Let's Brew Wednesday - 1868 William Younger 140/-

Scotland. Sick of it yet? There's still lots, lots, lots more to come. Including more Younger's recipes. We're going through their shilling Ales in descending order, kicking off with the modest 140 bob.

Funny things, the Younger's shilling Ales. They're in the earliest of their logs I've seen, 1831. And they were brewed right up until WW I. So they were around for more than a lifetime. But I haven't the faintest idea what they were sold as. Or in what form, for that matter. They could have been bottled beers (in the 18th century a large percentage of Scottish beer was sold in bottled form).

My guess would be that they were known as Edinburgh Ale or Scotch Ale. I know I don't need to tell you this, but just in case you haven't been listening: these beers are totally unrelated to the 60/-, 70/-, 80/- and 90/- that have been knocking around since WW II. Those are basically Pale Ales.

I stumbled upon a text the other day that explained the different brewing practices of Edinburgh and Alloa. Alloa brewers sent their beers out ready to be drunk. Edinburgh Ales were expected to be cellared after receipt from the brewery, during which time they would drop bright and come into condition. Stock Ales, basically.

Edinburgh Ales were renowned for being rich. Looking at the FG, they must have been pretty thick and sweet. This strikes me as a rather good description of this beer:

“The best Edinburgh ale is of a pale colour, mild, glutinous, and adhesive.”
"A Dictionary, Practical, Theoretical, and Historical, of Commerce and Commercial Navigation" by John Ramsay McCulloch, 1844, page 9.

Adhesive. There's an adjective I've never seen used to describe beer anywhere else. Must remember that one next time I write tasting notes.

As we'll be doing a whole series of these shilling Ales I'll leave some of my bullshit/explanations for the later posts. Don't want to run out of words too soon.




Over to Kristen . . . . .

Kristen’s Version:

Same deal as the previous Younger logs. Very simple stuff.

Ingredients

Grist – Two malts. I wanted the happy, sexy, tasty time that Maris Otter gives but I thought it would be too heavy if I used another complex malt so I went with the Canadian pale I’ve talked about before.

Hops – Lots more Bohemian hops again. About half the hops are Bohemian. I used Saaz. They make me happy in my mouth. I used Fuggles because I have them and it’s a solid bittering option. The big hopping difference here is the amount that goes into dry hopping. Just a tiny bit. Enough to add a nice addition of aroma complexity but definitely not adding enough to give this baby elbows.

Yeast – This probably the only time I’ll suggest this but you really want to use a yeast that finishes high and fat. Probably under pitch is a good idea also. This is what Younger does. Under pitch by quite a bit. I used the Wyeast 1099 Whitbread b/c it doesn’t attenuate that well.