More judging

I rise at 7:15 and have a shower. I’m so disciplined.

I head for breakfast at 8:30. And have the same as yesterday: scrambled egg and cheese, followed by fruit. I eat alone as there's no-one I really know that well breakfasting.

I try on my competition shirt, which I need to wear today for the group photo. I can barely get it on.

At 9:15 I start walking to Plaza de Armas, where the group photo is being taken. It’s a chance to see the old city in daylight. And rather lovely it is. Mostly colonial buildings in the local stone. Quite austere, other than the occasional decorative flourish around the doors and windows. Few more than a single storey, and their upper floors look like later additions.

Lots of tiny shops line the street. Many travel agents. But also cramped groceries, bakeries, laundries, and restaurants. Not particularly touristy, other than the odd souvenir shop.

Heading towards the square, there's some schoolkids’ parade. Not sure what it’s about. I watch that while we do the inevitable hanging around.

The square is just as beautiful in the daylight. Though quite a bit warmer. And with a few people selling tourist tack. Not in an aggressive way, thankfully. Not too many of them, either. Compared to Amsterdam, it seems very untouristy here.

It doesn’t take too long to get the required snaps of the judges in front of the cathedral. I’ll be glad to take off my judge’s shirt as it’s so tight.

While we’re waiting for the Ubers to take us to the judging location, we’re next to a woman in traditional dress with an alpaca and a baby alpaca. Very sweet. I send a photo to Alexei. He’s been asking if I’ve seen any Inca stuff.

At the judging location, I change back into a normal shirt. The judge’s one was too tight for comfort. Then someone comes up with a new one for me. Much large. Big enough to fit my manly curves.

I'm judging with Dan Calzaretta and Ruvani de Silva.

We kick off with ten American Pale Lagers. Pretty bland, for the most part. A couple of OK ones. We manage to agree on the medals without too much argument.

We’re done pretty quickly and can decant for lunch. By the raging torrent that is the Rio Chili.

There's rather nice roast pork today. Quite a large portion: two thick slabs. I don't manage to finish everything. I do eat all the pork, it being dead yummy. Just my sort of thing.

The afternoon starts with a Hazy IPA medal round

We come to a consensus remarkably quickly. All having the same beers in our top two. Only the bronze medal requires some discussion.

We're done by 15:10. Unfortunately, I'll be judging Best of Show. Bum. We have an hour to wait before that kicks off. Who knows how long it will take?

I fiddle on the internet for that hour. Which makes the time go quickly.

We're doing a pre-Best of Show of malty beers. Ruvani is with me again. It's been fun judging with her. She's enthusiastic and has a good palate. Way better than the leather one I'm lumbered with.

We have ten beers of very different styles. Ranging from Helles to Imperial Stout. A couple of dodgy ones. And some really good ones. Interestingly enough, the Helles and the Imperial Stout are our top two beers. The Stout just gets the nod.

We're finished at 17:10, which isn't too bad. I get an Uber with Ruvani back to the hotel. I've seen her on the internet and interacted a little electronically, but never met in person. I really enjoyed judging together and getting a chance to chat.

That's what these trips are all about: making new friends. You can never have too many friends.

Almost done with my Jura, I need to make an expedition to the shops for some pisco. 

There's an event tonight at 20:00. But we need to be up early tomorrow. The pisco bus leaves at 6:30. I need to go to bed early.

I head down the street to the shops as soon as I'm back in the hotel. I'm heading for a supermarket. On the way I spot a little shop and nip in there instead. I pick up a couple of bottles of pisco.  And bananas and crisps. All I need for tonight’s feast.

Bed is early. 9:30. Giving me 8 hours before I need to rise.

Pisco is now my bedtime chum. A very early bedtime chum.
 

What is Watney's Red Barrel?

A short video looking at the infamous Keg Bitter, Watneys Red Barrel.

 

Let's Brew - 1852 Allsopp Arctic Ale

Today’s is a very special recipe: the legendary Allsopp Arctic Ale. A beer genuinely brewed for Arctic expeditions. It’s courtesy of Chris Bowen, who put it together from Admiralty victualling records.

Chris did his own expedition to the Arctic some years back, brewing a version of Arctic Ale as part of the trip. I did a long interview with him about the expedition and the film made about it. I’ll be posting it on YouTube when I have time to edit it.

The recipe is surprisingly complicated for the mid-19th century. With no fewer than six types of malt. Including three types of roast malt. Which leaves it pretty damn dark. I’m most surprised by the presence of wheat malt. Which wasn’t very usual back then.

The sugar is also a shock. As this wasn’t usually legal in the UK at the time. However, this being an export beer might explain that.

The hops are all Goldings. And the boil quite short, considering the gravity. The dry hopping is totally insane.

I would expect this beer to be aged at least six to twelve months. 

1852 Allsopp Arctic Ale
pale malt	20.25 lb	69.42%
wheat malt	1.75 lb	6.00%
crystal malt 80 L	1.67 lb	5.73%
amber malt	1.67 lb	5.73%
brown malt	1.33 lb	4.56%
chocolate malt	0.75 lb	2.57%
Demerera sugar	1.75 lb	6.00%
Goldings 60 mins	6.75 oz
Goldings 30 mins	4.25 oz
Goldings 15 mins	2.25 oz
Goldings dry hops	12.00 oz
OG	1130
FG	1032
ABV	12.96
Apparent attenuation	75.38%
IBU	81
SRM	34
Mash at	156º F
Sparge at	168º F
Boil time	60 minutes
pitching temp	67º F
Yeast	Irish Ale (Wyeast Labs #1084)

 

Some judging

I rise at 7:15. And have a shower. I need a good clean after all that travelling yesterday.

I breakfast with Claudia, Sandy Cockerham and Gabi Demozzi. It's an OK buffet. Scrambled eggs, but no bacon. I have cheese instead. And fruit, obviously. I wouldn’t want to drop dead from lack of vitamins.

The breakfast room fronts onto the rather pretty garden, with many bright flowers and a small swimming pool. The small terrace is rather pleasant in the early morning sun. And sun is what you get every morning.

We take a taxi to the judging location, where we hang around for an hour before judging kicks off. Which is quicker than usual. If judging in South America has taught me one thing it’s patience. And to always have your laptop powered up.

Diego Perrotta hasn't turned up, so I'm just judging with Gabi. Which is fine by me, as we're old mates.

First category is Grape Ales and Fruit beers. A five-beer flight. Two pretty good ones and a couple of quite bad ones. Tasting pretty weird. We do manage to award three medals. These are homebrew, incidentally. 

We're done before 11:30 and have a free hour before lunch. Which I use to write this rubbish. Well, some of it. I’ll add loads of lies when I get home. (That’s what the kids believe I do.)

The judging location Restaurante Sillustani, is right next to the river. Which is, er, rather fierce. Not that wide, but very swift. Maybe we'll go rafting later.

I have lunch with Sandy, Gabi and Dan Calzaretta, an American judge. We have to wait quite a while for our food. Which is pretty decent: a large chicken filet with chips and boiled veg. We sit outside, next to the raging river. Which is quite noisy.

Ignacio Lomeli is judging with us after lunch. We start with American Pale ales, a set of six. These are commercial brews. Mostly OK.

Followed by British styles. I hate them all. It's fun finding ones to award medals to.

Because we've been quite quick, we're given a bonus round of a homebrew medal flight. They’re various types of IPA. Including some pretty good ones. Awarding medals really is fun this time.

Thankfully, it’s been a quite light judging day. Fewer than thirty beers. We're done by 17:15. Which is great. I'm back in my room by 17:45. And I'm free until 20:00. What could I possibly do? I know: fiddle around on the internet, as I always do.

I ask for a cup at reception and they point me to the bar. Where I pick up two thick plastic glasses. Now I can drink like a civilised person, not straight from the bottle. How can you have no glasses in a hotel room?

I set off for Servus just before 20:00. I bump into Gabi outside reception and we walk down together. Via Plaza de Armas, which is beautiful.

It’s a typical colonial square, with an impressively large cathedral filling one side and two-storey colonnades occupying the other three. All built of the pale grey volcanic stone. Massive palm trees dominate the gardens at the centre of the square. 

People bustle around, all dressed in overcoats on account of the evening chill. The lights lend it a magical, fairytale atmosphere. It’s hard to believe that we’re in the southern hemisphere.

I should mention the unusual climate here. The temperature is the same every day: 23º C maximum, 7º C minimum. And when I say every day, I mean all 365 days of the year. That’s what you get for being in the tropics, but in a desert at 2,300 metres. The difference between summer and winter? In the summer it occasionally rains.

Our destination isn’t far from the square: Servus. A brewpub in a rambling old building also built from the local grey volcanic stone. We're barely through the door when Silvia gives us a beer from her brewery. Which is quite nice. Both the gesture and the beer.

When I've finished that, I go to the bar to get another beer. It takes a while as they're very busy. Eventually, I get an IPA. Which is OK. A bit lacking in aroma, though.

There's no sign of the promised pizzas. Gabi gets fed up of waiting and heads off in search of food. I finish my beer and get an Uber back to the hotel. I can’t be arsed to look for a restaurant.

Not having had any pizza, I pick up a sandwich and a bag of cheese and onion crisps in reception. That will be my tea. I’m glad I got the crisps, as they liven up a very bland sandwich.

I go to the hotel bar in search of a pisco sour nightcap. Unfortunately, they're just closing. It's only 22:00. Instead, I go to my room where Jura is waiting for me. We take a stroll together down the sleepy-town path.



Restaurante Sillustani 
JF97+2W2, Puente Chilina Magnopata Yanahuara, 
Cercado De Arequipa 04017.


Servus
C. Palacio Viejo 325, 
Arequipa 04001.
https://www.atom.bio/servusaqp 

What is 1970s UK Lager?

Continuing my series on UK Lager, I look at the 1970s, the decade Lager really broke through.

 

Folkestone food

Just back from a few days in Folkestone. As part of my annual trip with Mikey.

"But weren't you just in Peru?" I hear you ask? Yes. I arrived back on Tuesday afternoon and on Thursday morning headed off  in Mikey's car. A short turnaround, I know. But one that didn't work too badly. All I had to do was sit in the car until we got to the UK. Not exactly challenging.

I won't go into the trip blow-by-blow. As we didn't do anything particularly interesting. Mostly, we were just hanging around in 'Spoons or the chippy. Those two pillars of UK culture. 

The most shocking event was on Thursday, when the East Kent Arms closed at 20:30. What the fuck? When does a pub close that early?

  

I didn't realise how big Halloween was in the UK. Loads of people in fancy dress on Saturday night. We met some rather nice young people in 'Spoons who were all dressed up. They were wondering where the drinks they'd ordered were. Before twigging that they'd ordered them for the right table number, but in a different 'Spoons. One in Southampton, where one of them is studying. I'm surethat it must happen quite frequently.

You probably want to know about the beer that I drank. I hand a couple of really nice pints of Tim Taylor Landlord in the Pullman. Some OK and some Dodgy Greene King Abbot in 'Spoons. A pint of Wobbly Bob in "Spoons that was just about OK. And that was about it.

Because even fewer pubs seem to be serving cask in Folkestone. Chambers, the cask specialist, has closed. Which had a big impact on choice. I ended up drinking espresso martinis in 'Spoons when the Abbot was tasting weird.

I had two chippy meals: fish, chips and peas; pie and peas. Really good stuff. Even the peas, which are often shit in the South.

 

We had some rather nice Vietnamese food, too. Accompanied by a Saigon beer. Allowing me and Mikey to reminisce about our time in Saigon earlier in the year.

And, of course, we had a Sunday roast. At the Royal Cheriton, where a massive plate of food costs just 10.75 quid. An amazing bargain. In other pubs, it costs twice that. Sadly, the pub no longer sells cask beer. 

I'll be back to Peru trip reports tomorrow. Luckily, I took extensive notes. 

A celebration

On 21st November at 12:00 in the Butcher's Tears shop on Witte de Witstraat I'll be celebrating reaching my 8th decade. 

There should be three historic beers to try: 1955 Lees Best Mild, 1956 Lees Strong Ale and 1832 Truman XXXX. 

Everyon is welcome to come along. Just remember to bring me a present. 

Arequipa bound

It's a pretty early start. My flight is at 9:55 and I don't want to rush at the airport. I’ll get in some lounge time, too. I wake just after six with Dolores wishing me happy birthday.

I don't bother with breakfast. I can get that in the lounge. I order an Uber at 7:00. It takes a little while to come.

The motorway isn't too bad. But there's a long queue in the approach to the drop-off point at Schiphol. We wait more than 5 minutes there.

I pick the wrong check-in desk and have to wait a while as someone makes weird inquiries about a wheelchair. It’s a woman in her early twenties who seems perfectly mobile.

Security is always a doddle with priority. And the queue isn't too bad for passport control. I'm through in 10 minutes and headed for the duty free. Where I get a Jura white oak cask. That being the cheapest single malt.

The lounge is reasonably crowded. But I can still find a table. First destination is the bar for my habitual brace of whiskies. Both doubles. They seem to have changed their policy on doubles. Which is cool.

Next stop is the hot food counter. I'm here at the best time: breakfast. I get an omelette, scrambled egg, mushrooms and two rostis. I know they’re dead good.

I don't have a huge amount of lounge time. About 40 minutes. I need to make the best of it. Which means another three rostis and two more whiskies.

I head to the gate about an hour before departure time. I know it's going to take about 15 minutes to walk there. My flight is at D47: about as far from the lounge as you can get.

Zone 1 starts boarding just about when I arrive. I only need to wait a couple of minutes before it’s my turn.

The flight is pretty full. Despite that boarding is completed in plenty of time. It's just the 10-minute taxi to the polderbaan that delays us.

I get stuck into the films straight away. Starting with The Incredibles 2. Which is pretty good.

I actually finish all the first meal: chicken, green beans and spuds. Along with a red wine, of course.

Next is a long German film with a weird title. I don't bother with English subtitles and can understand it perfectly well. Othe than a brief appearance by someone with a thick Bavarian accent.

About halfway, we're served a sandwich. A not particularly inspiring one. With which I drink a red wine.

My Daughter is a Zombie is a Korean film. For which I do need subtitles. It's not bad. And a change from all the American films. Like The Proposal, which is so fucking predictable. I finish with sitcom The Mick. Which is just about OK.

The last meal is a small pizza. I manage two bites. It isn't very appetising. I only finish the chocolate pudding.

We land about on time. Immigration is quick, as I join the oldie people queue. As always in South America, oldies like me get priority. I pick up my bag and head landside. Where I check in my bag again. So much fun.

Joining the priority queue, there's no waiting at security. And soon I'm airside again.

I have to wait a while before the gate is announced for my flight. I sit in a large food court area. First having bought few miniatures of pisco and a bottle of cola. Which I combine into one of my “special” drinks. Which I proceed to drink. What else would you do with a drink? Especially a “special” one.

When my gate is announced, I troll out there. It's C17. Also, about as far away as you can get. All the seats are taken when I get there. I have to stand around for a while. Before boarding first with my oldie advantage.

Not much to report about the flight. It lasts just an hour. And there's no drinks service.

My bag comes out almost as soon as I get to the carousel. In a jiffy, I'm outside and wondering where my lift is. I message Silvia and she arranges an Uber for me.

The only problem now is working out where the pickup point is. A helpful traffic policeman finds my Uber for me. And off I go.

The ride is so bouncy, that I think the road is cobbled. It isn't.

I'm not taken to the hotel but the location of the judges' reception. Well, not exactly to it. I'm dropped on a square and the driver tells me "It's over there." Pointing vaguely at a restaurant. I message Silvia and she comes to fetch me. The actual location is just around the corner.

Lots of judges are there. Several whom I met in Medellin a couple of weeks ago. a pisco sour is thrust into my hand. And everyone sings Happy Birthday, which is slightly embarrassing.

After another pisco sour, I get an Uber to the hotel with a Columbian judge.

I'm happy to be in my room. It's 22:00. I left home 21 hours go.

After a little Jura and some internet fiddling, I get my head down. 

Dutch Bokbier 2026 (part two)

I'm back with couple more Boks. Will they be any better than the three from Grolsch? We'll see.

First is Hertog Jan Bockbier. Another one going for the German spelling of Bok. Does that make it sound more genuine? I don't know.

The aroma is milky and metallic, with a touch of fruit and spice. It's sweet, but not overpoweringly so. If anything, it's a bit thin in the mouth. There's a little fruit and some cream. It finishes lightly bitter and rather metallic.

It's OK. Mostly inoffensive. Other than the funny metallic taste. If you ignore that, it's pretty drinkable. A beer I could imagine having a couple of glasses of.

I still haven't been able to find Amstel Bok. Which is worrying. I do hope that they've brewed it this year. The only Heineken beer I could find was Brand Dubbelbock. Let's give that a go.

 

Not much in the way of aroma. Mostly just metallic. With a touch of oxidation. It's very full in the mouth, Some dark fruit flavours and liquorice. It finished bitterweet. Very nice. I think the extra alcohol helps.

I saved the Brand until last because I expected it to be the best. And I was right. A pretty decent beer, full of malty goodness.

This will have been brewed at one of Heineken's breweries, as the Brand plant has closed. Sadly. They brewed some fairly decent Lagers.

Hopefully I can find some more Bokbiers. Especially Amstel Bok.

Dutch Bokbier 2026 (part one)

A couple of times in the past I attempted to blind taste all a seasons's Bokbiers. What fun that was. Well, not really, given how horrible some of them were. I doubt I'll ever attempt that again.

It being the season, I trolled down my Local Dirk van den Broek to pick up a few examples. A bit of a disappointing selection. Only five. Three of them from Grolsch. One from Heineken and one from AB Inbev. All beers from global brewers, then.

I'm kicking off with Grolsch Herfstbok, their original Bokbier. I don't have high hopes for this. I wouldn't usually buy it, because it's way too sweet. Or at least has been all the times I've tasted it in the past. 

Here I go. It smells a bit oxidised, if I put my beer-judging hat on. A bit of fruit, too, which is OK.  Very sweet in the mouth. Some dark fruit flavours and even a touch of liquorice. It finishes a bit harshly bitter and with an odd metallic taste. It has some good features, in a rather disjointed whole. Not my thing. And the finish is quite unpleasant.

While Dolores finishes off the Hefstbok, I've moved on to another Grolsh offering, Winterbok.

It smells very differnt from its sibling. Spicy. No surprise, as it is spiced. Cinnamon, I think, dominates. Mmm. Lots of cloves in the mouth and lots of herbal bitterness. Unlike Herfstbok, there's not much sweetness. I like it more than Herfstbok. ThoughI suspect that all the spices would get annoying after a glass or two.

I may as well get on with the third Gulpener beer, Dunkel Weizenbock. Which, interestingly, has the name of the beer in German.

Spicy aroma. Mostly cloves, which I suppose is from the wheat beer yeast. Quite wheaty in the mouthg with more spice. Easily the best of the three. And one I don't think they brewed themselves. I seem to remember that their Weizen was brewed somewhere in Germany.

That's enough Bokbier for today. Time for some whisky. 

Youngs boiling and fermentation in 1945

Processes to finish.

We’ll start with the boil. It was shorter for both the Mild Ales and Pale Ales. Down to 1.5 hours for the former and 1.75 hours for the latter. That’s 15 minutes less for each. Presumably, the time was reduced to save fuel.

There’s no real change in the fermentation temperatures.

Pitching temperature is around 58º F and the maximum temperature around 67º F. Nothing to see there, really.

The average length of fermentation is a little bit shorter. About half a day. Nothing really massive.

Overall, there’s not a huge difference between Young’s beers in 1945 and those in 1943. Which, in a way, is impressive achievement of UK wartime planning. That they could keep up the strength and quantity of beer brewed. 

Youngs boiling and fermentation in 1945
Beer	Style	boil time (hours)		Pitch temp	max. ferment-ation temp	length of fermen-tation (days)
A	Mild	1.5	1.5	59º F	66.75º F	6
X	Mild	1.5	1.5	58º F	66.5º F	7
PA	Pale Ale	1.75	1.75	58º F	68º F	7
PAB	Pale Ale	1.75	1.75	59º F	67.25º F	7
	Average	1.63	1.63	58.50º F	67.13º F	6.75
Sources:
Young's brewing records held at Battersea Library, document numbers YO/RE/1/13.

 

Let's Brew - 1910 Lees Bitter

One beer which hasn’t dropped much in gravity is the Bitter. Which is just 2º lower in gravity than in 1884.

It’s pretty much a full-strength Pale Ale. Maybe a few degrees weaker than a top-class London version.

The grist is fairly similar to the two Mild Ales: pale malt, maize and sugar. Though in rather different proportions. There’s a lot more sugar, which here is around 14%. I wonder if that’s to keep the colour as pale as possible? That’s certainly something that happened.

The hopping rate is much heavier than in the Mild Ales. No surprise there. It’s 7.75 lbs per quarter (336 lbs) of malt compared to around 3 lbs. 

The hops themselves were the same as in the Mild Ales: Two types of English hops and one Württemberg, all from 1908 and Californian from 1907. 

1910 Lees Bitter
pale malt	9.75 lb	82.42%
flaked maize	0.33 lb	2.79%
No. 2 invert sugar	1.75 lb	14.79%
Fuggles 125 min	1.25 oz
Fuggles 60 min	1.25 oz
Hallertau 30 min	1.25 oz
Cluster dry hops	0.125 oz
OG	1055
FG	1016
ABV	5.16
Apparent attenuation	70.91%
IBU	44
SRM	8
Mash at	153º F
Sparge at	166º F
Boil time	125 minutes
pitching temp	61º F
Yeast	Wyeast 1318 London ale III (Boddingtons)

 

Beers I really miss, part 2: Branik 12º Dark

I was lucky enough to visit Prague a few times in the mid-1980s. Before capitalism returned and fucked everything up.

The pubs were wonderful. Multi-roomed and very atmospheric. There was only one negative feature: most only sold one draught beer. Every now and then, I'd come across a pub with Staropramen 10º and 12º on tap. But that was about it as far as multi-tap pubs went.

A downside to this was that most pubs opted for a Pale Lager. Either 10º or 12º. I was told that in earlier times, most pubs had served both Pale and Dark Lager. WHen pubs switched to a single draught beer, it was the dark one tghat was axed.

Other than in brewpub U Fleku, draught Dark Lager was pretty rare in Prague. But there was one little place, in the Old Town close to Charles Bridge, that had Branik 12º Dark Lager on draught. What a great place to find by chance.

Because that beer was wonderful. The classic Prague Dark Lager. Not too sweet, full and well-balanced. In short, a great drinking beer.  Inviting gulp after gulp, pint after pint.

Then back came capitalism. All the Prague breweries were sold off as a job lot. And came into the hands of Bass Charrington. It was obvious most of the breweries would close. I think only Staropramen remains of the four or five breweries.

The Branik brand lives on, but 12º Dark was dropped years ago. Even while the brewery was still open. A sad loss, as far as I'm concerned. It wasn't the fanciest of beers. Just a reliable, tasty, everyday drink. The type of beer that should be treasured, but seldom is.

 

Youngs hops in 1945

A very short post today. I hope that you aren't too disappointed. I have a good excuse. Sorry, reason. I'm currently in Peru. At least, assuming my travel has gone well.

Every time I go on a trip, I have to queue up nine or ten blog posts. I'm writing this almost two weeks in advance. One of seven posts that I've written today. I can be very diligent when I need to be. Tomorrow I'll be recording a few videos to tide my YouTube channel over while I'm away. How did I ever fit in a full-time job?

Anyway, time to get on with the actual post. All eight sentence of it. Enjoy. 

Continuing with the hops, there’s not a huge amount to report.

Just the two types of hops in every beer. Both English, of course. Kent from the 1943 harvest and Sussex from 1944. Fairly fresh, then. Pretty much the same as in earlier war years. And that’s about all I can string out of this meagre information. Sorry about that. 

Youngs hops in 1945
Beer	Style	hop 1	hop 2
A	Mild	Kent 1943	Sussex 1944
X	Mild	Kent 1943	Sussex 1944
PA	Pale Ale	Kent 1943	Sussex 1944
PAB	Pale Ale	Kent 1943	Sussex 1944
Sources:
Young's brewing records held at Battersea Library, document numbers YO/RE/1/13.

 

Let's Brew Wednesday - 1910 Lees XXXP

In this set of beers, there is a Stout. Not a particularly strong one, but a Stout all the same.

This one does have quite a complicated grist, with new fewer than four malts. Pale, brown, crystal and black. Which is pretty complicated for a provincial Stout. Especially interesting is the inclusion of brown malt. Something that was mostly limited to London by this point. All the coloured malts leave the beer pretty dark.

The quantity of flaked maize is much smaller than in the other beers. There’s so little, in fact, that you can’t help but wonder what the point was.

Only two types of hops this time. Both of them English from the 1907 harvest. 

1910 Lees XXXP
pale malt	6.50 lb	50.98%
brown malt	1.75 lb	13.73%
crystal malt 60 L	1.75 lb	13.73%
black malt	1.25 lb	9.80%
flaked maize	0.25 lb	1.96%
No. 2 invert sugar	1.250 lb	9.80%
Fuggles 120 min	0.75 oz
Fuggles 60 min	0.50 oz
Fuggles 30 min	0.50 oz
OG	1059
FG	1019
ABV	5.29
Apparent attenuation	67.80%
IBU	21
SRM	47
Mash at	152º F
Sparge at	168º F
Boil time	120 minutes
pitching temp	61º F
Yeast	Wyeast 1318 London ale III (Boddingtons)

 

Youngs adjuncts and sugars in 1945

Now we'll see what replaced that 5% or so of malt. Flaked barley accounts for about 2%. It's about the same for both the Mild and Pale Ale parti-gyles.

The other 3%-odd is taken by sugar. In the case of the Milds, it's all extra No. 3 invert. For the Pale Ales, it's either No. 1 or a combination of No. 1 and No. 3. Nothing hugely odd about that. Other than the Pale Ales sometimes having some No. 3. A sugar that's meant for Mild Ales, really.

With the malt extract, there's no change. It's still around 3%. 

Youngs adjuncts and sugars in 1945
Beer	Style	flaked barley	malt extract	no. 1 sugar	no. 3 sugar	caramel	total sugar
A	Mild	15.79%	3.01%		10.53%	0.75%	14.29%
X	Mild	15.91%	3.79%		9.09%	0.76%	13.64%
PA	Pale Ale	14.37%	2.99%	8.38%	2.40%		13.77%
PAB	Pale Ale	14.37%	2.99%	10.78%			13.77%
	Average	15.11%					13.87%
Sources:
Young's brewing records held at Battersea Library, document numbers YO/RE/1/13.

 

Beers I really miss, part 1: bottle-conditioned Guinness

When you've been drinking as long as I have, there are inevitably favourite beers that have fallen by the way. In this series, I'll be documenting the ones whose loss is particularly affecting.

Where else could I start, other than with bottle-conditioned Guinness? Perhaps, the keenest loss of all. Because it was such a wonderful beer.

In the UK in 1970s, only a handful of beers were still bottle-conditioned. Guinness, one of the biggest-selling bottled beers, was amongst their number. Which, on the face of it, you wouldn't have expected.

There was a reason Guinness had stuck with bottle-conditioning. In Ireland, they didn't bottle mostly of their Stout themselves. Much of it was performed by publicans or retailers. Tiny operations with primitive equipment. May were effectively hand-bottling. They just weren't able to filter or force-carbonate. Once most bottling was taken in-house, the days of bottle-conditioning were numbered.

Getting to the beer, it was such wonderful stuff. Roasty, without being harsh. With a lovely fine-beaded head. And, lurking in the background, a subtle, bur perceptible, lactic twang. The origin ow which was a big secret. Rumour was that Guinness deliberately soured some beer, pasteurised it and then blended it into the main wort. Presumably to mimic the effect of ageing.

It was a classic. One of the best beers in the world. And then it was gone.

Will it ever return? I doubt it. Though I'm sure Guinness are perfectly capable of doing so. There's just no incentive for them to. 

Anothre new country: Peru

Just about done here in Peru. Been a great time. Met some really cool new people, reconnected with some old friends. Drank far too much pisco.

As I've already bored you with, one of the reasons I do all this crazy travelling (that's a quote from Dolores) is all the social aspects. In this trip didn't disappoint in that respect. 

The high altitude that I feared didn't work out as bad as I feared. As long as I didn't walk up any hills or carry any weight. The alien landscapes,  amazing food and lots of pisco more than made up for that.

I'm going to travel as long as I have those few last breaths in my body. 

Can't write any longer. About to go out to drench my stomach in a few last pisco sours. 

Youngs malts in 1945

On with the malts.

The malt content is down, on average by over 5%, dropping from almost 76% to 71%. Which is interesting. We'll see in a minute what replaced that 5% of malt.

There's one malt fewer than in 1943, enzymic malt having been dropped. Presumably on account of supply problems. As Youngs reintroduced it after the war.

Other changes to the grists are the combinations of base malts. In the Mild parti-gyle, the percentage of mild malt was increased at the expense of pale malt. While in the Pale Ale parti-gyle, some of the PA malt was replaced by mild malt. Again, I assume that these changes were to do with supply problems rather than a choice of the brewer. 

Youngs malts in 1945
Beer	Style	pale malt	mild malt	PA malt	crystal malt	total malt
A	Mild	11.28%	49.62%		9.02%	69.92%
X	Mild	11.36%	50.00%		9.09%	70.45%
PA	Pale Ale		17.96%	53.89%		71.86%
PAB	Pale Ale		17.96%	53.89%		71.86%
	Average					71.02%
Sources:
Young's brewing records held at Battersea Library, document numbers YO/RE/1/13.