Whitbread Pale Ales 1890 - 1910

How long is it since my last big table? Just a few days? Far too long.

Today's topic: Whitbread Pale Ales in the decades either side of 1900. It's a time when Whitbread was expanding their range of Pale Ales.

Their PA had been around for a while. Since the 1860's. A decade later the enigmatic FA was added. I assume the initials stand for "Family Ale". I could, as so often before, be wrong. But that's my theory and until someone throws a better one at me or, god forbid, some real evidence turn up, I'm sticking to it. Hang on. Why don't I search the internet?

Now isn't that interesting. I'll take the article below as proof positive that FA means Family Ale:

"REPORTS AND ANALYSES
AND
DESCRIPTIONS OF NEW INVENTIONS
IN MEDICINE, SURGERY, DIETETICS, AND THE
ALLIED SCIENCES.
WHITBREAD & Co.'s BOTTLED ALES AND STOUT.

IN no respect probably do the public suffer from more mischievous imposition than in the tricks of bottlers, who put up inferior ales and beer under well known hands, employing for this purpose second-hand labels, and adopting all sorts of devices to "clear" the ale chemically, and to give to it a fictitious character. Messrs. Whitbread & Co., the great and well-known brewers, have placed the bottling of their ales and beer in the hands of Mr. Baker, of Gray's Inn Road; and, besides inspecting his Stores, which are replete with excellent arrangements on a very large scale, we have analysed samples of all the various kinds of ale and beer, and we take pleasure in stating that the results are in all respects worthy of the high reputation of Messrs. Whitbread, and testify to the skill, care, and honesty of their bottling agent. The following is the result of the analyses made by Dr. Paul, the principal English authority on this subject.

I have examined the six samples of bottled beer received from Mr. Baker, of Gray's Inn Road, and now beg to hand you the results of my analyses.

	Specific gravity	Original gravity of wort	Amount of alcohol	Amount of extract	Acetic acid
Strong Ale	1013.45	1081.3	7.19	6.1	0.15
Pale Ale	1009.93	1059.86	5.32	4.9	-
Family Ale	1011.44	1057.04	4.82	5	0.14
Extra Stout	1026.8	1076.66	5.26	8.9	0.13
London Stout	1020.83	1067.03	4.88	7.2	0.15
London Cooper	1016.03	1058.8	4.52	5.9	0.18

All these samples were of excellent quality; and the original gravities of the worts from which they were brewed showed that the full proportions of malt had been used in each. The pale ale was remarkable, from being almost wholly destitute of acid ; and on this account would probably be specially adapted for invalids."
"The British Medical Journal, March 9th, 1872", page 27.

Where was I? Whitbread's Pale Ales. That's it. By the 1890's, a third had appeared, 2PA. Nothing very exciting, just a slightly weaker version (OG 1053º) of the standard PA (1060º). They were often party-gyled together. In 1899 there was another newcomer: IPA. This was about the same gravity as FA, 1050º.

Whitbread Pale Ales 1890 - 1910
Date	Year	Beer	Style	OG	FG	ABV	App. Attenuation	lbs hops/ qtr	hops lb/brl	boil time (hours)	boil time (hours)	Pitch temp	pale malt	SA malt	PA malt	other sugar	total
16th Jul	1890	2PA	Pale Ale	1055.4	1010.0	6.01	81.95%	11.69	2.99	1.75	1.75	57º	78.57%			21.43%	100.00%
20th Oct	1890	FA	Pale Ale	1054.8	1012.0	5.67	78.12%	11.01	2.73	1.67	1.67	57º	23.81%		55.56%	20.63%	100.00%
16th Jul	1890	PA	Pale Ale	1060.1	1013.0	6.23	78.37%	11.69	3.25	1.75	1.75	57º	78.57%			21.43%	100.00%
17th Nov	1890	PA	Pale Ale	1059.6	1015.0	5.89	74.81%	11.53	3.00	1.33	1.67	57º	58.14%		18.60%	23.26%	100.00%
1st Apr	1891	2PA	Pale Ale	1053.2	1011.0	5.58	79.32%	10.12	2.43	1.33	1.67	57º	21.74%		57.97%	20.29%	100.00%
27th Jul	1899	2PA	Pale Ale	1053.2	1015.0	5.05	71.80%	11.01	2.56	1.5	1.75	58º	36.49%		41.89%	21.62%	100.00%
8th Aug	1899	PA	Pale Ale	1057.6	1015.0	5.64	73.97%	12.02	3.12	1.5	2	58º	78.95%			21.05%	100.00%
28th Feb	1900	FA	Pale Ale	1050.2	1015.0	4.66	70.15%	11.97	2.66	2	1.75	58.5º	14.15%	65.09%		20.75%	100.00%
10th Jan	1900	IPA	IPA	1056.6	1016.0	5.37	71.73%	12.99	3.20	1.5	1.75	58º	13.16%		65.79%	21.05%	100.00%
19th Feb	1900	IPA	IPA	1051.3	1014.0	4.94	72.72%	12.96	2.91	1.5	1.75	58º	13.57%	66.52%		19.91%	100.00%
25th Jun	1901	2PA	Pale Ale	1053.7	1014.0	5.26	73.95%	9.85	2.39	1.5	1.42	57.5º	13.89%		63.89%	22.22%	100.00%
15th Nov	1901	FA	Pale Ale	1052.1	1014.0	5.04	73.12%	12.01	2.77	1.5	1.75	57.5º	14.15%		65.09%	20.75%	100.00%
13th Jun	1901	FA casks	Pale Ale	1050.4	1013.0	4.95	74.21%	11.71	2.66	1.5	1.75	57.5º	13.89%		63.89%	22.22%	100.00%
16th Nov	1901	IPA	IPA	1050.1	1012.0	5.05	76.07%	12.04	2.69	1.5	1.75	58º	27.91%		51.63%	20.47%	100.00%
18th Nov	1901	PA	Pale Ale	1060.9	1017.0	5.81	72.10%	11.09	3.05	1.5	1.75	58º	12.35%		67.90%	19.75%	100.00%
21st Feb	1902	FA	Pale Ale	1050.4	1014.0	4.82	72.23%	12.00	2.68	1.5	1.75	58.5º	14.15%		65.09%	20.75%	100.00%
20th Feb	1902	IPA	IPA	1049.9	1013.0	4.88	73.93%	11.97	2.65	1.5	1.75	57.5º	14.15%		65.09%	20.75%	100.00%
17th Apr	1906	2PA	Pale Ale	1056.8	1018.0	5.13	68.30%	9.46	2.38	1.5	1.75	58.5º	15.29%		64.33%	20.38%	100.00%
30th Apr	1906	FA	Pale Ale	1049.6	1013.0	4.84	73.78%	11.99	2.61	1.5	1.75	58.5º	17.39%		62.32%	20.29%	100.00%
11th May	1906	FA (Butts)	Pale Ale	1050.1	1015.0	4.65	70.08%	12.03	2.67	1.5	1.75	58.5º	17.39%		62.32%	20.29%	100.00%
14th May	1906	IPA	IPA	1050.6	1014.0	4.84	72.34%	12.09	2.68	1.5	1.75	58.5º	17.39%		62.32%	20.29%	100.00%
12th May	1906	PA	Pale Ale	1063.4	1022.0	5.47	65.29%	12.01	3.40	1.33	1.83	58.5º	17.65%		58.82%	23.53%	100.00%
19th Aug	1910	2PA	Pale Ale	1054.0	1017.0	4.90	68.53%	8.96	2.12	1.5	1.75	59º	20.09%		60.27%	19.64%	100.00%
13th Aug	1910	FA	Pale Ale	1047.6	1013.5	4.52	71.66%	10.79	2.28	1.5	1.75	59º	23.44%		57.81%	18.75%	100.00%
15th Aug	1910	IPA	IPA	1049.9	1014.5	4.68	70.92%	10.92	2.36	1.5	1.75	59º	22.39%		59.70%	17.91%	100.00%
27th Sep	1910	PA	Pale Ale	1061.0	1021.0	5.29	65.57%	8.99	2.43	1.75	1.75	57º	19.11%		60.51%	20.38%	100.00%
Sources: Whitbread brewing records held at the London Metropolitan Archives documents: LMA/4453/D/01/056, LMA/4453/D/01/065, LMA/4453/D/01/066, LMA/4453/D/01/071, LMA/4453/D/01/076

To be honest, I can't see why they bothered with so many very similar brews. The FA and IPA were slightly more heavily hopped for their strength than PA, but not by much. Between the two of them, the differences were negligible. So why bother?

In case you were wondering, only IPA and PA made it past WW I. 2PA was discontinued in 1916, FA in 1918. But you were longing to know that, weren't you.

Almost forgot. One thing I did want to point out was the place of IPA in the strength hierarchy of Whitbread's beers. The bottom. That's where it was, along with FA. They were the weakest beers produced by Whitbread. So don't start that IPA was a strong beer crap. I've overwhelming eviddence that demonstrates the exact opposite.