Let's Brew Wednesday - 1928 Barclay Perkins OMS

Part whatever in our series of Barclay Perkins beers from the 1920's. And, amazingly, actually appearing on a Wednesday. Who could ask for more?

You're going to get it, though. More, that is. Because this beer I can use like a pointy stick to poke you in the eye with. To make a didactic point. Everyone likes a poke now and then. Oatmeal Stout. I've seen my fair share of these beers. They were all the rage in the first half of the 20th century. And for the most part a big con. Why? Because they mostly contained bugger all oats. Little more than a token amount in many cases.

My first sighting of Barclay Perkins OMS was 1910. When it had a gravity of 1053º. And one of the 32 quarters in the grist was oats. Roughly 3%. By the 1920's, the oats content was down to just a few pounds. Surely not enough to have been noticeable.

More revealing is what went on at Whitbread. In 1912, they suddenly started throwing a few oats into their Porter/London Stout party-gyle. They'd obviously started marketing an Oatmeal Stout. But, not having a second small brewhouse like Barclay Perkins, they couldn't brew it as aa standalone beer. No problem - just add it to the party-gyle. Except it wasn't really a different beer. Just the London Stout under another name. Because or the party-gyle, it meant that the Porter was in reality an Oatneal Porter and all the London Stout was an Oatmeal Stout.

Not that it mattered. No-one was going to spot the fact. The quantity of oats was laughable. 1 quarter out of 402. What's that? About 0.25% of the grist. A total joke, really.

I've just been going through Fuller's WW I brewing records. In 1910 they started hoying the odd pound of oats into their Porter/Brown Stout party-gyle. Half a quarter in a grist of 75 quarters. A bit over 1% of the grist. I suspect they were up to the same as Whitbread. They'd started marketing an Oatmeal Stout and the simplest way to make one was to simply modify their Stout recipe to include a token quantity of oats. Presumably taking care not to add so much as to piss off the drinkers of their standard Stout.

There is one exception to this. One Oatmeal Stout that's worthy of the name: Maclay's 1909 OMS. That has 4.5 quarters of oats out of a total of just 16.5 quarters. That's a bit more like it. Enough oats to actually taste.

There you have it. Oatmeal Stout. A marketing concept rather than a real style. Where have I come across something like that before?




On that cheerful note, I'll pass you on to Kristen . . . . .

Barclay Perkins - 1928 - OMS
General info: OMS, OMG, Oatmeal stout! Finally, an oatmeal stout! Wait, where’s the oatmeal? Crammed in the very top of the grist ingredients, kinda penned in at the last minute. 16 pounds of oats for over 9000 gals of beer. Can't you just TASTE the oatmeal!? Oatmeal or not, this is a bloody great stout. Looks very much like an Imperial grist just lower in gravity. A baby RIS. yeah, I like that....
Beer Specifics			Recipe by percentages
Gravity (OG)	1.051		53.5% English 2 row			4.1% Flaked Maize
Gravity (FG)	1.014		8.5% Amber malt			0.1% Flaked Oats
ABV	4.93%		7.3% Roasted Barley
Apparent attenuation	72.55%		6.3% Crystal 75
Real attenuation	59.43%		4.7% Brown malt
IBU	48.6		Mash	90min@152°F		0.71qt/lb
SRM	117			90min@66.7°C		1.48L/kg
EBC	231.0
			Boil	2.25 hours
	Homebrew @ 70%				Craft @ 80%
Grist	5gal		19L		10bbl		10hl
English 2 row	5.47	lb	2.490	kg	296.65	lb	114.62	kg
Amber malt	0.87	lb	0.397	kg	47.27	lb	18.26	kg
Roasted Barley	0.75	lb	0.341	kg	40.65	lb	15.70	kg
Crystal 75	0.64	lb	0.292	kg	34.77	lb	13.43	kg
Brown malt	0.48	lb	0.219	kg	26.08	lb	10.08	kg
Flaked Maize	0.42	lb	0.192	kg	22.82	lb	8.82	kg
Flaked Oats	0.01	lb	0.004	kg	0.53	lb	0.21	kg
Invert No3	1.40	lb	0.638	kg	76.07	lb	29.39	kg
Caramel Colorant	0.18	lb	0.080	kg	9.51	lb	3.67	kg
	8.631		3.930		554.35124
Hops
Cluster 7% 120min	0.28	oz	8.0	g	17.46	oz	0.422	kg
Fuggle 5.5% 90min	1.78	oz	50.4	g	110.29	oz	2.665	kg
Fermentation	63°F /17.2°C
Yeast	Nottingham ale
	1968 London ESB Ale Yeast  - WLP002 English Ale Yeast
Tasting Notes: Holy darkness. This sucker is nearly black but has these beautiful ruby highlights running through her. Tons of toasted malt, bread crusts. Very strong espresso and mocha. Hints of dark caramel with a chewy resinous hop twang. Treacle and tree sap. Plummy fruit and brandied cherries. So complex, so smooth. Perfect pint to go with a nice fruit cake. Something you can fall into and give you another hour or so of fuel to be able to deal with the holiday season.