Thomas Usher's beers in the 1920's

I enjoyed telling you about William Murray's beers so much, I decided to continue with another Edinburgh brewery, Thomas Usher.

True to tradition, I'll work through the styles in alphabetical order.

The good news is: there are Milds! Warms my cockles and all that. What's even better, two different strengths of Mild. Decent gravities, by crap attenuation. The low 1040º's is about right for a standard  Mild in the early 1920's. I'll give you a slight preview of the next instalment. There are no Milds in that. The evidence is mounting that Mild was a rarity in 1930's Scotland.

Now all those Pale Ales. There really are a lot of them. And that's a difference with England. I can't think of an English brewery that made four different Pale Ales in the 1920's. The PA, PA 60/-, PA 70/- and PA 80/- grouped in the middle of the table are taken from a brewing record. They form a neat set, with just about equal gaps between them: 1035º, 1041º, 1048º and 1055º. Knock 10 points off the last three and you've got post-war 60/-, 70/- and 80/-.

Those obviously aren't the wholesale price per hogshead. The tax per hogshead was more. They seem to have got stuck at pre-WW I prices. But what's that 90/- Sparkling Pale Ale about? It looks like it's probably the 60/- PA. Where did that term 90/- come from? It seems to be applied to bottled Pale Ales of 1038-1040º, but doesn't seem based on any former price like the 60/- to 80/-. I've seen labels or analyses of versions from several breweries.

Though the 120/- Strong Pale Ale looks like the 80/- from the brewing record. What was going on? Did they add an extra few bob for marketing reasons?

Usher's seem to be one of the few Scottish breweries that called one of their beers Scotch Ale both internally and in the Scottish market. You'll note that a couple were export versions for Belgium. At 809% 8-9%ABV, they look quite like the beers sold as Scotch Ale in Belgium today. Which I guess shouldn't be a surprise. The level of attenuation is a surprise - more than most of the Pale Ales. I'd have expected the opposite.

Finally the Stouts. Like Murray, they made two of quite different character. First, one of those half-fermented sugar bombs the Scots seem to have loved. I prefer something with more poke myself. The second, Export Stout, looks like a pre-WW I Stout. That's a very decent gravity for the 1920's. From what I can see this second, stronger type of Stout gradually died away in Scotland, just leaving the sweet one.

Next time it'll be Usher's beers in the 1320's. Just joking. 1930's.

Thomas Usher's beers in the 1920's
Year	Beer	Style	package	FG	OG	ABV	App. Atten-uation
1920	Mild Ale 90/-	Mild	draught	1016.5	1048	4.07	65.63%
1920	Mild Ale 80/-	Mild	draught	1013.5	1041	3.56	67.07%
1928	MA	Mild		1015.5	1040	3.24	61.25%
1929	90/- Mild Ale (carbonated)	Mild	bottled	1012	1042.5	3.95	71.76%
1920	PA 54/-	Pale Ale	draught	1010.5	1034	3.04	69.12%
1920	PA 60/-	Pale Ale	draught	1012.9	1040	3.51	67.75%
1920	PA 90/-	Pale Ale	draught	1016	1054	4.93	70.37%
1925	PA 60/-	Pale Ale	bottled	1006	1038	4.17	84.21%
1927	Pale Ale	Pale Ale	bottled	1007.3	1040.3	4.29	81.89%
1928	PA	Pale Ale		1013	1035	2.91	62.86%
1928	PA 60/-	Pale Ale		1013	1041	3.70	68.29%
1928	PA 80/-	Pale Ale		1015	1055	5.29	72.73%
1928	PA 70/-	Pale Ale		1014.5	1048	4.43	69.79%
1928	Pale Ale	Pale Ale	draught	1014	1040.8	3.46	65.69%
1928	Pale Ale	Pale Ale	bottled	1012	1040.5	3.69	70.37%
1928	70/- Ale	Pale Ale	draught	1014.5	1047	4.21	69.15%
1928	90/- Sparkling Pale Ale	Pale Ale	bottled	1009	1038	3.76	76.32%
1929	Pale Ale (carbonated)	Pale Ale	bottled	1012	1040	3.63	70.00%
1929	90/- Sparkling Pale Ale (natural condition)	Pale Ale	bottled	1009	1040.5	4.09	77.78%
1929	120/- Strong Pale Ale (carbonated)	Pale Ale	bottled	1013.3	1051.5	4.96	74.17%
1920	Old Scotch Ale	Scotch Ale	bottled	1026	1080.7	7.11	67.78%
1920	Old Scotch Ale	Scotch Ale	bottled	1008	1078	9.24	89.74%
1920	Old Scotch Ale	Scotch Ale	bottled	1022	1078	7.30	71.79%
1923	Old Scotch Ale (ex Brussels)	Scotch Ale	bottled	1016	1082	8.66	80.49%
1923	Old Scotch Ale (ex Brussels)	Scotch Ale	bottled	1017	1083	8.66	79.52%
1928	Old Scotch Ale	Scotch Ale		1026	1085	7.81	69.41%
1920	Stout	Stout	draught	1020.7	1048	3.52	56.87%
1920	Export Stout	Stout	bottled	1024.4	1067	5.51	63.58%
1928	Stout	Stout		1021.5	1045	3.11	52.22%
1929	Strong Old Scotch Ale (carbonated)	Strong Ale	bottled	1020	1085	8.51	76.47%
Sources:
Thomas Usher brewing record document TU/6/6 held at the Scottish Brewing Archive
Thomas Usher Gravity Book document TU/6/11 held at the Scottish Brewing Archive