Adnams beers in 1890

I’m getting on with trudging through the muddy field of Adnams brewing records while I retain my enthusiasm. You never know how long it will last.

Their beers, in terms of styles brewed, aren’t a million miles away from those of London. Mild Ale, Pale Ale, Old Ale and Stout. You’ve probably spotted the big omission: Porter. That doesn’t surprise me as Porter was rapidly going out of fashion in the provinces. It was only in London that the style retained considerable popularity.

There are a couple of irritations with these particular records. The lack of a fermentation record being the biggest. Despite there being a place for it in the form. Just too damn lazy to fill it out.

At least the mashing details are recorded. Two mashes, then two sparges, if you’re interested. First mash with a strike heat of around 160º F, second at 180º F. The volume of water is much large for the first, so I doubt the second is a complete mash, more like some sort of underlet mash. Sparges at 160º F and 170º F. The volume of water is much larger for the sparges, around 27 barrels, while the two mashes between them were only 8 to 10 barrels.

I suppose I should get on with the beer details. Great to see an AK in there to add to my collection.

Here’s the table:

Adnams beers in 1890
Date	Beer	Style	OG	lbs hops/ qtr	hops lb/brl	hops
26th Mar	SS	Stout	1062.6	6.00	1.67	Altmark and Sussex
2nd Apr	XX	Mild Ale	1043.8	10.00	1.80	Altmark and Sussex
3rd Apr	Tally Ho	Old Ale	1082.5	11.05	4.16	Boornants?, Worcester and Burgundy
8th Apr	XXXX	Mild Ale	1059.8	9.29	2.39	Burgundy and Sussex
9th Apr	SS	Stout	1065.4	7.10	2.02	Altmark and Sussex
15th Apr	XXXX	Mild Ale	1061.5	7.86	2.06	Skinner Kent and Bavarians
17th Apr	PA	Pale Ale	1058.2	14.29	3.70	Worcester and Kent
21st Apr	AK	Pale Ale	1047.1	10.91	2.20	Worcester and Kent
23rd Apr	Tally Ho	Old Ale	1085.9	11.05	4.38	Worcester, Kent and Burgundy
30th Apr	XX	Mild Ale	1044.3	10.00	1.83	Altmark and Skinner
1st May	PA	Pale Ale	1060.4	14.29	3.81	Worcester and Kent
6th May	XXXX	Mild Ale	1060.4	7.86	2.00	Hants, Skinner and Bavarian
14th May	AK	Pale Ale	1046.5	10.91	2.20	Clifford Kent, Worcester
15th May	SS	Stout	1064.3	5.81	1.65	Altmark and Sussex
5th Jun	Tally Ho	Old Ale	1086.4	11.05	4.50	Worcester, Kent and Burgundy
15th Aug	SS	Stout	1061.5	7.32	2.26	Altmark, Clifford and Re, P.
Source:
Adnams brewing records held at the brewery.

They’re an odd set. Why? Because some have the gravity I would expect, while others are way off.

XX is very weak for an 1890’s Mild Ale. Even X Ale I’d expect to be at least 1050º. Adnams XXXX is only about the strength of a London X Ale. The Stout is very weak by London standards. Closer to a Porter, in fact.

Time for another table to show you what I mean:

Whitbread beers in 1890
Date	Beer	Style	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	lbs hops/ qtr	hops lb/brl	Pitch temp
19th Jul	XK	Ale	1069.0	1019.0	6.61	72.45%	8.02	2.46	60º
19th Jul	X	Mild	1060.9	1015.0	6.08	75.39%	8.02	2.18	60º
20th Oct	FA	Pale Ale	1054.8	1012.0	5.67	78.12%	11.01	2.73	57º
16th Jul	2PA	Pale Ale	1055.4	1010.0	6.01	81.95%	11.69	2.99	57º
16th Jul	PA	Pale Ale	1060.1	1013.0	6.23	78.37%	11.69	3.25	57º
7th Nov	KK	Stock Ale	1075.3	1026.0	6.53	65.49%	14.27	4.88	57º
10th Mar	2KKK	Stock Ale	1078.7	1029.0	6.57	63.14%	13.99	5.13	57º
10th Nov	KKK	Stock Ale	1085.6	1030.0	7.35	64.95%	14.16	5.76	57º
25th Jan	P	Porter	1057.1	1012.0	5.96	78.97%	9.74	2.07	60.5º
29th Jan	SS	Stout	1083.1	1025.0	7.69	69.92%	10.63	4.76	57º
29th Jan	SSS	Stout	1095.6	1037.0	7.75	61.28%	10.63	5.47	57º
Sources:
Whitbread brewing records held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document numbers LMA/4453/D/01/056 and LMA/4453/D/09/084.

Adnams SS is barely stronger than Whitbread Porter. Yet Tally Ho is stronger than any of Whitbread’s Stock Ales and the PAs have almost identical gravities.

There’s something really, really fascinating in this set of Adnams records. Which is another piece in a particularly puzzling puzzle: when did Mild turn to the dark side? Something like this appears in most logs:

Judging by its position in the record, it looks like it was being added in the copper. It’s added to all the beers except PA and AK, the beers you would expect to be quite pale. Obviously it’s intended to darken the colour of the finished beer. I think this is some of the earliest evidence I have of Mild being deliberately darkened.

I doubt it was enough to turn the Milds dark brown, but enough to make them noticeably darker than the Pale Ales. Like I said, fascinating stuff.

I’ve 100 years of their records, so lots more to come.