I, Arthur Buckridge

From 1830 to the 1980s there were two types of pubs in the UK: fully licensed premises and beer houses. The latter being a product of the 1830 Beer Act, which allowed just about anyone to open a pub that didn’t sell spirits.

Beer house licences were initially issued not by the local licensing authorities, but by the central excise authorities. Though that changed after 1869. Beer houses weren’t generally liked by licensing magistrates, who were always trying to close them down.

Brewers and licensees, on the other hand, were very keen on converting beer licences to full licences. The latter being more profitable. A beer house converted to a full licence immediately became more valuable.

Which explains why Arthur Buckridge made this application.

The Licensing Acts 1910 and 1921.
In the County of LONDON 
Petty Sessional Division of WANDSWORTH.
To the Rating Authority of this Pariah of Battersea Borough in the said County, to the Superintendent of Police of the Parish of Battersea in the County of London, to Thomas Baines. Esq. Clerk of the Licensing Justices for the said Petty Sessional Division, and to all whom it may concern.

I ARTHUR BUCKRIDOE, now residing at 71 Rawson-street in the Parish of Battersea. in the County of London., Beerhouse Keeper, DO HEREBY GIVE NOTICE that it is my intention to apply at the General Annual Licensing Meeting for the said Division to be holden at the Town Hall, Lavender Hill, Battersea, in the said Division and County, on Friday, the 3rd day of February, 1939, for a grant to me of a Justices Licence authorising me to hold an Excise Licence to sell, under the Licensing Acta, 1910 and 1921, the following intoxicating liquor, viz., WINE by retail, to be consumed either ON or OFF the house or premises thereto belonging situate at No. 71 Rawson-street in the Parish of Battersea, in the said Division and County, known by the sign of the "PRINCE ARTHUR,” of which premises Young and Company’s Brewery, Limited, of the Ram Brewery. Wandsworth, are the Owners and which premises are now occupied by me as a Beerhouse Keeper.

GIVEN under my hand this 10th day of January, 1939,
ARTHUR BUCKRIDGE.
South Western Star - Friday 13 January 1939, page 4.

I wonder if the Prince Arthur ever got its full licence? I’ve tried looking on old OS maps, but can’t find one with enough detail. The pub itself no longer exists. Most of the street seems to have been destroyed during the war, It’s currently post-war flats.
 

Youngs boiling and fermentation in 1940

Yes, I'm still away on holiday. How selfish of me. Going away creates so much work for me. Lining up more than a dozen blog posts before I leave. Then writing the same number of travel posts when I return. It's all very time-consuming.

Boiling times are basically the same. Two hours, for most boils, for most beers. Only the watery A got a little less. And the strongest beer, XXX, got a little longer.

More surprising is that the fermentation temperatures have been reduced. The pitching temperatures are, on average, 1.5º F cooler and the maximum temperatures 4 º F. 

Despite the lower fermentation temperature, the fermentations lasted a day less. Which doesn’t make a whole deal of sense to me. The small drop in gravities wouldn’t have been enough to make that much of a difference. 

Youngs boiling and fermentation in 1940
Beer	Style	boil time (hours)		Pitch temp	max. fermen-tation temp	length of fermen-tation (days)
A	Mild	1.75	1.75	59º F	66.25º F	7
X	Mild	2	2	58º F	67.5º F	7
PAB	Pale Ale	2	2	59º F	65º F	6
PA	Pale Ale	2	2	58º F	67º F	7
P	Porter	2		59º F	68.25º F	4
S	Stout	2		58º F	70.25º F	4
XXX	Strong Ale	2	2	58º F	65.5º F	7
XXXX	Strong Ale	2.5	2	58º F	68.5º F	8
	Average	2.03	1.96	58.38º F	67.28º F	6.3
Source:
Young's brewing record held at Battersea Library, document number YO/RE/1/9.

 

Youngs hops in 1940

As you read this, I should be on my holidays in Canada. Hence the need to bash out a whole load of posts to cover the time I'll be away. That's why there have been so many Young's posts. 

Hops now. Which are pretty much the same as in 1939. Except there are no Worcester hops. This time they’re all from Kent. Some, in the case of the Pale Ales, being the classiest from the county: East Kent. Which would be something most likely along the lines of Goldings.

The hops are about the same age as in 1939. From the most recent season of the one before. The older ones being cold stored (that’s what CS means). All the beers contain at least two types of hops and some three. 

 

Youngs hops in 1940
Beer	Style	hop 1	hop 2	hop 3
A	Mild	Kent 1939	Kent 1938 CS
X	Mild	Kent 1939	Kent 1938 CS
PAB	Pale Ale	Kent 1939	Kent 1938 CS	EK 1939 CS
PA	Pale Ale	Kent 1939	Kent 1938 CS	EK 1939 CS
P	Porter	Kent 1939	Kent 1938 CS
S	Stout	Kent 1939	Kent 1938 CS
XXX	Strong Ale	Kent 1939	Kent 1938 CS
XXXX	Strong Ale	Kent 1939	Kent 1940	Kent 1939 CS
Source:
Young's brewing record held at Battersea Library, document number YO/RE/1/9.

 

Youngs adjuncts and sugars in 1940

There’s still just a single adjunct: flaked oats. Appearing in the Porter and Stout in small quantities. Though more than at many rival London breweries, such as Whitbread and Barclay Perkins, where it was often less than 1% of the grist.  I’m assuming the oats are an adjunct. The brewing records don’t indicate their form, simply calling them “oats”.

There’s one new type of sugar, “OM”, a proprietary sugar along the lines of CDM (Caramelised Dextro-Maltose). Used in in the Porter and Stout. 

Otherwise, everything is much the same as in 1939. Though the average percentage has decreased from 11.8% to 9.3%. Which is where the extra malt came from.

Malt extract is in most of the beers, except it’s been dropped from Porter and Stout. No. 1 invert is in the two Pale Ales. As you would expect. And No. 3 invert in all the dark beers.

Bit of a shock that there’s no caramel in the Black Beers. It does pop up in all the other dark beers, however. 

Youngs adjuncts and sugars in 1940
Beer	Style	flaked oat	malt extract	no. 1 sugar	no. 3 sugar	OM	caramel	total sugar
A	Mild		3.27%		4.35%		0.95%	8.57%
X	Mild		2.36%		4.72%		0.79%	7.87%
PAB	Pale Ale		2.82%	8.45%				11.27%
PA	Pale Ale		2.82%	8.45%				11.27%
P	Porter	5.00%			5.00%	5.00%		10.00%
S	Stout	5.00%			5.00%	5.00%		10.00%
XXX	Strong Ale		2.36%		4.72%		0.79%	7.87%
XXXX	Strong Ale		2.36%		4.72%		0.79%	7.87%
	Average							9.34%
Source:
Young's brewing record held at Battersea Library, document number YO/RE/1/9.

 

 

Youngs malts in 1940

What’s been happening on the ingredients front? Not all that much yet. What with the war still being in its early days. The big changes will come in a couple of years’ time.

On average, the percentage of malt has increased from 87% to 89.5% since 1939.  Which is interesting. With that slight increase being in the base malt. The percentages of the other malts are pretty much unchanged. 

As are the types of malt being used. Three base malts: pale, mild and pale ale. Three coloured malts: black, amber and crystal. Though two of those only appear in the Porter and Stout.  While crystal malt is in everything except the Pale Ales.

Youngs liked combining a couple of types of base malts in their beers. As with pale malt and PA malt in the Pale Ales. Or mild and pale malt in Mild Ales. Only the Black Beers and Burtons (Strong Ales) always have a single type of base malt. X Ale only when it was parti-gyled with a Burton. 

Youngs malts in 1940
Beer	Style	pale malt	mild malt	PA malt	enzymic malt	black malt	amber malt	crystal malt	total malt
A	Mild	13.06%	68.57%					9.80%	91.43%
X	Mild		82.68%					9.45%	92.13%
PAB	Pale Ale	33.80%		51.76%	3.17%				88.73%
PA	Pale Ale	33.80%		51.76%	3.17%				88.73%
P	Porter		60.00%			7.50%	10.00%	7.50%	85.00%
S	Stout		60.00%			7.50%	10.00%	7.50%	85.00%
XXX	Strong Ale		82.68%					9.45%	92.13%
XXXX	Strong Ale		82.68%					9.45%	92.13%
	Average								89.41%
Source:
Young's brewing record held at Battersea Library, document number YO/RE/1/9.

 

Youngs beers in 1940

A year into the war, what had happened to Youngs beers? To be honest, not very much.

The situation was very dynamic, so it’s worth saying exactly when this snapshot was taken. All these beers were brewed in August 1940, except for XXXX, which is from December.

Things hadn’t yet become so bad that drastic action was required. Just a few tweaks were necessary. That wouldn’t be the case for the whole of the war. For now, there was little change to the beers being brewed. Other than the price.

For example, the cost price of a 36-gallon barrel of X Ale had risen from 49 shillings and 11d in August 1939 to 111 shillings and 9d twelve months later.  That more than doubling in price was mostly due to increases in tax.

The most obvious change is a slight reduction in gravities. Most beers lost 1º, the exceptions being A, PAB and XXXX, which were unchanged, and XXX, which fell by 2º.

It’s a similar story with hopping rates. Those for the two Black Beers and the Mild Ales are unchanged. While that of the Pale Ales has been reduced by 1 lb per quarter (336 lbs) of malt.

The rates of attenuation look somewhat higher in this set. I wouldn’t read that much into it, as final gravities varied quite a bit from brew to brew. And even across the different fermenters in a single batch. 

Youngs beers in 1940
Beer	Style	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	lbs hops/ qtr	hops lb/brl
A	Mild	1029	1005.5	3.10	80.90%	6.14	0.71
X	Mild	1034	1005	3.84	85.34%	5.60	0.81
PAB	Pale Ale	1039	1008.3	4.06	78.69%	7.00	1.07
PA	Pale Ale	1047	1012.7	4.53	72.89%	7.00	1.29
P	Porter	1034	1008.3	3.40	75.56%	7.00	0.99
S	Stout	1052	1016.6	4.68	68.04%	7.00	1.52
XXX	Strong Ale	1055	1017.2	5.00	68.77%	5.60	1.31
XXXX	Strong Ale	1081	1036	5.95	55.54%	6.09	2.00
Source:
Young's brewing record held at Battersea Library, document number YO/RE/1/9.

 

Long service at Youngs part two

Remember Mr. Coirnish? Who in 1935 celebrated 60 years of service with Youngs. Well, it seems he continued to work after that. Until he literally dropped dead at work at the ripe old age of 84.

OBITUARY
Mr. John Cornish
Mr. John Cornish. the veteran head horsekeeper at the Ram Brewery, Wandsworth High-street, died on Wednesday last week in St. Stephen's Hospital, Fulham-road. Chelsea, aged 84. For more than 67 years he had been in the service of Messrs. Young and Co.

His only surviving daughter, Miss Cornish, told a “South Western Star” reporter that on the preceding Sunday, when he was showing some visitors over the stable, a rupture from which be suffered gave way. He was immediately taken to hospital. While showing the visitors round the stable Mr. Cornish was carrying an enlarged framed photograph of himself, demonstrating how to handle two shire horses. The photograph was presented to him in February to mark his 67th anniversary as horsekeeper. Wherever the horses were exhibited they won prizes, including prizes at the principal shows at Islington. Regent's Park. Richmond, Maidenhead, and also in local parades, etc The late Mr. Cornish was a native of Thame, Oxfordshire, and was brought to London by his parents when he was nine months old.
South Western Star - Friday 17 April 1942, page 6.

I'm getting the impression that he quite liked his job. As surely he could have retired, had he wanted.

The article has some nice details about Mr. Cornish's work at the brewery:

RECORD OF SERVICE
Messrs. Young and Co.s Brewery, Ltd, Wandsworth. formed the subject of an article in “Live Stock Journal" of February 5. 1926, from which we make the following interesting attracts, viz.:—

The company has a stud of 27 splendid draughters of shire type, and puts on the road every day 10 or 11 pairs. A pair in the course of a day travels about 20 miles. On the outward journey they draw a load of anything up to 2.5 tons, exclusive of the dray weighing over 1 ton lO cwt., two men, and fittings. The dray brings back a load of empties, which works out at about two-thirds the weight of the full vessels. On an average day a total weight of 50 tons of beer is moved by the company’s horses.

To fill the requirements of such a trade for the seven or eight years which comprise the average life of the company's draughters, a horse must, in the first place, be of a type to stand hard wear, and, secondly, must receive the beet of care and treatment. As a matter of fact the company’s horses often last much longer than eight years under the care of John Cornish, who controls the stable.

We count ourselves fortunate in making the acquaintance of Cornish, for he has what must be nearly a record of service among horses, having been with the company for 51 years. His stock of horse lore is therefore something more than mere knowledge — it approaches instinct. Such men are not too numerous in this mechanical age. Many fine animals have passed through Cornish’s hands, and he is justly proud of the conduct of one of the best stables we have ever seen.
South Western Star - Friday 17 April 1942, page 6.

Around 20 miles was probably far enough to reach most of Young's tied houses, which were within a few miles of the brewery. That's one of the reasons they stuck with horse-drawn drays for so long.

The importance of Mr. Cornish's job running the stables is reflected in the turnout for his funeral.

HORSE-DRAWN DRAY AS HEARSE
The hymns sung were "Ye servants of the Lord" and "Abide with me."

The coffin rested in the private mortuary chapel of Messrs. Evershed Bros, funeral establishment, 84 Wandsworth High-street. The cortege started from the brewery. The coffin was borne on a dray drawn by two pure bred shire geldings. "Surprise," a winner of many prizes in pre-war days, and “Burton," recently purchased from a south country breeder. Mr. O. Odell drove the dray and pair to All Saints’ Parish Church, where the service Was held. Immediately after the dray came the directors of Messrs. Young and Co., the staff, foreman. and employees, who acted as pall bearers. Many old employees of the firm also attended the service. The coffin was conveyed from the church to the cemetery by a motor hearse. The directors. staff, and foreman attended the cremation at Putney Vale Cemetery, where the Rev. G. Freeman Irwin also officiated.

The Immediate mourners were Miss Cornish and relatives.

There were, in addition to floral tributes from Miss Cornish and relatives, beautiful emblems from the directors of Messrs. Young and Co., staff, foreman, all departments at the brewery, and local tradesmen.
South Western Star - Friday 17 April 1942, page 6.

This also demonstrates the paternalistic nature of many famliy breweries. Where the directors had respect for their employees. I can't imagine many of my former employers would have turned up to my funeral. But that's another story.
 

Youngs PA fermentation 10th July 1939

We finish with an example of a Pale Ale fermentation. The whole process took 6.5 days, though almost all the action took place in the first 2.5 days. In the last four, the gravity only fell a little over 1º.

Youngs fermentations are quite unusual, with the temperature continually rising during the active phase. Hitting a peak when attenuation was about complete. Most brewers initially allowed the temperature to rise, then used the attemperators to stabilise it.

The rise of around 10º F during fermentation, on the other hand, is pretty typical.

After 42 hours, the wort was dropped. Though, weirdly, the FV number seems to be the same. Though it could be that the fermenting rounds and settling squares each had their own numbers. Most beers were dropped – when they were dropped, because not all beers were – after between 40 and 48 hours.

Youngs PA fermentation 10th July 1939
hours	FV	heat	gravity	action
0	5	60º F	1034.6	pitched
13		61.5º F	1032.1
23		63º F	1027.7
28		64º F	1024.4
37		66.5º F	1019.4
42	5	67.5º F	1016.1	dropped
47		68.5º F	1013.9
52		68.25º F	1011.1
60		69.5º F	1009.4
157		59º F	1008.3	racked
Source:
Young's brewing record held at Battersea Library, document number YO/RE/1/29.

 

Youngs boiling and fermentation in 1939

Some processes next. Boiling and fermentation.

Most of the beers had two coppers and hence two boil times. The exception being the Black Beers, which only had one.

Most of the boils were two hours long. The exception being the two Mild Ales, where it was 1.75 hours. Other than when they were parti-gyled with the Strong Ales, when they were two hours. There’s nothing particularly odd about the length of the boil.

All of the pitching temperatures are around 60º F. Which is what you would expect for standard-strength beers. The temperature rose around 12º F during fermentation. Nothing really to see there. It’s all pretty normal.

The length of the fermentations, on the other hand, is generally quite long. Averaging just shy of 8 days. Which is a little on the long side. But nothing crazy. 

Youngs boiling and fermentation in 1939
Beer	Style	boil time (hours)		Pitch temp	max. fermentation temp	length of fermentation (days)
A	Mild	1.75	1.75	61º F	69º F	9
X	Mild	1.75	1.75	60º F	68º F	8
PA	Pale Ale	2	2	60º F	71.75º F	8
PAB	Pale Ale	2	2	60º F	70.5º F	8
P	Porter	2		59º F	68.5º F	8
S	Stout	2		59º F	74.25º F	8
XXX	Strong Ale	2	2	60º F	71.25º F	4
XXXX	Strong Ale	2	2	59º F	75.5º F	6
	Average	1.94	1.92	59.75º F	71.09º F	7.4
Source:
Young's brewing record held at Battersea Library, document number YO/RE/1/8.

 

Youngs hops in 1939

Time for the final ingredient now: hops. Though they aren’t quite as exciting as the hops and sugars. Why? Because they’re exactly the same two types in every single beer but one. Which is very different from what you’d find at a brewery nowadays, where every beer would tend to have its own individual hopping. Though, in the 1990s, Youngs were doing pretty much the same thing, with only the Lagers having different hops.

The hops were all pretty fresh. Either from the most recent season – 1938 – or the season before, but cold stored (that’s what CS stands for). And all, except for one type in PA, were from Kent. 

Youngs hops in 1939
Beer	hop 1	hop 2	hop 3
A	Kent 1937 CS	Kent 1938
X	Kent 1937 CS	Kent 1938
PA	Kent 1937	Worcs. 1938	Kent 1938
PAB	Kent 1938 CS	Kent 1938
P	Kent 1938 CS	Kent 1938
S	Kent 1938 CS	Kent 1938
XXX	Kent 1938 CS	Kent 1938
XXXX	Kent 1938 CS	Kent 1938
Source:
Young's brewing record held at Battersea Library, document number YO/RE/1/8.

 

Youngs adjuncts and sugars in 1939

Moving on, let’s look at the rest of the grist. There’s not much in the way of adjuncts. There’s just the one, flaked oats. At least, I think it was flaked oats. The brewing record simply says “oats”, meaning that it could also have been in malted form. I’ve gone with flakes, simply because that was the more common form.

Not using adjuncts in their other beers is quite unusual. Though by no means unique. Whitbread, for example, also brewed adjunct-free. Most brewers, however, employed flaked maize. UK brewers’ favourite adjunct for most of the 20th century.

Every beer contains some malt extract. Presumably there to add extra enzymes. It was reasonably common in mid-20th-century recipes.

Two numbered invert sugars make an appearance. The lightest in colour, No. 1, is, logically enough, in the two Pale Ales. In a relatively large proportion of around 12%. Which would have helped to keep the colour nice and pale, as is appropriate for the style.

No. 3, on the other hand, appears in the Mild and Strong Ales. In a rather smaller amount, just 7% to 8%. Its purpose would be dual, to add both colour and flavour. There was even less in the Black Beers, a mere 5%.

Rather surprisingly, caramel doesn’t turn up in the Black Beers, only the Mild and Strong Ales. In both of the latter, the quantities are quite small. The purpose being colour correction.

The overall average of 12% is a bit below the national average of 16%. Only the two Pale Ales are close to that national figure. 

Youngs adjuncts and sugars in 1939
Beer	Style	flaked oat	malt extract	no. 1 sugar	no. 3 sugar	caramel	total sugar
A	Mild		3.30%		6.60%	0.96%	10.87%
X	Mild		2.21%		7.19%	0.97%	10.37%
PA	Pale Ale		3.23%	12.90%			16.13%
PAB	Pale Ale		2.86%	11.43%			14.29%
P	Porter	5.00%	5.00%		5.00%		10.00%
S	Stout	5.00%	5.00%		5.00%		10.00%
XXX	Strong Ale		2.68%		8.05%	0.75%	11.48%
XXXX	Strong Ale		2.68%		8.05%	0.75%	11.48%
	Average						11.83%
Source:
Young's brewing record held at Battersea Library, document number YO/RE/1/8.

 

Youngs malts in 1939

Time to look under the bonnet at what went into these beers. Bullying off with the malts.

There are quite a lot of base malts. Three in total. Four if you include the enzymic malt. The Mild and Pale Ales all have two base malts. For the Mild Ales, that’s, er, mild malt and pale malt. And for the Pale Ales, PA malt and pale malt. Which, I suppose, has some logic to it.

The Black Beers – Porter and Stout – only have a single base malt: mild malt. The cheapest of the base malts. Which is logical in beers with lots of coloured malts which would obscure the base malt’s flavour.

Enzymic malt, used to lower the pH of the mash, only pops up in the two Pale Ales. Presumably, it wasn’t needed in the other beers ass they contained coloured malts. Youngs were extremely loyal to enzymic malt and were still using it in the 1990s. 

All the beers, other than the Pale Ales, contain some crystal malt. It’s a type of malty which, after WW II, became pretty common in Pale Ales. But before the war, it was pretty well unknown in the style.

There’s lots of roasted malt in the Black Beers: 17.5% in total. That’s split across black and amber malt. It’s a slightly unusual for a London grist. More usual was a combination of black and brown malt. Or, in the case of Whitbread, chocolate malt and brown malt.

Overall, the percentage of malt in the grist is quite high, averaging 87%. Higher than the average for the UK, which was 78%.  

Youngs malts in 1939
Beer	Style	pale malt	black malt	amber malt	mild malt	PA malt	crystal malt	enzymic malt	total malt
A	Mild	13.20%			66.02%		9.90%		89.13%
X	Mild	16.60%			63.07%		9.96%		89.63%
PA	Pale Ale	25.81%				54.84%		3.23%	83.87%
PAB	Pale Ale	32.14%				50.36%		3.21%	85.71%
P	Porter		7.50%	10.00%	60.00%		7.50%		85.00%
S	Stout		7.50%	10.00%	60.00%		7.50%		85.00%
XXX	Strong Ale				80.47%		8.05%		88.52%
XXXX	Strong Ale				80.47%		8.05%		88.52%
	Average								86.92%
Source:
Young's brewing record held at Battersea Library, document number YO/RE/1/8.