I did drink a bit of Webster's in my youth, as they had several pubs in Leeds. What was that one in Armley called? They used to sell the Dark Mild, which wasn't that common. Most places seemed to sell Green Label rather than the Dark Mild.
That 1950's lineup is a good one. Something you see both sides of the Pennines. Mild, Best Mild and Bitter. With Best Mild pale and Mild dark. Though, in this case, the Mild isn't all that dark. 80 or 80 EBC is more typical for a Dark Mild. 55 EBC is more like Banks's Mild.
Look at that attenuation in the 1950's. Those draught beers must have been pretty dry. I'm being kind. Watery, more like.
Those two 1980's Milds, Light and Dark with the same OG. I wonder if they were the same beer, just the one got extra caramel? What am I saying? That's obviously the case. Who the hell would have bothered brewing two different Milds to the same gravity?
Here's a question to ponder. That Sam Brown Ale: is it a Northern or Southern type?
On that note, I'll pass you over to the numbers:
| Samuel Webster beers 1955 - 1989 | |||||||||||
| Year | Beer | Style | Price | size | package | Acidity | FG | OG | colour | ABV | App. Atten-uation |
| 1955 | Sam Brown Ale | Brown Ale | 9.5d | half pint | bottled | 0.05 | 1013 | 1035.7 | 95 | 2.93 | 63.59% |
| 1956 | Velvet Stout | Stout | 1/2d | half pint | bottled | 0.05 | 1022.3 | 1045.1 | 425 | 2.93 | 50.55% |
| 1959 | Velvet Stout | Stout | 13d | halfpint | bottled | 1019.8 | 1040.1 | 300 | 2.61 | 50.62% | |
| 1959 | Dukes?? Ale | Pale Ale | 10d | half pint | bottled | 0.04 | 1006.8 | 1035.3 | 19 | 3.56 | 80.74% |
| 1959 | Old Brown | Brown Ale | 15.5d | nip | bottled | 0.05 | 1023.1 | 1071.4 | 110 | 6.27 | 67.65% |
| 1959 | Velvet Stout | Stout | 14.5d | halfpint | bottled | 0.05 | 1019.3 | 1046.1 | 300 | 3.45 | 58.13% |
| 1959 | Old Tom | Old Ale | 13d | halfpint | bottled | 0.05 | 1012.5 | 1045.1 | 150 | 4.23 | 72.28% |
| 1959 | Green Label Ale | Mild, Light | 11.5d | halfpint | bottled | 0.04 | 1006.7 | 1039 | 24 | 4.20 | 82.82% |
| 1959 | Sam Brown Ale | Brown Ale | 9d | halfpint | bottled | 0.04 | 1011.1 | 1036.8 | 95 | 3.33 | 69.84% |
| 1959 | Bitter | Pale Ale | 16d | pint | draught | 0.06 | 1004.7 | 1038 | 22 | 4.16 | 87.63% |
| 1959 | Best Mild | Mild, Light | 13d | pint | draught | 0.05 | 1004.4 | 1034.9 | 20 | 3.81 | 87.39% |
| 1959 | Mild | Mild | 12d | pint | draught | 0.06 | 1005.7 | 1032 | 50 | 3.29 | 82.19% |
| 1959 | Bitter | Pale Ale | 15d | pint | draught | 0.07 | 1005.4 | 1037 | 20 | 3.95 | 85.41% |
| 1959 | Best Mild | Mild, Light | 13d | pint | draught | 0.06 | 1005.9 | 1035 | 20 | 3.64 | 83.14% |
| 1959 | Mild | Mild | 12d | pint | draught | 0.05 | 1004.8 | 1031.6 | 55 | 3.35 | 84.81% |
| 1964 | Sam Brown Ale | Brown Ale | 20d | pint | bottled | 0.04 | 1009.6 | 1036 | 95 | 3.30 | 73.33% |
| 1977 | Pennine Bitter | Pale Ale | pint | draught | 1037.5 | ||||||
| 1977 | Best Mild | Mild, Light | pint | draught | 1033.8 | ||||||
| 1979 | Pennine Bitter | Pale Ale | pint | draught | 1037.5 | ||||||
| 1979 | Best Mild | Mild, Light | pint | draught | 1033.8 | ||||||
| 1979 | Nut Brown | Mild | pint | draught | 1033.8 | ||||||
| 1981 | Yorkshire Bitter | Pale Ale | pint | draught | 1037.5 | ||||||
| 1981 | Yorkshire Light | Mild, Light | pint | draught | 1033.8 | ||||||
| 1981 | Yorkshire Dark | Mild | pint | draught | 1033.8 | ||||||
| 1982 | Yorkshire Dark | Mild | pint | draught | 1033.8 | ||||||
| 1982 | Yorkshire Light | Mild | pint | draught | 1033.8 | ||||||
| 1982 | Yorkshire Bitter | Pale Ale | pint | draught | 1037.5 | ||||||
| 1983 | Yorkshire Bitter | Pale Ale | pint | draught | 1037.5 | ||||||
| 1983 | Yorkshire Light | Mild, Light | pint | draught | 1033.8 | ||||||
| 1983 | Dark Mild | Mild | pint | draught | 1032 | ||||||
| 1986 | Yorkshire Bitter | Pale Ale | pint | draught | 1037.5 | ||||||
| 1986 | Green Label Best | Mild, Light | pint | draught | 1033 | ||||||
| 1986 | Webster's Choice | Pale Ale | pint | draught | 1032 | ||||||
| 1989 | Yorkshire Bitter | Pale Ale | pint | draught | 1036 | ||||||
| 1989 | Green Label Best | Mild, Light | pint | draught | 1033 | ||||||
| 1989 | Webster's Choice | Pale Ale | pint | draught | 1045 | ||||||
| Sources: | |||||||||||
| Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/002 | |||||||||||
| Good Beer Guide 1978, 1980, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1987, 1990 | |||||||||||
I see they were brewing Old Tom in 1959, a bit of a blow to the theory you hear a lot in Stockport that Robinsons called their strong ale that after the name of the brewery cat.
ReplyDeleteMatt, I've found three other breweries that made a beer called Old Tom: Bent, Hammonds and Selby.
ReplyDeleteMaybe all the cats were called Tom.
ReplyDeleteNow then lad, what's wrong with dry beers? When I was I little kid, loads of the pubs round our way were Webster's and they weren't short of customers.
ReplyDeleteThe spring water they used to brew it was full of magnesium sulphate, with the sulphate adding dryness to the beers.
ReplyDeleteAre the draught beers cask or keg or both?
ReplyDeleteIs that right? The OG of Webster's Choice was 1032 in 1986 and 1045 in 1989.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting Ron.
ReplyDeleteHi Ron do you have recipes for any of the Websters bitters?/ I have been set a challenge to recreate some of them
ReplyDeleteAndrew Booth,
ReplyDeleteno, I'm afraid I don't.
Well I’ve just brewed a 1959 recipe from a ledger I acquired from a former brewer at Fountains head Brewery it’s a tad on the strong side but a gorgeous pint.
ReplyDeleteAndrew Booth,
ReplyDeletewould you be willing to share some photos of that ledger with me?
Ordinarily I would but the person who let me copy the recipes for Nut Brown and Green Label plus one or two others made me promise not to pass on the information since everything Websters is owned by a guy in Edinburgh. As a aside when Websters Brewery was shut down in 1996 all the records were stuck in a container and sent to John Smiths in Tadcaster where they still are the copy I got was kept by someone who worked in the labs at Ovended Wood.
ReplyDeleteI’m afraid i can’t the person allowed my to copy what he had and use for my own use I have been requested to brew some of the old Websters Recipes. The person who kept the ledger after closure is worried that they could be identified as everything Websters is owned by a guy in Edinburgh. All the brewery records are in a container at John Smiths in Tadcaster where they were taken in 1996 after closure of the Ovendon Wood Site.
ReplyDeleteDave Lines wasn’t far out in the book Brew Beers Like Those you Buy he basically got the hops slightly wrong.
In my brew I used a Wyeast West Yorkshire Yeast as that is a very close strain of yeast to the one that was used at Websters.
The recipe for best is straight forward after a little more research I have discovered the brewery archives for Websters is held by Calderdale Archive Service so have booked a appointment there to further my knowledge the Dave Lines Book recipe for Websters Yorkshire Bitter is out by a country mile on the amounts of grain and hops I suspect the recipe he was given was a wartime recipe when both malts and hops were in short supply
ReplyDeleteAndrew Booth,
ReplyDeletegood to know that their records have been properly archived.
Hi Ron you might be pleased to know that I have finally found the core recipes for Websters Beers from the 1980s I have brewed both Green Label and Pennine both turned out well I’m hoping to resurrect the brewery at the Birthplace of Samuel Webster himself.
ReplyDeleteHi Ron, could you tell me source of the figures myself and another person are relaunching Websters ales from next January.
ReplyDeleteAndrew Booth,
ReplyDeleteit says at the bottom of the table:
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/002
Good Beer Guide 1978, 1980, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1987, 1990
Thankyou very Much Ron
ReplyDelete