Talking and talking

Dolores has made tea before I wake. Again.

“Cup of tea, Ronald?”

“Yes, please. No fear of pissing myself today.”

“Charming.”

“Just being honest.”

I’m intrigued by what the breakfast will offer.

“I wonder if there’ll be bacon.”

“Why?” Dolores asks.

“A breakfast isn’t a breakfast without bacon. Not a proper one”

“That’s just your opinion.”

“And that’s all that really counts.”

“I’m well aware of that.”

It does turn out to be a proper breakfast. With bacon and two types of sausage. Dolores goes for the cold stuff.

“No bacon for you?” I ask.

“You know that I don’t eat bacon. Not for breakfast.”

“I thought you might have seen the light.”

“Fuck off, Ronald.”

“That’s not very ladylike.”

“Fuck off.”

I recreate my preferred Brazilian breakfast: scrambled egg and bacon, followed by fruit. That puts me in a good mood. And the coffee gets me perked up and ready to rock.

Someone comes up and tells me that my ride to Villa Raab, where I’ll be speaking, leaves in six minutes. Just as well I left plenty of time for breakfast. We quickly go upstairs and fetch my laptop, And books. Which I take in the roller bag. As they’re effing heavy.

“We shouldn’t have brought so many bricks with us.”

“Very funny, Ronald.”

Markus Raupach, whom I know from Chile, is also in the minibus. It’s nice to see him again.

When I get to the room, they’re unpacking the beer that will be served while I’m talking. Apart from Fullers IPA, all Sam Smiths beers. Nut Brown Ale, Porter and Imperial Stout.

I fire up my laptop and try to connect it to the massive TV. I’ve plugged in the HDMI cable, without any luck. Someone from the hotel comes to my aid. Rolling down the screen to which the HDMI cable really connects. I’m glad it was so easy to sort out.

Ninety minutes are scheduled for the talk. On the history of UK beer styles. Including any questions. I should be able to fill that. Once I get started, I’m hard to stop.

The talk goes pretty well. Though I’m having so much fun rambling on, that I need to rush the last part a bit. I could easily have gone on for two hours.

I shift a decent number of books. Which is good. Dolores is pleased. And that’s what is most important. I never want to piss her off.

The people from the next talk start setting up. Bringing lots of cheese. Rather smelly cheese. At first, I wonder if I remembered to change my socks this morning. Before realising that the cheesy smell is coming from, er, cheese.

We’re taken back to the castle. Where we’ve a few hours before my second talk. We spend some of it in the tent in the courtyard, where we have lunch: Eupener bratwurst and mashed spuds. Not exactly gourmet fare. It fills a hole, though.

My second talk is in a smaller room in the castle museum. Which is in a building about 50 metres away from the castle itself. It only holds about twenty people.

It’s a new talk I wrote especially for this event. On brewing in the DDR. I had so much fun writing it. Partly because I already had pretty much all of the material I needed. Only having to top it up a little with some extra details from Kunze’s “Technologie Brauer und Mälzer”. One of my favourite books and favourite technical authors.

Having Dolores along is handy. As she actually drank some of the beers I’m describing. Every now and again I call on her for comments.

The audience seems quite surprised by some of the information. DDR brewing having fallen out of consciousness and, to some extent, been written out of history. Which is a shame, as it’s an important part of post-war German brewing. Not just a temporary aberration.

I don’t shift as many books after I’m done yapping. But I do have some good conversations with audience members.

“I feel like a lie down now.” I tell Dolores.

“That’s OK.”

“We oldie people need our naps.”

“Speak for yourself.” 

Back in our room, I don’t in fact sleep. Deciding to watch the rugby. The Ireland vs Scotland game. Which is on ITV. Necessitating firing up their iplayer. As the game is most of the way through, I opt to watch the programme from the beginning,

Just one problem. There’s more than an hour of people talking bollocks before the game starts. And I can’t fast forward through the nonsense. Fuck.

I have a quick draught of hotel whisky to ease my annoyance. It helps. But not much.

Eventually, the fat men start chasing the funny-shaped ball around.

Dolores nipped to the local supermarket earlier. And picked up more rolls, cheese and shit. On which we dine lavishly.

“Do you want some of the Korean chicken?”

“Can do. How hot is it now?”

“Like Russian roulette. Some pieces are OK, some hot as hell.”

“I’ll chance it.”

The piece I pick is towards the hell end of the spectrum. About as hot as I can eat with pleasure.

There’s a sort of end-of-event piss-up at the Bürgerhaus. Where home brewers will be serving their beers. It kicks off at 20:15.

It’s a short walk away from the castle. The supermarket is on the way and we drop in. For supplies for the train tomorrow. And some emergency whisky. Got to have some of that.

The Bürgerhaus is very busy. I have trouble making my way to one of the bars. Someone grabs hold of me and guides me to his bar. Where he has a couple of bottles of 1980s Berliner Weisse for me. From the DDR.

We open one of the bottles and share it. For a beer that’s forty years old it’s in incredible condition. Not oxidised at all. And very complex. Really rather wonderful. The other bottle I get to take with me. Which is so cool.

Moving along, Markus takes me to the bar where the brewer from Lemke is. He has a bottle of Bock-strength Berliner Weisse for me.

“I’ve been trying persuade someone to brew one of these for years. Without any luck.”

I’m so happy to get my hands on one. Dead intrigued as to how it will taste.

It’s all a bit too crowded for me in the room where the beers are being served. I’ve been standing too long, too. Fortunately, there’s seating in an adjoining room. And a couple of free seats. Me and Dolores sit down.

No need to get up and fetch beer. People keep bringing it to me. Like a yummy Stout that’s a couple of years old and brewed to one of my recipes. And a very good Barley Wine brewed in collaboration with Henry Kirk. Christoph brings over his Session IPA, which he’s serving via handpump. Very tasty, too.

People also drop by for a chat. It’s all very sociable. And lots of fun. Dolores seems to be enjoying herself, too. Finding plenty of people to talk to. I’m glad she isn’t getting bored.

I’m given a bottle of home-brewed Berliner Weisse. It’s getting to be quite a Berliner Weisse evening. Which is no bad thing.

We leave at around 11:00. I can’t be doing with late nights anymore. It’s been a long day, too. With my first beer at 10:00. I need some rest.

“What did you think of the weekend, Dolores?” I ask as we walk back to the castle.

“I enjoyed it. The atmosphere was really good. Everyone was very friendly.”

“What about the beer?”

“Most of it was good. And it was free. I liked that.”

“Free beer tastes the best.”

“Exactly.”

“You weren’t bored?”

“No. There were plenty of people to talk to.”

“That’s good to know.”

It really is. The last thing I want to do is piss off Dolores. That never ends well.

The castle looks magical in the darkness. A patch of the outer wall illuminated blood-red.

Emergency whisky is my slumber helper.



Bürgerhaus Romrod
Zeller Str. 9, 
36329 Romrod.
 

 

A video of my time at the Heimbrau Convention.

Still judging

I rise at 6:30 feeling much better than yesterday. After a solid eight hours of kip. It’s amazing what a good sleep can do. Just waking up is a positive at my age. You never know when it may not happen. I’m downstairs by 7:15.

I have my usual breakfast. Call me Mr. Boring. I don’t care. It’s what I want to eat. And I’ll fucking eat it. That’s the great thing about being old. Not really having to give a fuck what anyone thinks.

I’m sitting with Jose. The chat turns to yeast with the bloke on the next table who has a yeast company. I meet such interesting people at these things. And learn interesting stuff. In the Anglosphere, the discussion rarely turns to South American beer. A shame.

For me, it’s one of the most interesting regions of the beer world. Lots of very enthusiastic people trying out lots of stuff. Some of which works. Like Catherina Sour, which I think is a wonderful style. So drinkable. And so lovable.

Back over at Überbräu, I’m on the same judging table as yesterday, with Suzanne and Alan. I’m happy with that. We rattled through the flights yesterday. Coming to a consensus without much argument. Which saves much time. And annoyance. Especially annoyance. The last thing I need is extra stress.

In charge of beer service is Matteo. A livelily friendly young man. With whom I chatted a bit at the barbecue yesterday.

Lots of flights this morning. Fortunately, mostly very small flights.

We start with fruited wheat. Just two samples. Both pretty good.

Scotch Ale. One sample. Pretty nice. A perfect breakfast beer. 

American Pale Ale. Six samples. Loads of hops.

Session IPA Not the greatest flight. Lots of oxidation. One or two decent ones.

Dorada Pampeana. One Sample. A type of beer from Argentina. Lucky that we have an Argentinian on the table to explain it to us.

Dutch-style Koyt. One sample. Pretty decent.

German-style Rye Ale. One sample. Tastes right to me. Quite similar to the Thurm und Taxis Roggebier.

We finish at 11:00. Or, rather, we think we do. Matteo gets us one more flight.

Wood and Barrel-aged beers. Six samples, three of which are based on Wee Heavy. The Wee Heavies are so good, I finish all of them. Just to get me in the mood for lunch. My plan works.

We finish at 11:42. A victory for common sense.

Lunch isn’t at the judging location today. We’re whisked off to a restaurant, Boca e Uva, in taxis. At first, I think we’re going back to the hotel, when we pull into the street it’s on. In fact, we’re headed to a place just a little past it. 

It’s a buffet, obviously. This is Brazil and it is lunchtime. A bit more choice than on other days. It’s OK. I get some meat and some salad. Which pretty much describes what I always collect from a buffet. And an orange juice to wash it down.

After lunch, there’s a real treat. Non-alcoholic beers. Six samples. All three sour styles are pretty good. With the Catharina Sour the pick of the bunch. The best non-alcoholic beer I’ve ever drunk. Which may be quite a low bar. Or was. It’s been raised considerably now.

That was much better than expected. Some flights of alcoholic beers were far worse. Not sure what that tells us.

There’s then a long wait for the pre-BOS. Like two fucking hours. Such fun sitting and sweating. Watching Match of the Day helps pass a little time.

I’m doing the pre-BOS of English styles with fellow Dutchman Ferry Wijnhoven. At 16:50. Just four beers arrive:

British-style IPA
Special Bitter
Dark Mild
Robust Porter.

This should be nice and quick. Oh no, that was a mistake. It's actually 14 beers. Fuck.

It does turn out to be fairly painless. Only complicated by the fact that most of the beers are excellent. I quite like the English IPA and the Dark Mild. Though we settle on the Imperial Stout as the winner. It’s a lovely beer.

We’re done at 17:18. And I can fuck off back to the hotel. Totally knacked again.

I have some time to relax in my room. Which I really fucking need. Excuse the swearing. I’m feeling stressed. Weirdly, the hanging around seems to take more out of me than the judging. 

That should be the last stress of the trip. No more judging. Just a couple of days relaxing to come.

Some judges are going to the Madero steakhouse tonight. I decide to tag along.  I could do with some more meat. Can’t remember the last time I ate some. It’s so hard to get hold of here in Brazil.

I bump into Tina Rogers outside the hotel. She’s headed the same way. We share an Uber. 

The restaurant is in a shopping centre. Most of the others haven't arrived when we get there. It’s fairly spacious. Reasonably posh. And not very full.

For a while just Tina and me sit on a large table. Drinking caipirinhas, as they don't have any decent beer. And I like drinking caipirinhas. Who doesn’t? Weirdos, that’s who.  Anyway, I’ve had enough of beer after the last couple of days.

There are ten of us eventually. A very international bunch, a mix of South Americans and Europeans. Which is always fun. One of the reasons I enjoy judging so much, mixing with people from diverse locations. The main reason I love it, now I come to think of it. The actual judging can be as much fun as sandpapering your bollocks.

I order a picanha steak and chips. Medium rare, of course. It's very tasty. And goes well with a caipirinha. Well, anything goes well with a caipirinha. Even better with two caipirinhas. Or three. Or four. Any number, really.

We stay until around 10:15, then get Ubers back to the hotel.

I don't stay up long. Even though I can sleep in tomorrow. Just a quick draught of gut-rot cachaça to push me down the hill to unconsciousness.



Madero Steak House Uberlândia
Av. João Naves de Ávila, 1331
Tibery, Uberlândia
MG, 38408-902.
https://www.restaurantemadero.com.br/pt/restaurante



Disclaimer: Concurso Brasileiro de Cervejas paid for my hotel, some meals and some drinks during my stay in Uberlandia. 

Lots more judging

I rise at 6:30 after a shit sleep. A shower livens me up a little. A little.

A coffee helps some, too. But I only get the one before the coffee machine breaks. Bum.

My breakfast main course is scrambled egg and cheese once more. I’m sitting with Jose again.

“I see you’re trying the white cheese. Do you like it?” He asks.

“Yes. Much better than the yellow stuff.”

Which it is.  Like cottage cheese formed into a solid lump. Still very soft. The yellow cheese is very plasticy. And pretty tasteless.

The judges’ bus is at 8:00 again. Sort of. It’s close enough. We’re in South America, after all. No point in getting hung up on exact timings.

I’m on table 7 today. Where Suzanne Schalow is captain. The other judge is Alan Iglesias, a brewer from Argentina.

We start with a mini-BOS of American Malt Liquor. A couple of OK ones. Quite an alcoholic start to the day. Not totally sure about what a Malt Liquor is. Other than a strongish Pale Lager.

Our scores are quite a long way apart. With mine being particularly low. I’m rather a mean scorer. If beers have faults, which many do I’m pretty ruthless.

More Lager next. Slightly weaker stuff: Dortmunder Export. There are a couple of pretty good ones. Rather surprisingly. Pale Lagers are difficult to get right. And quite fragile. Which isn’t great when beer isn’t kept refrigerated the whole time.

We jump up in strength again. With Double IPA. Pretty good generally. With a couple of outstanding beers. Though they’re quite hard on my tastebuds.

There’s no letting up on the strength: English Barley Wine. A couple of real crackers in this set. As I can’t stand wasting good beer, I finish off the best samples.

American Imperial Porter. Another really good flight.

Lunch. I’m not particularly hungry. Not surprising, given all the big, chewy beers I’ve tasted this morning. At least we kept up a good pace. We got through five decent-sized flights. Have we caught up yet? Probably not. I eat some stuff simply as ballast rather than with any great joy.

Back to judging. Fuck. It’s Irish Red Ale. Even less fun to judge than non-alcoholic beers. The six or seven times I’ve judged them, I’ve never had one that was even half decent. This lot aren’t quite as terrible as usual. A couple are almost drinkable. Almost. Out of twelve samples.

Czech Dark Lager. four samples, one quite good.

Followed by an hour wait. Then more flights in quick succession.

Belgian style Witbier. six samples. Some OK ones.

Wild Beer. five samples. Mostly with Brettanomyces. Quite a difficult flight to judge.

West Coast IPA. Eleven samples. Eleven fucking samples! After all the strong beers we’ve judged today. My palate has gone. They all taste the same. Which I hate. I always want to do justice to the beers I’m judging. I defer to the other judges.

I've already packed away my laptop, when we're asked to judge another flight. Aargh. I thought I'd escaped. Fuck. Luckily, it’s a very small flight. Of a style so obscure, even I don’t know what it’s supposed to be like.

Breslau-Style Schoeps. Two samples.

And we’re really done. Just to make sure, I pack up quickly and head for the exit. Don’t want them dragging me into judging yet another flight.

I'm so fucking knacked. We’ve judged so many beers today. And lots of strong ones. I never want to drink beer again. I’m so done with it. I just want to drink some cachaça and sleep.

Back at the hotel, I'm tempted to skip the barbecue at Captain Brew and just get some food from the supermarket. Then I see that it isn't open. I'd forgotten it was Sunday. Barbecue it is, then.

I'm half way through arranging an Uber when another judge asks me if I want a lift. That's handy.

There's the lovely smell of cooking meat when I enter. That perks me up a bit. I get myself an IPA. One brewed here. It’s perfectly fine. Hitting the spot without pummelling it to death. With enough alcohol to keep my interest.

I’m offered a taste of Einbecker Maibock which a German judge has brought over. Then a Bayerischer Bahnhof Gose. 

"It's not sour enough." I complain. As usual. I can be a real pain in the arse. I should learn to keep my gob shut. Particularly when people are giving me beer.

I find myself a seat. because, well, I'm well knacked. Platters of meat appear. And are quickly consumed.

I get chatting to Matteo, who’s been organising the beers for our judging table. A really nice bloke, full of energy. As young people tend to be.

Someone brings around Paraguayan rum. Which is very nice. And nicely alcoholic.

I leave a little after 21:00. Back in the hotel, I sip dodgy cachaça and watch the rest of Match of the Day. And crash out not much after 10. I need sleep.



Captain Brew
R. Marieta de Castro Santos, 135
Altamira, Uberlândia
MG, 38411-004.



Disclaimer: Concurso Brasileiro de Cervejas paid for my hotel, some meals and some drinks during my stay in Uberlandia. 

 

A video of my time in Uberlandia. 

Exhibit of Foreign and Colonial Beers

An argument that's often been thrown at me in defence of rigid beer style guidelines is that you can't hold beer competitions without them. Even though plenty occurred in the past. For example, the event we're looking at today. Despite it's title as an exhibition, there was a competitive element to it as the beers were given scores.

The exhibition was the idea of a Mr. Boake.

Seldom has a collection of greater interest to the trade been on view in London than the display of foreign and Colonial beers at the works of Messrs. A. Boake, Roberts, and Co., Stratford, between October the 20th and 24th. Great praise is due to Mr. Arthur Boake for having in his recent tour round the world conceived the idea-'of making arrangements with the various brewery companies he visited for the getting together of such an interesting collection; nor must we omit to mention the very excellent way in which this idea was carried into effect. The beers were most tastefully arranged, and every facility was given to those who were present at the exhibition to inspect and taste as many of the samples as they desired.
The Brewers' Journal vol. 38 1902, November 15th 1902, page 672.

In total, there were around 80 beers exhibited. Coming from Europe, Asia, America, Africa and Australia. Which is pretty impressive given that all would have been shipped by sea. Something which would have taken weeks or even months in 1902. Coordinating the deliveries from all the different parts of the globe must have been a nightmare. I assume that it was mostly arranged by telegram.

I found this an interesting remark on pasteurised beer:

The lager beers of France and Belgium were on the whole very creditable samples; we certainly preferred the non-Pasteurised to tne Pasteurised, as the latter had for the most part the peculiar flavour characteristic of some Pasteurised beers which obscured their original taste.
The Brewers' Journal vol. 38 1902, November 15th 1902, page 672.

I think I'm with the jury there on pasteurisation.

Slightly weird knowing that I've drunk beer from some of the breweries mentioned. In a couple of cases, even the specific beer.

A good dark lager beer was the Trappist Monastery beer (Holland). Some of the Russian beers were excellent of their kind. A dark lager from the Brasserie Francois Lutoslawski Fils was a very full-drinking sample, resembling the Munich "Salvator Bier” in type, but decidedly sweeter. We determined the original gravity of a sample of this beer, and found it to be 1090. The Lezak beer of a Warsaw firm was a fine pale lager, but quite different from the German pale beers in character, being much fuller. Messrs. D. Carnegie and Co., Goteborg, Sweden, sent a very good sample of stout.
The Brewers' Journal vol. 38 1902, November 15th 1902, page 672.

Was the La Trappe beer really a Lager? Odd that it's the only Dutch beer represented, as it was pretty small. Also odd that they were exporting to Java.

That Lutoslawski must have been incredibly sweet if it was sweeter than Salvator. Interesting that they, correctly, call Carnegie Porter a Stout. Which, of corse, it was. That's one of the specific beers featured that I've drunk.

Interested in seeing a full list of the beers exhibited? I don't know why I'm asking. I'll be posting them whether you like it or not.

Beer in the DDR in he 1980s (part two)

More about the wonderful world of beer in the DDR. One of my favourite countries. Especially East Berlin, one of the most exciting cities I've ever visited. It's such a shame that there's only a parody version now. You can get an idea of what it used to be like here.

Some trends in beer were the same in both halves of Germany. Like the move from draught to bottled beer.

Favorite: bottled beer
As more beer is drunk, the proportion of bottled beer is also increasing. It is between 60 and 70 percent and shows an increasing trend. This is understandable, because drinking habits have also changed due to greater living comfort. As already mentioned, people like to drink their bottle at home. The breweries and the glass industry have to adapt to these new material and cultural needs. Filling systems with higher performance are required. The systems used in the GDR are able to fill 24,000 bottles per hour; further developments have already made it possible to fill up to 48,000 bottles per hour. It should be mentioned that people are not just drinking more beer. The Berlin State Beverage Office can also see an increasing trend in non-alcoholic specialties. But let's stick with beer, which is truly a people's drink and will remain so.
"Rund ums Bier" by Emil Ulischberger, Leipzig, 1986, page 50.

Though it was best to drink your bottles quickly. Most beer had a very short shelf-life. Not much more than a week. For Eisenacher Helles, even that was a bit of a stretch.

These are the official DDR beer types.

Browsing through the quality regulations
The GDR's quality regulations for beer recognize Einfachbier (Jungbier and Braunbier as well as Malzbier) with an original gravity of 2.9 to 3.1 percent. Counted as Schankbier was Weißbier, which unfortunately is only available regionally (Berlin, Jena) (original gravity 8.7 to 9.3 percent). Considered as Vollier are Helles (11 to 11.5 percent), Doppelkaramel (11.7 to 12.3 percent), Schwarzbier (11.7 to 12.3 percent), Diabetiker-Pils (11 to 11.5 percent), Deutsche Pilsner (12.5 to 13 percent) , Deutsche Pilsner Spezial (12.5 to 13.3 percent), Deutsches Pilsator (12.5 to 13 percent) and Märzenbier (13.7 to 14.3 percent). Starkbier, the light and dark Bock beers, have an original gravity of 15.7 to 16.3 percent, while the German Porter is the strongest at 17.7 to 18.3 percent, even though it is brewed very rarely.
"Rund ums Bier" by Emil Ulischberger, Leipzig, 1986, pages 50 - 51.

I realise that's not a complete list, as it misses out Dunkles. Not that I ever came across it. The same with Märzen. Though I've seen labels for both.

Where East and West Germany did differ was in the most popular styles. In the West, Pils was by far the most popular style, accounting for 57.5% of sales in 1989.*

The main share of production (at around 57 percent) in our breweries is Vollbier hell, which is commonly referred to as “helles”, followed by the Deutsche Pilsner with around 30 percent and Pilsner Spezial with around 8 percent. The other types of beer share the remaining percentage. For example, only 11,600 hectolitres of Porter are brewed in the GDR, a tiny amount considering the 23 million hectolitres of beer we produce overall. The few remaining percentages also include the so-called “AUBI”, the beer for drivers with an alcohol content that remains below one percent. It is mainly served where many motorists come, namely in motorway service stations. You hear different opinions from those who have already drunk it. Whether it will catch on remains to be seen. In any case, there are no experiences yet that could be generalized. Production is still limited and one thing is certain: everyone wants to try it at least once.
"Rund ums Bier" by Emil Ulischberger, Leipzig, 1986, page 51.

That's the first time I've seen any figure put on the quantity of Porter brewed in the DDR. Fuck all, really. Which  makes it odd that I actually did get to drink it once.

* Brauwelt nr. 46-47 (2006) page 1431.
 

Cairnes Single Stout grists 1914 – 1923

A Cairnes Special Export Irish Stout label

Back to work, eh? Looking at all the the nutty bolty stuff.

I always try to have a purpose behind all my posts. Usually, that's a book. Either it's part of my research for a book, an excerpt or a recipe that's going into a book. Which is where the Irish material I'm going through throw up a problem. What book is it going in?

The most obvious - and simple - solution would be to start a book called "Ireland!". That would make a lot of sense. But I'm not going to do it. No, not just to be awkward or contrary. I don't feel that I know enough to start on it. My mind is full of unanswered questions about Irish brewing. Far too early to be confident about writing a book about it.

Perhaps I'll feel differently when I've finished going through all the brewing records I photographed earlier this year. Or maybe not. I only got about halfway through the Murphy's records. And I wouldn't mind looking at the ones of Beamish & Crawford, too.

Before I started writing my series of books on UK brewing, I'd already completed a huge amount of the research. All that was left, was filling in a few holes. Nothing that affected the overall picture. I'm far away from that situation when it comes to Ireland.

If you can remember my earlier question, stuff like this is being stored as a future update. In this case, to "Armistice!". Not totally sure where I'd put it. I'm sure I'll be able to find some way of hammering it in. Ireland probably deserves its own chapter, at least. With the restrictions being different there.

Now let’s look at what went into Cairnes Single Stout.  It’s not particularly complicated. Especially when we compare it with Fullers Porter.

Only three elements graced the mash tun: pale malt, roast barley and flaked maize. Which is pretty minimal. And the last of those three wasn’t omnipresent, disappearing for a while in 1918 and 1919. The quantity used having already been drastically reduced.

Interestingly, the percentage of malt increased quite a lot in 1917, coinciding with the reduction and then elimination of flaked maize. This was presumably a reaction to supply difficulties with maize as the German U-boat campaign hotted up.

The proportion of roast barley remained very constant at around 7%, other than for a bit of a wobble in the early 1920s, when it dropped as low as 4% and then shot up to 10%. Not sure why that was.

Looking at Fullers grists, there are some similar patterns. Though their recipes were way more complicated.

There were three malts, the classic London combination of pale, brown and black malt. Though the total amount is similar to at Cairnes, starting at around 70%, rising to a peak of over 90% in 1917.  This was presumably in response to restrictions in supply of maize and sugar.

Which brings us to flaked maize. It kicks off the war at a much lower level than at Cairnes, just a little under 3%. And, just as at Cairnes, it disappears in the later war years.

The other adjunct, oats, appears in tiny quantities, purely for legal purposes so that some of the Stout it was parti-gyled with could be sold as Oatmeal Stout. The larger quantities which appear in 1918 were in the form of oat husks. Not sure if they would get any extract out of those. But why else would they be used?

Cairnes Single Stout grists 1914 - 1923
Date	Year	pale malt	roast barley	flaked maize	glucose	caramel
1st Jan	1914	74.45%	6.50%	9.93%	8.82%	0.30%
1st Sep	1914	70.03%	7.74%	13.34%	8.89%
7th Jan	1915	71.37%	7.22%	12.69%	8.72%
2nd Oct	1916	79.62%	7.11%	13.27%
3rd May	1917	79.62%	7.11%	13.27%
7th Jun	1917	87.83%	6.84%	5.32%
1st Nov	1917	87.83%	6.84%	5.32%
3rd Jan	1918	86.70%	6.88%	6.42%
2nd May	1918	91.17%	6.74%	2.10%
3rd Oct	1918	93.33%	6.67%
3rd Feb	1919	93.33%	6.67%
2nd Oct	1919	85.42%	7.46%	7.12%
1st Jan	1920	89.05%	7.66%	3.30%
15th Apr	1920	87.33%	7.37%	5.29%
4th Oct	1920	81.76%	8.54%	9.28%		0.41%
3rd Oct	1921	95.33%	3.91%			0.76%
2nd Feb	1922	76.04%	10.18%	12.64%		1.13%
1st Jan	1923	89.36%	8.51%			2.13%
Sources:
Cairnes brewing records held at the Guinness archives, document numbers GDB/SUB/0022 and GDB/BR17/1257.

Fullers Porter grists 1914 - 1925
Date	Year	pale malt	brown malt	black malt	total malt	flaked maize	oats	total adjuncts
18th Nov	1914	53.88%	11.34%	3.78%	69.00%	2.84%	0.91%	3.75%
17th Feb	1915	60.25%	12.91%	6.46%	79.62%	3.59%	0.49%	4.08%
2nd Jun	1916	52.53%	12.51%	8.76%	73.80%	3.75%	0.46%	4.21%
4th Aug	1916	60.06%	14.71%	11.03%	85.80%	4.90%	0.55%	5.45%
12th Apr	1917	58.54%	13.77%	8.61%	80.92%	5.16%		5.16%
9th Aug	1917	67.38%	14.97%	11.23%	93.58%			0.00%
5th Jan	1918	61.66%	14.09%	10.57%	86.33%		5.29%	5.29%
19th Apr	1918	45.10%	11.28%	8.05%	64.44%		9.67%	9.67%
14th Jan	1919	59.73%	12.80%	8.53%	81.06%			0.00%
10th Feb	1920	59.66%	12.97%	9.08%	81.70%	6.48%		6.48%
16th Jun	1925	64.15%		8.44%	72.59%	8.44%	0.66%	9.10%
Source:
Fullers brewing records held at the brewery.

 

 

Tetley hops in 1888

Around two thirds of the hops employed by Tetley were English. Specifically, from either Kent or Worcester. Not really a surprise as they were the two largest hop-producing regions in the UK.

Unusually, all the foreign hops were European. Remember that the USA was by far the largest foreign supplier of imported hops. I wonder if the brewers at Tetley didn’t care for the flavour of American hops?

The foreign sources were quite odd. Two of the four types were German. But not the fashionable German types such as Hallertau or Spalt. Instead, they came from Alsace and Altmark. The other foreign suppliers were Burgundy, a small hop region in the North of France, and Austria. Never seen the latter before. Do they mean Bohemian?

Tetley hops in 1888
Beer	Style	hop 1	hop 2	hop 3	hop 4	hop 5
X	Mild	Kent 1886	Kent 1887	Alsace 1886	Altmark 1887
X1	Mild	Kent 1886	Kent 1887	Alsace 1886	Altmark 1887
X2	Mild	Kent 1886	Alsace 1886
X3	Mild	Kent 1886	Kent 1887	Worcester 1887	Burgundy 1887
K	Pale Ale	Kent 1887	Worcester 1886	Worcester 1887	Worcester 1887	Burgundy 1887
PA	Pale Ale	Kent 1887	Worcester 1886	Worcester 1887	Burgundy 1887
P	Porter	Kent 1886	Austrian 1886
S	Stout	Kent 1886	Alsace 1886
Source:
Tetley brewing record held at the West Yorkshire Archives, document number WYL756/44/ACC1903.

 

 

1980 DDR beer strength

The 1980 version of TGL 7764 doesn't list the alcohol content  of the beers. But, as it does give the OG and rate of attenuatio0n, it's pretty easy to work it out. Especially if, like me, you already have all the necessary calculations plugged into spreadsheet.

It's all much what you would expect. With Berliner Weisse around 3% ABV, Hell a bit over 4%, Pilsner around 5%, and Bock 6-6.5%. Compared to the West, the Hell and Weizenbier are slightly weaker. The other styles, however, are roughly in line with what occurred on the other side of the Inner German Border.

The bottom limit for Vollbier was lower in the DDR - in the West it was 11º Plato. A beer at the lower DDR limit of 10.5º Plato wouldn't have been allowed in West Germany, nor would extra. Beers weren't permitted to be brewed to gravities between the top limit for Schankbier (8º Plato) anf the lower limit for Volbier (11º Plato).

1980 DDR beer strength
Type	min OG Plato	max OG Plato	app. Atten-uation	min ABV	max ABV
Dunkel (Einfachbier)	5.8	6.2	65	1.93	2.06
Weißbier	7	8	75	2.70	3.10
Extra	8.5	9.3	75	3.30	3.63
Hell	10.5	11	75	4.13	4.33
Edel-Bräu Hell	10.5	11	75	4.13	4.33
Dunkel (Vollbier)	10.5	11	75	4.13	4.33
Schwarzbier	11.7	12.3	70	4.32	4.56
Deutsches Pilsner	12	12.5	75	4.75	4.97
Deutsches Pilsator	12	12.5	78	4.94	5.16
Deutsches Pilsner Spezial	12	12.5	78	4.94	5.16
Märzen	13.7	14.3	70	5.11	5.36
Weizenbier	11.5	12	75	4.54	4.75
Weißer Bock or Bockbier Hell	15.7	16.3	75	6.35	6.61
Dunkler Bock or Bockbier Dunkel	15.7	16.3	72	6.10	6.35
Deutscher Porter	17.7	18.3	64	6.18	6.41
Source:
1980 TGL 7764, pages 9 - 10.