Thursday 21 June 2012

Aitchison beers 1843 - 1859

Advertisements can tell you a lot. That's why I actively search them out. Not with too much success when it comes to Scottish breweries. Except in the case of Aitchison, where I found a nice set of ads from the middle of the 19th century.

Irritatingly, many of the adverts don't specify the bottle size. That's why I've put "quart?" in the table. My guess would be that they are reputed quarts. A reputed quart is two thirds of an Imperial quart, or 757.7 ml. The ones marked "pint" and "quart" look like Imperial measures. At least when I compare the price of the same beer on draught.

So they're a bit easier to see at a glance, I've put them into a table. There are five main types of beer on offer: Table Ale, Edinburgh Ale, Strong Ale, Draught Ale and Mild Ale. But on closer observation it becomes clear that the same beers are being described by different names.

Let's start with everyone's favourite nowadays, India Pale Ale. Though it isn't always called that in the adverts. It also appears as India Ale, Pale India Beer, Pale Export India Beer and Pale India Ale. Couldn't they make their mind up what to call it? It's a great demonstration of just how inconsistent British breweries were in their naming conventions.

Interesting that Aitchison were already brewing IPA in 1840. That's pretty early. But we've already learned that Scottish brewers were quick to jump on the Pale Ale train. Though Aitchison's prices were lower than those of Allsopp. In 1845 a dozen quarts of Allsopp's IPA cost 4s 6d. I guess the big Burton brewers could get away with charging more.

Handy that the 1840 advert has a description of Aitchison's IPA: "Highly hopped and attenuated India Ale." Just for the last few brainwashed style nazis out there who still believe that Scottish beer only ever had a few hops waved at it. The description pretty much sums up the characteristics of early IPA: heavily hopped and highly attenuated.

Next we come to Table Ale. Slightly odd choice of name there. Usually it was called Table Beer, especially if it was heavily hopped, as was often the case. Being low gravity it often needed a good dose of hops to stop it spoiling too quickly. We know this one was heavily hopped because the advert says so "highly Hopped, an excellent Stomachic". The price is surprisingly high: the same as the India Ale.

The Scots seem to have had a name for Table Beer. It's not a type of beer that you would normally expect to get shipped very far. Yet Scottish breweries were selling it as far away as London.

Now Edinburgh Ale. Or perhaps I should just say Ale, because the names Edinburgh, Scotch and Mild Ale seem to be used interchangeably. With some additionally being called Strong Ale. Then there's Pale Edinburgh Ale as well. My guess is that these would have been Shilling Ales within the brewery. Or Guinea Ales. You can see that in 1845 advert that guinea designations are used for what were described as Mild Ales.

Scottish Ales, even the very strong ones, were usually sold young. Which made them technically Mild Ales. Though as you can see, often the terms Edinburgh Ale or Scotch Ale were preferred. Confusing, isn't it? It's taken me years to get my head around it.

Now I just happen to have details of William Younger's beers from 1847. Assuming that Aitchison's would have been roughly similar, we can get some idea of their strength. Five guineas is 105/-, seven guineas 147/-. Younger's 100/- had an OG of 1090º and their 140/- an OG of 1112º. So pretty damn strong.

I assume Draught Ale is another beer of this type. But it's impossible to be sure. The naming is just too vague.

So we can see the main products of Aitchison: IPA and strong Mild Ales. Very typically Scottish.

Aitchison beers 1843 - 1859
year beer price per barrel (shillings) price per gallon (pence) price per doz bottles size source
1840 Edinburgh Table Ale, highly Hopped, an excellent Stomachic

3s quart? Newcastle Courant - Friday 17 April 1840. page 1.
1840 Edinburgh Ale, strongest and best made

8s quart? Newcastle Courant - Friday 17 April 1840. page 1.
1840 Draught Ale,  72 24

Newcastle Courant - Friday 17 April 1840. page 1.
1840 Strong Edinburgh Ale

6s quart? Northern Liberator - Saturday 12 December 1840, page 8.
1840 Superior Ale

4s 6d quart? Northern Liberator - Saturday 12 December 1840, page 8.
1840 High hopped Table Ale

3s quart? Northern Liberator - Saturday 12 December 1840, page 8.
1840 Highly hopped and attenuated India Ale

3s quart? Northern Liberator - Saturday 12 December 1840, page 8.
1840 Best Draught Ale 72 24

Northern Liberator - Saturday 12 December 1840, page 8.
1840 Best Draught Porter 48 16

Northern Liberator - Saturday 12 December 1840, page 8.
1842 Edinburgh Ale

4s quart Morning Post (London) - Monday 04 April 1842, page 1.
1842 Edinburgh Ale

6s quart Morning Post (London) - Monday 04 April 1842, page 1.
1842 Edinburgh Ale

8s quart Morning Post (London) - Monday 04 April 1842, page 1.
1842 Pale India Beer

4s quart Morning Post (London) - Monday 04 April 1842, page 1.
1842 draught Pale India Beer 48 16

Morning Post (London) - Monday 04 April 1842, page 1.
1843 Splendid Edinburgh Ale, Strongest

6s quart? Newcastle Journal - Saturday 06 May 1843, page 2.
1843 Fine Pale Edinburgh Ale 

4s 6d quart? Newcastle Journal - Saturday 06 May 1843, page 2.
1843 India Pale Ale, much esteemed 

3s quart? Newcastle Journal - Saturday 06 May 1843, page 2.
1843 Superior India Pale Ale

3s quart? Newcastle Journal - Saturday 05 August 1843, page 1.
1843 Splendid Ale

4s 6d quart? Newcastle Journal - Saturday 05 August 1843, page 1.
1843 Strongest Ale

6s quart? Newcastle Journal - Saturday 05 August 1843, page 1.
1843 Prime Strong Ale (Old Bottle 1)

6s quart? Newcastle Courant - Friday 22 December 1843, page 1.
1843 Prime Strong Ale (Old Bottle 1)

4s 6d quart? Newcastle Courant - Friday 22 December 1843, page 1.
1843 Pale India Ale

3s quart? Newcastle Courant - Friday 22 December 1843, page 1.
1843 Prime Draught Ale 72 24

Newcastle Courant - Friday 22 December 1843, page 1.
1844 Edinburgh Ale

3s quart? Newcastle Courant - Friday 10 May 1844, page 1.
1844 Edinburgh Ale

4s 6d quart? Newcastle Courant - Friday 10 May 1844, page 1.
1844 Edinburgh Ale

6s quart? Newcastle Courant - Friday 10 May 1844, page 1.
1845 Pale Export India Beer

3s quart Newcastle Courant - Friday 09 May 1845, page 1.
1845 Mild Ale (5 guineas a hogshead)

4s 6d quart Newcastle Courant - Friday 09 May 1845, page 1.
1845 Mild Ale (7 guineas a hogshead)

6s quart Newcastle Courant - Friday 09 May 1845, page 1.
1845 Mild Ale (5 guineas a hogshead) 70 23.33

Newcastle Courant - Friday 09 May 1845, page 1.
1845 Mild Ale (7 guineas a hogshead) 98 32.67

Newcastle Courant - Friday 09 May 1845, page 1.
1845 Draught Ale 72 24

Newcastle Courant - Friday 09 May 1845, page 1.
1846 Pale Export India Beer

3s quart? Newcastle Courant - Friday 19 June 1846, page 1.
1846 Rich Flavoured Edinburgh Ale

4s 6d quart? Newcastle Courant - Friday 19 June 1846, page 1.
1846 Strongest and Best Edinburgh Ale

6s quart? Newcastle Courant - Friday 19 June 1846, page 1.
1846 Draught Ale 72 24

Newcastle Courant - Friday 19 June 1846, page 1.
1848 Edinburgh Ale

3s 6d pint Hampshire Advertiser - Saturday 25 November 1848, page 1.
1848 Edinburgh Ale

6s quart Hampshire Advertiser - Saturday 25 November 1848, page 1.
1848 Pale India Ale

3s 6d pint Hampshire Advertiser - Saturday 25 November 1848, page 1.
1848 Pale India Ale

6s quart Hampshire Advertiser - Saturday 25 November 1848, page 1.
1859 Pale Ale 54 18

Newcastle Courant - Friday 29 July 1859, page 1.
1859 Six Guinea Ale 84 28

Newcastle Courant - Friday 29 July 1859, page 1.
1859 Draught Scotch Ale 56 18.67

Newcastle Courant - Friday 29 July 1859, page 1.


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