James Aitken beers 1906 - 1964

All this talk about Aitken is giving me a thirst. How about taking a look at some of their beers?

As with other brewers, the vast majority of their beers for which I have details are Pale Ales. Let's start with those from between the wars. Almost all are in the 1034º to 1040º range, which was typical for 60/- and 70/- Pale Ales of the time. Most 70/- PA's were around the top end of that and 60/- PA's around the bottom end. The two outliers are the Heavy Export from 1934, which is a very respectable 1055º. That's about the same as a top-end London Pale Ale. Was it really a export beer? Hard to say. The word Export seems have been used in many ways in Scotland, only sometimes meaning beer that was really shipped abroad.

You'll note some inconsistencies in the names. 90/-, for example. Logic would dictate that it would be a good bit stronger than 60/- or 70/- PA. But it isn't. At 1038.8º, it has the gravity of a 70/- PA. Though this example of 90/- is relatively strong. I've seen plenty that were closer to 1030º. I need hardly say that this should not be confused with modern beers called 90/-, which are Strong Ales. Ah, those pesky Scots with their confusing names.

Then there's "Heavy" and "Export". Today they're used to denote specific strengths of Scottish Pale Ale, being equivalent to Bitter and Best Bitter respectively. There's no such clarity in the pre-war naming. One beer even combining the two. You're probably bored of hearing me say this, but "Heavy" was used to mean just "Strong" until quite recently. Its specific meaning seems of recent origin.

The post-war Pale Ales like quite similar, just with a few gravity points shaved off. 60/- PA is down to just over 1030º and Heavy or 70/- PA to 1035º. I'm sort of assuming that Heavy by this time was synonymous with 70/-. Export, at 1043º, certainly looks like what we all know and love as Export or 80/-. And then there's than pesky 90/-. With a gravity slightly lower than 60/-. Where's the logic in that?

Let's move on to the Stouts. They look like typical Scottish Sweet Stouts: low attenuation, low ABV. How did they get such low attenuation without the use of lactose? It's a mystery to me.

I've not much to say about the Strong Ales. Except that they look very much like I would expect. Dark brown in colour and around 6% ABV. It's interesting that pretty much every Scottish brewery I've looked at continued to brew beers of this type after WW II. There were many English brewers with no product than 4.5% ABV. This is also the type of Scottish beer which was best known outside Scotland. And the basis for the beers described as Scotch Ale in Belgium.

Finally there's that lonely Brown Ale. It looks like a classic Double Brown to me. A reasonably well attenuated beer of over 1050º. Rather like Whitbread's Double Brown. I'd love to see the recipe. Whitbread's Double Brown was quite heavily hopped - more so than any of their Pale Ales. Was this similar?

Here's the table for you to peruse at your leisure:

James Aitken beers 1906 - 1964
Year	Beer	Style	Price	size	package	Acidity	FG	OG	colour	ABV	App. Attenuation
1934	Falkirk Brown Ale	Brown Ale		pint	bottled		1011	1053		5.47	79.25%
1906	54/- PA	Pale Ale		pint	draught			1048.1	8
1922	PA	Pale Ale		pint	draught		1009.2	1036.2		3.50	74.59%
1925	??	Pale Ale		pint	bottled		1010	1039		3.76	74.36%
1926	Sparkling Ale	Pale Ale		pint	bottled		1005	1034	40	3.77	85.29%
1926	PA	Pale Ale		pint	bottled		1007	1034	40	3.51	79.41%
1934	Heavy Export	Pale Ale		pint	bottled		1010	1055		5.87	81.82%
1937	60/- Pale Ale	Pale Ale		pint	bottled		1006.5	1038.5	13 – 14	4.16	83.12%
1938	Falkirk Ale	Pale Ale		pint	bottled		1004	1040.5		4.77	90.12%
1938	Pale Ale	Pale Ale		pint	draught		1006.8	1039.8	11	4.30	83.02%
1938	Pale Ale	Pale Ale		pint	draught		1006.8	1039.8	11	4.30	83.02%
1938	90/- Ale	Pale Ale	6d	pint	bottled		1007.3	1038.8	13	4.10	81.29%
1938	Heavy Ale	Pale Ale	7d	pint	draught		1007	1045	13 – 14	4.95	84.44%
1939	60/- Ale	Pale Ale		pint	bottled		1008.3	1036.8		3.70	77.55%
1940	Pale Ale	Pale Ale		pint	bottled		1004.5	1038		4.37	88.16%
1941	Pale Ale	Pale Ale		pint	bottled		1006.5	1037		3.97	82.43%
1948	Heavy Ale	Pale Ale		pint	bottled		1006.5	1040.5		4.43	83.95%
1949	60/-	Pale Ale	15d	pint	draught		1007	1030.5		3.05	77.05%
1949	Heavy Beer	Pale Ale	20d	pint	bottled		1011.5	1034.5		2.97	66.67%
1949	90/- Ale	Pale Ale		pint	bottled		1006.5	1030		3.05	78.33%
1954	Export Ale	Pale Ale			bottled	0.05	1011.6	1043.2	27	4.10	73.15%
1955	Export Ale	Pale Ale	1/3d	half pint	bottled	0.04	1009.3	1043.7	27	4.47	78.72%
1959	Sparkling Ale	Pale Ale	10d	half pint	bottled	0.04	1006.4	1031.1	45	3.09	79.42%
1961	Export Ale	Pale Ale	15d	half pint	bottled	0.04	1011	1043	21	4.00	74.42%
1964	Sparkling Ale	Pale Ale	12d	half pint	bottled	0.05	1007.8	1032.6	40	3.10	76.07%
1949	Stout	Stout		pint	bottled		1020	1038.5		2.38	48.05%
1954	A Stout	Stout	1/2d	half pint	bottled	0.04	1021.2	1041.4	1 + 20	2.59	48.79%
1959	Stout	Stout	14d	halfpint	bottled		1022.3	1039.4	250	2.19	43.40%
1961	Stout (no lactose)	Stout	15d	half pint	bottled	0.04	1022	1038.9	275	2.11	43.44%
1948	Strong Ale	Strong Ale	18d	half pint	bottled		1021	1067.5		6.04	68.89%
1953	Strong Ale	Strong Ale	1/2.5d	nip	bottled	0.06	1018.3	1065.6	15 + 40	6.15	72.10%
1955	Strong Ale	Strong Ale	1/3d	nip	bottled	0.05	1020.3	1067	105	6.06	69.70%
Sources:
Thomas Usher Gravity Book document TU/6/11
Document WY/6/1/1/14 of the William Younger archive 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 held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/002