I thought I’d already done this, to be honest. Just shows how busy I am. This being one of several series I’m currently engaged in. Oh, before we start one thing: this is going to be very number heavy. Thought I’d best warn you.
Adnams PA, or Bitter as it was doubtless called down the boozer, has a long history. It shows up in the first Adnams brewing record that’s been preserved, one from 1878-79. Back then it was a reasonably strong beer, with an OG of 1058.2º. It was little changed when WW I erupted, still having a very respectable gravity of 1056º and an ABV of around 6%.
As with everything else, WW I knocked the stuffing out of PA. By 1918 it was down to 1033º and 3.25% ABV. In the interwar period it bounced back a bit, to 1039º where it remained until 1941, when another slow reduction in strength set in. It ended the war at 1036º.
Our first table shows what I’ve said many times: the hardest years came after war’s end. Its nadir was reached in 1949, when, oddly enough, PA was exactly where it had been in 1928: 1033º. A tax cut in 1950 saw it rise back to 1036º, before slipping back a little again.
What can I say about PA? It’s a classic Ordinary Bitter at around 3.5% ABV. A beer of which there were hundreds in the 1950’s. Even though the biggest shift in the 1950’s was from draught to bottled, there was also a swing from Mild to Bitter.
| Adnams PA 1945 - 1959 | ||||||||
| Date | Year | OG | FG | ABV | App. Atten-uation | lbs hops/ qtr | hops lb/brl | boil time (hours) |
| 4th Jan | 1945 | 1036.0 | 1008.9 | 3.59 | 75.38% | 7.20 | 1.02 | 2 |
| 16th Jan | 1945 | 1036.0 | 1009.4 | 3.52 | 73.84% | 7.20 | 1.02 | 2 |
| 1st Jan | 1946 | 1036.0 | 1008.9 | 3.59 | 75.38% | 7.20 | 1.02 | 2 |
| 7th Jan | 1947 | 1034.1 | 1009.4 | 3.26 | 72.36% | 8.00 | 1.06 | 2 |
| 1st Jan | 1948 | 1034.0 | 1008.9 | 3.33 | 73.93% | 7.58 | 1.02 | 2 |
| 1st Jun | 1948 | 1034.0 | 1008.3 | 3.40 | 75.56% | 7.58 | 1.02 | 2 |
| 7th Apr | 1949 | 1034.0 | 1006.1 | 3.69 | 82.08% | 7.58 | 1.00 | 2 |
| 4th Oct | 1949 | 1033.0 | 1006.1 | 3.56 | 81.53% | 8.00 | 1.00 | 2 |
| 1st Jun | 1950 | 1036.0 | 1008.9 | 3.59 | 75.38% | 7.58 | 1.03 | 2 |
| 2nd Aug | 1951 | 1036.0 | 1008.9 | 3.59 | 75.38% | 7.37 | 1.02 | 2 |
| 8th Nov | 1951 | 1036.0 | 1009.4 | 3.52 | 73.84% | 6.67 | 0.97 | 2 |
| 8th Jan | 1952 | 1036.0 | 1008.9 | 3.59 | 75.38% | 7.00 | 1.01 | 2 |
| 5th Mar | 1952 | 1035.0 | 1010.5 | 3.24 | 69.93% | 6.67 | 0.92 | 2 |
| 4th Nov | 1953 | 1035.0 | 1008.3 | 3.53 | 76.26% | 6.67 | 0.92 | 2 |
| 18th Jun | 1954 | 1035.0 | 1008.9 | 3.46 | 74.67% | 5.56 | 0.92 | 2 |
| 13th Sep | 1954 | 1035.0 | 1009.4 | 3.38 | 73.09% | 7.08 | 0.96 | 2 |
| 21st Jul | 1955 | 1036.0 | 1013.3 | 3.00 | 63.07% | 8.00 | 1.12 | 2 |
| 3rd Sep | 1956 | 1035.0 | 1010.5 | 3.24 | 69.93% | 8.56 | 1.21 | 2 |
| 22nd Oct | 1956 | 1034.0 | 1011.1 | 3.03 | 67.41% | 8.00 | 1.10 | 2 |
| 25th Jan | 1957 | 1034.0 | 1008.9 | 3.33 | 73.93% | 8.00 | 1.08 | 2 |
| 7th Aug | 1957 | 1035.0 | 1012.2 | 3.02 | 65.18% | 8.56 | 1.20 | 2 |
| 5th Dec | 1959 | 1034.0 | 1011.1 | 3.03 | 67.41% | 7.99 | 1.08 | 1.58 |
| Source: | ||||||||
| Adnams brewing records held at the brewery. | ||||||||
Let’s take a look at the grist. Another point that I’ve made often and loudly is that crystal malt in Bitter is, for the most part, a recent phenomenon. Post WW II. And Adnams Bitter confirms this. The grist is just base malt an No. 1 invert sugar. The only exception is in the immediate post-war years when government-mandated flaked barley was also included.
The hopping is equally simple: overwhelmingly English hops. With occasionally a few from Eastern Europe. At this time Britain was self-sufficient and had no need to import any. Unlike in the late 19th and early 20th century. The same was true of malt. A huge increase in barley acreage had seen British brewing wean itself off imported barley. In particular, Californian barley, malt made from which had been an essential ingredient in pre-WW II beers, especially Pale Ales.
| Adnams PA grists 1945 - 1959 | ||||||||||
| Date | Year | OG | pale malt | MA malt | medium malt | PA malt | flaked barley | no. 1 sugar | Hydrol | hops |
| 4th Jan | 1945 | 1036.0 | 93.10% | 6.90% | English | |||||
| 16th Jan | 1945 | 1036.0 | 87.93% | 5.17% | 6.90% | English | ||||
| 1st Jan | 1946 | 1036.0 | 41.38% | 46.55% | 5.17% | 6.90% | English | |||
| 7th Jan | 1947 | 1034.1 | 86.54% | 5.77% | 7.69% | English, Czech | ||||
| 1st Jan | 1948 | 1034.0 | 21.82% | 65.45% | 5.45% | 7.27% | English | |||
| 1st Jun | 1948 | 1034.0 | 53.57% | 37.50% | 5.36% | 3.57% | English | |||
| 7th Apr | 1949 | 1034.0 | 92.73% | 7.27% | English | |||||
| 4th Oct | 1949 | 1033.0 | 92.31% | 7.69% | English | |||||
| 1st Jun | 1950 | 1036.0 | 92.73% | 7.27% | English | |||||
| 2nd Aug | 1951 | 1036.0 | 92.73% | 7.27% | English | |||||
| 8th Nov | 1951 | 1036.0 | 48.84% | 41.86% | 9.30% | English | ||||
| 8th Jan | 1952 | 1036.0 | 93.10% | 6.90% | English | |||||
| 5th Mar | 1952 | 1035.0 | 90.70% | 9.30% | English | |||||
| 4th Nov | 1953 | 1035.0 | 90.70% | 9.30% | English | |||||
| 18th Jun | 1954 | 1035.0 | 92.31% | 7.69% | English | |||||
| 13th Sep | 1954 | 1035.0 | 89.19% | 10.81% | English | |||||
| 21st Jul | 1955 | 1036.0 | 88.24% | 11.76% | English | |||||
| 3rd Sep | 1956 | 1035.0 | 52.94% | 35.29% | 11.76% | English | ||||
| 22nd Oct | 1956 | 1034.0 | 23.53% | 64.71% | 11.76% | English | ||||
| 25th Jan | 1957 | 1034.0 | 15.79% | 78.95% | 5.26% | English | ||||
| 7th Aug | 1957 | 1035.0 | 76.47% | 11.76% | 7.84% | 3.92% | English | |||
| 5th Dec | 1959 | 1034.0 | 75.00% | 8.33% | 11.11% | 5.56% | English, Styrian | |||
| Source: | ||||||||||
| Adnams brewing records held at the brewery. | ||||||||||
I’m going to finish with another table. This time showing the decline in gravity in Whitbread’s Pale Ales and Adnams PA:
| Changing gravities 1939 - 1950 | ||||||||
| 1939 | 1945 | 1946 | 1947 | 1948 | 1949 | 1950 | 1939 - 1950 | |
| Whitbread PA | 1048.2 | 1039.5 | 1039.7 | 1034.2 | 1034.4 | 1035.9 | 1039.9 | |
| % change | -18.05% | 0.51% | -13.85% | 0.58% | 4.36% | 11.14% | -17.22% | |
| Whitbread IPA | 1037.1 | 1031.6 | 1031.3 | 1032.4 | 1032.3 | 1032.4 | 1034.5 | |
| % change | -14.82% | -0.95% | 3.51% | -0.31% | 0.31% | 6.48% | -7.01% | |
| Adnams PA | 1039 | 1036.0 | 1036.0 | 1034.0 | 1034.0 | 1033.0 | 1036.0 | |
| % change | -7.69% | 0.00% | -5.56% | 0.00% | -2.94% | 9.09% | -7.69% | |
| average OG | 1040.93 | 1034.54 | 1034.72 | 1032.59 | 1032.66 | 1033.43 | 1033.88 | |
| % change | -15.61% | 0.52% | -6.13% | 0.21% | 2.36% | 1.35% | -17.22% | |
| Sources: | ||||||||
| Brewers' Almanack 1955, p. 50 | ||||||||
| Whitbread brewing records held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document numbers LMA/4453/D/01/107, LMA/4453/D/01/112, LMA/4453/D/01/113, LMA/4453/D/01/115, LMA/4453/D/01/116, LMA/4453/D/01/117 and LMA/4453/D/01/118. | ||||||||
| Adnams brewing records held at the brewery. | ||||||||
It’s weird how Whitbread PA fell by exactly the overall average. Whereas the weaker Whitbread IPA and Adnams PA declined in gravity by less than half the average. What is that telling us? That stronger beers were harder hit? Or that once you’d hit a certain low level of gravity, you really couldn’t drop much further? Anyway, you can see that the strength differential between Whitbread PA and IPA was seriously eroded.
I do know what’s coming next. In this series, at least. It’s Adnams Mild. I know because I’ve already started writing it.
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