Fowler's Twelve Guinea Ale

Wee Heavy. I've always been troubled by this supposed style. Partly because it seems to be based on a single commercial beer: Fowler's Wee Heavy. Or to give it it's proper name, Fowler's Twelve Guinea Ale.

The name "Wee Heavy", though poetic, is pretty rubbish. Wee = small, heavy = strong. "Small Strong" doesn't sound quite so cool, does it? The more I look into Scottish brewing, the more obvious it is how broadly the word "Heavy" was used. There's Heavy Export Ale, Heavy Stout and, of course, Wee Heavy.

Let's use the real name for Fowler's Wee Heavy: Twelve Guinea Ale. What does that mean? Nothing more than that a hogshead of the beer sold for 12 guineas (£12 12/-, £12.60 in new money). It's like the shilling system, just posher. Guineas weren't used for any old sums. No, they were reserved for the price of racehourses and that sort of thing. And for the very top-end Scottish beers.

Just a few days ago we heard that ten and twelve guinea ales were "rarely brewed". William Younger didn't make one. They didn't go higher than 160/- (£8). There was one brewer who did regulalry brew a Twelve Guinea Ale. You guessed it, Fowler of Prestonpans. It must have been quite famous, given the number of analyses of it that I've found.

In the 19th century, Twelve Guinea Ale had a ludicrous OG: 1159º. I think that's the highest I've seen. It's so high that even though the FG is 1068º, it's still 12% ABV. You can see that between the wars, it was still a real beast, with a gravity of over 1100º. The second war put an end to that and, by the time we reach 1955, the OG is the same as the FG had been a century earlier. Sort of sums up the decline in British beer strengths.

The colour, well that's brown A darkish brown. I wish I knew the colour of the 1862 sample. I suspect it would have been very different. Basically much paler. That's what happened to Edinburgh Ales like William Younger's No. 1 Ale. That mysteriously darkened - like many Stock and Strong Ales - sometime around 1900.

Here's a table with all the facts (at least the ones I know):

Fowler's Twelve Guinea Ale 1862 - 1955
Year	Beer	Style	Price	size	package	Acidity	FG	OG	colour	ABV	App. Attenuation
1862	Twelve-Guinea Ale	Strong Ale					1068	1159		11.99	57.23%
1921	Prestonpans Ale	Strong Ale			bottled		1042	1118		9.92	64.41%
1925	Twelve-Guinea Ale	Strong Ale			bottled		1038	1117.7	100	10.44	67.71%
1926	Strong Ale	Strong Ale			bottled		1031	1117	140	11.33	73.50%
1926	Twelve Guinea Beer	Strong Ale			bottled		1040	1115		9.79	65.22%
1928	Strong Ale	Strong Ale			bottled		1043	1114	130	9.24	62.28%
1929	Twelve Guinea Ale (carbonated)	Strong Ale			bottled		1030	1114	No. 15	11.06	73.68%
1929	Twelve Guinea Ale (carbonated)	Strong Ale			bottled		1030	1115	No. 15	11.19	73.91%
1931	Strong Ale	Strong Ale			bottled		1024	1098		9.71	75.51%
1933	Strong Ale	Strong Ale			bottled		1034	1108		9.68	68.52%
1940	Twelve Guinea Cream Ale	Strong Ale	7d	nip	bottled	0.06	1028	1094.3	14 + 40	8.66	70.31%
1940	Twelve Guinea Cream Ale	Strong Ale	7d	nip	bottled	0.07	1028.2	1095.3	14 + 40	8.76	70.41%
1947	Heavy Ale	Strong Ale			bottled		1025.5	1081.4		7.27	68.67%
1948	Strong Ale	Strong Ale			bottled		1019.5	1079.5		7.84	75.47%
1948	Prestonpans Twelve Guinea Ale	Strong Ale			bottled		1021.5	1080		7.63	73.13%
1949	Prestonpans Twelve Guinea Ale	Strong Ale	1/3d	nip	bottled	0.06	1030.3	1077.7	15 + 40	6.13	61.00%
1955	Twelve Guinea Ale	Strong Ale	1/3d	nip	bottled	0.04	1016.9	1068.1	120	6.67	75.18%
Sources:
"The lancet 1853, Volume 2", 1853, page 631.
Thomas Usher Gravity Book document TU/6/11 held at the Scottish Brewing Archive
Younger, Wm. & Co Gravity Book document WY/6/1/1/19 held at the Scottish Brewing Archive
Whitbread Gravity Book document LMA/4453/D/02/002 held at the London Metropolitan Archives