Canadian Ale in 1909 (part two)

Back with beer in pre-WW I Canada again. It’ll take a while, because I’m just doing one pair of pages at a time. Why? I’m lazy and I need to spin this out a bit.

This set has a few more of the real beer names. Most being IPA. I can’t say that surprises me after looking at Labatt’s brewing records from the 1890’s. IPA was about three-quarters of what they brewed. Obviously, IPA was a very popular style in Canada around the turn of the century.

I was cheered to spot an XXX Ale in this set. They were very common in Ale breweries in the USA. There a typical Ale range would be XXX Ale, Stock Ale, IPA, Porter and Stout. Though in the US, XXX Ale seems to be a local development of English X Ales, that is basically a sort of Mild Ale. Though the term was rarely used in the US, Present Use being preferred.

Right. On with this set. Comparing the IPA’s and Pale Ales is revealing. For a start, it shows no significant variation in gravity between the two types. In the Labatt records, Pale Ale is 1050º and IPA 1055º. But the conclusion that IPA is always the stronger of the two doesn’t appear to be borne out by the analyses. True, the IPA’s have on average a slightly higher OG, but the Pale Ales are skewed by a couple of unusually weak ones. And the four strongest are all Pale Ales. Though we should be a little cautious as many of the Pale Ales don’t give the brand name. Some could have been marketed as IPA.

Once again, the level of attenuation is very high, averaging around 85% for both types. In general, these Canadian Ales have lower OGs than similar British beers of the period, but are more highly attenuated, leaving beers of an equal or even slightly greater ABV.

I’m not sure what the reason for the difference in the rate of attenuation is. Possibly the manufacturing process. Or perhaps because these are beers as sold, and I’m looking at brewing records. The racking gravity, which is what I see, would be higher than the final FG. Most of the British beers were sold in cask form so needed some residual sugars for secondary fermentation.

Looks like Labatt had dropped the gravity of their Stock Ale. In 1893, it was 1064º. Or maybe they’d stopped it being a separate brew and made just a tweaked version of their IPA.

More to come, obviously.

Canadian Ale in 1909 (part two)
Brewer	Town	Beer	Style	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation
Beauport Brewing	Beauport	India Pale Ale	IPA	1046.9	1009.1	5.24	80.60%
The National Breweries	Montreal	Ecker's Indian Pale Ale	IPA	1050	1009.4	5.63	81.20%
Dawes & co.	Lachine, PQ	Black Horse India Pale Ale	IPA	1050.8	1005.4	6.24	89.37%
Jno.H.R. Molson & Bros	Montreal	India Pale Ale	IPA	1051.4	1006.1	6.24	88.13%
John Labatt	Ottawa	India Pale Ale	IPA	1053.4	1009.7	6.10	81.84%
Dawes & co.	Ottawa	Dawes India Pale Ale	IPA	1055	1007.3	6.63	86.73%
average IPA				1051.3	1007.8	6.01	84.64%
Reinhardt & Sons	Montreal	XXX Pale Ale	Pale Ale	1036.5	1003.6	4.63	90.14%
Silver Springs Brewery	Sherbrooke	Ale	Pale Ale	1043.4	1007.4	5.00	82.95%
Rock Springs Brewery	Quebec	Ale	Pale Ale	1046.3	1009.6	5.16	79.27%
Silver Springs Brewery	Sherbrooke	Ale	Pale Ale	1046.3	1007	5.24	84.88%
L. Davis	Ottawa	O'Keefe's Amber Ale	Pale Ale	1047.6	1010.1	5.24	78.78%
Capital Brewing Co.	Ottawa	Capital Ale	Pale Ale	1049.4	1006.1	6.02	87.65%
James Roy	Belleville	Ale	Pale Ale	1049.5	1006.1	6.02	87.68%
Jno.H.R. Molson & Bros	Montreal	Ale	Pale Ale	1049.7	1004.3	6.24	91.35%
John Labatt	London, Ont.	Ale	Pale Ale	1051.7	1008	6.02	84.53%
Carling Brewing & Malting	Ottawa	Pale Bitter Ale	Pale Ale	1055.8	1009.7	6.32	82.62%
Port Hope Brewing & Malting	Port Hope	Ale	Pale Ale	1056.2	1008.1	6.63	85.59%
John Fisher	Portsmouth	Ale	Pale Ale	1057.9	1006.6	7.01	88.60%
J. McCarthy & Sons	Prescott	Ale	Pale Ale	1059.3	1007.9	7.01	86.68%
average PA				1050.0	1007.3	5.89	85.44%
John Labatt	Ottawa	Extra Stock	Stock Ale	1055.6	1009.7	6.32	82.55%
Source:
"Ale and lager beer" by McGill, A. (Anthony), 1910, pages 4 - 19.