Random Dutch beers (part three)

More of this stodge. You'll have noticed I'm no Beer Nut.

Don't expect any particular logic to the selection of beers. It's just whatever caught my eye at Ton Overmars. I attempt a bit of variety. Tempting as it is to just get a crate of Abt and a half crate of Prior every Saturday.

Christoffel Nobel 8.7% ABV
Dry-hopped strong pale beer., it's described as. It's a slightly hazy gold. Looks quite pretty, especoially with the foamy, almost Duvel-like head. Ever had a strong Dutch Lager? Bavaria 8.6, Grolsch Het Canon, that sort of thing? It's similar to those, but bitterer. Has the same underlying malty warmth. I could imagine necking a can or two of this on the top deck on an NS train on the way to Bodegraven. Three cans more like. It takes the best part of an hour. Even better than Gordon's Platinum. And that's journey-shortener supreme.

"Like some of the beers from Butcher's Tears. The ones I don't like." Dolores comments in her usual, brutally-honest way. She does really like some of their beers. Green Cap, in particular.

Next - a beer from Butcher's Tears.

La Condition Humaine IV Forgotten in Space 6% ABV
Erik likes odd names. Not sure what the name means. I've read the book. In French. (During my long only reading French period. That left me better read in French literature than English.) Can't remember bugger all about it, other than it's set in 1920's China. Not sure what relevance that has. It's golden, a bit hazy - I did buy it just 45 minutes ago at Ton Overmars.* Smells sort of fruity. In a good way. Yeah. Gently punches some spot. Wish I'd poured it a bit clearer.

Another Butcher's Tears beer:

The Last possession 5% ABV
Darker, this one. Just about amber in colour. Smells a bit spicy. Damn that's bitter. Really bitter. No. Don't really like this one.

"Andrew, try this."

"What is it?"

"A beer from Butcher's Tears."

He takes a sip.

"It's OK. Similar to what I've tasted before from those kinds of breweries."

Praise indeed.





* "You're paying for his retirement." Dolores always says.

Hammonds international collaboration

Bottling was of vital importance to brewers in the 1950’s. Bottled beer was the only place there was any growth and breweries were keen to cash in.

But a lack of investment in the 1940’s had left many with far from optimal bottling arrangements. Once restrictions on building works were lifted, ambitious breweries like Hammonds were keen to put that right. Where would you go for the latest bottling expertise? Surprisingly, Denmark was a good choice.

There was a big shift to bottled beer in Denmark in the early 20th century. Something similar happened in many countries, but in few as dramatically as in Denmark. Draught beer became very scarce, even in pubs. That situation still prevailed when I first visited Copenhagen in the late 1980’s. The resurgence of draught beer in Denmark has gone hand in hand with a renewed interest in beer in general.

This gives an idea of the importance of bottled beer in Denmark:

Beer Sales (Carlsberg Brewery) in Barrels.
	Bottled.	Cask.	Total.	% bottled
1914-15	250,300	19,200	269,600	92.84%
1916-16	270,100	19,200	280,300	96.36%
1916-17	281,300	40,000*	321,300	87.55%
1917-18	182,000	18,900	195,900	92.90%
1918-19	254,800	17,600	272,400	93.54%
1919-20	406,400	21,400	447,800	90.75%
* Including 25,000 hectl. Pilsener at 18 Balling exported to Germany.
Source:
Journal of the Institute of Brewing 1921, page 28.

So no surprise that Hammonds looked to Carlsberg and Tuborg to help them out with their bottling plant:

"The way was now clear to consider serious and extensive changes to the brewing and bottling resources of the Hammonds' group of companies. Bottling was the first priority, being carried out in several locations in old buildings and with outdated equipment. The directors had a connection with the Danish brewery companies of Carlsberg and Tuborg, and through them engaged a Danish consultant engineer. Visits were made to Copenhagen and Elsinore to see modern bottling plants, and the consultant began work on designs. Unfortunately, he did not come up to expectation and an approach was made to Hammonds' friends at Ind Coope & Allsopp for assistance."
"The Brewing Industry 1950 - 1990", by Anthony Avis, 1997, page 35.

Elsinore is normally called Helsingborg Helsingør nowadays. Shame it didn’t work out with the Danes.

Random Dutch beers (part two)

More beers I just happen to have drunk recently. Not sure what interest any of this crap is to you. Or me, fo that matter.

Zwarte Piet Bitterzoet 5.5% ABV
Here's a controversial beer, as the label should tell you. Zwarte Piet (Black Pete) is Sinter Klaas's helper. But, unfortunately for modern sensibilites, he's portrayed by someone white blacked up a la Black & White Minstrels. There's nothing on the label to say where or by whom it was brewed. Probably just as well. It tastes like watered-down Bok (it's 5.5% ABV). With added sweetener. Very metallic. Weird vegetable aroma. Not at all nice. Soon it will be making acquaintance with my sink. Then I'll give my Chimay glass a good rinse and pour myself a well-deserved Abt.

Sinterklaas Bier 7.5% ABV
Rather less contentious, this one. A nice spicy aroma.

"What are you smelling, Dad?"
"Try it, Lexie."
"It's like pepernoten*."
"I guess that's the idea."
 "You know that he's Turkish, Dad, Sinter Klaas?"


Bit thin, but OK. Wonder who brewed it?

Hertog Jan Grand Prestige 10% ABV
Used to be the strongest beer brewed in Holland. And something special. But Dutch beer has moved on. Will the years have been kind to this grand old lady? Smells nice and strong. Rum-soaked raisins or some such bollocks. Sweet, bit spicy, some bitterness, liquorice. OK. Just banged out more of the carbonation and it's much better. Rich and bittersweet.

"Try this Dolores"
"It looks like one of those horrible dark beers."
Drinks tentatively, nose withdrawn, face tensed. Then suddenly relaxes.
"A bit watery."
"What?"
"Watery, Ronald."
"It's 10% ABV."
"Tastes watery to me."


* A sort of spiced small biscuit the Dutch eat for Sinterklaas.

Strong Ale in 1960

I’m starting to realise just how many series of posts I’ve left hanging, uncompleted. Time for some tidying up.

Only two posts away from the, er, finishing post on this one. Quickly rattle through this and I’m almost done. Almost.

The Which? report didn’t include a huge number of Strong Ales. Just five in total. But do you know the weird thing? I’ve brewing records for three of them: the two Younger’s beers and Final Selection. Though not for this exact year.

The one beer in the set that I’ve drunk, the legendary No. 3, is shockingly poor value. Especially if you compare it to Younger’s other Strong Ale. No. 1 (King of Ales) is just 2d more a pint, but around 50% stronger. I know which one I’d have been drinking.

Actually, that wasn’t quite right when I said No. 3 was the only one I’d drunk. Pretty Things brewed a very tasty version of Younger’s No. 1 based on the 1949 recipe. Really very nice. It was amusing too read geeks saying it was a typical Scotch Ale when the recipe bore no resemblance to the style guidelines. Not a single person spotted the secret ingredient: lactose.

I’m surprised at the relatively low level of bitterness. Especially in Final Selection as I know that it contained more the 2lbs of hops per barrel. Double the amount in King of Ales and triple the amount in No. 3.

Once again, I didn’t have enough examples from 1960 in my collection so have also used ones from 1959 and 1961. I hope you don’t mind.

As you can see, they’re all over the place in terms of strength. From the sublime Royal Toby to the ridiculous Hancock’s Strong Ale. Clearly Strong Ale was a pretty vague concept and being strong wasn’t an essential requirement.

Colour is also hugely variable, from the shade of a pale Bitter (Treble Gold) to near-black (King & Barnes Strong Ale). With most of the colours between those two extremes also represented. Though the average of just over 80 is about the shade I would expect a Strong Ale to be – dark brown.

Mansfield’s Golden Drop is spectacularly poor value – around a third more expensive than the average. While Stroud’s Charter Brew manages to be almost as cheap as Treble Gold, the only draught beer in the set. The very high degree of attenuation helps.

Strong Ale in 1960
Brewer	Beer	Price per pint d	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	Index of Hop Bitter	price per % ABV
John Smiths	Magnet Old Ale	28	1070.2	1021.7	6.30	69.09%	43	4.45
Younger, Wm.	Younger's King of Ales	32	1065.9	1019	6.10	71.17%	25	5.25
Thwaites	Old Dan	35	1074.6	1016.5	7.60	77.88%	30	4.61
Whitbread	Final Selection Extra Strong Ale	36	1077.7	1013.7	8.40	82.37%	34	4.28
Younger, Wm.	Younger's No. 3 Scotch Ale	30	1046.2	1013.05	4.30	71.75%	25	6.98
Average		32.2	1066.9	1016.8	6.54	74.45%	31.4	5.11
Source:
Which Beer Report, 1960, pages 171 - 173.

Strong Ale 1959 - 1961
Date	Beer	Price per pint d	OG	FG	ABV	App. Attenu-ation	colour	price per % ABV
Adnams	Fisherman Strong Ale	28.5	1044.3	1014.3	3.88	67.72%	115	7.34
Bentleys	Old Timothy	45	1074.5	1015.1	7.43	79.73%	65	6.06
Charrington	Royal Toby		1077.8	1018.9	7.70	75.71%	45
Eldridge Pope	Dorset Special Ale		1076.1	1019.9	7.33	73.85%	90
John Groves	Stingo		1062.4	1009.5	6.93	84.78%	125
King & Barnes	Golding Ale		1070.4	1017.1	6.95	75.71%	50
King & Barnes	Strong Ale		1044	1011.8	4.18	73.18%	130
Lees	Strong Ale		1070.0
Mansfield Brewery	Golden Drop	54	1055.4	1014.9	5.06	73.10%	80	10.67
Meux	Treble Gold (draught)	20	1042.7	1010.4	4.19	75.64%	21	4.77
Peter Walker	Merrie England Strong Ale	51	1073.8	1023.2	6.32	68.56%	75	8.06
Ramsdens	??? Strong Ale	40	1064.8	1018.1	6.07	72.07%	70	6.59
Strong	Strong 'un		1040.3	1010.2	3.91	74.69%	100
Stroud Brewery Co	Charter Brew	37	1058.5	1006.3	6.85	89.23%	65	5.40
Whitakers	Ramtam Strong Ale	54	1070.6	1024.8	5.93	64.87%	70	9.10
Whitakers	Strong Shire Ale	24	1042.2	1017	3.25	59.72%	70	7.38
Greene King	Suffolk Ale	51	1056.8	1015.7	5.14	72.36%	70	9.93
Hancock, Cardiff	Strong Ale		1030
Lees	Strong Ale		1070.0
St. Austell Brewery	Smugglers Ale	45	1068	1019.6	6.05	71.18%	100	7.44
Watney	Burton Ale	32	1053.6	1019.7	4.38	63.25%	125	7.31
Lees	Strong Ale		1076.0
Offilers, Derby	Derby Strong	34	1045.4	1013.6	3.98	70.04%	75	8.55
Average		39.7	1059.5	1015.8	5.55	72.92%	81.1	7.58
Source:
“Cardiff Pubs and Breweries” by Brian Glover, 2005. pages 97-101
Lees brewing records
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/002.

We’ll be finishing with Lagers in the final instalment.

Let's Brew Wednesday – 1958 Fullers London Pride

This is a beer you may possibly have heard of. I’ve heard it’s quite popular.

It certainly is with Dolores. Pride is her preferred drink, when in London. Though you’ll notice that the brewhouse name wasn’t LP, as in later logs, but SPA. Which presumably stands for Special Pale Ale. I’m not sure exactly when it was introduced, but it seems to have been sometime in the early 1950’s. Something called Best PA appears in the Whitbread Gravity Book in 1951. It looks very similar to Pride in gravity. The first mention of London Pride in the Gravity Book is in 1953.

Many brewers took the opportunity to introduce a stronger Bitter in the 1950’s. Wartime restrictions had killed forced Bitters to drop below 4% ABV. Both Watney and Youngs called theirs Special Bitter, beers of a similar strength to London Pride. They sold for 2d a pint more than Ordinary Bitter. A premium I’d be willing to pay for the extra oomph.

It’s a simple recipe. Which I’ve made even simpler by replacing the glucose and the proprietary sugar PEX with more No.2 invert. The sugar content is quite low. 10% to 15% was more usual. In case wondering, the current version of London Pride has quite a different grist. Fullers now brew all-malt. There’s 5% crystal malt, 0.25% chocolate malt and the rest is pale malt.

The original mashing scheme was an underlet mash. It started at 144º F and stood for half an hour. There was then an underlet that raised the temperature to 152º F and it was stood for 2 hours. Feel free to replicate that if you want to go for full authenticity.



That’s all I can think of so over to me for the recipe . . . . .

1958 Fullers SPA
pale malt	7.75 lb	79.49%
flaked maize	1.50 lb	15.38%
no. 2 sugar	0.50 lb	5.13%
Fuggles 90 min	1.00 oz
Fuggles 60 min	0.75 oz
Goldings 30 min	0.75 oz
OG	1043.2
FG	1011.4
ABV	4.21
Apparent attenuation	73.61%
IBU	34
SRM	12
Mash at	152º F
Sparge at	165º F
Boil time	90 minutes
pitching temp	60º F
Yeast	WLP002 English Ale

Branded Brown Ale in 1953

Enjoying this series? I think I am. Not totally sure. Let me get back to you in a day or two.

Brown Ale. One the favourite styles of the 1950’s. Which is why I’m surprised there are relatively few examples, a mere 17. 16, really, because Southwarke Ale (as it’s really spelled) is an Old Ale. Not difficult to work out. That’s how it’s described on the label. Their Brown Ale was called Doctor Brown. Which for some reason doesn’t make the list.

Flowers had a whole bunch of Brown Ales – Poacher, Brownex, to name two – though some were from the J.W. Green portfolio. At this point the two were still separate companies. Whitbread also had another Brown Ale, Double Brown. That was their original Brown Ale, stronger and more bitter than was usual by the 1950’s. It was already taking a back seat to Forest Brown, a more typical type, and would be phased out within a couple of years. Forest Brown continued through the Whitbread period as the group’s flagship Brown Ale.

Simmonds Berry Brown Ale was a big brand in its day, brewed not just in Simonds’ own Reading brewery, but at other plants they owned, too. It was a big enough brand to survive the Courage takeover, though with the name changed to Courage Berry Brown Ale. I wonder how long it lasted? That got me wondering: what was Courage’s own version called? About as dull as you could get: Courage Brown Ale.

What’s left of this lot? Double Maxim. Though even that has long left its home brewery. Will Brown Ale die out? Probably not as long as Newcastle Brown still retains popularity. But I can’t see it becoming part of a brewery’s standard range again.

Branded Brown Ale in 1953
Brewery	Beer	Type
Whitbread	Forest Brown	Brown
Barclay Perkins	Southwark Ale	Brown Ale
Flowers	Anchor	Brown Ale
Fremlins	Double Elephant	Brown Ale
H. & G. Simonds	Berry	Brown Ale
John Smith's	Tawney	Brown Ale
Meux's Brewery	Winter Ale	Brown Ale
Mitchells & Butlers	Sam Brown	Brown Ale
Star Brewery	Old Star	Brown Ale
T. Losco Bradley	Red Lion	Brown Ale
Thompsons Brewery	Bell	Brown Ale
Tomson & Wotton	Double Thatch	Brown Ale
Westoe Breweries	Lifeboat	Brown Ale
Wm. Younger	Castle	Brown Ale
Vaux	Double Maxim	Brown Ale, bottled
Higson's Brewery	Double Top	Brown Ale, bottled
Yates's Castle Brewery	Cobnut	Brown Ale, bottled
Source:
Brewery Manual 1953-1954, pages 382 - 394.

Stout next, I think.

Glückauf Brauerei, Gersdorf

More DDR brewery fun. I've neglected it a little recently.

A shame, because Dolores got me a dead handy book, "Die Biere des Ostens", for my birthday. It's all about the breweries of the former DDR. A bit old, but still handy. For example, it tells me that Glückauf brewed 60,000 hl a year in 2004 when the book was published.

I'd been wanting to write something about the Glückauf brewery, just beacuse I like their labels so much. Well, some of them. One set is pretty dull.

Gersdorf is a small town about 15 km west of Karl-Marx-Stadt, sorry, Chemnitz, in the state of Saxony. The brewery was founded in 1880, nationalised in 1946 and sold to management in 1991. Between 1995 and 1998 a completely new brewery was built and the old one turned into a museum. As far as I can tell, it's still privately owned.

here are some lovely old seals:

Notice the unusual beer in there? Pilsner Schankbier. I've never come across another. Nor seen a mention of one anywhere. Judging by the label, it must be pretty early. It doesn't even state the price.



The next set aren't quite so pretty, but do give an idea of the range they brewed.

All three of those are still brewed. Or at least there's still a Pils, Helles and Dunkles Bock in their range. Tale a look:

Glückauf beers in 2015
Beer	Style	OG Plato	FG Plato	ABV	App. Atten-uation
Pilsener	Pils	11.50	2.20	4.90	81.57%
Premium Pils	Pils	11.60	2.30	4.90	80.87%
Edel	Helles	11.70	2.41	4.90	80.19%
Kräusenbier	Kellerbier	11.50	2.01	5.00	83.19%
Bock	Bock, Dunkel	16.00	4.34	6.30	74.11%
Schwarzes	Schwarzbier	11.80	2.51	4.90	79.52%
Deputat	Helles			4.90
Edelpils	Pils			4.90
GB Prime	Pils	11.50	2.20	4.90	81.57%
Gersdorfer Ale	Pale Ale			6.80
Heller Bock	Bock, Hell			6.30
Cheer	Kirschbier	11.60		3.60
Source:
Brewery website http://www.glueckaufbiere.de

Schwarzbier is becoming a standard beer in parts of the East, particularly Saxony. I don't know how many used to be brewed, other than Köstritzer. I'm not sure Kellerbier existed at all in the DDR time, though some of the bottled beers were pretty roughly filtered.

I'm not sure why they four Pils, all with virtually identical specs. I suspect there are only really two variants, one at 11.5º Plato and another at 11.6º Plato.

I was quite shocked to see a relatively small brewery brewing something called an Ale. Not quite sure what it is or if it's top-fermented, but based on the ABV, it looks like they're aiming for Pale Ale to me.

And finally there's a cherry abomination. I won't say anything more about that.

Lots more of this to come when I can get my arse in gear.

20 hours in Britain

I was back in the UK extremely briefly this week. Not even a full day.

I won't go into too many details as to why, because it was a work thing. And I don't talk about that here.

Being in another country for such a short time - and almost half of it spent sleeping - is disorientating. Here's a quick check list of what I did:

Bought the Radio Times and the Christmas Viz. Got some sweets for Alexei and some salt and vinegar crisps for Andrew. Plus two bags of crumpets for me. If Andrew doesn't nab them all first.

But what about beer? Here's the really sad part. I had two bottles of Singha in a Thai restaurant and that was it. My hotel only sold keg beer and there wasn't a pub close by. Just a Harvester. And no guarantee that would have cask. So I watched Peep Show in my hotel room.

All was not lost. There are plenty who get snotty about Wetherspoons. But there's one great service they've provided: putting decent beer into airports. I'd a while to wait for my plane. Time for a quick pint. There was nothing too exotic or weird on the bar. But there was an old favourite. A beer that rarely disappoints, unless the cellarman is a complete idiot. London Pride.

It floated down. A pleasure from first gulp to last sip. Shame I only had time for the one.

Branded Old Ale and Strong Ale in 1953

It’s been a while. And, yes, I had forgotten. At least, temporarily. Not to worry, I’ve remembered now.

Though I can’t recall what the point of the series was, other than conjuring up multiple posts from table. Then again, doesn’t that pretty much sum up my blog?

This is quite a long set. I can think of a couple of good reasons why. Strong beers were more likely to be named because they were higher profile beers. And they were very often bottled. At a time when pump clips weren’t universal and keg still rare, the branding opportunities at point of sale were much smaller for draught beers. Amongst draught beers I think it’s no coincidence that many of the first ones to be heavily branded were in keg form. You had those brightly-lit bartop boxes to splash a name across.

Unsurprisingly, the adjective “Old” features heavily in names. Though, ironically enough, not in any described as Old Ale. How odd.

How many of these beers survive? I think only Robinson’s Old Tom. Though a revival of Colne Spring Ale is on the cards. And Tally Ho! Is still around, but brewed by someone else, Adnams. Mind you, Adnams have been using the name since the 1880’s.

I love some of the names. Oh be Joyful in particular. Also the echo of Arctic Ale. And Lees enigmatic “C”. Though to be fair that wasn’t a their own brand, C Ales be9ing brewed by several breweries around Manchester. Before you ask, I’ve no idea of where the name came from. Unlike October Brew which is doubtless a reference to the old practice of brewing strong keeping beers in either March or October. Though for conjouring up the cosy image of a strong beer on a cold, dark winter’s evening, it’s hard to beat Fireside.

Branded Old Ale and Strong Ale in 1953
Brewery	Beer	Type
Benskin's	Colne Spring Ale	Old
Broadway Brewery	Broadway	Old
Brickwood	Little Bricky	Old Ale, bottled
Samuel Webster	Coronation	Old Brown, very strong
Flowers Breweries	Dragon's Blood	Old English Ale
East Anglian Breweries	Old Nell	Strong
Samuel Webster	Old Tom	Strong
Wm. Younger	King of Ales	Strong
Barclay, Perkins	Winter Brew	Strong Ale
Brampton Brewery	Golden Bud	Strong Ale
Dutton's	Oh Be Joyful	Strong Ale
Campbell Praed	Pride	Strong Ale
Courage	Double Courage	Strong Ale
Drybrough	Burns	Strong Ale
Frederick Robinson	Old Tom	Strong Ale
Fredk. Robinson	Young Tom	Strong Ale
Gardner	Kentish Fire	Strong Ale
Guernsey Brewery	Double Pony	Strong Ale
H. & G. Simonds	Old Berkshire	Strong Ale
Ind Coope & Allsopp	Arctic	Strong Ale
J. & J. Morison	J & J	Strong Ale
J. C. & H. R. Palmer	Tally-Ho!	Strong Ale
J. W. Lees	C	Strong Ale
John Rowell	John Barleycorn	Strong Ale
Massey's	King's Ale	Strong Ale
Morrell's Brewery	College Ale	Strong Ale
Richard Whitaker	Bantam	Strong Ale
Timothy Taylor	Blue Label	Strong Ale
Ushers Wiltshire Brewery	Triple Crown	Strong Ale
Wenlock Brewery	Fireside	Strong Ale
Norman & Pring	Imperial	Strong Ale, bottle and draught
Cornbrook Brewery	Cornbrook Old Tom	Strong Ale, bottled
Daniel Thwaites	Big Ben	Strong Ale, bottled
Greene King	Stingo	Strong Ale, bottled
Truswell's Brewery	October Brew	Strong Ale, bottled
Daniel Thwaites	Old Ben	Strong Ale, draught
Truswelt's Brewery	Imperial	Strong Ale, draught
Hope & Anchor	Old English	Strong Beer
Lamb Brewery	Stingo	Strong beer
Higson's Brewery	Stingo	Strong beer, bottled
Lamb Brewery	Rouser	Strong Bitter
Ridley	Stock	Strong Brown Ale
Ridley	Xmas	Strong Brown Ale
Source:
Brewery Manual 1953-1954, pages 382 - 394.

Stouts next. Maybe.