What is Boy's Bitter?

Another short video on another obscure beer style: Boy's Bitter. A substitute for Mild Ale which seems to have gone the same way as Mild.

 

AK Light Bitter

Due to public demand - well, one person requested it - here's a short discussion of AK. One of my many beery obsessions.

 

Let's Brew - 1990 Youngs Special

Another beer brewed in large quantities was Special.  This batch, for example, was 715 barrels. A bit less than Ordinary, but still quite a lot of beer.

Though it doesn’t seem to have been parti-gyled with Ordinary, the recipe was pretty much the same. Base malt, crystal, torrefied barley and No. 3 invert sugar.

I should, perhaps, make some mention of the hops. There were three types, all English, with no vintage listed. I know from brewer John Hatch that the hops they used were Fuggles and Goldings. Which seems right for a traditional cask brewer.

I have, again, upped the hop quantities to hit the bitterness level indicated in the brewing record.

1990 Youngs Special
pale malt	9.50 lb	89.41%
crystal malt 120 L	0.125 lb	1.18%
torrefied barley	0.67 lb	6.31%
No. 3 invert sugar	0.33 lb	3.11%
Fuggles 70 min	2.75 oz
Goldings 10 min	0.67 oz
OG	1047
FG	1010.5
ABV	4.83
Apparent attenuation	77.66%
IBU	39
SRM	7
Mash at	148º F
Sparge at	165º F
Boil time	70 minutes
pitching temp	61º F
Yeast	WLP002 English Ale

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

Let's Brew Wednesday - 1990 Youngs Ordinary

Bucketloads of PA, as Ordinary was called in the brewhouse, were brewed. Sometimes in batches of over 1,000 barrels. Obviously, a popular beer. It’s what I usually drank in Youngs pubs. I preferred it to the Special.

Not much to say about the recipe. It being parti-gyled with the Light Ale we’ve already seen. Other than that No. 3 invert is an interesting sugar choice for a Pale Ale. No. 1 or No. 2 is more usual.

While most Ordinary Bitter was sold in cask form, it was kegged for outlets like clubs which sold small amounts of beer. 

Once again, I’ve bumped up the hopping level to hit the correct bitterness level (as recorded in the brewing record).

1990 Youngs Ordinary
pale malt	7.50 lb	88.70%
crystal malt 120 L	0.125 lb	1.48%
torrefied barley	0.50 lb	5.91%
No. 3 invert sugar	0.33 lb	3.90%
Fuggles 70 min	2.25 oz
Goldings 10 min	0.50 oz
OG	1037
FG	1007.5
ABV	3.90
Apparent attenuation	79.73%
IBU	34
SRM	6.5
Mash at	148º F
Sparge at	167º F
Boil time	70 minutes
pitching temp	60.5º F
Yeast	WLP002 English Ale

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

UK draught beer by type and strength 1971 - 2024

A slightly different table today. Covering a longer period than the last period, but only for draught beer.

Between the mid-1970s and 2024, the proportion of draught beer fell by 50%. That's a pretty big change. And obviously bad news for cask beer, which is only available in draught form.

I quick word about the classes. These are:

Class I <= 1034º
Class II 1035º - 1039º
Class III >= 1040º

Ordinary Bitter - that under 1040º - saw the biggest drop. From 26% of beer sales in 1990 to just 5.5% in 2024. In contrast, Bitter of 1040º and above saw its share slightly increase between 2000 and 2024. Despite falling during the early 2000s. Indicating a clear move in Bitter drinkers from Ordinary to Best Bitter.

There was a similar upgrading in Lager, though it took place somewhat later, after 2012. And after the pandemic, the switch was even more dramatic, with stronger Lager outstripping Cooking Lager. Though, with the recent changes in the tax rate for weaker beers which has seen the strength of several big Lager brands reduced that may well have changed in 2025.

The second table just looks at percentages of draught sales. Which shows better how the different styles have been faring.

I was surprised to see that, in 2000, bottom-fermenting beer barely outsold top-fermenting: 53% to 47%. By 2024, that was 64% to 34%. But that's a fall since Lager's peak in 2021, when it was 66%. Interestingly, it wasn't a revival of Bitter that ate into Lager's slice, but Stout.

After 2000, Stout's share of the draught market was very stable at around 7%. Then rose sharply from 2022, hitting 12% in 2024. Which is a pretty dramatic change. With Bitter's share continuing to fall, Stout is starting to breathe down its neck. 

It will be very interesting to see what happens over the next few years. Especially if Stout will continue to chew away at both Bitter and Lager. If the trends of the last couple of years continue, Stout might outstrip Bitter by 2030. Wouldn't that be weird?

UK draught beer by type and strength 1971 - 2024
Year	Mild	Bitter standard	Bitter premium +stout		Lager standard	Lager premium	Bitter total	Lager total	Total draught
1971	17.7	31.3	17.4		7.1			7.1	73.5
1972	15.9	31.1	17.8		8.6			8.6	73.4
1973	14.2	30.6	17.0		11.3			11.3	73.1
1974	13.8	30.6	16.8		12.1	0.5		12.6	73.8
1975	13.3	31.0	15.9		14.9	0.7		15.6	75.8
1976	12.6	30.7	15.2		17.3	1.2		18.5	77.0
1977	12.7	32.0	14.8		17.4	1.6		19.0	78.5
1978	11.9	31.8	13.8		18.8	1.8		20.6	78.1
1979	11.4	31.5	13.2		20.2	1.9		22.1	78.2
1980	8.6	34.9	12.3		21.0	2.0		23.0	78.8
Year	Mild	Bitter I + II	Bitter premium +stout		Lager I + II	Lager III	Bitter total	Lager total	Total draught
1982	8.0	38.0	9.1		22.0	2.3		24.3	79.4
1983	7.3	36.5	8.7		23.5	2.5		26.0	78.5
1984	6.9	34.8	8.6		25.1	2.8		27.9	78.2
1985	6.4	33.2	8.6		25.7	3.3		29.0	77.2
1986	5.9	31.2	8.6		26.2	3.9		30.1	75.8
1987	5.3	29.0	8.7		26.7	4.6		31.3	74.3
1988	4.9	27.6	8.6		27.0	4.9		31.9	73.0
Year	Mild	Bitter I + II	Bitter III	Stout	Lager I + II	Lager III	Bitter total	Lager total	Total draught
1990	4.1	25.8	8.9		27.2	5.3		32.5	71.6
2000	1.7	19.6	3.6	4.4	24.9	8.2	23.2	33.1	62.3
2001	1.5	18.3	3.3	4.3	24.6	8.4	21.6	33.0	60.6
2002	1.4	17.1	3.2	4.2	24.4	8.3	20.3	32.7	58.6
2003	1.2	15.9	3.0	3.9	24.7	8.5	18.9	33.2	57.1
2004	1.1	15.0	2.9	3.8	24.9	8.3	17.9	33.2	56.0
2005	1.0	14.2	2.9	3.8	25.2	8.2	17.1	33.4	55.2
2006	0.9	13.3	2.8	3.7	25.3	7.8	16.1	33.1	53.7
2007	0.8	12.9	3.0	3.7	24.8	7.3	15.9	32.1	52.4
2008	0.7	12.3	3.0	3.7	23.7	6.8	15.3	30.5	50.2
2009	0.6	12.2	3.2	3.6	23.7	6.6	15.4	30.3	49.9
2010	0.5	11.4	3.2	3.5	23.1	6.5	14.6	29.6	48.2
2011	0.5	11.6	3.1	3.3	22.8	6.6	14.7	29.4	47.8
2012	0.3	11.6	3.2	3.2	22.5	6.9	14.8	29.4	47.7
2013	0.3	11.1	3.3	3.1	21.7	6.9	14.4	28.6	46.4
2014	0.3	10.6	3.4	3.1	20.8	7.7	14.0	28.5	45.8
2015	0.3	10.3	3.7	3.0	19.7	8.2	14.0	27.9	45.1
2016	0.3	9.8	3.7	3.0	19.0	8.9	13.5	27.9	44.7
2017	0.3	9.1	3.8	3.0	18.0	9.2	12.9	27.2	43.4
2018	0.3	8.4	3.7	2.9	17.4	9.3	12.1	26.7	41.9
2019	0.2	7.9	3.6	3.0	16.7	9.7	11.5	26.4	41.1
2020	0.1	3.8	1.8	1.4	8.0	5.4	5.6	13.4	20.4
2021	0.1	4.5	2.7	2.0	10.1	8.3	7.2	18.4	27.7
2022	0.04	5.8	3.9	3.2	13.0	12.0	9.7	25.0	38.0
2023	0.04	5.7	3.9	3.8	12.0	13.0	9.6	25.0	38.5
2024	0.05	5.5	3.7	4.6	11.1	13.6	9.2	24.7	38.6
Source:
BBPA Statistical Handbook 2025, page 15.
The Brewers' Society Statistical Handbook 1980, page 10.
The Brewers' Society Statistical Handbook 1988, page 16.

UK % of draught beer by style
Year	Mild	Stout	Bitter	Lager
2000	2.73%	7.06%	37.24%	53.13%
2001	2.48%	7.10%	35.64%	54.46%
2002	2.39%	7.17%	34.64%	55.80%
2003	2.10%	6.83%	33.10%	58.14%
2004	1.96%	6.79%	31.96%	59.29%
2005	1.81%	6.88%	30.98%	60.51%
2006	1.68%	6.89%	29.98%	61.64%
2007	1.53%	7.06%	30.34%	61.26%
2008	1.39%	7.37%	30.48%	60.76%
2009	1.20%	7.21%	30.86%	60.72%
2010	1.04%	7.26%	30.29%	61.41%
2011	1.05%	6.90%	30.75%	61.51%
2012	0.63%	6.71%	31.03%	61.64%
2013	0.65%	6.68%	31.03%	61.64%
2014	0.66%	6.77%	30.57%	62.23%
2015	0.67%	6.65%	31.04%	61.86%
2016	0.67%	6.71%	30.20%	62.42%
2017	0.69%	6.91%	29.72%	62.67%
2018	0.72%	6.92%	28.88%	63.72%
2019	0.49%	7.30%	27.98%	64.23%
2020	0.49%	6.86%	27.45%	65.69%
2021	0.36%	7.22%	25.99%	66.43%
2022	0.11%	8.42%	25.53%	65.79%
2023	0.10%	9.87%	24.94%	64.94%
2024	0.13%	11.92%	23.83%	63.99%
Source:
BBPA Statistical Handbook 2025, page 15.

 

 

 

 

Let's Brew - 1932 Youngs PA

Big brother to PAB was PA.  Though it’s not a full-strength Pale Ale, as those were 1050º to 1055º.  Making this likely a beer which would have sold for 7d a pint (8d per pint 1931-1933).

Being parti-gyled with the PAB, there’s not much new that I can add about the recipe. The same three ingredients. Just more of them.

You might hay expected that more of PAB would have been brewed than PA. In fact, it was the other way around.  For example, in this parti-gyle, there were 113 barrels of PA and 89 barrels of PAB. There were also single-gyle brews of PA, but none of PAB. My guess is that PAB was introduced at some point in the 1920s or 1930s as a cheap alternative to PA.

Weirdly, the two 1930’s Pale Ales are remarkably similar in gravities to 1970’s Ordinary and Special Bitter. Though Ordinary was a a development of prewar PA and Special a new beer introduced after the war.  

1932 Youngs PA
pale malt	6.25 lb	83.33%
malt extract	0.250 lb	3.33%
No. 1 invert sugar	1.00 lb	13.33%
Fuggles 120 min	1.25 oz
Fuggles 60 min	1.25 oz
Goldings 30 min	1.25 oz
OG	1046
FG	1011.5
ABV	4.56
Apparent attenuation	75.00%
IBU	47
SRM	5.5
Mash at	153º F
Sparge at	174º F
Boil time	120 minutes
pitching temp	59º F
Yeast	WLP002 English Ale

 See John Hatch, a former brewer at Youngs describe operations at the brewery. 

UK beer sales by type 1971 - 1981 (%)

What a different world the 1970's were. At the start of the decade, draught Bitter and Mild made up around two-thirds of all beer sales. And Lager could only manage 10% of the market across both draught and bottled. By the decade's end, draught Lager was rapidly closing in on Bitter.

The headline is the huge growth in popularity. Notice the big jump in Lager sales in 1975 and 1976. Two years with particularly hot summers. I'm guessing that if I had the numbers broken down by month that a lot of the growth would have occurred during the hotter months. Over the whole period, Lager sales increased by 227%. Which is a fuck load by anyone's standards.

The biggest losers were bottled beers: Brown Ale, down 65%, and Stout, down 57%. Not helped by by the fact that bottled beer sales were down 23%. You can see that once popular beers, such as Light Ale and Brown Ale, were on their way to oblivion. The fall in bottled sales would have been even more dramatic, had their not been 168% increase in Lager sales.

These can't have been very good time for Guinness, as they totally dominated the Stout market. And bottles Stout was one of the biggest losers. Though this may have been distorted by increasing sales of draught Guinness. Unfortunately, this is impossible to see as draught Stout was, for some reason, lumped in with Bitter.

Amongst the draught beers, Mild sales fell 37% and Bitter sales 7%. Not as bad as the decline in bottled beers, but still significant. In the later decades, as Mild vanished into the void, Bitter sales would come under more pressure. As we will see in a later post.

Sales of Strong Ales were tiny. In 1981, just 318,000 hl. Out of a total consumption of 63.6 million hl. 

UK beer sales by type 1971 - 1981 (%)
Type	1971	1972	1973	1974	1975	1976	1977	1978	1979	1980	1981	change 1971-1981
Draught
Mild	17.7	15.9	14.2	13.8	13.3	12.6	12.7	11.9	11.4	11.3	11.2	-36.72%
Bitter & Stout	48.7	48.9	47.6	47.4	46.9	45.9	46.8	45.6	44.7	44.5	45.1	-7.39%
Lager:	7.1	8.6	11.3	12.6	15.6	18.5	19.0	20.6	22.1	23.0	23.2	226.76%
total draught	73.5	73.4	73.1	73.8	75.8	77.0	78.5	78.1	78.2	78.8	79.5	8.16%
Bottled
Light, Pale and Export:	11.5	11.4	11.9	11.7	10.9	9.9	8.9	8.5	8.1	7.5	7.4	-35.65%
Lager:	2.8	3.1	3.5	3.7	4.2	5.1	5.4	6.3	7.0	7.6	7.5	167.86%
Brown:	4.0	3.9	3.7	3.5	2.8	2.4	2.0	1.9	1.8	1.6	1.4	-65.00%
Stout:	7.0	6.8	6.4	5.9	5.0	4.3	3.9	3.7	3.5	3.2	3.0	-57.14%
Strong Ales and Barley Wines	0.6	0.7	0.7	0.6	0.6	0.6	0.6	0.6	0.5	0.5	0.5	-16.67%
party containers	0.6	0.7	0.7	0.8	0.7	0.7	0.7	0.9	0.9	0.7	0.6	0.00%
Total bottled	26.5	26.6	26.9	26.2	24.2	23.0	21.5	21.9	21.8	21.1	20.4	-23.02%
Source:
The Brewers' Society Statistical Handbook 1980, page 10.
The Brewers' Society Statistical Handbook 1988, page 15.