Labatt beers in 1893

Canada – why have I suddenly started writing about it again? Maybe I’m getting bored with the 1950’s. Nah, that couldn’t be true. How could anyone tire of the 1950’s?

Have I already written anything about the Labatt’s brewing records I have? I can’t remember, to be honest. And I can’t be arsed to look it up. If I did, it can’t have been that memorable. Otherwise I’d remember it, wouldn’t I? Then again, I often can’t recall what I’ve had for breakfast. Quite an achievement, seeing I eat the same every day.

Rambling again. I think I remember now why I’ve not done much with the Labatt’s stuff: it’s a bit dull. Just four different beers with nothing particularly exciting about them: a Pale, an IPA, a Stock Ale and a Brown Stout. Hard to get too worked up about those. Other than the fact it demonstrates IPA was a common style in North America in the 19th century. If you didn’t already know that.

That seems slightly thin fare, given the rich, thick broth I usually serve. So I guess I’ll beef it up with some other stuff. But what? Tables. You can never go wrong with tables. Or comparing a brewery’s beers with those of another. Two London breweries, that makes sense. One from London, Ontario and the other from London, England.

Let’s kick off with the rather small Labatt table:

Labatt beers in 1893
Date	Beer	Style	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	hops lb/brl	boil time (hours)	boil time (hours)
5th Sep	EIP	IPA	1056.8	1012.5	5.86	78.05%	2.16	2	2.58
8th Sep	Pale	Pale Ale	1049.9	1012.5	4.95	75.00%	1.90	2	2.67
22nd Sep	BS	Stout	1067.9	1015.2	6.96	77.55%	2.25	2	2.75
6th Feb	ES	Stock Ale	1063.7	1009.7	7.15	84.78%	2.93	2	2.67
Source:
Labatt brewing record document number A08-054-1156

Labatt’s Pale Ale would probably have been classed as a Light Bitter in Britain. While their IPA could have been either a Pale Ale or an IPA in the UK.

You’ll probably notice something when we look at Whitbread’s rather more expansive beer range. Here you go:

Whitbread beers in 1893
Date	Beer	Style	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	hops lb/brl	boil time (hours)	boil time (hours)
20th Jul	X	Mild	1058.7	1015.0	5.78	74.46%	1.81	1.75	2
20th Jul	XK	Mild	1067.3	1020.0	6.26	70.29%	2.08	1.75	2
14th Oct	FA	Pale Ale	1051.2	1014.0	4.93	72.68%	2.42	1.5	1.75
22nd Sep	2PA	Pale Ale	1052.6	1014.0	5.11	73.40%	2.41	1.33	2
20th Oct	PA	Pale Ale	1058.7	1017.0	5.52	71.05%	2.96	1.33	1.92
11th Oct	KK	Stock Ale	1074.5	1025.0	6.55	66.45%	4.38	2	2
8th Dec	2KKK	Stock Ale	1082.5	1035.0	6.29	57.60%	5.38	2	2
13th Dec	KKK	Stock Ale	1087.0	1036.0	6.74	58.61%	5.51	2	2
10th Jan	P	Porter	1055.4	1014.0	5.48	74.73%	1.74	1.5	2
10th Jan	C	Porter	1057.9	1016.0	5.54	72.36%	1.82	1.5	2
15th Feb	SS	Stout	1086.4	1031.0	7.33	64.13%	4.21	2	2
15th Feb	SSS	Stout	1095.0	1034.0	8.07	64.21%	4.63	2	2
Sources:
Whitbread brewing records held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document numbers LMA/4453/D/01/059 and LMA/4453/D/09/087.

What’s that something? That Labatt mostly only have the base level beer. Their Brown Stout is the equivalent of an English Single Stout, their Pale Ale like Whitbread’s weakest Bitter, Family Ale, while their Stock Ale is barely strong enough to be a KK. And, of course, Mild is missing completely, s is a simple Porter.

The hopping of Labatt’s Pale Ales looks on the low side. The Pale has a round the same quantity of hops as Whitbread’s X Mild. While their IPA has fewer hops than Whitbread’s FA. And don’t get me started on Labatt’s Stock Ale – it’s way off the UK standard for that type of beer. Only the Brown Stout looks to have a similar rate to a UK equivalent.

I went a bit table crazy. Too crazy for a single post. I’m saving the spare ones for next time.