05:00.000-08:00

No, we hadn't forgotten about Let's Brew. But you know what it's like with the holidays, the food and, of course, the drink. Now we're into January our schedules have become as blank as my kids' faces when I ask them to help me make pies.

I often tell you that we've a special treat for you. Today we genuinely do. It's a legendary beer. The Granddaddy of all strong Scotch Ales: Younger's No. 1. The brewer's flagship beer and one that was once as well-known as Guinness or Bass.

I'll be honest. Younger's product range still confuses me. There are two separate sets of strong beers. There are the strong Shilling Ales, 120/- and 140/-, both around 1100º. Then you've No. 1, and No. 2 which are not far off that gravity. Basically there's a fair bit of overlap in terms of strength. Maybe one day I'll work out the difference. I would say that the numbered Ales were the Stock Ales and the Shilling Ales the Mild Ales, but I'm not so sure it's that simple.

My first spotting of the numbered Ales is 1859, in the form of No.3. I don't get to see the full set of 1 to 4 until 1868. I suspect that their inspiration lay in Burton. Several Burton brewers, most notably Bass, had numbered Ales. With another legendary beer, Bass No. 1, at their head. It was common for the sons of Scottish brewers to spend a brewing apprenticeship in England, often in Burton.

I know that at least one of the Younger family spent some time in Burton. I've seen the brewing notebook of William J. Younger from his time at Evershed in Burton in 1891-1892. Look, it's even got his signature in it:

If Younger's No.1 is their version of Bass No. 1, what does that make it in terms of style? Piece of piss that one. It makes it a Barley Wine. But what did Younger themselves call it? Now there's a funny one. They called it two different things. See that label at the top? There are two versions of it. I can see that it's for the Scottish market because it's called Strong Ale. On the English labels Strong is replaced by Scotch.

I'm getting back to a point I've made several times before: Scotch Ale and Burton Ale are variations on a theme. And basically the same thing.

I would tell you more about the later history of No. 1, but I'm saving that for later recipes. Did I mention that were doing a series of Younger's No.1 and No.3 recipes? No? OK, were doing a series of Younger's No.1 and No.3 recipes. There. You know now. It's fascinating stuff. Especially how they transformed themselves.

Oh, and if you believe all that grillox about Scotch Ales having only the faintest whisper of hops, take a look at the hopping on this baby.

I'll call it a day here ("It's a day.") and pass you over to Kristen . . . . . .

Kristen’s Version:

Introduction:

Happy new year time!!! Yeah….another year of historic beers and plenty more to come. This will be the first in the line of No1 and No3 that we bring you over the course a wee bit me thinks. Enjoy!

Ingredients

Grist – This beer is like a lot of the other Youngers. Two pale malts. Lots of Continental malt and then some Scottish (or English) chucked in for good measure. Pick your favorites. LOTS of malt though. The efficiency of their brewing this beer was pretty horrendous but for us we need not worry. The beer is a solid 1.098. Simple infusion. Easy to get there. The high mash temp will help keep the beer from fermenting out also.

Hops – Good old Youngers. Throwing monkey wrenches in peoples views of Scottish ales. No less than 5 hops go in this one but we’ll only count 4 of them as the itty bit of the other would get drowned out by the Cluster anyway. However, look at the list. Its kind of like the best of the best list from countries around Europe no!? A pretty heavy hand of dry hops also make this one pretty hop forward which is saying a lot for its gravity. I’ve made this with a single hop (Goldings) and then the combination you see in the recipe. The later was much more complex and enjoyable. Do your best to use them all.

Yeast – London III. No real replacement. You really need that low attenuation so do your best. Also, I underpitched by about 20% and it seemed to help also.

William Younger adverts from the 1920's

2012-01-17T00:05:00.000-08:00

The topics have been rather heavy of late. All those company prospectuses and detailed comparisons of English and Scottish beers. There's something much lighter today. You guessed it (probably after reading the title) old ads.

Funnily enough, they're all advertising Scotch Ale. In Nottingham.

Nottingham Evening Post Friday 2nd March 1923

"A Tankard O' The Best
will ensure a good night's rest You want a mellow warming drink these chilly nights, and you can get it in Wm. Younger's Scotch Ale. " It fairly warms the cockles of your heart," and brings a glow of contentment and cheer that fortifies both body and mind. It is just the same grand ale that your forefathers used to drink. Insist on getting

William Younger's
Scotch Ale
Brewed in Edinburgh

The beer with a bite in it."

The same beer as your forefathers drank? I don't think so. By the 1920's, Younger's beers were full of grits and nothing like the strength they'd been just 10 years earlier.

I doubt the rest of the advert would make it past Advertising Standards nowadays. That stuff about fortifying the body and the mind. You not allowed to make health claims for alcoholic drinks.

Nottingham Evening Post Friday 16th February 1923

"That's BEER that is!"
What a joy to get a glass of Wm. Younger's Scotch Ale. Its rich golden colour feasts the eye, its fine nutty flavour delights the palate, and its pure honest quality benefits mind and body. It is the beer of tradition ; praised by songsters and prized by our ancestors. As a winter drink—warming and cheering—there is nothing to equal it. You can get it by insisting on

William Younger's
Scotch Ale
Brewed in Edinburgh

The beer with a bite in it."

Notice the theme running through these adverts? Harking back to the good old days. Not quite sure of the period of the costume. 18th century, perhaps.

My god. There's an actual description of the beer. Golden colour, nutty flavour. No I'm all confused. Which beer are they talking about? I'd been assuming No. 3. But that was dark. My second guess, No. 1 was also dark. Either this description has got the colour all wrong, or they're talking about a completely different beer.

Pure honest quality? Like I said, their beer was full of grits at this point. Very traditional. And there are more dubious health claims. Tut, tut.

Nottingham Evening Post Friday 2nd February 1923

"Mine Host knows
his customers' taste when he stocks Wm. Younger's Scotch Ale. This is why you find this century-old famous beverage at all the best inns.

No need to spoil your palate with thin watery beer when by asking for Wm. Younger's you make sure of a drink that is good to the last drop. A glass of "good stuff" is worth two of the other sort. Ask for

William Younger's
Scotch Ale
Brewed in Edinburgh

The beer with a bite in it."

The costume this time looks Elizabethan. Which is odd, given that William Younger didn't start until the late 18th century.

I'm in agreement about not spoiling my palate with watery beer. That's why St. Bernardus Abt is my beer of choice. No health claims this time. Just an implied claim that their beer is stronger than everyone else's. Pretty sure that isn't allowed today either.

Hey, just noticed what's written on that barrel: No. 3. I guess that's the mystery of which beer it was solved. Just the mystery of the colour remains.