Past or present?

Is a question I sometimes ask myself. In those two or three minutes between flopping into bed and flipping into sleep.

Twenty years back, I was spending a lot of time on my European Beer Guide website. Trying to keep up with the beer scene in multiple European countries necessitated reading lots of publications, mostly the magazines of beer consumer orgainsations. A stupid number of which I was a member of. Just as well I'd taken the time to learn to read so many languages in the preceding decade.

When I started my blog, the main point was to direst traffic to the website. How quickly that changed. With the blog and history taking over. From the guide and the present. Because I had to make a choice.

Why? Very simple: time. Keeping the European Beer Guide up to date was a Sisyphean task. Especially in the highly-dynamic modern beer world. Simply treading water was pretty much a fultime task. As I started to dive deeper and deeper into the history loch, I didn't have time to work on the Guide. Slowly, I gave up updating it.

I'm easily distracted. Too many things fascinate me. If I come across an interesting source of information, I can all too easily slip into its icy waters. Keeping a tight focus is the solution. And history is my focal point of choice.

Much tighter than that, now. The focus. Not just history, but a specific bit of it. I try to spend most of my time on my current book project. Currently, "Free!", about UK brewing between 1880 and 1914. My favourite period. For the beer. I wouldn't want to live there permanently.

I abandonned the present for the past.* Partly, because the past doesn't keep changing. Unlike the annoying present. I'm sure I made a good decision.
 




* Only in my research, not in real life. I very much live in the present. As I have a limited amount of future left. 

Let's Brew Wednesday - 1885 Thomas Usher 80/-

More confusion with these Shilling Ales, with an 80/- which is lower in gravity than 54/- M. Note also that this beer has no relationship with modern 80/-, which is a type of Pale Ale. Don’t ask me why this beer, unlike the weaker Shilling Ales, has no suffix, such as “B” or “N”.

This was part of big parti-gyle of Shilling Ales, consisting of 100/-, 54/- M, 80/-, 60/- B and 40/- B. Though for this beer I’ve used a different brew from the preceding Shilling Ales. Just to demonstrate variations in the basic recipe.

This time, instead of a large quantity of high-dried malt providing the colour, it’s a small amount of black malt. Which makes the colour rather darker. And must have resulted in a rather different flavour, with some background roastiness.

The hops were Californian from the 1883 harvest and Alsace from 1884. A low hopping rate leaves the beer with a fairly modest bitterness level of under 30 IBU (calculated). 

1885 Thomas Usher 80/-
pale malt	11.25 lb	89.11%
black malt	0.25 lb	1.98%
No. 2 invert sugar	1.125 lb	8.91%
Cluster 120 min	1.00 oz
Strisselspalt 30 min	1.00 oz
Goldings dry hops	0.25 oz
OG	1058
FG	1025
ABV	4.37
Apparent attenuation	56.90%
IBU	28
SRM	15
Mash at	151º F
Sparge at	175º F
Boil time	120 minutes
pitching temp	60º F
Yeast	WLP028 Edinburgh Ale

 

Binnie malts 1903 - 1905

What was Binnie brewing these beers from? Well, let’s take a look. But don’t expect a huge number of malts. That’s just not the way they brewed in Scotland. The vast majority of beer contained just a single malt: base pale malt.

The exceptions, obviously, were Black Beers. Which needed some roasted malt to get the right colour and flavour profile. Here there’s a combination of black and amber malt for the Porter and Stout. Though there’s also a tiny amount in Table Beer, presumably for colour correction.

Two types of pale malt are listed: Scotch and foreign. That being where the barley was grown. Where would “foreign” be, exactly? Could be lots of places. Most likely were California, Chile and the Middle East. But Hungary, Germany and Cyprus are also a possibility

Only the Pale Ales contained adjuncts. Don’t take as definitive the split between flaked maize and flaked rice. All four beers contained both maize and rice at different times. Seemingly quite randomly. 

Binnie malts 1903 - 1905
Beer	Style	pale malt	black malt	amber malt	flaked maize	flaked rice
TB	Table Beer	94.65%	0.85%
80/-	Ale	100.00%
100/-	Ale	88.24%
140/- Ale	Ale	87.50%
BB	Pale Ale	86.67%				13.33%
Ex B	Pale Ale	86.67%				13.33%
54/- IPA	IPA	80.77%			11.54%
60/- IPA	IPA	85.71%			8.57%
XXX Porter	Porter	78.43%	9.80%	11.76%
DBS	Stout	77.98%	7.58%	8.66%
Source:
Binnie brewing record held at the Scottish Brewing Archives, document number BH/6/1/1/1.

 

 

Binnie beers 1903 - 1905

More results from my visit to the Scottish Brewing Archive. This time we're looking at Binnie, a small brewery in Haddington.

With batch sizes of just 20 barrels, it really was on the small size. Though they did still brew a decent range of beers, from a Table beer to a 140/-.

In most of the UK, Table Beer had disappeared by the middle of the 19th century. While in Scotland it was still being brewed up until WW I. The example here is particularly weak at under 1030º and only 2.25% ABV.

There are three Shilling Ales, 80/-, 100/- and 140/-. The latter was brewed surprisingly often, parti-gyled with Table Beer. Do I need to remind you that this 80/- has nothing to do with the modern beer of the same name? Because it doesn't.

BB and Ex B might well be the same beer. As they look very similar. For a Pale Ale of the period, it's pretty weak. But reasonably heavily hopped. It would be difficult to find a Pale Ale this weak in England.

The two IPAs appear under different names. 54/-, 54/- IPA and 54/- Bitter. And 60/-, 60/- IPA and 60/- Bitter. Which is pretty confusing. Though given the strength and recipes are pretty much the same, I'm sure that they're the same beers. If you remember, Belhaven also had Pale Ales at 54/- and 60/- with similar gravities. And at Thomas Usher, their PA and PA 60/- were around the same gravities, too.

The Porter and the Stout might also be the same beer. Given the similarities of their gravities. Which both look about right for a Double Stout.

The rates of attenuation are pretty crap. With the highest just 66%. Though it's possible the high FGs might be deliberate to leave enough fementables for secondary conditioning without the addition of primings.

Pretty low hopping rates all around, maxing out at just 6 lbs per quarter (336 lbs) of malt. 

Binnie beers  1903 - 1905
Date	Year	Beer	Style	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	lbs hops/ qtr	hops lb/brl
7th Apr	1904	TB	Table Beer	1028	1011	2.25	60.71%	0.66	0.63
24th Dec	1903	80/-	Ale	1059	1020	5.16	66.10%	3.27	0.82
24th Feb	1905	100/-	Ale	1068	1034	4.50	50.00%	3.00	0.95
19th Jan	1905	140/- Ale	Ale	1084	1039	5.95	53.57%	3.00	1.34
18th Feb	1904	BB	Pale Ale	1037	1013	3.18	64.86%	6.40	1.04
3rd Jun	1904	Ex B	Pale Ale	1037	1014	3.04	62.16%	6.40	1.00
22nd Sep	1904	54/- IPA	IPA	1049	1019	3.97	61.22%	6.00	1.23
15th Sep	1904	60/- IPA	IPA	1057	1020	4.89	64.91%	5.00	1.50
3rd Dec	1903	XXX Porter	Porter	1075	1029	6.09	61.33%	4.39	1.33
9th Mar	1905	DBS	Stout	1071	1036	4.63	49.30%	4.55	1.42
Source:
Binnie brewing record held at the Scottish Brewing Archives, document number BH/6/1/1/1.

 

 

Belhaven Beers in 1881

Time to take another look at Belhaven's beers, from a decade later. And there have been a lot of changes.

There are far fewer different beers. That could just be because not everything was transcribed from the original record. But I suspect not. A majority of the brews were XX 54/-. Which I assume was a Pale Ale. I'm guessing this and XXX 60/- are the same beers as XX and XXX in 1871.

Of the Shilling Ales only 80/- and 100/- have survived. (At lower gravities.) Though there's also a new beer called P 48/-. I would have guessed that the "P" stood for "pale". But it seems too lightly hopped to be a Pale Ale.

All of the Strong Ales are gone, both the Shilling Ales and the numbered Ales.

Overall, it's a way simplified set of beers. And one very dominated by a single Pale Ale, XX 54/-.

Belhaven Beers in 1881
Date	Beer	Style	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	lbs hops/ qtr	hops lb/brl
21st Nov	TB	Table Beer	1036	1015	2.78	58.33%	5.00	0.71
12th Jan	P 48/-	Ale	1057	1027	3.97	52.63%	5.88	1.18
21st Dec	80/-	Ale	1062	1027	4.63	56.45%	6.15	1.67
28th Nov	100/-	Ale	1069	1031	5.03	55.07%	5.56	1.64
8th Dec	XX 54/-	Pale Ale	1050	1017	4.37	66.00%	9.09	1.85
14th Dec	XXX 60/-	Pale Ale	1055	1020	4.63	63.64%	9.09	2.06
Source:
Belhaven brewing record held at the Scottish Brewing Archives, document number B/6/1/1/3.

 

 

Let's Brew - 1885 Thomas Usher 68/- M

Another somewhat confusing use of shillings. What were they up to at Usher? 

Strongest of the Shilling Ales was, of course, 68/- M.  You explain the logic to me. I can’t see it myself.

This wasn’t in a Shilling Ale parti-gyle, but in a Pale Ale one. With a much higher hopping rate. Hence the high (calculated) bitterness. The black malt was added to the first copper, so a lower percentage of the darkened wort would have been in the PA and X, the parti-gyle partners.

The single type of pale malt was Scottish. Now there’s a surprise. While the hops were all imports: California from the 1883 season and Alsace from 1884.

Was this aged? If the “M” stands for “Mild”, then that’s unlikely. Though the heavy level of hopping makes it look more like a Stock Ale. Age it if you feel like it. But don’t feel obliged. 

1885 Thomas Usher 68/- M
pale malt	18.50 lb	98.67%
black malt	0.25 lb	1.33%
Cluster 120 min	3.75 oz
Strisselspalt 30 min	3.75 oz
Goldings dry hops	0.50 oz
OG	1080
FG	1025
ABV	7.28
Apparent attenuation	68.75%
IBU	91
SRM	15
Mash at	151º F
Sparge at	175º F
Boil time	120 minutes
pitching temp	60º F
Yeast	WLP028 Edinburgh Ale

 

Going home

I rise just after 9 AM and have a shower. Now I feel better.

Today will be an odd day. After checking out of our hotel, we have around 10 hours to kill before going to the airport. Our flight is at 00:40. What could we possibly do? Hang around in pubs, I guess.

We check out at 11 AM and dump our bags.

Lion Brewery opens at noon and isn’t far away. That’ll do. The walk there takes us through Chinatown.

It’s warm. Very warm. By the time we get to the Buddha Tooth temple, we’re in need of a cold drink. And pop into the little hawker centre we ate in yesterday. We each get a cola and take seats. Directly underneath a giant fan.

After a little cooling, we carry on to Lion Brewery. Plonk ourselves down and spend a few moments appreciating the airco. Then order some beers. Nitro Stout for me, Pilsner for Amdrew.

It’s pretty quiet. Though they have just opened. It’s all very low-key. Which is how I generally like things. Dead, I think, is the technical term.

The Stout is OK. But quite burnt tasting. I explain to Andrew that there’s a long history of Stout brewing around this way. He continues to play with his phone. That’s how impressed he is.

I’m not drinking very quickly. We’re going to be here for a long time. I don’t want to get too pissed. Or spend too much money.

There’s tennis on the TV.

“You’re not keen on tennis, are you, Dad?”

“No.”

“Boring as fuck. Isn’t that what you said?”

“Something like that. Though I may have been less subtle.”

Feeling peckish after a while, I order baked oysters. Very tasty, they are.

“That’s not much of a meal, Dad.”

“You can talk. You’ve only had about three full meals all trip. And that’s counting the bacon and beans breakfast.”

“I’m having a cheeseburger.”

“And it’s just my starter.”

I’ve switched to Boss IPA. It’s alright. Doesn’t blow my socks off, but it’s perfectly drinkable.

The tennis seems to be on a loop. The same handful of games, over and over.

“This is a preview of hell, Andrew.”

“What?”

“Endless repeats of boring tennis matches. For all eternity.”

“We’ll only be here until seven.”

“That’ll seem like an eternity.”

“Exaggerating, as always.”

Totally out of character, Andrew shows an interest in food. For a full meal, at that.

“I’m having a cheeseburger.”

“Oh, you’re being serious. I’d assumed that was a joke. Given your record, so far.”

“Very funny, Dad. You haven’t exactly been stuffing yourself.”

”OK. Jalapeno bacon mac and cheese for me. It really should be macaroni cheese. That’s the proper name for it.”

“Back when all the computers were still clockwork.”

“Ha, fucking, ha.” I’m always there with a witty riposte.

“And that’s only a small meal, according to the menu. Whatever you want to call it.”

“Fuck off, smartarse.” Wit just comes naturally to me.

We do some more bonding as the clock moves slowly around. And the pace of my drinking gets ever slower. Which is weird. Usually, I’d be speeding up. Am I getting old? Or just sensible?

A taxi gets us to Changi in plenty of time. Though dropping our bags takes longer than usual. Nothing too crazy.

The Qantas lounge is massive. And fairly empty. No trouble finding seats. No Cooper, but Stone & Wood and Little Creatures Pale Ale on tap. Plus some Lagery stuff.

“A whisky with one ice cube, please.”

Andrew goes for a Stone & Wood.

They’ve got beef rendang. The proper consistency, not the soup they had in the Schiphol lounge. Just mot spicy enough. Which is surprising.

We’ve got a few hours. No rush. I whip out my laptop and watch some rubbish.

It’s a good job they only serve stingy single measures of spirits. Saved me from getting too pissed. Not a good idea before a long flight.

Our gate isn’t too far from the lounge. By the standards of Changi. It’s just big. The last gates on pier C are almost in Malaysia.

A full flight again. Which is always fun. Chicken or pasta are the food options. Not sure if I’ve had this chicken curry and rice before. Better than some of their meals. At least there’s a bit of heat to it. 

I watch The Accountant II over my gourmet dinner. Filling the time until lights out. When it’s lights out for me, too.

Six hours of blissful sleep. Followed by some dozing. When I get bored of that, I turn to Black Bag. Made me think of the Viz cartoon. Where there’s a black plastic bin bag blowing around the moors like a sheepdog. Not a bad film. And it finishes just before landing.

Breakfast is weird. There’s this weird sliced up dumpling thing.  What the fuck is it? There’s some fruit, too. I eat Andrew’s, as well as mine.

At passport control, a lady ushers some passengers to the electronic gates.

“Nedelandse passen. [Dutch passports].”

Happens every time.

Our bags take a while to unload. The carousel is full. No-one is taking a bag off. Leaving no room for new ones. Eventually, there’s a space for our bags.

The taxi winds his way into Amsterdam. This is the morning rush hour. But, it being the holidays, the traffic is fine.

Soon, we’re greeted by Dolores and cups of tea. It’s good to be home. And in one piece. At least, as far as I can tell. 

Glasgow beers

I didn't spend all my time in Glasgow last week in the archives. I also went to a couple of pubs. Mostly in the company of my mate Robbie Pickering.

First was the Three Judges. Which I literally had to walk past to get from the archive to the subway station. I kicked off with a Stewart 80/-. And a double Glenlivet. The beer is very dark. As dark as Dark Mild. It's OK, though there's a a slight whiff of vinegar.

Next round, I go for a half of Broughton Old Jock. And another double malt.

After that, I need to get into the city centre to check into my hotel. And meet up with Robbie. At 6 PM in the Imperial, which is almost next door to my hotel. A nice pub, but with no cask beer. I have a McEwans 80/-. It's OK, in a keggy sort of way.

We only have the one before moving on to the nearby 'Spoons. Where I have a cheap pint of Jaipur. Lovely, as always.

We cross the Clyde to go for a curry. Which is yummy.

While we're on the posh side of the rives, we drop by the Laurieston. One of those single-storey, flat-roofed Glasgow pubs. As seen in Rab C. Nesbitt. I have a pint of something brown and Scottish.

On the way to our final destination, I spot a Tim Horton's. Didn't realise they had them in Scotland. Or the UK, for that matter.

What do I drink in the Pot Still? Can't remember, I'm afraid. Might have been a whisky.

Next day, I start with a small fried breakfast.

Before heading on to "Spoons. To kill some time before my flight. Where I get myself a Red McGregor. Which isn't bad at all.

And later a small fish and chips. And a Raven Amber Ale.

I have whisky in the lounge. And a quarter of a sandwich. Don't want to go too crazy.

 

 

Let's Brew Wednesday - 1885 Thomas Usher 54/- M

I collected plenty of new photos of Usher's records last week. But, as I've just started processing them,  this is from a previous harvest. And an interesting use of a Shilling designation.

Rather confusingly, 54/- M is quite a bit stronger than 60/- B. I’m guessing that the “M” stands for Mild. But no idea why that would make it stronger. Maybe I’m looking at this the wrong way, expecting consistency in brewhouse names. Especially in Scotland.

The recipe is exactly the same for 60/- B. Because the two were parti-gyled together. The Scots were dead keen on parti-gyling. Other than William Younger. Reaching its pinnacle after WW I, when breweries, such as Maclay, just had one recipe.

Which doesn’t leave much more to say. Other than this is just a soup-up version of 60/- B.

1885 Thomas Usher 54/- M
pale malt	4.25 lb	32.69%
Munich malt	7.25 lb	55.77%
No. 2 invert sugar	1.50 lb	11.54%
Cluster 120 min	1.75 oz
Strisselspalt 30 min	1.25 oz
Goldings dry hops	0.25 oz
OG	1062
FG	1023
ABV	5.16
Apparent attenuation	62.90%
IBU	44
SRM	11
Mash at	152º F
Sparge at	175º F
Boil time	120 minutes
pitching temp	59º F
Yeast	WLP028 Edinburgh Ale

 

Belhaven beers in 1871

Here's the first results of last week's trip to the Scottish Brewing Archive in Glasgow. Details of Belhaven's beers in 1871.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, this information copmes from a transcript rather than the brewing record itself. I'm guessing that there's more information in the original records. As it doesn't give any details of the malt and hops, just the quantities. Which is a bit of a bummer. But I'm just grateful to get anything at all.

The good thing is, because of the period, I know that the grist can't be that complicated. Being pre-1880, there can't be any adjuncts. And there's probably no sugar, either. And, this being Scotland, most of the beers almost certainly contain nothing other than base malt. The exception being the Stouts.

Interestingly, despite there being 17 different beers, there don't seem to be any Pale Ales. Unless they're hiding amongst the Shilling Ales. I'm ruling out XX and XXX because, though they have some of the highest hopping rates, they look too strong to be Pale Ales.

Not sure what the real name of the weakest beer, listed as "###" was. Maybe they just couldn't read the original. Whatever it was called, it looks very much like a Table Beer to me. What with its low gravity and quite heavy hopping.

What there are a lot of are strong beers. There are three with gravities over 1100º. Plus two others over 1090º. In fact, 12 of the 17 beers have gravities over 1070º. Which makes for quite an unbalanced range. Like William Younger, there were two parallel ranges of strong beers. Shilling Ales and numbered Ales. The only difference being that the latter were more heavily hopped.

The degree of attenuation is pretty crap. Though that's typical of Scottish beers in general. Only a couple are a little over 70%. And a couple are under 60%. 

Belhaven beers in 1871
Date	Beer	Style	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	lbs hops/ qtr	hops lb/brl
12th Oct	###	Ale	1033	1011	2.91	66.67%	10.00	1.03
14th Oct	50/-	Ale	1041	1011	3.97	73.17%	13.00	0.90
13th Oct	60/-	Ale	1058	1022	4.76	62.07%	6.67	1.74
6th Oct	80/-	Ale	1072.1	1025	6.23	65.33%	6.33	2.38
10th Oct	100/-	Ale	1084	1035	6.48	58.33%	5.41	2.35
5th Oct	120/-	Ale	1095	1035	7.94	63.16%	6.98	3.49
6th Oct	140/-	Ale	1110	1035	9.92	68.18%	7.17	4.47
9th Oct	160/-	Ale	1125	1053	9.53	57.60%	7.69	5.36
4th Oct	London	Ale	1078	1028	6.61	64.10%	8.33	3.41
9th Oct	XX	Mild	1064	1025	5.16	60.94%	7.80	2.32
11th Oct	XXX	Mild	1076	1028	6.35	63.16%	7.67	2.74
10th Oct	BS	Stout	1038	1013	3.31	65.79%	8.67	1.37
13th Oct	S	Stout	1076	1039	4.89	48.68%	8.48	3.26
7th Oct	2	Strong Ale	1096	1032	8.47	66.67%	8.14	4.17
3rd Oct	3	Strong Ale	1078	1025	7.01	67.95%	11.43	4.55
3rd Oct	4	Strong Ale	1068	1020	6.35	70.59%	12.41	4.29
14th Oct	II	Strong Ale	1108	1043	8.60	60.19%	7.88	5.13
Source:
Belhaven brewing record held at the Scottish Brewing Archives, document number B/6/1/1/3.