Shut up about Barclay Perkins

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!

This code will knock 25% off the usual price (until 31st January 2012):

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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.

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

2012-01-16T00:05:00.000-08:00

This is taking a long time. Third post in and I'm still on Mild. don't worry. The other styles won't take as long.

The tranche this time is 1090 to 1099. Special Mild, you could call it. They certainly knew how to brew Mild in the old days. Beer that would put hairs on your chest. Possibly on your eyeballs, too.

Here are the numbery things:

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)
29th Jan	1846	Truman	40/- Ale	Mild	1090.6	1024.7	8.72	72.78%	16.0	5.95				59	81.5	8
8th Jul	1845	Truman	40/- Ale	Mild	1090.9	1028.3	8.28	68.90%	7.0	2.73				60	80.5	9
13th Apr	1841	Whitbread	XX	Mild	1090.9	1031.6	7.84	65.24%	7.53	2.89	1.5	2	3	60	78	7
11th Mar	1841	Whitbread	XX	Mild	1091.4	1032.7	7.77	64.24%	7.27	2.78	2	2	3	60	79	6
8th Apr	1841	Whitbread	XX	Mild	1091.7	1031.6	7.95	65.56%	7.29	2.68	1.5	2	3	60	77.5	8
16th Jul	1840	Truman	XX Ale	Mild	1092.8	1031.0	8.17	66.57%	9	4.21				60	74	9
26th Aug	1840	Truman	XX Ale	Mild	1092.8	1031.3	8.14	66.27%	9	3.95				60	73	9
23rd Aug	1845	Truman	XX Ale	Mild	1093.1	1030.5	8.28	67.26%	9.0	4.29				58.5	78.5	7
23rd Sep	1845	Truman	XX Ale	Mild	1093.1	1031.9	8.10	65.77%	10.0	4.62				58	81	8
Average					1091.9	1030.4	8.14	66.96%	9.12	3.79	1.67	2.00	3.00	59.5	78.1	7.9
9th Mar	1847	Younger, Wm.	100/-	Ale	1090	1040	6.61	55.56%	4.00	1.70	1.17	1.25		56	66	10
16th Jan	1849	Younger, Wm.	80/-	Ale	1090	1036	7.14	60.00%	4.33	1.88	1.25	1.33		56	67	8
26th Mar	1849	Younger, Wm.	80/-	Ale	1090	1037	7.01	58.89%	4.00	1.78	1.25			54	68	9
31st May	1849	Younger, Wm.	80/-	Ale	1090	1038	6.88	57.78%	7.00	2.96	1.25	1.17		56	67	9
7th Sep	1849	Younger, Wm.	80/-	Ale	1091	1038	7.01	58.24%	6.00	2.61	1.25	1.25		55	69	8
24th Sep	1849	Younger, Wm.	80/-	Ale	1091	1034	7.54	62.64%	6.00	2.50	1.33	1.33		56	71	8
28th Sep	1849	Younger, Wm.	80/-	Ale	1091	1035	7.41	61.54%	6.00	2.50	1.42	1.42		57	69	9
18th Apr	1848	Younger, Wm.	100/-	Ale	1098	1036	8.20	63.27%	9.00	4.23	1	1		54	68	9
19th Jul	1848	Younger, Wm.	100/-	Ale	1098	1039	7.81	60.20%	8.00	3.93	1	0.92		58	69	7
10th Mar	1847	Younger, Wm.	120/-	Ale	1099	1040	7.81	59.60%	9.50	4.75	1.17	1.08		55	68	9
10th Mar	1848	Younger, Wm.	100/-	Ale	1099	1040	7.81	59.60%	3.87	1.88	1	1		54	68	11
20th Apr	1848	Younger, Wm.	100/-	Ale	1099	1036	8.33	63.64%	9.00	4.36	1.08	1		55	68	9
12th Jul	1848	Younger, Wm.	100/-	Ale	1099	1040	7.81	59.60%	8.00	3.88	0.92			59	72	9
Average					1094.2	1037.6	7.49	60.04%	6.52	3.00	1.16	1.16	0.00	55.8	68.5	8.8
difference					2.3	7.2	-0.65	-6.91%	-2.61	-0.79	-0.51	-0.84	-3.00	-3.7	-9.6	1.0
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, eh? Are you making any sense of them? I'm struggling. There doesn't seem a simple, discernible pattern. Remember in the gravity range before this that Younger's beers came out on top. This time it's the London beers that are the winners. How do you explain that? On average, the London beers contained three-quarters of a pound more hops. That's about a 20% difference. Looking at individual beers, it's a lot more complicated than that. One of the Younger's beers was the second most heavily hopped. Once again, ther's much more variation in the hopping rates amongst the Younger's beers. One 100/- had 1.7 lbs per barrel, another 4.36 lbs. I think the reason may be partially the time of year. The more heavily hopped version were brewed in the warmer months. My conclusion: in the 1840's Younger's Special Milds were less heavily hopped than equivalent London beers.

I'm starting to like boil times. Because there's a nice, consistent pattern. Though it is unfortunate that I only have the details for Whitbread out of the London brewers. The boil times of the first and second worts were 30 minutes and 45 minutes shorter at Younger. Or 30% and 42% shorter. A simple conclusion: in the 1840's the boil times of Younger's Special Milds were considerably shorter than for equivalent London beers.

Fermentation temperatures are shaping up nicely, too. For all the gravity ranges I've covered so far the pitching temperature averaged about 4º F cooler at Younger. It's the same story again here. There's a bigger difference in the maximum fermentation temperature for this set, a touch under 10º F. It's no great risk to say: in the 1840's Younger's Milds were fermented cooler than equivalent London beers, on average around 7 - 8º F.

Length of fermentation is another friend. On average a day shorter at Younger. Yes, there's a difference, but not a very significant one. Certainly nothing like as large as Roberts claimed. Another confident one: in the 1840's Younger's Special Milds took slightly longer to ferment than equivalent London beers.

Attenuation also follows a pattern we've seen before. The most highly attenuated Younger beer couldn't quite reach the least attenuated London beer. On average, Younger's beers were about 10% less attenuated. Again, the differences aren't enormous. And the ABV and FG of Younger's beers are also lower. A bit over 0.5% ABV less and 7 points FG. Though in the case of the latter account should be taken of the higher average OG of the Younger's beers. Nothing to say but: in the 1840's Younger's Special Milds were slightly less attenuated and lower in alcohol than London Milds of a similar gravity.

That's Mild nearly done. Nearly. It's going to take me all year just to get through the 19th century.

McEwan's prospectus

2012-01-15T00:05:00.000-08:00

You'll have to excuse me for doing this arse about tit. It's just the order that I've found the articles.

Yes, we're back in 1889 just as William McEwan is preparing to flog off his business. Or at least half of it. You'll be wishing he was your dad after reading what's below.

As a special treat, I won't be boring you with the full prospectus. These things are a bit repetitive with all their legal forms. I'll just be plucking out some plums with my thumbs.

"The SUBSCRIPTION LIST for the under-mentioned PREFERENCE SHARE CAPITAL will be OPENED on THURSDAY the 25th, and it will be CLOSED on or before MONDAY the 29th Of JULY, 1899.
APPLICATIONS will be received by THE BRITISH LINEN COMPANY BANK, at its Head Office. St Andrew Square, Edinburgh; at its OFFICE, 41

LOMBARD STREET. LONDON. E.C., and at any of its Country Branches.

WILLIAM McEWAN & COMPANY, LIMITED.

INCORPORATED UNDER THE COMPANIES ACTS, 1852 to 1886, whereby the liability of a Shareholder is limited to the amount of his Shares.

CAPITAL, £1,000,000.
Divided into

50,000 Ordinary Shares of £10 each (all of which are taken in part payment of the purchase price) £500,000
And 50,000 £5 per Cent Cumulative Preference Shares of £10 each now offered for subscription £500,000

£1,000,000

The Preference Shares will be entitled to a cumulative preferential dividend of Five per Cent per Annum, payable half yearly at 1st February and 1st August, out of the profits Of the company, and will also be entitled to priority over the Ordinary Share in respect of capital."

I was right in my guesses. McEwan did go public in 1889 and the share capital was £1,000,000. You can see that they did the usual trick of hanging onto 50% the capital (and total control) through splitting it into ordinary and preference shares. All the brewery flotations look very similar. Just the amount of capital varies.

Now we get to see who was in charge of the company:

DIRECTORS.
WILLIAM MCEWAN., Esq, M P, Edinburgh, Chairman.
JAMES ALEXANDER MOLLESON, Esq, Chartered Accountant, Edinburgh.
ROBERT YOUNGER, Esq, Barrister-at-Law, Lincoln's Inns, London.
WILLIAM YOUNGER, Esq. Fountain Brewery, Edinburgh, Managing Director.

I stress that these are not the Robert Younger and William Younger who also owned breweries in Edinburgh. There are so many Youngers it can get very confusing.

"The Company has been formed for the purpose of acquiring, on the terms of the agreement. referred to below, the Fountain Brewery, Edinburgh, of which Mr. William McEwan, M. P., is the sole Proprietor.

The business. which was commenced by Mr. McEwan in 1856, has steadily increased in dimensions, until it is now one of the great Breweries of the United Kingdom, and it is believed to he the largest belonging to a single owner. The business has attained such proportions and the Capital embarked in it is of such amount, that the proprietor has resolved to convert it into a Limited Liability Company, in order that he may obtain some measure of relief from the strain of business by farther securing the co-operation of others in its management and control; that he may realise a portion of his Capital without diminishing the resources of the undertaking; and that the remainder of his Capital may be brought into more manageable compass, and be more easily dealt with by those who succeed him.

The net profits of the business for the past five years, as exhibited by the books and Profit and Loss Accounts, have been as follows:

Year ending 30th June, 1885    £89,090 11 1
,, 1886    83,419 15 2
,, 1887    95,440 1 8
,, 1888    100,854 17 1
,, 1889    93,372 7 9
    £462,177 15 9
Average annual profit    £92,435 11 1

These profits have been arrived at each year by the same methods of Bookkeeping and Statement that have been for many years followed in the conduct of the business; and they have been struck after making ample allowances for maintenance, discounts and depreciation. The Books and Profit and Loss Accounts have been investigated by Messrs Turquand, Youngs. Weise, Bishop & Clarke, Accountants, London, and also by Messrs Howden and Molleson, C A, Edinburgh, and reference is made to their Certificates hereto subjoined.

The largest profits have been earned during the past three years. While always retaining a controlling supervision over the business, the proprietor has during those three years delegated much of the practical management to others. These circumstances indicate that the undertaking has attained such maturity and strength that its continued prosperity is not now dependent on the personal superintendence of the Proprietor. Mr McEwan will, however, act as Chairmain of the Company, and: Mr. William Younger, who has been connected with the business for a considerable period, and has had in great part its practical management during the past three years, will act as Managing Director.

For payment of the dividend on the whole of the Preference Shares £25,000 only will be required. There will thus be left a balance of profit on the average of the last five years of upwards of £60,000 per annum, which it will be seen leaves so wide a margin for contingencies as to afford ample security for payment of dividend on the Preference Shares."

Now there's something I didn't already know.William McEwan was the sole owner of the Fountain Brewery. I can easily believe it was the largest brewery in Britain owned by one person. Most were run as partnerships. And the Fountain Brewery was already of a considerable size. Speaking of which, here's a map of the brewery from 1893:

I'm not surprised William McEwan wanted some of his capital back. Though he couldn't have been short of a bob or two. The brewery which he owned outright made a profit of half a million quid over five years. That's before he sold half of it for another half million. He must easily have been a millionaire. Back in the days when that really meant something.

You'll note how they reassure possible investors about the stable management of the company by stressing that William McEwan would remain chairman and William Younger would remain managing director. I wouldn't have taken much persuading after looking at the profits. The company averaged a more than 9% return on investment, assuming a capital of £1,000,000.

As we've seen, McEwan never had any trouble finding the £25,000 dividend each year for the preference shares. In fact, that was just a small portion of the the profit. A much bigger part went to the lucky owners of ordinary shares.

"The business is conducted at the Fountain Brewery, Edinburgh. The Brewery premises and property cover an area of about twelve acres, and are held in absolute feu-simple, unburdened by mortgage; and subject to a merely nominal feu-duty or ground rent. There is large siding accommodation into the premises from the main line of the Caledonian Railway, which bounds nearly the whole of one side of the property, and gives ample accommodation for traffic to all parts of the country, and to ports for export shipment. The premises are in perfect repair, and sufficient in all respects for the present or an increased business. The property contains within its own limits wells affording a superabundant supply of water specially suited for brewing purposes.

In addition to the good will of the business and the property and premises mentioned above, including the machinery and fixed plant, the Stocks of ales for home and foreign markets; Stocks of barley, malt, hops, casks, bottles, utensils, &c, and customers' balances as at 30th June, 1889, will be transferred to the Company. These are entered in the stock sheets and books, upon the same principles of valuation as have been followed for many years, at the sum of £407,720 8s 6d.

It has not been deemed necessary to obtain. a valuation by experts of the land, buildings, machinery, and fixed plant, as it is manifest that any valuation of a concern capable of producing our results as have been indicated would, in conjunction with the above sums of £407,720 8s 6d. exhibit a total largely In excess of the £500,000 of Preference Shares now to be issued, and which, as regards both Dividend and Capital, are to rank in priority to the Ordinary Shares.

It is a feature of the business not to take credit for materials, &c, purchased, but to pay cash in all transactions, And the Company will thus take over the business and assets free from debt.

The business consists of the production of Home and Export Ales - and a large proportion of the trade consists of Exports to Indian, Colonial, and Foreign markets. The business has the specialities possessed by very few competitors, that there are no tied houses connected with it, and that (with the exception of four sums of small amount, not exceeding £2,000 in all, and given under exceptional circumstances) no advances are made to customers or others.

The average annual profits of the past five years show the large margin for payment of dividend on the Preference Shares; and the above statements with regard to the property and assets of the concern show that the capital of these shares is amply secure.

The business and property as above, with the goodwill, will be taken over by the Company as from the 1st day of July, 1889, at the total amount of £1,000,000 - of which £500,000 is represented by the Ordinary Shares taken in part payment of the Purchase Price."
Glasgow Herald - Thursday 25 July 1889, page 1.

You can see the railway siding in the map. Presumably the brewery was deliberately situated next to the railway line.

It's not quite clear to me if that £407,720 8s 6d valuation includes the buildings and land, because it later states that they haven't bothered getting them valued. The implication is that the brewery is worth a lot more and that investors are getting a great deal in only paying £500,000 for half of it.

There's also stress placed on the export trade - at this point still important for many Scottish breweries. But I really don't get why having no tied houses is portrayed as an advantage. Could it be that it meant there wasn't a huge amount of capital tied up in real estate?

How many businesses today insist on paying cash for everything? Less than zero would be my guess. It sounds very old-fashioned, not taking credit and not giving it, either. I would make a remark about fiscally prudent Scots. If I didn't loathe national stereotyping.

One final point. The vendor, William McEwan, didn't keep all of the ordinary shares. As we've already seen., he only kept 43,000, the rest going to the other Directors and the company secretary.

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

2012-01-14T00:05:00.000-08:00

We're still stuck in the 1840's. It's not too bad, as long as you don't drink the water and avoid the pies.

The object of today's examination are stronger Milds. Most are XX Ale or similar. What you might call Best Mild. With gravities in the range 1080º to 1090º, they aren't exactly similar to any modern Mild.

I'm beginning to see a definite pattern. See if you can, too:

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)
7th Jul	1845	Truman	X Ale	Mild	1080.3	1024.9	7.33	68.97%	6.0	1.98				61.5	81	8
17th Apr	1841	Whitbread	XL	Mild	1080.6	1029.9	6.71	62.89%	7.31	2.41	1.5	2	3	64	76	7
11th Mar	1841	Whitbread	XL	Mild	1081.2	1029.9	6.78	63.14%	7.27	2.47	2	2	3	64	75	6
18th Jul	1840	Truman	40/- Ale	Mild	1084.8	1027.7	7.55	67.32%	6	2.38				60.5	77.5	8
14th Jul	1840	Truman	40/- Ale	Mild	1085.6	1029.1	7.48	66.02%	6	2.42				60	71	8
14th Feb	1846	Truman	40/- Ale	Mild	1086.7	1024.9	8.17	71.25%	6.0	2.34				59	78.5	10
6th Jul	1840	Truman	40/- Ale	Mild	1088.9				5	2.10				59.5	73.5
17th Apr	1841	Whitbread	XX	Mild	1089.5	1031.6	7.66	64.71%	7.31	2.68	1.5	2	3	60	78	7
Average					1084.7	1028.3	7.38	66.33%	6.36	2.35	1.67	2.00	3.00	61.1	76.3	7.7
11th Mar	1847	Younger, Wm.	100/-	Ale	1085	1032	7.01	62.35%	8.52	3.59	1.25	1.17		56	67	7
6th Jul	1848	Younger, Wm.	80/-	Ale	1085	1036	6.48	57.65%	7.00	2.91	0.92			58	69	8
12th Jul	1848	Younger, Wm.	80/-	Ale	1085	1034	6.75	60.00%	8.00	3.33	1			59	72	9
18th Mar	1847	Younger, Wm.	100/-	Ale	1086	1036	6.61	58.14%	7.67	3.19	1.25	1.5		58	68	10
18th Jul	1848	Younger, Wm.	80/-	Ale	1086	1032	7.14	62.79%	7.00	2.96	1.25	1.17		58	68	7
9th Oct	1848	Younger, Wm.	80/-	Ale	1086	1034	6.88	60.47%	6.48	2.56	1.25			56	69	9
17th Mar	1847	Younger, Wm.	100/-	Ale	1087	1039	6.35	55.17%	4.44	3.67				57	67	9
17th Mar	1848	Younger, Wm.	80/-	Ale	1087	1036	6.75	58.62%	4.00	1.63	1.25	1.25		59	68	9
19th Apr	1848	Younger, Wm.	80/-	Ale	1087	1033	7.14	62.07%	8.00	3.22	1.25	1.25		56	67	9
11th Jul	1848	Younger, Wm.	80/-	Ale	1087	1035	6.88	59.77%	7.00	2.89	1.33			59	69	7
5th Oct	1848	Younger, Wm.	80/-	Ale	1087	1035	6.88	59.77%	4.52	1.86	1			59	56	8
13th Mar	1848	Younger, Wm.	80/-	Ale	1088	1038	6.61	56.82%	4.00	1.69	1.25	1.25		56	67	8
15th Apr	1848	Younger, Wm.	80/-	Ale	1088	1036	6.88	59.09%	4.00	1.63	1.25	1.08		55	67	8
8th Jul	1848	Younger, Wm.	80/-	Ale	1088	1036	6.88	59.09%	6.00	2.43	1.25	1.25		56	72	8
5th Jan	1849	Younger, Wm.	80/-	Ale	1088	1037	6.75	57.95%	4.67	1.87	1.5	1.5		56	66	9
31st Mar	1849	Younger, Wm.	80/-	Ale	1088	1034	7.14	61.36%	5.00	2.05	1.33	1.17		54	68	10
12th Nov	1849	Younger, Wm.	80/-	Ale	1088	1032	7.41	63.64%	4.50	2.00	1.25			56	67	9
17th Nov	1849	Younger, Wm.	80/-	Ale	1088	1036	6.88	59.09%	5.00	2.09	1.25	1.33		56	68	10
22nd Mar	1847	Younger, Wm.	100/-	Ale	1089	1036	7.01	59.55%	4.14	1.76	1.33	1.5		56	68	9
Average					1087.0	1035.1	6.87	59.65%	5.79	2.49	1.23	1.28	0.00	56.8	67.5	8.6
difference					2.3	6.8	-0.52	-6.67%	-0.58	0.14	-0.44	-0.72	-3.00	-4.2	-8.8	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 LMA/4453/D/01/004 brewing record document number held at the London Metropolitan Archives

As usual, let's start with the hopping rate. Now isn't this confusing. The eight most heavily-hopped beers were all from Younger. And the average hopping rate of the Younger's beers was a tiny bit higher. Who would have expected that? There's more variation in hopping of Younger's beers, as is demonstrated by the fact that the 6 beers with the lowest hopping rate were also from them. That the rate of hopping per quarter is slightly higher for the London beers is a sign that Younger were getting a worse yield from their malt. Only one conclusion possible: in the 1840's Younger's strong Milds were not less heavily hopped than equivalent London beers.

Sticking with tradition, next it's the turn of boil times. What's clear is that William Younger had very short boils, usually between 60 and 80 minutes. The average length of the boils of Younger's beers were 30 minutes and 45 minutes shorter than in London. The conclusion is again obvious: in the 1840's Younger's strong Milds had significantly shorter boils than equivalent London beers.

Fermentation temperatures come next. Again, it's not difficult to analyse. The average pitching temperature of Younger's beers was 4º F cooler than in London average and the maximum temperature almost 9º cooler. It's the same pattern as with the standard-strength Milds: not a huge difference in the pitching temperature but the increase in temperature during fermentation was greater for the London beers. The average rise was 10º F for Younger's beers but for London beers was over 15º F. Admittedly, it was easier for Younger to control fermentation temperatures because their fermenters were smaller than those of London brewers, around half the size. My conclusion: in the 1840's Younger's strong Milds were fermented 6º - 7º F cooler than equivalent London beers.

Attenuation is a doddle to analyse, too. Only one Younger's beer has greater attenuation than the least attenuated London beer.The averages also show a clear pattern, with Younger's beers about 10% less attenuated. Unsurprisingly, The finishing average gravity is also higher for Younger's beers, by around 25%. Though in reality that should be a little less as the average OG of Younger's beers was about 2º higher. Adjusting for that, it's around 18% higher. ABV, of course, follows suit and is 0.5% ABV lowere on average for Younger's beers. I feel confident in saying: in the 1840's Younger's strong Milds were less attenuated and slightly lower ABV than equivalent London beers.

And finally, length of fermentation. About a day longer on average for Younger's beers. Not very difficult, this one. In the 1840's Younger's strong Milds took a day longer to ferment than equivalent London beers.

It's all very confusing, isn't it? Some categories of Scottish beer seem less heavily hopped than in England, while others don't. But this is looking certain: Scottish beers had shorter boils and were fermented cooler.

Very profitable McEwan's

2012-01-13T00:05:00.000-08:00

There's a big advantage in having breweries public companies. To me, I mean. Because then they have to publish accounts. It's a piece of piss to see how much money they were making. Especially now I have access to the British Newspaper Archive.

Let's start in 1892:

W. McEwan & Co.— The Directors of William McEwan & Co., Fountain Brewery, state that the profit for the year, including £7592 brought forward was £131,632. The 5 per cent, dividend on the preference share, absorbed £25,000, and the Directors recommend that the balance be apportioned—dividend of 10 per cent, and bonus, of 5 per cent, on ordinary shares, £75,000 ; reserve fund, £20,000 to be carried forward, £11,632.
Dundee Courier - Tuesday 2 August 1892, page 2.

Now 1894:

Fountain Brewery, Edinburgh, announces a dividend of 10 per cent. and a bonus of 10 per cent. on the ordinary shares, after the payment of the 5 per cent. dividend upon the preference shares. The sum of £10,000 is placed to reserve fund, and a balance of £25,758 is carried forward.
Aberdeen Journal - Thursday 2 August 1894, page 3.

And finally 1896:

William McEwan and Company, Limited, Fountain Brewery, Edinburgh, report that the accounts of the company show on the year's operations (including £30,591 14s. 5d. brought forward from last year), a profit of £206,431 8s. 2d. After payment of the 5 per cent. dividend upon the Preference shares, amounting to £25.000, the directors have decided to dispose of the surplus as follows:—In payment of a dividend of 10 per cent., and a bonus of 20 per cent., on the Ordinary shares, £150,000: balance, carried forward. £31,431 8s. 2d.; the reserve fund remains at £100,000.
Sheffield Daily Telegraph - Saturday 1 August 1896, page 8.

Let's see how much that all adds up to for the Directors who were pocketing the dividend and bonus for the ordinary shares.

year	% divdend and bonus	amount
1892	15	£75,000
1894	20	£100,000
1895	25	£125,000
1896	30	£150,000
total		£450,000

In just four years they received almost as much in dividends and bonus as their share of the brewery was worth (£500,000). Remember that the Directors had already trousered half a million quid from the sale of the preference shares to outsiders. And that's at a time when a barrel of ordinary beer cost just £3.

It all goes to show what a profitable business brewing could be at the end of the 19th century.

Save money!

2012-01-12T03:05:00.000-08:00

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