Pages

▼

Thursday, 28 July 2011

Devenish OHB

I still haven't quite finished going through the Whitbread Gravity Book. There's so much of it. Literally hundreds of pages. Yesterday, I reluctantly pulled on my swimming trunks and dived in. Like one of those lunatics breaking the ice on New Years Day.

I'm on 1920's beers, mostly bottled, from what they call "Sundry Brewers". Basically the ones not important enough to get a whole page to themselves.There's often a regional theme going on. One page will have several brewers from Brighton, then some from the Isle of Wight. (It's amazing how many breweries there were in Brighton. My favourite is Kidd and Hotblack)

There are problems other than just struggling to read the handwriting. My table includes a column for style. Flagon Ale, Shire Ale, Imperial Ale, Pioneer - four new beer style? I can only guess.

This one in particular has me stumped: Devenish OHB. Notable for having the lowest FG, 1000.9ยบ. A puny OG. Must have been yummy. Anyone know what type of beer it was?

Here are some of the highlights so far. My favourite name is Smithers and Son, of Brighton. The Rock Brewery from the same town being a close second.


Date Year Brewer Beer Style Price size package FG OG ABV attenuation
09 1928 Devenish OHB Pale Ale ?? 6.5d pint bottled 1000.9 1032 4.06 97.19%
10 1926 Kidd & Hotblack L.A. Mild 3d pint draught 1004.1 1024.8 2.69 83.47%
11 1926 Disher Ten Guinea Draught Ale Strong Ale 20d pint draught 1034.5 1115.4 10.61 70.10%
10 1926 Smithers & Son L.A. Mild 4d pint draught 1009.6 1032.6 2.98 70.55%
02 1931 Shipstone Mild Mild 6d pint draught 1013 1048 4.54 72.92%
02 1931 Shipstone Bitter Pale Ale 8d pint draught 1011.9 1052.5 5.28 77.33%
02 1931 Shipstone Best (Dark) Strong Ale 8d pint draught 1016.8 1058.1 5.36 71.08%
12 1926 Rock Brewery Rock Pale Ale Pale Ale 12d reputed quart bottled 1002.8 1036.2 4.36 92.27%
12 1926 Rock Brewery Double Stout Stout 6d pint bottled
1006.4 1036.7
02 1928 Tetley Imperial Ale Strong Ale 7d pony bottled 1034.8 1089.6 7.10 61.16%
03 1928 John Smith No.5 Mild Ale Mild 8d pint bottled 1009.8 1038.8 3.76 74.74%
05 1928 McEwan Scotch Ale Scotch Ale
pint bottled 1017.2 1069.6 6.83 75.29%
05 1928 McEwan Strong Ale Strong Ale
pint bottled 1026.4 1087.4 7.95 69.79%
04 1927 Cornbrook Flagon Ale Mild
pint bottled
1028.2

Source:

See that Ten Guinea Draught Ale? Over 10% ABV. Why doesn't my local sell that?

8 comments:

  1. Rob Sterowski28 July 2011 at 10:43

    Best to drink Disher's Ten Guinea Ale in 1926 then. By 1928 it had already dropped to 1103 and shortly before its ultimate owner, Edinburgh United Breweries, went into administration in 1933 it was down to a miserable 1090, hardly worth drinking really ;)

    ReplyDelete
  2. beer guru, jr.28 July 2011 at 11:02

    The Devondish OHB sounds like a winner... Charlie Sheen style. The acronym must have stood for "Oh How Bland".

    ReplyDelete
  3. beer guru, jr.28 July 2011 at 11:05

    Bloody hell I cannot spell. Devenish!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Ron Pattinson28 July 2011 at 11:50

    Barm, do you have more details about this beer. It's the strongest draught beer I've seen from the 1920's.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Martyn Cornell28 July 2011 at 12:02

    OHB - Old Harbour Bitter? (Devenish, IIRC, was at the Old Harbour in Weymouth.)

    Certainly looks an amazing beer - since tax was on OG, not abv, it must have been tremendous value for money!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Rob Sterowski28 July 2011 at 17:41

    I don't have much more, I found that information when searching for something else. I'll put the original gravities up but they just catalogue its slow decline in strength.

    I've never come across any other indication that it was a draught beer. It does seem rather odd.

    Here is a picture of a pub selling it and the window lettering clearly says "Disher's Ten Guinea Ale In Bottle": http://www.edinphoto.org.uk/0_a_o/0_around_edinburgh_-_st_leonards_dg_02.htm

    ReplyDelete
  7. half_man_half_pint3 August 2011 at 07:16

    Barm, picture of pub is in the Pleasance. Edinburgh United Breweries
    was based there. Buildings still there.
    Converted into Edinburgh University sport centre.

    http://www.archives.gla.ac.uk/sba/sbacolls/eub.html
    They were caught by customs and excise
    red handed. Making beer without paying duty.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Ron Pattinson3 August 2011 at 08:58

    half man, good link.

    I see they were bought by John Jeffrey. Just been looking at some of their beers from the 1930's. Including a canned IPA.

    ReplyDelete