Let's Brew Wednesday - 1949 William Younger XXPS

Something light for the spring. That's what Kristen asked. So why not go with a light little Scottish number? XXPS.

One of the things I love about William Younger is that they brewed some of their beers forever. Or close enough. 150 years plus. Which means some hung around long enough for me to try them. This is one of them. It was usually called Scotch Bitter in the pub. It was OK in the late 1970's early 1980's. A run of the mill Ordinary Bitter.

Now here's the odd thing. There was a stronger Younger's Bitter called IPA (you can see it in the table below). But, back in the 19th century, Younger had two Pale Ales: XP and XXP. According to a price list, the weaker XP was marketed as IPA, XXP as Export Pale Ale. So which should be stronger - Pale Ale or IPA? Answers should be sent directly to the BJCP.

You're probably wondering about the "S", aren't you? I believe that stands for "Scots". Or the domestic version of the beer. In some of the older logs they just draw a little Scottish flag in the left margin. Very sweet.

Getting back to the beer in question, you'll note the exremely simple grist. Wondering where the crystal malt is? Crystal malt in British Pale Ales is a fairly recent phenomenon. Virtually unknown before WW I, not that common until after WW II.

The colour of the finish beer would have been higher than indicated below. That's because they would have adjusted the colour with some sort of caramel at the end of the process. You'll see below that the analyses from the 1960's have EBC vlaues between 24 and 31. Though, if they were anything like other Scottish brewers, they would have made several different coloured versions for different markets. Same beer, just different amounts of colouring material added.

Just a table, then I'm done:

William Younger XXPS 1906 - 1989
Year	Beer	Style	Price	size	package	Acidity	FG	OG	colour	ABV	App. Atten-uation
1868	XP	IPA					1013	1051		5.03	74.51%
1868	XXP	Pale Ale					1014	1055		5.42	74.55%
1906	XXP Sc	Pale Ale		pint	draught			1056.7	12.5
1964	XXPS	Pale Ale	17d	pint	draught	0.04	1009.2	1038.8	24	3.70	76.29%
1965	XXPS	Pale Ale	18d	pint	draught	0.05	1007.9	1037.4	30	3.83	78.88%
1967	Best Scotch	Pale Ale	21d	pint	draught	0.11	1007.6	1036.7	31	3.78	79.29%
1972	IPA	IPA	13.5p	pint	draught		1008.2	1043.5		4.59	81.15%
1977	IPA	IPA		pint	draught			1043.2
1977	XXPS or Scotch Bitter	Pale Ale		pint	draught			1036.2
1979	IPA	IPA		pint	draught			1043.2
1979	XXPS or Scotch Bitter	Pale Ale		pint	draught			1036.2
1981	IPA	IPA		pint	draught			1043.2
1981	XXPS or Scotch Bitter	Pale Ale		pint	draught			1036.2
1982	XXPS (Scotch Bitter)	Pale Ale		pint	draught			1036.2
1982	IPA	IPA		pint	draught			1042.2
1983	IPA	IPA		pint	draught			1043
1983	XXPS or Scotch Bitter	Pale Ale		pint	draught			1036.5
1986	IPA	IPA		pint	draught			1042
1986	Scotch Bitter	Pale Ale		pint	draught			1036.5
1989	IPA	IPA		pint	draught			1042
1989	Scotch Bitter	Pale Ale		pint	draught			1037
Sources:
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/002
Documents WY/6/1/2/21 and WY/6/1/1/14 of the William Younger archive held at the Scottish Brewing Archive.
Daily Mirror July 10th 1972, page 15
Good Beer Guides: 1978, 1980, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1987, 1990

Time to pass you over to Kristen . . . .

Kristen’s Version:

There is really nothing to say about this beer. It’s so very simple choose what you really like for the malt and hops. Be sure to use the Flaked Barley as it adds a lot to the mouthfeel. I used Willamette and they worked wonderfully. If I made this again I’d definitely up the hops but this is what it is…still pretty damn drinkable.