No German beer in Paris yet

I love old brewing magazines. It's not just the statistics. There's loads of other weird stuff, too.

I've been spending the few quiet moments I snatch in the evening browsing "The Brewers' Journal" of 1940. I know. I should stop living in the past. Especially the two wars. But I just can't help myself.

The reports of former Paris correspondent of "The Brewers' Journal" are particularly striking. France in the immediate aftermath of the German occupation is not something I've heard much about before. This aricle was written in September 1940.

"Cafés and bistros are re-opening, and the large numbers of German soldiers and "tourists" brought to Paris, Nancy, Rheims, Chartres and other centres make for a substantial rise in consumption. The German news agencies may issue stories of the continued search for a non-alcoholic beer substitute, German men and women may be exhorted to follow the Fuehrer's example and drink only "weak lemonade or fizzy water", in the Paris cafés German visitos, officers and men insist on beer. Even wine is not equally popular, and as to apéritifs, the invaders consider them with utmost distrust.

Some importers and large café proprietors have endeavoured to obtain German beer. They placed orders with Munich, Berlin and other firms with whom they had done some trade before the war, but the German breweries cannot supply them. The chief obstacle seems to be just the factor which propmpted the French to invite the supplies - they wish to rid themselves of the Mark notes which they are accumulating. The German "customers" pay in mark exchange for the sumptuous meals which they take in French restaurants or coffee-houses, and the proprietors' anxiety to pass on these notes as soon as they can will be appreciated. The authorities in Germany, however, seem in no hurry to send such beer as they have, and see their marks come back in return. We cannot say whether this is also true of the Alsace and Lorraine districts. It is not unlikely that there supplies can be obtained from the Mannheim and Kehl breweries."
"The Brewers' Journal 1940" page 727.

The idea of German tourists in wartime Paris is rather weird. Though forcing people to accept their ultimately worthless mark notes isn't such a surprise. The nazis did practice a weird type of financial policy. It seems to have been mostly based on theft of one kind or another. All good stuff for my film "Vive la Résistance!" I'll do my best to work some of this in. The hero is, after all, a café owner.

Decline in pub licences 1905 - 1952

I managed to unearth some more figures for pub closures. I though I'd share them with you.

This particular set of figures highlights the forced closures caused by the authorities revoking licences. They appear in the "refused" columns. Pubs that closed for economic reasons are in the "Licences lapsed" column.


The decline was sharpest in the first period covered, almost 7,000 pubs at an average of just under 27 a week. The next five years were barely any better, with over 22 pubs closing each weak. Not much fewer than 12,000 pubs disappeared in just 10 years.

Things aren't quite as bad as that yet. We'll need to wait another 9 years to see if the first decades of the 21st century will be as bad for pubs as those at the start of the 20th century. I hope they aren't.

Even more on C Ale

"A Short History of our National Beverage" arrived yesterday. It's a little pamphlet put out by Groves & Whitnall in the 1930's. You can probably guess why I bought it.

Sure enough, C Ale gets a mention. This is the paragraph describing Groves & Whitnall's bottled beers:

"Burton itself cannot produce anything which, in its class, is superior to our Bitter Beer. Our famous "C" Ale is similar to the best Burton "Mild". Our strong Old Ale or "Barley Wine" stands pre-eminent and apart from all others, and our "Special" Ale in bottle is fittingly described by its title."

So C Ale was like a Burton Mild. That's progress, of a kind. I wonder what exactly they mean by a Burton Mild?

Pub closures

Time for a "putting things into perspective" post. On the topic of disappearing pubs.

Things soon get hyped up. Especially when newspapers get involved. They love throwing around terms like "unprecedented" and "never before". It applies to more than just the beer worrld, but I'm limiting myself. To just pubs.

"Pubs closing at an unprecedented rate." That's the current refrain. But how true is it? I just happen to have the figures for the number of pubs in England and Wales for the period 1900 to 2004. Let's take a look at them, shall we?

In 1900 there were 102,189 pubs in England and Wales. That's the time when local magistrates were actively trying to reduce the number of pubs. You can see just how successful they were. By 1920 there were just 83,432, a drop of 18,757. On average, just over 2.5 pubs closed every day throughout that 20 year period. While at the same time the population increased by 16%. While in 1900 there were 298 people per pub, by 1920 it was 422. So, taking into account population changes, the number of pubs fell by a massive 41%.

After 1920, the number of pubs continued to decline, but at a much slower rate. The nadir was reached in 1972, when just 63,732 remained. That's slightly more than one a day.



The next bit is what surprised me. The number of pubs then began to increase again. In 2004, the last year I've got figures for, it was up to 81,455. An increase of 17,723, a rate of 1.5 new pubs per day. All the pub losses from the 1920's to the 1970's had bee wiped out. I was gob-smacked when I realised that the number of pubs had been increasing all through my drinking life.

This graph makes the long-term trends very clear:



It's sad that many landlords are losing their businesses and their homes. But let's not get hysterical. The rate of closures isn't "unprecedented". Painful, but not unprecedented.

Let's Brew Wednesday - 1877 Whitbread KKK

Another K Ale this week. A Strong Ale, I suppose you would call it.

And when they say Strong Ale, they mean it. This has a OG of over 1080, yet it was brewed as a draught beer. Victorians probably saw it as a session beer. But they were made of stronger stuff than us moderns.

In the middle of the 19th century, London brewers had two parallel lines of Ales. X Ales and K Ales. They were essentially the same, except the K Ales were much more heavily hopped. Initially there were X, XX, XXX, XXXX and KK, KKK, KKKK. These were pared down and by 1900 brewers like Whitbread and Barclay Perkins brewed just X, KK, KKK and sometimes KKKK.

Here's Kristen with all the brewy details . . .


1877 Whitbread KKK
Whit 1877 KKK...I love this one as I've made it before numerous times. It was one of the first I did with the KKK and KK. Just a little different. The one is actually really special b/c the logs aren't the normal Whitbread ones. This one seems to stem from the head brewers personal log book. Much more simply laid out but missing a lot of the detail that the whole logs have. So, the volumes are kind of screwy but the end result is the same. This beer has a massive quantity of what is called 'return' which accounts for a lot of the volume. The return is basically spare water thats ran through the grist to get everything out of it. When you think about this beer it tastes very very similar to the Thomas Sykes ale just a little big lower in alcohol.

So...on to the recipe then.

Grist and such
One of the simplest grain bills. A pale malt and simple invert #1. I very much like Maris otter for this as it gives probably the best character for strong English beers. I guess you could swap in some Golden Promise but it will lend a biscuit character. Stay away from Halcyon, Optic and any US if at all possible. For the invert, make your own using turbinado or just use Lyles Golden syrup...its close enough.
Mash
If you are paying attention to numbers at all you'll see that the apparent attenuation is only 60%. We'll that all comes from here. The mash temp is really high at 156F so if you feel like your are uncomfortable drop it down to 153...you'll miss a lot of this beers character. There are plenty of dextrins in this sucker to make it very robust.

Hops
Nearly 6lb of hops per barrel! Holy trucker...this thing has so many hops in it I guarantee that the IBU count is off. They are all very very fresh and all very very English. Nothing is listed for dry hopping but I would assume that there would be at least 2-4oz per bbl so go ahead and experiment.

Fermentation
Quite an extended fermentation for the time in that it took about 7 days. It starts quite low at 61F but then gets up to 71F quite quickly. With the Whitbread yeast there will be a bunch of fruity esters and just a touch of higher alcohol from the temperature.





Tasting notes
Beaming golden orange. Honey-glazed sugar cookies. Ginger spice and a touch of Angostura. Pears, apples and peaches. Hints of alcohol pepper but not hot. Luscious, rich and velvety on the back end. Drying hop resins and a punch of bitterness keeps the sweetness from being cloying.

Bohemian lager in 1886

I've just remembered. This is supposed to be a summer of lager, not a summer of merchandising. Time to plunge my hand into the gravity table pot and see what I pull out.

Let's see what this is. Not too fat and not too sticky. Should do. It even illustrates a point. Perfatasterrific. Here we go then, some Bohemian lagers analysed in 1886.

Exactly what point might that be? I hear you ask. The Czech love of výčepní pivo. Schankbier if you're a German-speaker. Or desítka. The lagers below are unusually weak for everywhere except the Czech Republic. Just 9º or 10º Plato. And under 4% ABV. You wouldn't have found any lagers that weak in Bavaria.

The attenuation is surprisingly low, too. For a majority, it's less than 70%. My guess is that today it would be closer to 80%.

I wonder how many of the breweries still exist?


More lager fun on the way.

Unless I change my mind again.

Tacky Merchandise

Not enough of you have been buying. It's time to tart my Shut up about Barclay Perkins range of Tacky Merchandise again.

Who can live without a mouse mat depicting a Barclay Perkins FSt log from 1850? I know I couldn't. That's why I've ordered a round dozen - one for each of my computers, plus a spare for each. For those wanting a more modern look, there's a mat with a 1936 IBS and RNS log. Any beer geek would love to own one of these high-quality, limited edition pieces of tack. Sorry, valuable collectables. Homebrewers - find inspiration as you answer your emails.




Or how about a Colditzer Schwarze Sau mug? Colditz, the DDR and a black pig. It literally has it all. Using the colours of the German flag, it's also vaguely patriotic. If you're German. (Which everyone else in my family is.) It looks so good, I might even buy one myself.

Visit the Shut up about Barclay Perkins Tacky Merchandise shop today and buy yourselves a little piece of history.

North American Shop

European shop



make custom gifts at Zazzle

First Guinness of summer

It's a sure sign of summer . . . hang on, I've already done that . . . more than once.

The first Guinness of summer needed to be documented. That's what I thought. But I am pretty weird. So maybe you disagree. About the first Guinness needing to be documented. You doubtless agree about the weird bit.

It looks lovely, doesn't it? The Guinness to the right.Behind it is our garden. It looks more like a jungle every year. Plants clutter it much like books litter our house.

Sun and Guinness. They go together like a . . . . Can anyone think of a word that rhymes with Guinness?

Arnhem Openlucht Museum

And the day started so badly. With Lexie closing himself in his room, protesting "I'm not going." "Brilliant", I thought. The day was barely started and already spoiled.

Dolores eventually talked him around. I'd already got past the "I'll smash all your toys with a hammer" phase. There's nowhere really to go after that.

For once the NS is doing something I applaud: upgrading Amsterdam Zuid station. Many trains now avoid overcrowded Centraal and call at Zuid instead. That's brilliant for us. Bus 15 to Zuid (when it turns up) only takes 10 minutes. The 2 tram to Central takes half an hour.

Here I am getting ahead of myself. I forgot to mention why we were travelling. Cheap train tickets from Blokker. They sell them a few times a year. You can travel anywhere in Holland (at the weekend) for just 10 euros. But they're only valid for a limited time. We'd only got this weekend or next to use them up. ("I'll take the 30 euros off your account", that was another futile threat I'd made to Lexie.)

There are direct trains from Zuid to Arnhem. It only takes an hour, despite Arnhem almost being in Germany. Very handy. The Dutch train system still isn't bad. The service runs every half hour.

What did we talk about on the train? Whether Stalin was in heaven, that came up. And The Crusades. The age of the earth. I'm sure I was right. It is 7,000 years, isn't it? Andrew came up with the ridiculous figure of 2 billion years.

Lexie had forgotten his opposition to the trip even before we got on the train. By the time we reached Arnhem there was just one thing on his mind: bacon. The ready availability of bacon sandwiches is the root of Lexie's love for Britain. "Let's go to the Albert Heijn." He's noticed they sell bacon and egg sandwiches.

On the number 3 bus to the museum we sat behind a group of weird South Africans. (Tattoos and purple-died hair don't really work for women over 50.) But at least we'd know when to get off. They were clearly headed the same place as us.

Before we go any further, I really hadn't looked this up before leaving home. I remembered reading something in the PINT magazine about them brewing in the Openlucht Museum. So the first thing I looked for on the map was a brewery. My god, there it was: brouwerij. "Let's get on the tram." It's never difficult to get the kids onto a tram. The brewery was just one stop down line.

I'd expected a few old tubs where maybe they did a bit of home-brewing now and again. The shiny new kit was a bit of a shock. What with the little lab and the sacks of malt, it was clearly a serious brewery. They were giving out free samples. Of quite a nice Witbier. "That's nice." Can't get higher praise than that from Dolores.

There was an old brewery, too. That wasn't for brewing in. You know what it reminded me of? The communal brewery in Windischeschenbach. The one they still brew Zoigl in.

Dolores asked the nice man giving out the samples "Do any of the cafes in the museum sell your beer?" "Yes, the one over the road. Just ask for beer." What were we waiting for. I felt like Digby Chicken-Caesar. "To the café!"

I haven't explained what an open-air museum is, have I? I'm doing this all in the wrong order. It's where they take historical buildings that would otherwise have been demolished and move them to a park. That's about it really. They like them in Sweden.

The café was very pleasant. Nice garden. And, doing the museum bit 100%, only sold period drinks. A bit rough on the kids, who wanted to rot their teeth with cola, great for me. There was a single beer tap selling a pils-like sort of beer. From the brewery, of course. It wasn't bad. Especially when Dolores wandered off with the kids and I had time for a second beer in peace.

After that we went around the rest of the museum. Then got the train home. I've truncated the last few hours. You're not really interested in textile workers cottages, are you?

I almost forget one of the most important pieces of information. The name of the brewery:

’t Goeye Goet
Schelmseweg 89,
6816 SJ Arnhem.
Tel: 026-3576111
Fax: 026-3576147
info@openluchtmuseum.nl
http://www.openluchtmuseum.nl

Another sure sign it's summer. I've started writing about travels with my kids.

New pub guide

I've written a new pub guide this week. Not that you'll get to see it. It's a private guide to Fränkische Schweiz.

I've probably bored you with hundreds of times before. That's how most of my guides started out. As my own personal guides. Having them as web pages was a good way of making sure they didn't get lost. And that I could see them from anywhere in the world.

As it's really is just for me (and Mike, I suppose) it includes some rather specific bits of information. Like weekend bus timetables. And maps of the places I plan visiting (Pretzfeld, Ebermannstadt, Muggendorf and Gößweinstein.

One pleasant surpise as I planned. I can get to Hohenschwärz for Sunday dinner. At the wonderful Brauerei Hofmann. One of my favourite places on the planet. Pork, dumplings and a gallon or so of Hofmann Export sure sounds like heaven to me.

Annafest guide

I know I've already told most of you this, but for the newcomers: I'm going o the Annafest this year. The best sentence since "You've been accepted for Czech summer school".

Compulsive behaviour. My speciality. [Why do English(US) spell checkers think it can't be a noun?] You read this blog. You must have twigged where I'm going. Especially if you've bothered to read the title.

I had to write a guide. The first in many years. One reason I started my blog was to tart my website (http://www.europeanbeerguide.net/) Website neglect was the real outcome. I used to bang out a new guide every month.

God. I'm getting dull. Shouldn't I be reminding you that the next hymn is number 289. "For those in Peril on the Sea"? Am I totally fwoppeled?

Going to the Annafest? You should be. At least for the next couple of years. Then I'll start moaning about all you bloody tourists ruining it. Learn to love lager. I did.

If you are woman/man/person enough to go to the Annafest, you might find this handy. Pub guides to Bamberg and Forchheim, stuff about the local breweries, and a bit about the Kellerberg. Just look at that glass of Neder Export. That's what I want to call breakfast in my retirement.

And it's free. [The guide, not Neder Export. That costs 2 euros or more for a half litre. Those robbing bastards.]

You can get it [the guide) here:

http://www.europeanbeerguide.net/Annafest_Guide.pdf

Yet more C Ale

Reader Geoff Ikin has very kindly sent me some label images of various C Ales. They don't help much about the meaning and origin of C Ale, but they look pretty. I'm a sucker for old labels.

Of course, C could just be a random letter, like Worthington's "E". There were basically three systems of brewhouse code.

1. The "normal" system: X, XX. XXX, PA, KK, KKK, P, S, SS, SSS.
2. The Bass system: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, P2, P3, P4 with 1 being the strongest, 6 the weakest and a P prefix designating a Porter/Stout.
3. The Worthington system: A, M, S, J, E

Maybe Boddingtons can provide a clue. They used these codes for their beers:

A Pale Ale
BB Mild Ale
CC Strong Ale

The JW Lees C Ale is also billed as a Strong Ale. That might explain what it is, if not where the hell the name came from.

There are a couple of other pieces of evidence that point to a Strong Ale. Groves & Whitnall discontinued theirs during the war and brought it back in 1950. Many strong beers disappeared during the war. Also, theirs was bottle-conditioned. Lower-strength beers were usually artificially carbonated.

Any other ideas are very welcome. I don't think I've come up with a very robust theory yet. I wonder if the brewing records still exist for any of these breweries? As Lees are still in business, there's a good chance they might have kept their old logs. Anyone have a good contact within the brewery?

Finding a brewing record would at least settle the nature of the beer, if not its origin.

Shameless self-promotion

There's nothing worse than a purportedly independent beer writer using his work to promote his own financial interests. Shameless self-promoting bastards. Pardon my French.

Integrity is my greatest asset. How could I compromise that for money? I'd be crzay. Your trust in my impartiality underpins this blog. I dare to back up my words with hard, cold facts. Can you say that Mr. XXXX [original letters blanked out]?

That's why I'm delighted to announce my own line of Tacky Merchandise. Designed to enrich the left hand side of the Pattinson family. It's a long story. And my daily ration of St. Bernardus Abt is drunk. A bit like me.

This is what people are saying about Shut up about Barclay Perkins Tacky Merchandise:

"Low-quality, expensive, poorly-designed, exploitative crap."
"Like Stalin - but worse."
"Have these bloggers no shame?"
"Offensive in a totally charmless way."
"******* ** ******* ******* *** ********* ***** shite"
"Life is no longer worth living."

You could experience the same ecstasy (my products contain no illegal substances of any kind) by purchasing Shut up about Barclay Perkins Tacky Merchandise.

It must be summer

I put a bottle of Guinness Special Export in the fridge yesterday. A sure sign that the summer is here. It was so warm, I added ice to my Hummel Räucherator. ("Urgh, that smells funny," was Dolores's reaction when I suggested she try it "like ham.")

That's about my only concession to Summer. Icing my beer when I get home from work, tired and sweaty after being squeezed into a number 15 bus. (The summer tram and bus schedule has just started. It means one thing: fewer trams and buses. Great. There aren't enough 15's in the normal schedule.) Other than upping my Guinness Special Export consumption when it's really hot, the passing seasons have no effect on my drinking habits. I still survive on a diet of St. Bernardus 6, 8 and 12.

I don't understand why people swap to pale, light, lagery beers as soon as the temperature rises over 20º C. I just don't get it. My taste buds don't change. My personal preferences are unaltered. Why should I suddenly abandon my favourite beers? Crisp, cool, refreshing. Is lager really that? Or have we all just been brainwashed by the marketing men at the Megabrewery Corporation?

A lightly-chilled bottle of export-strength Stout. What could be more summery than that?

Barclay Perkins 1936 KKKK water treatment & caramel

I've finally got around to looking up the water treatment for yesterday's Let's Brew recipe. The same as KK, it said in the log.

A page at the front of the log lists all the different treatments. There were five different ones in total. Here's the KK entry:

Company's liquor. Treated cold 3 ozs salt & 3 ozs gypsum per barrel in HLB (hot liquor back). Boiled overnight. Half hour before mashing add 1/8 pint per barrel BiSulphate of lime.
Salt in coppers - 1oz per barrel.

Fascinating stuff, eh? If you look at the image you'll see that the treatments varied considerably between the different beers. Looking just now, it struck me that the Brown Ale (DB) had the same water treatment as the Bitters (PA, IPA, XLK). With considerable amounts of gypsum being added.

As for the caramel, I've found details in an earlier brewing book (1925). That gives the caramel as 22,000º Lovibond (one inch cell). 1.5 pounds of caramel was added per 100 barrels to raise the colour of the beer by 1º.

It's from a decade earlier, but I imagine the procedure was much the same in 1936.

I think that's all the outstanding questions answered on KK. Isn't it?

C Ale again

Right, I've had a proper look in "Manchester Breweries of Times Gone By, Vol 2". Here's what little it has to say on the subject of C Ale.

The printed bill (from 1898) on which I saw the codes C and CBB was from the Cornbrook Brewery. According to the text, their beers included City Bitter and CPA. The latter I would guess really stands for Cornbrook Pale Ale. City, well that could be a possibility.

Here's a quote from page 12 of "Manchester Breweries of Times Gone By, Vol 2":

"The brewery's [Openshaw] included best mild and bitter, Grade A pale ale, Openshaw Stout and also a "C" Ale. "C" Ale seems to have been a local brew, the origin of which is uncertain. Groves and Whitnall of Salford became well known for their version of "C" Ale in the 1890s; it was discontinued during the last war but reintroduced in 1950. John Henry Lees of Moss Side also brewed a "C" Ale, as did Wilsons Brewery."

I've tried searching the interweb, but something like C Ale is a bastard to find. Any help would be much appreciated. Someone must still remember C Ale. It was still being brewed in the 1950's. That's easily within living memory.

Let's Brew Wednesday - 1936 Barclay Perkins KKKK

Today it's the turn of a beer I'm dying to try myself. A powerful, seasonal Strong Ale from my favourites Barclay Perkins.

Between the wars, Barclay Perkins brewed a massive range of beers. 22, if you include the darkened versions of X and XX. Many were produced in tiny quantities, as you can see from the tables below. This was possible because they had a small batch brewhouse. In the main brewery, each brew was 500 to 1,000 barrels. Way too much for a beer like Russian Stout, even though it was only brewed once a year. Some beers were brewed in batches as small as 18 barrels.




Where did KKKK fit in? This was a Strong Ale sold in the winter. Judging by Barclay Perkins adverts, it seems to have been a draught beer. My guess is that it was sold from a pin on the bar. Much like some Old Ales still are today. For the period, it was unusually strong. Few beers had gravities higher than 1055 or so.

That short introduction over, it's time to hand you over to Kristen . . . . (I think he likes it, BTW) . . .


Almost forgot. This beer is perfect for your christmas pudding . . . . . now really over to Kristen . . . .


Barclay Perkins (BP) 1936 KKKK

Big ass brown mame a jamma. Huge beer with a ton of hops. Something very unique and not seen anymore in any place. Think turbo charge brown IPA. If you are on the fence about any beer. MAKE THIS ONE!!!!




Grist and such
Tons of No2 invert syrup and crystal really put the focus on this beer to the dark fruits and deep caramel tones. 80% of the grist is malt with a VERY heavy dose of the californian 6-row at nearly 1/3 of the total grain bill. This brewery is quite different in that they use a number of different 'caramel' colorants. Most use just one...that standard dark. This beer uses a much lighter caramel. Not sure why. Maybe it was giving a touch of flavor as well as the color!? All in all not a really different type of grain bill for standard brown ale. The difference lies in the quantities per barrel. This beer weighs in at 1.078. A big beer in any light!


Mash
The mash is actually quite high for this beer at 153F. With all the non-reducing sugars left from the invert and crystal and this high mash temp really will make this beer finish quite 'thick' as can be seen from the finishing gravity of 1.027.


Hops
Lots and I mean LOTS of very fresh goldings hops at 3.64 lbs/ barrel! The nearly 80 bu's these provide will make the sweet finish of this beer seem much drier than it normally would. In addition, 4oz of hops were added per barrel changing the overall aroma of this beer.


Fermentation
Usually beers were kept quite low. I only mention this in that this beer was fermented damn near 72F. At this temp it would completely change the profile! It would no longer have the big fruit of the 60-ish fermentation but would have more of a peppery alcoholic character along
with some of those spicy phenols.


Tasting notes
Dark toffees wrapped in orange rind with a ton of spice. Caramel middle is very rich and grainy but dries out in the finish it a big smack of hop resins. The spice, hop resins and 6-row astringency really extent the finish and keep this beer from being cloying. Quite refreshing for
such a large beast.

How Paulaner got a monopoly of Salvator

Salvator is the name of a brand of Doppelbock brewed by Paulaner (formerly Zacherl). But it wasn't always that way. Once Salvator was like Pilsener, the name of a type of beer. That was until Zacherl trademarked the name. Bastards. A bit like A-B with Budweiser. Their fellow brewers weren't best pleased.

"Gentlemen, you all know the beautiful gift of God that is called Salvatorbier; this beer is brewed by the joint-stock company Schmederer that is the fortunate owner of the Zacherlbrauerei in Munich. This company has recently submitted the trademark "Original Salvator" to the Reich Patent Office, has obtained a registration, and the objections of a whole number of other breweries, who also brew Salvatorbier, were ignored, yes, it has gone so far that the district court in Munich passed an injunction and seized the beer stocks of the other brewers and has started criminal proceedings against the directors of these breweries. Now, everyone who understands the brewing industry knows that the name Salvatorbier in no way implies origin from a specific brewery, but, just like Bockbier, is only a certain type of beer, a stronger type of beer, that is a specific sort. It's certainly reasonable for the Zacherl brewery to call its beer Zacherl-Bräu Salvator; but if officials allow a single brewery to register the name Original-Salvator, if courts punish those who use the designation and seize their stocks, it shows how little expertise the courts possess, and how necessary it is to protect them from such indefinite terms, as those found in the critical words of § l.

Gentlemen, I have information from another brewery in Munich, in which it is shown that in the year 1896 212 Munich publicans obtained their Salvator supplies from the Schwabinger Salvator-brewery, and that in the same year the Zacherlbrauerei only supplied 44 publicans with its Salvator. I have also here a very interesting list of about 30 breweries, which brew Salvator, not only in Munich but also elsewhere in Germany. There are, for instance, the following breweries, which for many years have brewed Salvatorbier and sold under that name: the Hellbrauerei in Passau since 1840, Schmeroldsche the brewery in Passau for 40 years, the Gablersche Brauerei in Nuremberg for 40 years, SSanderbrauerei in Würzburg for 15 years, the brewery of Gebrüder Geismann in Fürth for 12 years, Forsters Dampfbrauerei in Schwabach for 6 years, Pröl Ungers-Brauerei in Schwabach for 6 years, Kaiserslauterner Aktienbrauerei since 1874, Salvatorbrauerei Schrabing in Munich (formerly Petuel) since 1878, the Kronenbrauerei in Augsburg, the Spatenbrauerei, Hackerbrauerei, Thomasbrauerei, Bergbrauerei in Munich, Frankenbrauerei in Bamberg, the Brauerei von Roas in Neuburg near Passau, Gebrüder Lederer in Nuremberg, Evora in Fürth, Aktienbrauerei Meißner Felsenkeüer in Meißen, the Deiningersche Brauerei in Hof, Aachener Exportbrauerei, die Freiherrlich Sternburgsche Brauerei in Leipzig, the Brauerei von F. D. Benders Söhne in Kaiserslautern, the Anklamer Bergschloßbrauerei in Nienstedten, the Modische Brauerei in Lindenhoff etc. All these and many other breweries market a strong beer with the name "Salvatorbier", - and now comes the Zacherlbrauerei, which once, when there were still Zwangs- und Bannrechte, got permission from the Bavarian government to call a particular beer Salvator to call it - the word originally meant Sankt-Vater-Bier - and demands with administrative help a monopoly over a certain beer type. This can happen because the authorities have so little technical insight."
"Die Bekämpfung des unlauteren Wettbewerbs" by Adolf Lobe, 1907, pages 372-374

Nothying new under the sun, is there? The reaction of other brewers was to think up other names with the suffix -ator. WHich is why we have such great names as Triumphator, Bajuvato, Bambergator, Terminator, etc. So I guess Zacherl's shady dealings were neither that successful nor totally bad for the drinker.

Trips! (West)

It's that time again. Another of my Mini Series Books has escaped. Volume VIII, it's entitled "Trips! (West)"

What does the title mean? Er, well, it's a guide for those wanting to make boozing trips in the West of Germany. All the Big names are there. Düsseldorgf, Cologne, Ratingen. And plenty of others, too. Dortmund, Osnabrück, Münster, Duisburg, Kaiserslautern. Everything you need for an international piss up is included. Pub details, maps, brewery guide, beer details.

"Trips! (West)" is the essential companion for any trip to the West of Germany. If you like your beer. And you wouldn't be reading this blog if you didn't.

But what if we want to go somewhere else in Germany. Don't worry. "Trips! (South)" and "Trips! (East)" will be volumes IX and X. Collect the set and you'll have the most comprehensive guide to central European beer ever compiled.

Buy "Trips! (West)" now!


http://www.lulu.com/content/paperback-book/trips-(west)/7182011

C Ale

I took the boys to the swimming baths yesterday. We've been having muggy, overcast days for what seems like weeks. It was pleasant to set and read while the kids cavorted in the outdoor pool.

Naturally, it wasn't just the paper or the latest Jilly Cooper novel I was reading. I actually had two books with me. "Brewing" and "Manchester Breweries of Times Gone By, Vol 2". Nice light reading for a Sunday morning.

I realise that I read this stuff a little differently from most. My attention was immediately drawn by the image of a bill from some brewery in Ardwick. It had the beer names printed on it. Or rather beer codes. I', used to these things, so I could work out most of them:

X
XX
PA
P
ES
C
S
CBB

Let's see, that's Mild, Best Mild, Bitter, Porter, Extra Stout, C??? - what the hell is that, Stout, C Best Bitter?

Then there was a mention in the text of a thing called C Ale, which seems to have been peculiar to Manchester. At least half a dozen breweries made one. There was even a label image. The only clue as to what it could have stood for was a beer called City.

I thought I'd been making progress with these letter codes. I'm pretty confident what the X's and K's mean. T as well. Now here's another bloody cryptic letter. Anyone any idea what the hell it stood for? Or what type of beer it was?

Now I've found a label for C Ale, I see something intriguing. The words "naturally mature in bottle". I wonder if that has anything to do with the identity of C Ale?