George Younger beers 1906 - 1939

I'm going a little Alloa crazy. I'm unearthing lots of stuff about Britain's forgotten brewing centre. It seems a shame not to share it.

We've been around the brewery with Barnard. Now it's time to take a look at some of George Younger's beers. And what better place to start than at the beginning. At least the beginning of the analyses I possess. Which is 1906.

It's a funny one, that 1906 analysis. The date could be wrong. The question mark next to it implies it's just a guess. It comes from a piece of paper slipped inside a brewing log. Not a Scottish brewing log, but William J. Younger's personal notebook from his time at Evershed's Burton brewery in the 1890's. This is it:

I've just noticed Knox in there. That's another Alloa brewery. Oddly enough, the only one of which much survives. And the only one still connected to the drinks trade, it being owned by Diageo. But I digress.

On with the beers. They're a funny set. The high proportion of Pale Ales could just be the result of the specific areas of interest of those doing the analyses. The Whitbread Gravity Book is full of Milk Stout analyses, presumably because they were keeping a close eye on beers competing with their Mackeson brand. The overwhelming majority of the beers listed are standard strength Pale Ales, with gravities between 1035º and 1048º.

Barnard commented that George Younger was famous for two styles of beer: Pale Ale and strong Alloa Ale. There are certainly plenty of the former, but surprisingly few of the latter. Which is a a bit odd, as I've plenty from other breweries. Most have gravities of 1065º and 1085º. These are the beers that, while described by the breweries themselves as Strong Ale were sold in England as Scotch Ale. It's hard to read too much into these two samples. The last, from 1939, is very weak at just 1047º for the Strong Ale.

It's harder to find exact English equivalents for Scottish Strong Ales. The closest are the KKK or KKKK brewed in London, or beers like Bass No. 1 Ale from Burton.

I've two analyses of a Mild. They don't tell me much. At 1035º and 6d a pint, the one from 1922 is very much in line with London Milds of the same period. That there is only two analyses speaks volumes about the popularity of Mild in Scotland.

Seeing Table Beer in the 20th century is a surprise. London brewers had given up on it in the middle of the 19th century. It seems to have hung around much longer in Scotland. No idea why.

Malt Wine. I've classified those as Barley Wine, which seems fair enough. The ones listed below certainly have the right sort of strength. Though I wouldn't like to define what the difference is between Malt Wine and Strong Ale in this context. Just what the brewer decided to put on the label, I suspect.

And finally . . . the Stouts. Again, not many samples to work on. The later two look very typical of the way Stout developed in Scotland. Becoming very sweet and, because of the very low degree of attenuation, not very alcoholic. Here's a funny thing. One style that never gets mentioned in people's fantasies about Scottish beer styles is Stout. Yet sweet, underattenuated Stout is one of the most distinctively Scottish of all styles. I suppose it doesn't fit in with romantic notions of kilted Scots drying their malt over peat fires up in the Highlands.

 

George Younger beers 1906 - 1939
Year	Beer	Style	Price	size	package	Acidity	FG	OG	colour	ABV	App. Attenuation
1906	60/- PA	Pale Ale		pint	draught			1056.2	8
1922	Black Beer	Black Beer		pint	bottled		1004	1011		0.90	63.64%
1922	carbonated	??		pint	bottled		1008.5	1027	36	2.39	68.52%
1922	Mild	Mild	6d	pint	draught		1005.9	1034.5	95	3.73	83.04%
1923	Malt Wine	Barley Wine		pint	bottled		1016	1078		8.12	79.49%
1923	carbonated	Pale Ale		pint	bottled		1007.3	1033.8	33	3.44	78.47%
1923	No. 1 Pale Ale	Pale Ale		pint	bottled		1008.2	1040.9	31	4.26	80.07%
1923	Malt Wine	Barley Wine		pint	bottled		1023.9	1083.4	69	7.76	71.34%
1924	Alloa Pale Ale	Pale Ale			bottled			1039.7
1924	Sparkling TB	Table Beer		pint	bottled		1004	1027.5	40	3.05	85.45%
1926	PA	Pale Ale		pint	bottled		1009	1033	30	3.11	72.73%
1928	No. 1 Alloa Pale Ale	Pale Ale		pint	bottled		1008	1043.5	no. 9 (standard colour)	4.62	81.61%
1929	XXX Stout	Stout		pint	bottled		1012	1047.5		4.61	74.74%
1929	90/- PA	Pale Ale		pint	bottled		1009	1039		3.90	76.92%
1929	PA	Pale Ale		pint	bottled		1002	1035		4.31	94.29%
1929	PA 60/-	Pale Ale		pint	bottled		1008	1037		3.77	78.38%
1929	Sparkling Pale Ale (carbonated)	Pale Ale		pint	bottled		1004	1033.3	Between 7 - 8. Same as our Newcastle Pale.	3.80	87.85%
1929	Sparkling Pale Ale (carbonated)	Pale Ale		pint	bottled		1007	1034	Between 7 - 8. Same as our Newcastle Pale.	3.51	79.41%
1929	Sparkling Pale Ale (carbonated)	Pale Ale		pint	bottled		1008	1035.5	Between 8 - 9. Shade paler than our standard	3.57	77.46%
1929	Heavy Export Ale (carbonated)	Pale Ale		pint	bottled		1013	1049	Between 11 – 12	4.67	73.47%
1929	Strong Ale (carbonated)	Strong Ale		pint	bottled		1018.5	1066.5	Between 13 - 14	6.24	72.18%
1929	Sparkling Pale Ale (carbonated)	Pale Ale		pint	bottled		1007.8	1038	Between 7 - 8.	3.93	79.61%
1929	Sparkling Malt Wine (carbonated)	Barley Wine		pint	bottled		1013	1076	No. 14.	8.27	82.89%
1929	No. 1 Alloa Pale Ale (carbonated)	Pale Ale		pint	bottled		1011	1044.8	No. 9.	4.38	75.42%
1930	Pale Ale	Pale Ale		pint	bottled		1011.5	1040		3.69	71.25%
1930	Pale Ale	Pale Ale		pint	bottled		1010	1039	50	3.76	74.36%
1931	Milk Stout	Stout		pint	bottled		1020	1044		3.09	54.55%
1932	Heavy Export Ale	Pale Ale		pint	bottled		1011	1048		4.81	77.08%
1933	Lemon shandy	Shandy		pint	bottled		1006	1014		1.03	57.14%
1933	Heavy Export	Pale Ale		pint	bottled		1012	1048		4.68	75.00%
1933	Sparkling Pale Ale	Pale Ale		pint	bottled		1005.5	1035		3.84	84.29%
1933	Sparkling Table Beer	Pale Ale		pint	bottled		1007.5	1021		1.74	64.29%
1934	Pale Ale	Pale Ale		pint	draught		1012	1038		3.36	68.42%
1935	Pale Ale	Pale Ale	8d	pint	bottled		1009.4	1041		4.10	77.07%
1936	90/- Pale Ale	Pale Ale		pint	bottled		1004	1036	7 – 8	4.17	88.89%
1937	Cream Double Stout	Stout		pint	bottled		1025.5	1045.5		2.56	43.96%
1937	Pale Ale	Pale Ale	5d	pint	bottled		1007.3	1032.3	13 – 14	3.24	77.52%
1937	Pale Ale	Pale Ale	6d	pint	bottled		1011	1039	13 – 14	3.63	71.79%
1939	60/- Ale	Pale Ale		pint	bottled		1007.8	1037.5		3.87	79.33%
1939	Light Ale	Mild	6d	pint	draught	0.06	1005.8	1033.6	40 + 1	3.61	82.74%
1939	Strong Ale	Strong Ale	10d	pint	draught	0.08	1005.2	1047.4	40 + 16	5.52	89.03%
Sources:
Thomas Usher Gravity Book document TU/6/11 held at the Scottish Brewing Archive
Younger, Wm. & Co Gravity Book document WY/6/1/1/19 held at the Scottish Brewing Archive
Whitbread Gravity Book document LMA/4453/D/02/001 held at the London Metropolitan Archives
Document WY/6/1/1/14 of the William Younger archive held at the Scottish Brewing Archive.