McLennan & Urquhart beers 1922 – 1954

I seem to remember promising you details of some McLennan & Urquhart beers. Well here they are. Sorry about the delay. I was distracted by Pattison's.

Not that I have very many McLennan & Urquhart beers. Just eight. Most of them Pale Ales.

Let's start at the beginning, it the 1920's. I've no idea what that Old Fashioned Ale was in terms of style. It could be a strong Pale Ale. But that's just a guess. It's a similar strength to the top-level Pale Ales brewed in London. How about seeing those London Pale Ales in table form? You'll find it after the McLennan & Urquhart table.

Courage, Charrington, Watney and Barclay Perkins all brewed Pale Ales with gravities over 1050º. Though none has as high attenuation as the Old Fashioned Ale. And they were all a good deal paler. 30 Lovibond is about the darkest London Pale Ales got. Most were somewhere in the 1920's.

Moving on to the PA and Dalkeith Ale, it's hard to find an equivalent London beer, except for Whitbread IPA* and Watney Pale Ale. Both bottled beers. And that could explain the why the  McLennan & Urquhart beers have lower gravities. They were bottled beers, too. Quite often in the interwar years bottled versions were weaker than draught ones. That was certainlythe case at Barclay Perkins, where their Ordinary Bitter, XLK, was 1046º draught, but only 1038º bottled.

Almost forgot, I've a description of the flavour of Dalkeith Ale: "Pleasant. Slight after bitter. Nose & taste of fresh hops." That's interesting, because most of the Pale Ales in the Younger Gravity Book aren't described as being bitter or hoppy.

Next 1930 Dalkeith Stout. That's a typical looking Scottish Sweet Stout. Low attenuation, low ABV. It's not the most extreme I've seen. Some have attenuation lower than 50%. I won't bother comparing it with London beers, because London brewers didn't make anything like it.

Those two 1930's Pale Ales are an odd pair. The Export looks very much like a London Ordinary Bitter, such as Barclay Perkins XLK. It also isn't that far away from a modern Scottish Export.

Dalkeith Special Pale Ale is "special' in a peculiar way: it's especially weak. I struggled to find London Pale Ales as weak. In fact Truman's Sparkling Pale Ale was the only one I could find. That's why I've included examples from provincial English breweries. I could find a few under 1030º that came from England, but the vast majority were Scottish.

Finally it's the turn of the two post-war beers. The Pale Ale is typical of austerity-era Ordinary Bitters. Just a shade over 1030º. Gravities would creep up later in the 1950's and reach around 1037º. Though some breweries did continue to brew Pale Ales at 1030º or so. The Stout is, well, a bog-standard Scottish Sweet Stout, with a high FG and not much alcohol.

All in all, a very Scottish selection of beers. Not really so surprising, given the brewery’s location.

McLennan & Urquhart beers 1922 – 1954
Year	Beer	Style	Acidity	FG	OG	colour	ABV	App. Attenuation
1922	Old fashioned Ale	??		1010	1056	40	6.01	82.14%
1926	PA	Pale Ale		1008	1040	40	4.16	80.00%
1929	Dalkeith Ale (carbonated)	Pale Ale		1015	1041	No. 11 Same as our dark.	3.36	63.41%
1930	Dalkeith Stout	Stout		1019.5	1040.5		2.70	51.85%
1932	Export	Pale Ale		1011	1049		4.94	77.55%
1932	Dalkeith Special Pale Ale	Pale Ale		1011.5	1025		1.74	54.00%
1947	Ale	Pale Ale		1012.5	1030.5		2.32	59.02%
1954	Dalkeith Stout	Stout	0.06	1019.7	1037.1	450	2.23	46.90%
Sources:
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
Thomas Usher Gravity Book document TU/6/11

Here are the London Pale Ales:

London Pale Ales 1925 – 1927
Year	Brewer	Beer	Style	Price	size	package	FG	OG	colour	ABV	App. Attenuation
1925	Barclay Perkins	PA	Pale Ale		pint	draught	1012	1053.1	30	5.35	77.40%
1925	Barclay Perkins	XLK	Pale Ale		pint	draught	1011	1046	24	4.55	76.09%
1925	Barclay Perkins	XLK	Pale Ale			bottled	1007.5	1038.2	16	4.06	80.37%
1926	Watney	Pale Ale	Pale Ale	8d	pint	draught		1053.7
1927	Watney	Watney Pale Ale	Pale Ale			bottled	1010.1	1041.9		4.13	75.89%
1926	Whitbread	PA	Pale Ale				1013.5	1046.2	23	4.33	70.78%
1926	Whitbread	IPA	IPA				1009.0	1036.9	22	3.69	75.63%
1926	Courage	Pale Ale	Pale Ale	8d	pint	draught		1052.2
1926	Charrington	Pale Ale	Pale Ale	8d	pint	draught		1057.9
1926	Charrington	Pale Ale	Pale Ale	7d	pint	draught		1045.9
1926	Truman	Pale Ale	Pale Ale	7d	pint	draught		1049.7
Sources:
Barclay Perkins brewing record held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number ACC/2305/01/612
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/001
Whitbread brewing record held at the london Metropolitan Archives document number LMA/4453/D/01/091
Truman Gravity Book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number B/THB/C/252

And here the English Light Pale Ales:

English Light Pale Ales 1933
Year	Brewer	Beer	Style	Price	size	package	Acidity	FG	OG	colour	ABV	App. Attenuation
1933	Truman	Sparkling Pale Ale	Pale Ale	6d	pint	bottled	0.04	1004.6	1029		3.17	84.14%
1933	Morgans Brewery	Light Bitter	Pale Ale	6d	pint	bottled	0.05	1008.2	1029		2.69	71.72%
1933	Simonds	Dinner Ale	Pale Ale		pint	bottled	0.05	1004.8	1030		3.28	84.00%
1933	Fremlin	Dinner Ale	Pale Ale		pint	bottled	0.05	1004.9	1031		3.39	84.19%
1933	Fordhams	Light Bitter Ale	Pale Ale	7d	pint	bottled	0.04	1008	1029		2.72	72.41%
1933	Beer & Rigden	Kent's Best Pale Ale	Pale Ale		pint	bottled	0.04	1006.4	1028	25.5	2.80	77.14%
Source:
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/001

* Someone ought to have told them that it's tantamount to fraud calling a beer below 1040º as IPA.