British beer in Belgium

Hey, hey, hey. Easter is here. And what's the first thing that comes into your mind when you think of Easter? That's right: Belgium.

Today we'll be looking at British beers specifically brewed for the Belgian market. Nowadays it works the other way around. Sort of. With Belgian brewers brewing beers only available in the USA. These two phenomenon share one characteristic: though brewed in one country the beers were designed to suit the taste of drinkers elsewhere.

British beers for the Belgian market
Year	Brewer	Beer	Style	package	Acidity	FG	OG	Colour	ABV	Atten-uation
1922	Allsopp	Extra Stout	Stout	bottled		1014.7	1053.7		5.06	72.63%
1922	Barclay Perkins	Brown Stout	Stout	bottled		1015.9	1065.9		6.52	75.87%
1922	Barclay Perkins	Pale Ale	Pale Ale	bottled		1000.4	1054.1		7.07	99.26%
1922	Bass	Imperial Stout	Stout	bottled		1032.3	1092.7		7.85	65.16%
1922	Bass	Pale Ale	Pale Ale	bottled		1010.9	1055.1		5.76	80.22%
1922	Worthington	Double Imperial Stout	Stout	bottled		1014	1070.7		7.42	80.20%
1922	Worthington	IPA	IPA	bottled		1004.7	1055		6.60	91.45%
1948	Allsopp	Burton Pale Ale	Pale Ale	bottled	0.08	1008.9	1052.8		5.73	83.14%
1948	Allsopp	Burton Pale Ale Export	Pale Ale	bottled	0.07	1007.1	1052.6	18	5.95	86.50%
1949	Watney	Pale Ale	Pale Ale	bottled	0.10	1015.5	1059.8	18 B	5.76	74.08%
1949	Watney	Reids Stout	Stout	bottled	0.09	1019.2	1072.4	1R+12B	6.93	73.48%
1950	Benskins	???? Ale	Strong Ale	bottled	0.09	1011.3	1060.3	18 B	6.40	81.26%
1950	Younger, Geo.	Gordon Highland Scotch Ale	Scotch Ale	bottled	0.90	1031.1	1091.2	1 + 40	7.81	65.90%
1950	Younger, Geo.	Gordon Xmas Ale	Scotch Ale	bottled	0.10	1032.3	1090.7	2 + 40	7.58	64.39%
1952	Younger, Geo.	Gordon Highland Scotch Ale	Scotch Ale	bottled	0.08	1026.5	1081.8	2.5 + 40	7.19	67.60%
1954	John Smith	Scotch Ale	Scotch Ale	bottled	0.06	1022.1	1072.6	95	6.56	69.56%
1954	Younger, Geo.	Gordon Highland Scotch	Scotch Ale	bottled	0.06	1028	1090.9	60	8.20	69.20%
1955	John Smith	Scotch Ale	Scotch Ale	bottled	0.08	1022	1072.3	75	6.54	69.57%
1955	McEwan	Scotch Ale	Scotch Ale	bottled	0.07	1020.2	1088.2	65	8.92	77.10%
1955	Truman	Scotch Ale	Scotch Ale	bottled	0.08	1025.6	1083.4	80	7.52	69.30%
1955	Younger, Geo.	Gordon Highland Scotch	Scotch Ale	bottled	0.07	1029.9	1090.3	55	7.86	66.89%
1957	Taylor Walker	Pale Ale	Pale Ale	bottled	0.06	1011.2	1048.7	27	4.88	77.00%
1960	Bass, Burton	Pale Ale (Blue Triangle)	Pale Ale	bottle	0.04	1012.7	1061.1	17	6.32	79.21%
1960	John Smith	Pale Ale	Pale Ale	bottled	0.04	1013.7	1055.5	17	5.22	75.32%
1965	Bass, Burton	Blue Label	Pale Ale	bottle	0.04	1014	1068.8	18	7.17	79.65%
1965	John Smith	Pale Ale	Pale Ale	bottled	0.05	1011.8	1056.1	13	5.54	78.97%
1965	Simonds	Martins PA	Pale Ale	bottled	0.05	1019.7	1068	17	6.04	71.03%
Source: Whitbread Gravity Book

All this information comes from the Whitbread Gravity Book. Whitbread went to the trouble of buying samples of British export beers in Belgium. Why did they do that? Because they were selling beer in the Belgian market, too. And you know what's weird? There are still beers being sold under the Whitbread name in Belgium: Pale Ale and Stout.

On a forum recently someone asked why Scotch Ale was considered a Belgian style.And how come beer called Scotch Ale was brewed in Belgium. Surely it should be brewed in Scotland? As you can see from the table, much of the imported Scotch Ale wasn't brewed in Scotland either, but came from London or Tadcaster.

There's a odd feature of British export beers. Take a look at the gravities. They're much higher than similar beers for the domestic market. In fact, they're very similar to pre-WW I beers. Before 1914, the difference between export and domestic beers was just the level of hopping. After the war, when the gravities had been slashed at home, beers sent abroad remained at their old strength. These export beers give us a glimpse of what British brewing might have been, had the disaster of WW I never happened.