Disinformation source

I think I've spotted one. A disinformation source.

Googling, I found plenty who had used it when writing about Russian Stout. Including that recent Courage Russian Stout ad.

"Russian Imperial Stout 

When Peter the Great opened Czarist Russia to the West in the early 18th century, dark ales called "Porter" were all the rage in England. Porters, named after the working class who devoured them, were relatively easy-drinking brews with a small percentage of highly roasted malt. The result was a dark brown, toffee-flavored libation fit for mass consumption. Arthur Guinness took the idea to Ireland, increased the dark, coffee-tinted profile and added “Extra Stout” to his label, thus creating another new beer style.

Peter the Great fell in love with stouts during his 1698 trip to England, and he requested that some be sent to the Imperial court in Russia. Much to the embarrassment of the English, the beer had spoiled somewhere along its tedious thousand-mile journey! Determined as always to save face, the Barclay brewery of London came to the rescue by rapidly increasing the amount of alcohol and hops for their second effort. The result was an inky black concoction with enough warmth and complexity to immediately become a sensation throughout Russia. The “Russian Imperial Stout” had been born and quickly became popular throughout European Russia.

Empress Catherine the Great of Russia (1729-1796) was very much a fan of Imperial Stout. One notable supplier was Thrale’s Anchor Brewery in the parish [district] of Southwark, a mile or two up river from John Courage Brewery’s site. In 1796 Thrale’s supplied Imperial Stout "that would keep seven years" to the Empress of Russia. The author of The History and Antiquities of the Parish of St. Saviour, Southwark, said of Thrale’s beer at that time, "The reputation and enjoyment of Porter [Imperial Stout] is by no means confined to England. As proof of the truth of this assertion, this house exports annually very large quantities; so far extended are its commercial connections that Thrale’s Entire [a contemporary name for Imperial Stout] is well known, as a delicious beverage, from the frozen regions of Russia to the burning sands of Bengal and Sumatra. The Empress of All Russia is indeed so partial to Porter that she has ordered repeatedly very large quantities for her own drinking and that of her court." She also ordered some of her supply from The John Courage Brewery. The John Courage Brewery continued to brew its Imperial Stout, with the boast on its label that it was originally brewed by Imperial order of Catherine, up until the 1990s. While hugely popular through the 19th century, Porters had fallen away completely from consumer's tastes by the end of the 20th Century. The style may have disappeared altogether were it not for the newfound bravado and quirkiness of the emerging craft brewing scene in the U.S. Anxious to brew all things intense, extreme and obscure, many small batch American brewers began resurrecting and re-inventing the old Russian genre. Today’s versions are even bigger and bolder than the originals."
-by Greg D. Willis, Professional Beer Guy, for the Alexander Palace Time Machine.
http://www.alexanderpalace.org/palace/ImperialStout.html

Does anyone know who Greg D. Willis is?

It's scary how widely this, er, dodgy article has been copied or used as a source.

The article isn't dated, unfortunately. It could be itself a copy. Can you find an older version of the story? The Peter the Great drinking Porter in London story. Or the Courage brewing Russian Stout for Catherine the Great story. Any of the fantasies in the article will do.

There may be a prize in it. How far back can we trace the crap?

Scottish beer in Australia

People are always sending me stuff. Often quite useful stuff. Like what I'm about to share with you. It's from the Australian Brewers' Journal of 21st february 1910 and shows the prices of various imported beers in Sydney.

Let's take a look, shall we?

First it's Ales. Take a close look and you may find something odd about certain Ales:

10 of the 13 draught Ales are Scottish. At least that I can recognise. I'm not sure where Palace and Guild & Co. are from. Just checked. Looks like they're both Scottish, too. Let's get this right: every draught beer except Bass No. 4 is Scottish.

Talking of which, what an odd beer to have exported. Not all the Bass beer I would have guessed. That's a Burton Mild Ale which, in 1870 had an OG of 1070. It probably hadn't changed much by 1910.

It's a shame that it's not more specific as to what type of beer most of them were. I could guess. But as there are no clues, there's not much point.

In the bottled beers, only four English brewers are represented. Two pretty obvious ones, Bass and Allsopp. Plus two less obvious ones, Combe of London and Tennant of Sheffield. Hang on. That can't really be from Combe. Their brewery closed in 1899, when they joined Watney, Combe, Reid. It must really be a Watney's beer.

Spot the funny Ales? Bit obvious, all those German Lagers. Amusing that they lumped the Lagers with Ales but listed Stouts separately. They couldn't have been paying attention in BJCP class. Note the the two Scottish Lagers, from Tennent and Jeffrey.


Now the Stouts:

I can only spot two Scottish breweries: Jeffrey and Tennent. That's hardly surprising. Stout wasn't such a big thing in Scotland. The best-known Stout brewers were in London and Ireland. Which is reflected in the list. Glad to see Barclay Perkins putting in a cameo. They certainl;y picked some odd brands to sell beer: Beaver, Fish, Pelican, Dog's Head, Dagger (my favourite) and Pig. Lots of different flavours of Guinness, though I'm sure the beer inside the bottles was the same.

Scotland is ridiculously over-represented, especially in the draught Ales. The percentage of beer exported must have been much higher in Scotland than in England.

Hop usage: England vs. Scotland

Brewing records often contain more than just the details of individual brews. Sometimes there are totals of various kinds. I stumbled on one of these yesterday.

A dead handy set of total it is, giving the malt and hop usage of William Younger for the year ending September 30th 1858. Here it is, just scribbled into one page of the brewing book:

One of the reasons I love Whitbread's records is for the tables at the back of each brewing book. There's one that lists every brew of each beer with monthly and annual totals. Dead useful for observing the waxing and waning popularity of different beers.

There's another table I've not used until now. One listing the use of malt and hops over the year, again with annual totals. This is it:

Can you see where this is going? Towards a table, that's where it's going. This table:

Hop usage at William Younger and Whitbread
	Younger - year ending 30 September 1858	Whitbread year ending July 1865
qtrs malt	17,598	20,906
lbs hops	166,498	181,839
lbs hops/qtr	9.46	8.70
Sources:
Document LMA/4453/D/01/029 held at the London Metropolitan Archives
Document WY/6/1/2/14 held at the Scottish Brewing Archive

This isn't total Whitbread usage, by the way. Just for their Ales. (Ale and Porter are in different brewing books.)

As you can see, the overall quantities are relatively similar. With one slight difference: William Younger was using proportionally more hops than Whitbread.

Anyone still believe Scottish brewers barely used any hops?

James Calder beers 1922 - 1961

To break up those slabs of text from old books, there's something lighter today. Almost fluffy.

I promised you a look at James Calder's beers and here they are. Though, if you've been paying attention, you'll realise that none were brewed at Calder's Shore Brewery. That closed in 1921 and Calder's products were produced at Arrol's Alloa Brewery. Until 1951, when they moved to Jeffrey in Edinburgh.

The most surprising beer in the table below is the first: a Stout from 1922. Why is it unusual? Because of the attenuation, almost 80%. Scots loved their Stouts sweet and this one is surprisingly dry. You can see that later they did brew more Scottish-looking Stouts with low attenuation.

Brown Ale was one trend that did hit Scotland around the same time as England. I'm surprised that the OG of Calder's only fell five points between 1938 and 1950. Around double that woukld have been more typical. In the 1950's, most Brown Ales clawed their way above 1030. The name - Nut Brown Ale - signifies nothing in particular. It's a stock phrase that appears in several  poems and songs. A bit like "oinomata ponta" ("wine-dark sea") in Homer.

Here's one:

THE PLAYERS' SONG.

The nut-brown ale, the nut-brown ale,
Puts downe all drinke when it is stale,
The toast, the nutmeg, and the ginger,
Will make the sighing man a singer.

Ale gives a buffet in the head,
But ginger under proppes the brayne;
When ale would strike a strong man dead,
Then nutmegge tempers it againe,
The nut-brown ale, the nut-brown ale,
Puts downe all drinke when it is stale.

"Festive songs, principally of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, Volume 23" by William Sandys, 1848, pages 81 - 82.

And here's another:

'When the chill sciroco blows,
And winter tells a heavy tale ;
When pies, and daws, and rooks and crows,
Do sit and curse the frost and snows ;
Then give me ale,
Old brown ale,
Nut brown ale,
Stout brown ale,

O give me stout brown ale -
Ale that the plowman's health up keeps,
And equals it to tyrant thrones ;
That wipes the eye that ever weeps,
And lulls in sweet and dainty sleeps.:
Th' o'er wearied bones
Old brown ale, &c.

From the comic opera "Robin Hood" by Robin Mcnally, 1783, page 31.

Do a search in Google Books and you'll find loads of works in which the phrase was used.

Considering that's what made their name, there are very few Pale Ales. Though that could be because of the source of the data. All analyses from 1950 on come from the Whitbread Gravity Book. With a big brand of Milk Stout (Mackeson), Whitbread were keen to see what its rivals were up to. They were also fascinated with Brown Ale.

See how the one 60/- is a Pale Ale. That's what 60/- was before WW II. I'd love to know how and when (and why, come to think of it) it became a type of Dark Mild.

Here's the table.

James Calder beers 1922 - 1961
Year	Beer	Style	Price	size	package	Acidity	FG	OG	colour	ABV	App. Attenuation
1922	Stout	Stout		pint	draught		1011	1052.99		5.47	79.24%
1922	Ale?	Ale?		pint	draught		1010.8	1052.34	70	5.41	79.29%
1928	Pale Ale	Pale Ale		pint	bottled		1008	1037		3.77	78.38%
1937	Milk Stout	Stout		pint	bottled		1022.3	1055.75		4.32	60.09%
1938	Nut Brown Ale	Brown Ale		pint	bottled	0.06	1013.4	1039.4	10 + 40	3.36	65.99%
1939	60/- Ale	Pale Ale		pint	bottled		1007.8	1036.75	11 – 12	3.77	78.91%
1939	Milk Stout	Stout	5d	half pint	bottled		1021	1052.5		4.06	60.00%
1940	Pale Ale	Pale Ale		pint	bottled		1005	1035.5		3.97	85.92%
1941	Pale Ale	Pale Ale		pint	bottled		1009	1038.5		3.83	76.62%
1948	Stout	Stout		pint	bottled		1015	1039.5		3.16	62.03%
1948	Scotch Strong Ale	Scotch Ale		pint	bottled		1019	1065.5		6.04	70.99%
1948	Export Ale	Pale Ale		pint	bottled		1015	1045.5		3.95	67.03%
1949	Beer	Pale Ale		pint	bottled		1006.5	1029		2.92	77.59%
1949	Stout	Stout		pint	bottled		1013	1038.5		3.30	66.23%
1950	Nut Brown Ale	Brown Ale	1/-	half pint	bottled	0.06	1011.4	1034.3	40 + 8	2.96	66.76%
1950	Pale Ale	Pale Ale			bottled	0.05	1014.2	1054.7	21.5 B	5.26	74.04%
1950	Milk Stout	Stout			bottled	0.07	1029.7	1069.3	1 + 14 B	5.10	57.14%
1954	Scotch Stout	Stout	1/2d	half pint	bottled	0.04	1015.9	1040.9	1 + 14	3.23	61.12%
1959	Scotch Stout	Stout	14d	halfpint	bottled		1021.5	1042.2	300	2.66	49.05%
1961	Export Ale	Pale Ale	15d	half pint	bottled	0.05	1009.9	1044.1	23	4.27	77.55%
1961	Stout (no lactose)	Stout	16d	half pint	bottled	0.06	1019.8	1041.3	250	2.69	52.06%
Sources:
Younger, Wm. & Co Gravity Book document WY/6/1/1/19 held at the Scottish Brewing Archive
Thomas Usher Gravity Book document TU/6/11
Whitbread Gravity Book document LMA/4453/D/02/001 held at the London Metropolitan Archives
Whitbread Gravity Book document LMA/4453/D/02/002 held at the London Metropolitan Archives

William Younger's Porter and Stout 1868 - 1869

There were some questions about William Younger's Porter and Stout grists in reaction to the last Let's Brew recipe. Today we're going to look at them in more detail and hopefully provide fuller answers.

Looking at Porters from outside London is a strange experience. I'm so used to the London way of doing things. It makes these beer look quite odd.

I mentioned in the original post that there were two obvious differences with London-brewed Porters:

1. Younger's were lower gravity
2. Younger's brewed one Porter and one Stout while London brewers had several Stouts

Looking in greater detail, there are further dissimilarities. The attenuation of Younger's Porter is low, a little either side of 60%. At the same period, Whitbread's Porter was 70-75% attenuated. And at least 7.5% ABV. While none of Younger's is even 4% ABV.

Then there are the grists. Again, the dissimilarities are striking. Younger's grists have more variation and the proportion of dark malts is higher in most cases. Younger's used amber malt but no brown malt. Amongst the London brewers it was the other way around. Younger's Porter was less heavily hopped but its Stout was hopped about the same as the London beers. (Using lbs per quarter to iron out gravity differences. Younger's Stout had 12 - 14 lbs per quarter, The London brewers - if we exclude the Export Stout - 12.5 yto 18 lbs.)

Looking at other details (anal-retentive is my middle name), Younger's boiling times were longer, but their pitching temperatures were about the same. Interestingly, Younger fermented their Porter and Stout differently to their other beers. They pitched 3 or 4º warmer and the fermentation time was shorter by a couple of days. It looks as if they are mimicing London practice in that regard.

One final point. Every single one of the Younger's beers, with the exception of the bottling Porter, was vatted. It's not as easy to tell how the London beers were treated, but I think it's safe to assume that anything with the word Runner in its name wasn't vatted.

Nothing more comes to mind so here are the tables:

William Younger Porter and Stout 1868 - 1869
Date	Year	Beer	Style	OG	FG	ABV	App. Attenuation	lbs hops/ qtr	hops lb/brl	dry hops (oz / barrel)	boil time (hours)	boil time (hours)	Pitch temp	max. fermentation temp	length of fermentation (days)	pale malt	black malt	amber malt
12th Sep	1868	Bg	Porter	1046	1020	3.44	56.52%	8.00	1.45		3		61º	69º	3 + 2	92.25%	7.75%
27th Apr	1869	BS	Porter	1041	1017	3.18	58.54%	7.69	1.18		2.5	3	61º	66º	2 + 3	43.43%	13.13%	43.43%
6th Feb	1869	P	Porter	1048	1018	3.97	62.50%				2.75		62º	67º	2 + 1	67.36%	10.18%	22.45%
11th Dec	1869	BS	Porter	1042	1018	3.18	57.14%	7.50	1.46		2.5	3	61º	67º	2 + 3	67.36%	10.18%	22.45%
21st Nov	1868	DBS	Stout	1062	1014	6.35	77.42%	12.22	3.47		2	3	62º	74º	3 + 4	81.25%	5.85%	12.90%
28th Nov	1868	DBS	Stout	1064	1018	6.09	71.88%	11.43	3.33	20.00	2.25		62º	73º	3 + 3	81.95%	5.63%	12.42%
3rd Dec	1869	DBS	Stout	1066	1019	6.22	71.21%	12.76	4.11		2.5	3	61º	75º	3 + 4	76.33%	5.50%	18.17%
4th Dec	1869	DBS	Stout	1066	1020	6.09	69.70%	14.23	3.74		2.5	3	62º	74º	3 + 4	73.43%	6.17%	20.40%
15th Dec	1869	DBS	Stout	1065	1018	6.22	72.31%	13.33	3.83	17.02	2.25	3	62º	72º	3 + 4	63.97%	6.04%	29.99%
27th Dec	1869	DBS	Stout	1067	1021	6.09	68.66%	14.23	3.78		2.25	3	60º	72º	4 + 3	62.47%	6.30%	31.23%
Source:
William Younger brewing record document WY/6/1/2/21 held at the Scottish Brewing Archive
Notes:
Assuming 336 lbs for a qtr of pale malt, 254 lbs for black malt and 280 lbs for amber malt
Fermentation time is fermentation + cleansing.

London Porter and Stout 1865 - 1871
Date	Year	Brewer	Beer	Style	OG	FG	ABV	App. Attenuation	lbs hops/ qtr	hops lb/brl	boil time (hours)	boil time (hours)	boil time (hours)	Pitch temp	pale malt	brown malt	black malt	caramel	sugar
13th Jan	1868	Whitbread	K	Porter	1057.1	1016.6	5.35	70.87%	19.91	5.08	1.5	2	2	64º	79.87%	16.10%	4.03%
10th Jan	1868	Whitbread	P	Porter	1048.8	1011.9	4.87	75.57%	9.91	2.23	1.5	2	2	64º	55.58%	15.76%	5.25%		23.41%
24th Aug	1868	Whitbread	SS	Stout	1082.3	1029.9	6.93	63.64%	13.67	5.52	1.5	2	2.5	62º	72.65%	14.64%	3.66%		9.05%
24th Aug	1868	Whitbread	SSS	Stout	1101.4	1048.8	6.96	51.91%	13.67	6.80	1.5	2	2.5	62º	72.65%	14.64%	3.66%		9.05%
14th Oct	1868	Whitbread	xp S	Stout	1070.9	1023.5	6.27	66.80%	20.05	6.62	1.5	2	2	62º	79.87%	16.10%	4.03%
18th Mar	1865	Barclay Perkins	TT	Porter	1058.2	1018.5	5.25	68.20%	15.14	3.69				65.5º	83.41%	13.10%	3.49%
5th Jul	1870	Truman	Runner	Porter	1056.8	1016.6	5.31	70.73%	10.3	2.64				62º	85.34%	9.77%	4.89%
21st Dec	1870	Truman	Bottling Porter	Porter	1060.4	1013.9	6.16	77.06%	18.2	5.14				60º	86.06%	9.29%	4.65%
23rd Nov	1870	Truman	Country Runner	Porter	1062.3	1011.9	6.67	80.89%	13.7	3.53				59º	76.01%	8.21%	4.93%	10.86%
16th Mar	1871	Truman	Keeping	Porter	1067.3	1016.6	6.71	75.31%	16.5	4.84				58º	89.53%	9.67%	0.81%
6th Jul	1870	Truman	Running Stout	Stout	1072.0	1020.8	6.78	71.15%	14.0	5.03				58º	88.88%	6.95%	4.17%
4th Jul	1870	Truman	Double Stout	Stout	1079.5	1022.2	7.59	72.13%	12.5	5.14				60º	89.29%	6.98%	3.72%
4th Jul	1870	Truman	Imperial	Stout	1083.7	1023.5	7.95	71.85%	12.5	5.40				60º	89.29%	6.98%	3.72%
17th Nov	1870	Truman	Double Export Stout	Stout	1092.0	1020.8	9.42	77.41%	12.5	5.89				58º	81.28%	14.63%	4.10%
Sources:
Whitbread brewing records document numbers LMA/4453/D/09/061 and LMA/4453/D/09/062 held at the London Metropolitan Archives
Barclay Perkins brewing record document number ACC/2305/01/546 held at the London Metropolitan Archives
Truman brewing record document number B/THB/C/72 held at the London Metropolitan Archives
Notes:
Assuming 336 lbs for a qtr of pale malt, 254 lbs for black malt and brown malt