Thomas Usher's beers in the 1950's and 1960's

This exciting series is now drawing to its close. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank all those who have made it possible: me and, er, me.

But don't despair. I've overcome my natural lethargy and started going through some of the other Scottish brewing records that litter my virtual space at home. I've already finished Robert Younger and I've made a start on Drybrough. I've been putting the latter off for a while. For no other reason than pure laziness. And the fact that some are a bit confusing. I've started on the easy ones.

I'm pleased to see that our friend Amber Ale is still around. It looks to me as if it were a version of PA 70/-. Just with less caramel colouring. I really don't understand this. I'd have expected Amber Ale to be darker than Pale Ale. And definitely darker than IPA. But I'm wrong. This is the second one with a very low colour number attached.

I was about to say that I'd run out of stuff to say about their Pale Ales. Then I noticed the attenuation. That's gone up a bit. The average for the Pale Ales from the 1940's was just under 70%. Here it's 72%. Though perhaps this sample is too small for a meaningful comparison.

It certainly looks as if Usher was brewing three Pale Ales at 1032, 1038 and 1042. Which would fit nicely with them being a 60/-, 70/- and 80/-. The one that looks like 80/- is even called Export. The two from 1955 and 1959 that look like 60/- are pretty dark for Pale Ales. Even strong ones are usually under 30.

A Strong Ale closes up the table again. One of a pretty decent strength for the 1950's. I'd have been drinking pints of that rather than some watery Pale Ale. But I am a pisshead.

No Stouts this time around. I'm sure Usher still produced one. I've seen a label for Sweet Stout from the 1960's. Maybe they made it the way Robert Younger made theirs. A very interesting method. Which we'll we be getting to soon.

Thomas Usher's beers in the 1950's and 1960's
Year	Beer	Style	package	FG	OG	colour	ABV	App. Atten-uation
1961	Amber Ale	Amber Ale	bottled	1011.2	1037.8	16	3.32	70.37%
1959	India Pale Ale	IPA	bottled	1008.4	1032.3	18	2.99	73.99%
1955	Green Cap Pale Ale	Pale Ale	bottled	1007	1032	21	3.24	78.13%
1950	PA 70/-	Pale Ale	bottled	1011	1039.5		3.69	72.15%
1955	Pale Ale	Pale Ale	bottled	1008.8	1030.8	33	2.85	71.43%
1959	Pale Ale	Pale Ale	bottled	1010.5	1030.5	32	2.50	65.57%
1961	Red Star Export	Pale Ale	bottled	1011.2	1042	20	3.85	73.33%
1953	Strong Ale	Strong Ale	bottled	1020.1	1068.5	5 + 40	6.29	70.66%
Sources:
Thomas Usher Gravity Book document TU/6/11 held at the Scottish Brewing Archive
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/002