Monday 31 August 2015

Draught Bitter in 1960

Table time again. The words are still rationed, owing to me having spoken too much last weekend. I don’t have an infinite supply of these things, you know.

Having obtained some fresh, juicy numbers, courtesy of Boak and Bailey, I thought I’d do something with them. As 1960 marks the end of the period I’m currently focussing on, it seems a good excuse to take a look at the state of British beer then.

Boak and Bailey’s data came from a Which? Report into beer from 1960. It’s hard to imagine how much in the dark drinkers were about the strength of the beer back then. Brewers were very secretive about how strong their beer was. With good reason. Their reflex reaction to tax increases  had long been to cut gravities. By not telling their customers about gravities, they hoped they might not notice their beer was getting weaker.

This report and the occasional newspaper article were the only times beer strengths were ever detailed. I know kicking CAMRA is a modern sport, but it was they who dragged beer gravities out into the open. In the late 1970’s, as brewers wouldn’t say how strong their beers were, CAMRA had them analysed themselves. And published the results in the Good Beer Guide. Once the information was out in the open, some brewers started to publish their gravities. Eventually legislation obliged them to include it on beer labels.

But back in the dark days of 1970, the only way to get an idea of the strength of a beer was its name and price. Though those indicators weren’t 100% reliable. There are plenty of examples of Best Bitter in the tables below that aren’t very best. They range from 1032º to 1048º. As average gravity was around 1037º at this time, I would expect a Best Bitter to be stronger than that.

You’ll notice that several beers appear in both tables. I’m reassured that the prices mostly match, as do the gravities to within a few percentage points.

The bitterness number which appears in the Which? Table is something called “Index of Hop Bitter”. Not sure exactly what that is, but it doesn’t look far off an IBU number to me. Perhaps a touch lower. It amuses me that one of the beers with the highest bitterness is From William Younger, a Scottish brewery. Weren’t they supposed to use almost no hops in Scotland?

There’s a huge variation in value for money, as indicated by the final column, which gives the price in pennies of 1% ABV.  I’m pleased to see that the winner of this particular race, by a whisker, is Carlisle State Management. A nationalised brewery. And it’s reassuring to see that by far the worst value for money is a keg beer, Flowers Bitter. You’ll note that the average price per % ABV is very similar for both tables, 4.21d and 4.22d.

That’s me done. I’ll leave you with the lovely tables.

Draught Bitter in 1960
Brewer Beer Price per pint d OG FG ABV atten-uation bitterness price per % ABV
Ansells Bitter 17 1045.3 1010.7 4.50 76.38% 31 3.78
Worthington  "E" 18 1041.8 1006.5 4.60 84.45% 28 3.91
Bass Red Triangle 18 1043.1 1008.5 4.50 80.28% 34 4.00
Carlisle State Management Bitter 14 1038.2 1008.2 3.90 78.53% 28 3.59
Charrington India Pale Ale 19 1044.9 1013.25 4.10 70.49% 37 4.63
Courage & Barclay Bitter 17 1040.3 1010.25 3.90 74.57% 40 4.36
Flowers Keg Bitter 22 1039.1 1012.8 3.40 67.26% 33 6.47
Fremlins Best Bitter 21 1044.7 1009.3 4.60 79.19% 34 4.56
Friary Meux Bitter 13 1034.9 1007.2 3.60 79.37% 28 3.61
Georges Bitter 13 1030.9 1004.75 3.40 84.63% 24 3.82
Greenall Whitley Bitter 14 1034.4 1005.95 3.70 82.70% 40 3.78
Greene King Bitter 15 1037.0 1006.25 4.00 83.11% 33 3.75
Hammond United Best Bitter 16 1035.5 1004.05 4.10 88.59% 20 3.90
Ind Coope Bitter (BB) 15 1037.7 1008.4 3.80 77.72% 36 3.94
John Smiths Best Bitter 16 1036.8 1010.55 3.40 71.33% 40 4.71
Tennant Best Bitter 16 1038.3 1006.05 4.20 84.20% 30 3.81
Tennant Queen's Ale 18 1041.7 1008.6 4.30 79.38% 35 4.18
Thwaites Bitter 16 1035.8 1006.6 3.80 81.56% 32 4.21
Truman Bitter 16 1037.6 1007.6 3.90 79.79% 30 4.10
Ushers Bitter 13 1031.9 1008.75 3.00 72.57% 25 4.33
Vaux Best Bitter 15 1034.8 1005.6 3.80 83.91% 22 3.95
Watney Special Bitter 19 1043.1 1014.5 3.70 66.36% 33 5.14
Whitbread Bitter 17 1037.4 1009.65 3.60 74.20% 35 4.72
Wilson Bitter 15 1036.1 1006.1 3.90 83.10% 35 3.84
Younger, Wm. Bitter 18 1043.9 1010.8 4.30 75.40% 40 4.19
Average
16.44 1038.6 1008.4 3.92 78.36% 32.12 4.21
Source:
Which Beer Report, 1960, pages 171 - 173.


Draught Bitter in 1960
Brewer Year Price per pint d OG FG ABV atten-uation Colour price per % ABV
Bass Bitter 21 1044 1009.8 4.45 77.73% 19 4.72
Beasley Bitter 15 1034.3 1004.5 3.72 86.88% 35 4.03
Blatch Brewery Bitter 14 1031.8 1003.9 3.49 87.74% 20 4.01
Burt & Co. Best Bitter 13 1032.6 1004.5 3.51 86.20% 20 3.70
Charles Wells  Bitter 18 1034.4 1006.6 3.48 80.81% 18 5.18
Charrington  Ordinary Bitter 14 1033.8 1008 3.35 76.33% 18 4.18
Charrington  Best Bitter 19 1044.5 1012.9 4.10 71.01% 24 4.64
Clinch Bitter 13 1034 1006.1 3.49 82.06% 20 3.73
Courage & Barclay Directors' Bitter 24 1048.8 1008.4 5.27 82.79% 26 4.56
Courage & Barclay Bitter 17 1040.4 1009.1 4.07 77.48% 23 4.18
Courage & Barclay Alton Pale Ale 17 1040.4 1009.4 4.03 76.73% 25 4.22
Dunmow Brewery Bitter 14 1033.6 1006.6 3.37 80.36% 25 4.15
Flowers Bitter 19 1040.6 1008.8 3.97 78.33% 24 4.78
Fremlin XXX Bitter 14 1035.5 1005.7 3.72 83.94% 26 3.76
Friary Bitter 14 1033.8 1005.2 3.57 84.62% 20 3.92
Friary Meux Treble Gold 18 1042.3 1008.9 4.18 78.96% 23 4.31
Fullers London Pride 20 1042.3 1010.5 4.13 75.18% 24 4.85
Fullers Ordinary Bitter 16 1032.2 1005.3 3.50 83.54% 24 4.58
Garne & Sons Best Bitter 17 1042.9 1009.5 4.18 77.86% 30 4.07
Garne & Sons Bitter 13 1031.2 1004.3 3.36 86.22% 21 3.87
Gibbs Mew Blue Keg Bitter 18 1036 1007.6 3.55 78.89% 25 5.07
Gray's Bitter 13 1033.6 1006.1 3.44 81.85% 21 3.78
Greene King Abbot Ale 22 1051.3 1007.9 5.43 84.60% 20 4.06
Greene King Best Bitter 15 1038.4 1007.4 3.88 80.73% 20 3.87
Greene King Ordinary Bitter 13 1033.9 1005.7 3.53 83.19% 26 3.69
Harvey's Bitter 14 1033.8 1006.1 3.46 81.95% 22 4.04
Ind Coope Double Diamond 19 1040.2 1010 3.92 75.12% 22 4.85
McMullen Best Bitter 16 1041.1 1010.8 3.79 73.72% 25 4.22
McMullen Ordinary Bitter 15 1037 1008 3.63 78.38% 22 4.14
Mew Langton Best Bitter 18 1037 1008.6 3.55 76.76% 19 5.07
Morland Bitter 14 1035.6 1006.1 3.69 82.87% 18 3.80
Morrell Best Bitter 15 1035.3 1005.3 3.75 84.99% 23 4.00
Morrell Light Bitter 12 1030.7 1005 3.21 83.71% 17 3.74
Rayments Best Bitter 14 1035.7 1006.4 3.66 82.07% 22 3.82
Rayments Bitter 12 1030.3 1004.1 3.27 86.47% 18 3.66
Ridley Best Bitter 21 1047 1007.8 4.90 83.40% 22 4.29
Ridley Ordinary Bitter 14 1034.2 1009.8 3.05 71.35% 19 4.59
Simonds Best Bitter 19 1042.3 1007.5 4.35 82.27% 17 4.37
Simpson & Co. Bitter 15 1036.2 1008 3.53 77.90% 24 4.26
Star Brewery SPA 17 1039.5 1005.8 4.21 85.32% 22 4.04
Star Brewery Bitter 12 1029.5 1003.3 3.28 88.81% 20 3.66
Tamplin Bitter 14 1034.3 1006 3.54 82.51% 24 3.96
Tetley Bitter 16 1037.9 1003.7 4.28 90.24% 20 3.74
Tollemache Bitter 16 1033.3 1003.4 3.74 89.79% 20 4.28
Truman Best Burton Bitter 18 1042.7 1009.7 4.29 77.28% 19 4.20
Truman Ordinary Burton Bitter 16 1037.4 1007.6 3.87 79.68% 20 4.13
Usher Ordinary Bitter 13 1032.5 1007.3 3.15 77.54% 18 4.13
Usher, Trowbridge Best Bitter 18 1043.6 1010 4.20 77.06% 21 4.29
Watney Special Bitter 19 1044.2 1009.6 4.50 78.28% 26 4.22
Wells & Winch Bitter 16 1036 1010.3 3.21 71.39% 12 4.98
Wenlock Bitter 16 1035 1008.7 3.41 75.14% 26 4.69
Whitbread Bitter 17 1038.5 1011 3.56 71.43% 20 4.77
Young & Co Best Bitter 20 1048.4 1011.5 4.61 76.24% 24 4.34
Young & Co Ordinary Bitter 15 1037.5 1006.6 3.86 82.40% 19 3.88
Average
16.15 1037.7 1007.4 3.818 80.52% 21.81 4.22
Source:
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/002.

I’ve a few other types of beer to plough through. Unless I get distracted.

Sunday 30 August 2015

Colbitzer beers

Here’s another DDR brewery and its beers. This is so much fun. A way of using all those DDR labels I recently picked up.

Colbitz is in Sachsen-Anhalt, about 10 km North of Magdeburg. The brewery was founded as the Colbitzer Brauerei in 1879 by Friedrich-Christoph Ritter. In 1959 it was partially nationalised and in 1972 fully nationalised. In 1991 it was returned to the family that formerly owned it. The brewery is still active.

There’s a little on their website about the beers brewed in the late 19th-century. I’m pretty sure they’ve got the top- and bottom-fermented beers the wrong way around. It reckons these were top-fermented: helles Lagerbier, Doppelmärzen, Doppelmärzen-Bock and Malzbier. And these bottom-fermented: Weißbier and Braunbier “Puparsch-Knall”.

Jumping forwards more than 100 years, this is their current beer range:

Cannewitzer beers in 2015
Beer style OG Plato ABV
Colbitzer Pils Pilsner 11.2 4.90%
Colbitzer Bock Bock 16.8 7.10%
Colbitzer Dunkel Dunkles 11.25 4.90%
Colbitzer Edel Helles 11.25 4.90%
Source:
Colbitzer website http://www.colbitzer-heidebrauerei.de

Next are their beers from the DDR period, in the form of labels. Unsurprisingly, Bock and Pilsner are constants:






Saturday 29 August 2015

DDR Beer Styles

I just came across this dead handy document I’d forgotten I had. It’s TGL 7764: the official DDR standard document for beer.

One of the useful bits of information is something on beers styles. A little table documenting the characteristics of each type of beer. It’s rather longer than the table in Kunze and includes some styles I never came across. Things like Lagerbier Dunkel, Lagerbier Spezial and Dunkel.

It doesn’t include ABV, so I’ve calculated it from the OG and rate of attenuation. I’ve used the middle of the gravity range and either the middle of the attenuation range or the minimum value. What it shows is quite a narrow range of ABVs, with the vast majority of styles between 3.5 and 5%.

I’d been wondering about Doppel-Karamelbier. It always specifies Vollbier on the label, but I was fairly certain it was low ABV. The fact no rate of attenuation is specified implies to me that it’s very low. And that it’s one of those weird German styles with a normal OG, but minimal amount of alcohol. Consulting Kunze*, I see that it had an ABC of 0.63% to 1.5%. So hardly fermented at all.

Another odd feature is the number of Pilsner styles: four in total. I’m not sure why Deutsches Pilsator and Deutsches Pilsner Spezial get separate entries as their specifications seem identical. As do Lagerbier Hell and Lagerbier Spezial, Lagerbier Dunkel and Lagerbier Dunkel Spezial.

It’s handy that there’s an indication of bitterness, though I’m not sure how that relates to IBUs. It does indicate the relative bitterness of the types, at least.

You'll notice that every DDR label has TGL 7764 on it somewhere.

Here you go:


DDR beer styles 1987 - 1990
Type OG Plato ABV App. Atten-uation CO2 Content Isohumulon Content EBC colour
% % % % min. Mg/l
Dunkel (Einfachbier) 5.7 - 6.2 1.84 55 - 65 0.35 3 - 11 min 79
Alkoholfreies Bier 6.5 - 7.0 10 - 15 0.42 22 - 28 max 12
Weissbier 7.0 - 8.0 2.90 min 75 0.60 nothing specified 9 - 15
Extra 8.5 - 9.0 3.41 min 75 0.45 22 - 34 max 12
Hell 9.5 - 10.0 3.82 min 75 0.40 16 - 26 max 14
Edel-Bräu Hell 10.5 - 11.0 4.23 min 75 0.42 16 - 28 max 14
Dunkel (Vollbier) 10.0 - 10.5 4.02 min 75 0.40 16 - 26 min 79
Doppel-Karamelbier 11.7 - 12.2 0.63 - 1.5 nothing specified 0.42 3 - 10 min 93
Schwarzbier 11.7 - 12.2 4.12 60 - 70 0.42 20 - 34 min 160
Deutsches Pilsner 10.5 - 11.0 4.23 min 75 0.40 22 - 34 max 12
Diabetiker-Pils 10.0 - 10.5 0.42 22 - 34 max 13
Lagerbier Hell 11.5 - 12.0 4.65 min 75 0.42 20 - 34 max 31
Lagerbier Dunkel 11.5 - 12.0 4.65 min 75 0.42 14 - 26 min 40
Lagerbier Spezial 11.5 - 12.0 4.65 min 75 0.42 20 - 34 max 31
Lagerbier Dunkel Spezial 11.5 - 12.0 4.65 min 75 0.42 14 - 26 min 40
Deutsches Pilsator 11.5 - 12.0 4.83 min 78 0.42 26 - 39 max 12
Deutsches Pilsner Spezial 11.5 - 12.0 4.83 min 78 0.42 26 - 39 max 12
Spitzenbier 12.0 - 12.5 4.86 min 73 0.45 28 - 40 max 18
Märzen 13.5 - 14.0 5.13 min 70 0.42 20 - 34 max 110
Weißer Bock oder Bockbier Hell 15.0 - 15.5 5.86 68 - 75 0.40 14 - 26 21 - 43
Dunkler Bock oder Bockbier Dunkel 15.0 - 15.5 5.62 65 - 72 0.40 10 - 25 min 83
Deutscher Porter 17.5 - 18.0 6.10 min 64 0.42 35 - 50 min 160
Source:
TGL 7764


* "Technologie für Brauer und Mälzer" by Wolfgang Kunze, 1975, page 422.