Maclays Beers 1938 - 1939

Scotland. Do you remember Scotland? Used to one of my themes, before Lager and North America got in the way. Time for another foray north of the border.

This is going to be one of my fun tabley posts. I know you all love them so much. Should I start with some general bullshit or dive right into the table? Let's try some general crap first.

There's a good set of Maclay brewing records the Scottish Brewing Archive. They cover most of the 20th century, right up until the Thistle Brewery closed in the 1990's. They aren't in the usual Scottish format, which is a relief. The one line per brew style record. They're a total pain in the arse, as the ingredients are written in tiny letters as column headers. It's one of the reasons we're looking at Maclay and not Drybrough records today.

Though I'm not convinced that the records that remain are the official brewing books. The earliest one in the archive is in a ledger with proper pre-printed pages. All the rest are just scribbled into notebooks. Very classy. They look more like someone's personal brewing book. Many brewers seem to have kept their own records.

The good thing is that the handwriting is legible and they contain pretty much everything I look for, except boil times. I can live with that. At least I don't have to pore over each page with a magnifying glass.

Here's the table:

Maclay beers 1938 – 1939
Date	Year	Beer	Style	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	lbs hops/ qtr	hops lb/brl	Pitch temp	max. fermen-tation temp	length of fermen-tation (days)	pale malt	no. 2 sugar	CWS sugar	flaked maize
6th Dec	1938	IPA 6d	IPA	1035	1014	2.78	60.00%	6.15	1.06	60º	65º	7	83.33%	16.67%
9th Dec	1938	IPA 7d	IPA	1042	1015	3.57	64.29%	5.00	0.95	60º	66º	7	78.57%	14.29%		7.14%
9th Dec	1938	IPA 6d	IPA	1038	1015	3.04	60.53%	5.00	0.86	60º	66º	7	78.57%	14.29%		7.14%
16th Dec	1938	IPA 6d	IPA	1038	1016	2.91	57.89%	5.00	0.83	60º	66º	7	76.92%	12.82%	2.56%	7.69%
16th Dec	1938	IPA 5d	IPA	1032	1014	2.38	56.25%	5.00	0.70	60º	65º	7	76.92%	12.82%	2.56%	7.69%
23rd Dec	1938	IPA 7d	IPA	1045	1017	3.70	62.22%	5.00	0.98	60º	64.5º	7	78.57%	14.29%		7.14%
23rd Dec	1938	IPA 6d	IPA	1038	1014	3.18	63.16%	5.00	0.83	60º	63º	7	78.57%	14.29%		7.14%
28th Dec	1938	SA	Strong Ale	1075	1028	6.22	62.67%	5.00	1.65	60º	69º	10	77.42%	12.90%		9.68%
28th Dec	1938	IPA 6d	IPA	1038	1015	3.04	60.53%	5.00	0.84	61.5º	67º	8	77.42%	12.90%		9.68%
10th Jan	1939	PA 6d	Pale Ale	1038	1014	3.18	63.16%	5.00	0.86	60.6º	65º	7	76.92%	15.38%		7.69%
10th Jan	1939	PA 5d	Pale Ale	1032	1013	2.51	59.38%	5.00	0.72	61º	65.5º	7	76.92%	15.38%		7.69%
20th Jan	1939	PA 6d	Pale Ale	1038	1013	3.31	65.79%	5.08	0.84	61º	67º	7	83.33%	16.67%
31st Jan	1939	PA 6d	Pale Ale	1038	1014	3.18	63.16%	4.00	0.65	60.5º	67º	7	76.92%	15.38%		7.69%
31st Jan	1939	PA 5d	Pale Ale	1032	1012	2.65	62.50%	4.00	0.55	59º	64º	7	76.92%	15.38%		7.69%
7th Feb	1939	PA 7d	Pale Ale	1043	1015	3.70	65.12%	4.00	0.74	60º	67º	7	78.57%	14.29%		7.14%
7th Feb	1939	PA 6d	Pale Ale	1038	1014.5	3.11	61.84%	4.00	0.65	60.5º	67.5º	7	78.57%	14.29%		7.14%
21st Feb	1939	PA 7d	Pale Ale	1043	1014	3.84	67.44%	4.00	0.73	60º	67º	7	78.57%	14.29%		7.14%
21st Feb	1939	PA 6d	Pale Ale	1038	1017	2.78	55.26%	4.00	0.65	60º	67.5º	8	78.57%	14.29%		7.14%
3rd May	1939	SA	Strong Ale	1089	1030	7.81	66.29%	5.00	1.90	60º	72º	9	77.42%	12.90%		9.68%
3rd May	1939	PA 6d	Pale Ale	1038	1015.25	3.01	59.87%	5.00	0.81	60.5º	68º	7	77.42%	12.90%		9.68%
18th Jul	1939	PA 6d	Pale Ale	1038	1011.5	3.51	69.74%	6.00	1.00	60º	69.5º	7	76.92%	15.38%		7.69%
18th Jul	1939	PA 5d	Pale Ale	1032	1010	2.91	68.75%	6.00	0.84	60º	68.5º	7	76.92%	15.38%		7.69%
Source:
Document number M/6/1/1/3 held at the Scottish Brewing Archive

Time for analysis now, I suppose. First point: note how in January 1939 the names suddenly change from IPA 7d, IPA 6d, IPA 5d to PA 7d, PA 6d, PA 5. It's another indication of how randomly and interchangeably IPA and PA were used in Britain.The beers remained the same. I'm not sure why I keep repeating this, given how little attention is paid. I keep hearing others assert that a Pale Ale is always weaker than an IPA and that the two styles are quite distinct. Neither of those is true. At least not in British brewing.

The range of beers Maclay brewed was incredibly narrow. Just three different strength Pale Ales and a Strong Ale. Note that, while there isn't a shilling in sight, there is another currency unit: the penny. Because these beers are named by their retail price per pint. Interesting that there's not a trace of Mild Ale. It was still brewed in Scotland in this period. Just not by Maclay.

Here are some London Pale Ales for comparison purposes:

London Pale Ales 1937 – 1938
Year	Brewer	country	Beer	Style	Price	size	package	Acidity	FG	OG	App. Atten-uation
1937	Watney	UK	Pale Ale	Pale Ale	7d	pint	draught			1049
1937	Watney	UK	PA	Pale Ale	8d	pint	draught	0.06	1012.5	1054.8	77.19%
1937	Wenlock	UK	Pale Ale	Pale Ale	7d	pint	bottled	0.05	1007.6	1042.2	81.99%
1937	Worthington	UK	Pale Ale	Pale Ale	8d	pint	draught			1054.3
1938	Barclay Perkins	UK	PA	Pale Ale	7d	pint	draught	0.07	1011.3	1043.9	74.26%
1938	Charrington	UK	PA	Pale Ale	7d	pint	draught	0.07	1007.2	1046	84.35%
1938	Courage	UK	PA	Pale Ale	8d	pint	draught	0.08	1012.7	1050.2	74.70%
1938	Courage	UK	PA	Pale Ale	8d	pint	draught	0.05	1011.7	1034.8	66.38%
1938	Mann Crossman	UK	PA	Pale Ale	8d	pint	draught	0.07	1006.5	1052.4	87.60%
Source:
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/001

You can see that they are somewhat stronger than Maclay's Pale Ales.

The attenuation is rubbish, as often with Scottish beers. This, combined with modest hopping, would have left the Pale Ales appearing quite sweet.

Not much to say about the ingredients. They're simplicity itself: hops, pale malt, No. 2 invert sugar and flaked maize. That's it. Though They used several different kinds of pale malt in each brew: Californian, Scottish and from various maltsters, including Baird.

There will doubtless be more about Maclay's beers. Their records are easy to understand, after all. And I've a whole load of them.