Where are all the effing firkins?

I was glancing through my Boddingtons records yesterday and spotted something. One of the handy totals you sometimes find at year or month end.

It's of their stock of bee in casks at the end of 1984:

H = 54 gallon hogshead
B -= 36 gallon barrel
K = 18 gallon kilderkin
F = 9 gallon firkin

The fact that they only had a single firkin in stock says everything about the change in barrel size over the last 30 years.

Almost half of the stock of Bitter was in hogsheads. I have heard rumours that Holts still use them, though I haven't had that confirmed. I doubt very much if anyone else still bothers with them. I'm sure there are still regional breweries using barrels. I'd put money on Sam Smiths. But the vast majority of casl beer now comes in kilderkins and firkins.

Boddie's pubs must have still been shifting Mild quite quickly, given the majority of it was in full barrels. I doubt anyone fills anything larger than kilderkins with Mild any more.

One last point pops into my mind. How long would that stock have been intended to last?  If it were a week's stock, that would mean Boddingtons were only brewing around 35,000 barrels a year. But I'm pretty sure that they brewed at least 200,000. Divide 200,000 by 700 and you get 285. It looks like they didn't have much more than a day's supply of draught beer in stock.

20% off my Lulu print books

plus free shipping until the end of May 1st.

All you need to do is to use this code when you buy:

APRSHIP20


Time to complete the whole Mega Book Series  -   Porter!, Mild! plus, Bitter! and Strong! Be the first in your town with the full set.


Barclay Perkins Bookstore

Drinking alone

Used to be a bore, now a chance for gluuring. In a good way.

Hanging around in a pub by myself seemed weird when I was a lanky, skinny, underaged drinker. And when I first became age compliant. Drinking in the pub was something you did with your mates. Failing that, with equally desperate colleagues. Or your anyone sharing your house that wasn't likely to leave a still throbbing body on Woodhouse moor.

I had a couple of uncomfortable solo sessions in Leeds. Not that I told my friends. Or what I now realise were just the people too polite to tell me to fuck off. It never felt right.

When I extended my isolation to foreign off-fucking, I discovered the joy of solo drinking. No need to pretend to pay attention to your tedious companion. Just you, the bar, booze and, er, more booze.

The moments I treasure when travelling? When my belly and a bar battle guts. Scribbling notes on the back of my travel maps. Writing whatever bollocks comes into my head. The Laphroaig nightcaps. Yes the Laphroaig nightcaps.

American Lagers in Canada in 1909

Life is full of surprises. Occasionally pleasant ones. The little booklet of Canadian beers analyses from just before WW I contained one of the nicer type.

Because it contained a surprising number of analyses for beer brewed in the USA. 18 of the 77 analyses, to be precise. The booklet lists beer by the district in which they were sold, so I can see incursions of US beer weren’t just limited to border regions: Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec, Ontario and British Colombia. Clearly US beer was a big thing in Canada.

A couple of interesting points. First, there were only two US brewed beers amongst the Ales, both brewed in  Washington State. While there were 7 beers from the UK. All IPAs, which is intriguing. The US Lagers mostly come from the Midwest. Specifically, from St. Louis and Milwaukee. Not so much of a shock that, I suppose. That was where the large Lager breweries evolved. There are also a couple of beers from the Pacific Northwest and two from New York, which remained an important brewing centre, for Lager as well as for Ale.

There’s not a huge amount of variation in these beers. The lowest OG is 1044.6º, the highest 1050.6º. There’s rather more difference in attenuation – 57.4% to 81.33%. Though most are around 70%. That might seem low today, but was pretty typical of Lagers back then.

It’s clear that even by this early date Anheuser Busch was a major player. Especially in the form of Budweiser. It appears more often in the booklet than any other beer, including those brewed in Canada. Though, to be fair, Canadian still seems to have been quite regional at this point.

I’m not going to pester with too many words today. Just leave you with some lovely numbers.

American Lagers in Canada in 1909
Brewer	Town	Beer	Style	Price	size	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation
Anheuser Busch	St. Louis	Budweiser	Pilsner	13.3c	bottle	1048.1	1016.1	4.56	66.53%
Anheuser Busch	St. Louis	Budweiser	Pilsner	16.67c	pint	1048.6	1015.6	4.63	67.90%
Anheuser Busch	St. Louis	Budweiser	Pilsner	25c	quart	1048.8	1015.1	4.71	69.06%
Anheuser Busch	St. Louis	Budweiser	Pilsner	12.5c	pint	1050	1015.5	4.85	69.00%
Anheuser Busch	St. Louis	Budweiser	Pilsner	15c	pint	1050.3	1015.3	4.93	69.58%
Anheuser Busch	St. Louis	Budweiser	Pilsner	25c	quart	1050.6	1015.3	5.00	69.76%
America Brewing Co.	St. Louis	ABC Bohemia	Pilsner	25c	quart	1049	1013	5.08	73.47%
Dorfes Brewery	Washington	Lager Beer	Lager	16.67c	quart	1049.2	1011.8	5.16	76.02%
Ebling Brewing Co.	New York	Sunlight	Lager	10c	bottle	1046.5	1015.8	4.42	66.02%
Everard Brewing Co.	New York	Red Star	Lager	11.67c	pint	1047.1	1016.6	4.34	64.76%
Schlitz	Milwaukee	Lager Beer	Lager	15c	bottle	1045.4	1013.8	4.42	69.60%
Schlitz	Milwaukee	Schlitz	Lager	11.67c	bottle	1045.9	1014	4.49	69.50%
Schlitz	Milwaukee	Lager Beer	Lager	12.5c	pint	1046.4	1011.4	4.93	75.43%
Schlitz	Milwaukee	Lager Beer	Lager	13.3c	bottle	1046.9	1011.3	5.00	75.91%
Schlitz	Milwaukee	Lager Beer	Lager	12.67c	bottle	1046.9	1009.6	5.24	79.53%
Lemps	St. Louis	Lager Beer	Lager	25c	quart	1048.2	1009	5.47	81.33%
Pabst	Milwaukee	Blue Ribbon	Lager	12.5c	pint	1044.6	1019	3.62	57.40%
Seattle Brewing & Malting	Seattle	Lager Beer	Lager	20c	pint	1047.1	1012.5	5.47	73.46%
Average						1047.8	1013.9	4.79	70.79%
Source:
"Ale and lager beer" by McGill, A. (Anthony), 1910, pages 4 - 19.

Let's Brew Wednesday - 1952 Lees Stout

I may as well complete the Lees set with their Stout. In case any of you feels like recreating a 1950’s Manchester pub.

This would have been a purely bottled product. London brewers were still producing draught Stouts, but in most of the country they didn’t make it past WW II. The change in packaging seems to have changed the type of Stouts being brewed. Ones with lower gravities and sometimes, but not always, rather sweet. And it was becoming a pensioners’ drink.

London brewers stuck with relatively complicated Stout grists in the 20th century, going for a combination of pale, brown and black malt, plus sugar. Lees went even further, having five malts, oatmeal and sugar in their Stout. With around 15% roasted malt, this must have been quite a thick and tasty beer, despite the modest gravity.

As usual, the recipe employs some guesswork. There was no FG, which is particularly frustrating in the case of a 1950’s Stout. Because the rates of attenuation were all over the shop, from 45% to 95% with everything inbetween. So when I say the FG is a guess, it’s a big guess.

The hop variety is another guess. All I know for sure is that they were English. As 75% of the hops grown in England at the time were Fuggles, that seems a good enough choice. Plus you wouldn’t waste classy Goldings in a Stout like this. No point with all that roast going on.

On the plus side, the logs do include the mashing heat, not just strike and tap heat. The initial mash temperature was 146º F, raised to 148º F by an underlet.

That’s all I have to say. Time for the recipe.

1952 Lees Stout
pale malt	4.25 lb	54.84%
brown malt	0.25 lb	3.23%
black malt	0.25 lb	3.23%
chocolate malt	0.50 lb	6.45%
crystal malt	0.50 lb	6.45%
oatmeal	0.50 lb	6.45%
No. 3 invert sugar	1.50 lb	19.35%
Fuggles 90 min	1.00 oz
Fuggles 30 min	1.00 oz
OG	1038
FG	1010
ABV	3.70
Apparent attenuation	73.68%
IBU	27
SRM	29
Mash at	148º F
Sparge at	170º F
Boil time	90 minutes
pitching temp	60º F
Yeast	Wyeast 1318 London ale III (Boddingtons)

Boring Drybrough

Not that they’re unique in that. Most Scottish breweries had dull product ranges. Just two recipes, one for Pale Ales and Strong Ale, another for Stout. Drybrough didn’t even brew a Stout.

Back in 1934, they only brewed four beers: three Pale Ales, 54/-, 60/- and 80/-; and Burns Ale, a Strong Ale. Though 85% of what they brewed was 60/-. I don’t think I’ve ever come across a brewery where one beer dominated quite that much.

Though having done a quick newspaper search, I’m wondering whether it was all sold as 60/-. Because I’ve found adverts from the 1950’s for something called Nourishing Stout. But there’s no Stout in the brewing records. So they must have been using some sort of primings to transform one of their Pale Ales into Stout.

Just checked something else. My mega table of beer analyses. And guess what I found? Drybrough Nourishing Stout from the 1930’s. Two examples. One with an OG of 1033, the other 1031. Meaning there’s only one beer they could have been fiddling with: 54/-. All the others had a higher OG.

Their grists are fairly typical of the mid-20th century: pale malt, flaked maize and sugar. With a tiny hint of black malt and enzymic malt. The same recipe for all the Pale Ales, 54/-, 60/- and 80/-. While the sugar is slightly different for Burns. The hops were all English for most beers, though later it was always a mix of Oregon and English.

I wouldn’t like to guess what colour any of these beers were. I know from the monthly ingredients summaries that they used caramel, though it doesn’t appear in any of the logs. Like most Scottish brewers, I suspect they coloured their beers to several different shades.

All the beers listed below were brewed with another Edinburgh brewer, Bernard's, yeast. Using yeast from another brewery was pretty common in Edinburgh. It makes me wonder whether the breweries really had their own proprietary strains, given how often they swapped yeast with each other.

I’m going to leave you with some tables. First, one showing the predominance of 60/-:

Drybrough output January 1934
	OG	bulk barrels	bulk gallons	%
54/-	1029	123.36	4,441	10.93%
60/-	1035	958.56	34,508	84.96%
80/-	1049	25.39	914	2.25%
Burns	1080	4.53	163	0.40%
primings	1140	16.36	589	1.45%
total		1,128.19
Source:
Drybrough brewing record held at the Scottish Brewin Archive, document number D/6/1/1/4

Using that, I was able to calculate the average OG of all they brewed: 1036.4. Which is well below the average for the UK in 1934, which was 1040.99*.

Now the full details of the beers:

Drybrough beers in 1934
Beer	Style	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	lbs hops/ qtr	hops lb/brl	boil time (hours)	Pitch temp	max. fermen-tation temp	length of fermen-tation (days)
54/-	Pale Ale	1029.0	1012.0	2.25	58.62%	4.91	0.58	2	60º	65º	5
60/-	Pale Ale	1035.0	1013.0	2.91	62.86%	5.26	0.75	2	62.5º	67.5º	6
80/-	Pale Ale	1049.0	1015.0	4.50	69.39%	5.26	1.06	2	62.5º	68.5º	7
Burns	Strong Ale	1084.0	1033.0	6.75	60.71%	5.99	2.49	3.5	57.5º	67º	7
Source:
Drybrough brewing record held at the Scottish Brewin Archive, document number D/6/1/1/4

Drybrough grists in 1934
Beer	Style	OG	pale malt	black malt	enzymic malt	flaked maize	Fison	Avona	Invert	Candy sugar	malt extract	hops
54/-	Pale Ale	1029.0	72.02%	0.80%	1.80%	14.40%	2.06%	5.49%	2.74%		0.69%	English
60/-	Pale Ale	1035.0	72.18%	0.39%	1.91%	15.31%	2.19%	4.37%	2.92%		0.73%	English
80/-	Pale Ale	1049.0	72.18%	0.39%	1.91%	15.31%	2.19%	4.37%	2.92%		0.73%	English
Burns	Strong Ale	1084.0	74.55%	1.45%		12.85%		6.86%		3.43%	0.86%	Oregon and English
Source:
Drybrough brewing record held at the Scottish Brewin Archive, document number D/6/1/1/4

* Brewers' Almanack 1955, p. 50.

Mr. Offiler’s special friends

We’re back at Offilers. Looking at F H Offiler's unusual relationship with some of his tenants.

Running Offilers, it seems,  did have some perks:

“I soon realised, by direct observation and received hints and nudges, that the development of the chain of small hotels coincided with F H Offiler's acquisition of lady friends, past and present, who were installed to run them; it occurred to me that it was a neat way of combining business with pleasure. I must say such a situation was not uncommon in the brewery trade, but I had never before found it so extensive and open. It was common knowledge in the trade and was accepted as a means of promotion within the brewery. With some degree of regret, it might be said, we had to bring this novel way of running a brewery estate to a speedy end. On the positive side, the acquisition by H C Ofiller of large houses standing in their own grounds, and their conversion into licensed premises, around the fringes of Derby, was fortuitously good forward planning, as relentless urban expansion made them prosper.”
"The Brewing Industry 1950 - 1990", by Anthony Avis, 1997, page 80.

Who would have thought it? Brewery owners buying hotels for their mistresses. Though it sounds like it worked out well for the brewery as well as Mr. Offiler.

If this sort of thing wasn’t uncommon, it makes me wonder when it died out. Or if it still continues today amongst smaller breweries that retain a tied estate.

I think I’ve found an example of a hotel built for one of Mr. Offiler’s special friends.

“LICENCE TRANSFER GRANTED
New Inn To Be Built at Wirksworth
An application for the removal of the licence of the William IV Inn, The Dale, Wirksworth, to premises to be erected off Derby Road, near the Recreation Ground, was heard by Wirksworth Justices at the Annual Licensing Sessions on Tuesday. The application was made by the licensee, Mrs. Mabel Mary Brewell.

Mr. F. W. Barnett, who appeared for Mrs Brewell and the owners. Messrs Offilers Brewery Co., said that the new premises would be known as King's Field Hotel, and would be erected at the corner of Derby Road and Millers Lane. The house in The Dale was an old-established one, and Mrs. Brewell had been there for twelve years. The local Council intended to use Derby Road as a residential area, and in due course most of The Dale, where there had been serious complaints regarding nuisances from various quarries, would be moved to the Derby Road area. Considerable development had already taken place in the neighbourhood, and around the cricket ground the Town Planning Authority had scheduled a further area for residential purposes to accommodate up to 300 houses in the next ten years.

William John Farmer, architect, gave details of the plans, and stated that specially built large picture windows were incorporated in the public rooms to allow customers to see the very pleasant views. The nearest licensed premises were the Wheatsheaf Hotel, which was over 800 yards away, and there were 630 houses within half-a-mile radius.

In reply to the Chairman (Mr. K D. Wheatcroft), Mr. Farmer said that if the plans went through automatically, the building would be completed within twelve months. Mr. Walter Haynes opposed the application on behalf of the Wirksworth and District Free Church Federal Council. He handed in a signed statement from the Council to the effect that the Free Churches wished to register a vigorous protest against the proposed transfer of the licence of a redundant public house to a site adjoining the new housing estate. There were nine public houses — apart from the William IV — within 200 or 300 yards of the Town Hall, and the Wheatsheaf Inn was within several hundred yards of the new housing site, so that there were ample facilities to meet all requirements. Such a transfer would tend to impair rather than enhance the dignity of the Derby Road housing estate.

There was no other opposition, and the Bench granted the transfer, the Chairman intimating that they hoped the new house would be built as quickly as possible.”
Belper News - Friday 11 February 1955, page 16.

Trading in an existing licence was often the only way a brewery could get a new licence. Sometimes they had to surrender more than one. It made sense for a brewery, especially if they had a large concentration of small pubs in one location. This case  was slightly different. They were moving the licence from another part of the same town. Presumably because there were a lot of pubs nearby and the population was about to be moved.

Typical that some religious nutters objected. They’re always at the front of the queue when it comes to stopping people having fun.

I’ll leave you with some of Offilers’ beers:

Offilers beers 1950 - 1961
Year	Beer	Style	Price	size	package	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	colour
1950	Mild Ale	Mild	1/1d	pint	draught	1031.2	1004.7	3.45	84.94%	40 + 8
1953	Nourishing Stout	Stout	1/3d	half	bottled	1037.7	1017.3	2.63	54.11%	1 + 14
1955	Nut Brown	Brown Ale	9.5d	half	bottled	1034.6	1010.1	3.17	70.81%	75
1959	Nourishing Stout	Stout	14d	half	bottled	1035.9	1015	2.69	58.22%	275
1961	Derby Strong	Strong Ale	17d	half	bottled	1045.4	1013.6	3.98	70.04%	75
Source:
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/002.

Random Dutch (beers part twenty-six)

The weekend is going well. Got loads of writing done yesterday and a had a nice long kip.

Back with more Dutch beer sketches. We've been running a bit short of dosh before I get paid next week. Good news for Dolores, as I've been working my way through the beer pile behind me. Which is where I found Honey Blonde.

Two Sisters really is run by two sisters. Fairly young ones, if the photos on their website are to be believed. The beer is brewed at De Fontein in Stein.

The Sisters Honey Blonde 7.9% ABV
Another pale golden job. Smells a bit perfumy. Does actually taste of hyoney, which is dead unusual in a honey beer. I'm not really getting the star anise. A slightly discordant buitterness at the end, like an unexpected car horn when you're halfway across a zebra crossing. It's another drinker.

I'm getting much more dilligent with label collection. No piles of bottles awaiting label removal on the floor. It's turning into a show home here. I keep telling Dolores that, but she just makes a funny snorting noise.

Now another spring seasonal, from one of the largest new Dutch breweries, Jopen.

Jopen Lentebier 7% ABV (€1.60 for 30 cl.)
A cloiudy yellow color. The aroma reminds me of elderflowers for some reason. There some malt sweetness way in the background, but this is mostly about hops. Quite bitter ones. Which makes it very different from the other spring beers, which were far sweeter. It says US hops, but I don'r get any of the usual citrus shit.

Just been thinking. I'm a lucky git. I got:

school milk
nit nurse
grammar school
free University
decent dole
cheap housing in London (squat)
retraining course
a job with a fully-licensed bar
meeting Dolores
moving to the US
freedom of movement in the EU
affordable Amsterdam house prices
decent dole
living close to Ton Overmars
decent dole
not dying . . . yet

Feeling a bit sorry for the kids. None of those apply for them*. On the upside, things were great for me.

They need to harden up. I endured the horrors of just two monochrome TV channels, regular power cuts, potato shortages, inflation, the threat of nuclear apocalypse and Anne Diamond. What's the worst in their lives?






* Except for living close to Ton Overmars.



The Sisters Brewery
Stationsweg 57
3621LK Breukelen
Tel: +31 (6) 81234221
http://thesistersbrewery.com

Historic Williamsburg day two

I meet Paul and Jamie at eight for breakfast. Martyn Cornell joins us.

Yesterday my breakfast arrived pretty sharpish. But it’s more crowded today. We have a bit of a wait. Other than Martyn, who’s just having  muffin. While I insist on a full set of fried stuff when on holiday. We’re not finished until after the first presentation has started. Which isn’t great.

It was a shame we miss the start of Travis Rupp’s presentation about brewing in ancient Greece. But at least our bellies are filled with grease. It’s a topic I know bugger all about. I knew they had a word for beer, but I’d always thought of the ancient Greeks as wine drinkers. I mean, Homer doesn’t go on about the ale-dark sea, does he?

Stan Hieronymus is up next. With look at indigenous beer and whether there is such a thing in the US. I think you can argue both ways. On the one hand, American styles are clearly derived from a couple of European brewing traditions. On the other, there are beers unlike anything brewed anywhere else. Things like Swankey and Steam Beer.

After a quick coffee, Karen Fortmann of White Labs analyses the family tree of yeast. It’s at times like these when I realise how narrow my beer knowledge is. That’s what it is, beer knowledge. I know bugger all about hops, yeast or even malting. And, being realistic, I’m never going to be an expert in those subjects.

We break for lunch at noon and a bunch of us head over to DoG Street Pub again. But it’s already crowded with conference guests. So we try next door at Trellis instead. We’re quite a large group, but just about manage to squeeze in.

It’s not a beer specialist place by any means. But they still have 7 decent draught beers, including the Vienna Lager from Devil’s Backbone, which is a cracking beer. Though I go for something IPA-ey instead. And a sarnie.

We continues after lunch with a talk from Fredrik Ruis from The Netherlands about the history of brewing with hops. He has some fascinating maps showing where evidence of  hops was found in archaeological sites. It’s a surprise to me that a lot of the early finds were along the Baltic and North Sea coasts.

He has an interesting new theory about the nature of gruit. That it wasn’t just a blend of herbs but also contained some sort of concentrated wort syrup. I’m not totally convinced, but it isn’t something I’ve investigated at any depth.

Next I’m up. Doing my narrating bit for Andrea Stanley of Valley Malt and John Mallett of Bells. Frank Clark, the conference organiser, gives me a funny look as I edge my way towards the podium. I guess they haven’t told him I’m taking part as well.

The talk, called Maltster-piece Theatre, is really a play. Andrea and John, both in costume, play two female brewers and maltsters, one from England and one from the American colonies. A very clever piece, it uses quotes from original sources and mixes historical fact with humour. It’s a big hit.

Frank tells me later that he thought I’d gone crazy and had forgotten that my talk is tomorrow.

The day ends with former Guinness man Ed Bourke talking about the history of brewing in Ireland. Obviously, with a fair emphasis on Guinness. He makes some interesting points about the colour of Guinness in the late 18th century. They must have been getting some colour from something other than malt. He speculates that it could have been from charred barrels.

Looking at the grist, he has a point. A Stout grist for 1796 is 30% brown malt, 70% pale. That’s not going to yield a very dark wort. Where were they getting colour from? I can’t see how charred barrels will do the job. The beer wouldn’t be long enough in trade casks to pick up much colour. And for long storage Porter was in huge vats, where little beer was in contact with wood.

My bet would be either some sort of burnt sugar, liquorice, or a combination of the two. Ed did remark that Dublin brewers used ingredients which weren’t allowed. It would be interesting to see how long they boiled, too. They could have been darkening the wort through a long boil.

There’s a beer and food pairing thing back in my hotel. With just enough food for me not to bother with dinner. Then there’s one of the most exciting part of the weekend:  the old beer tasting.

It came about like this. Chris Bowen, Martyn Cornell and I reminisced in the weeks before the conference about the Arctic Ale tasting at Martyn’s a couple of years ago. Someone suggested we bring along old beers to the conference for a tasting. And so we did. Others. Too.

We all tipped down to Paul and Jamie’s room, bringing along our precious old booze. I brought 20-year-old Liefman’s Goudenband and Cantillon Rosé de Gamrinus and Hertog Jan Grande Prestige of a similar vintage. And a 1930’s Truman No. 1 Barley Wine. Chris had some John Smiths nips from the 1950’s, including the Coronation Ale I’ve written about. Martyn had Whitbread Celebration Ale and other goodies.

It’s amazing how many people you can cram into a hotel room when there’s special beer on offer. About half the conference attendees were there. What a fun time.

A quick Michters Rye closes the day. It’s a big one tomorrow. Day, I mean. When I do my talking thing. Can’t wait.








DoG Street Pub
401 W Duke of Gloucester St,
Williamsburg, VA 23185.
http://www.dogstreetpub.com/


The Trellis Bar and Grill  
403 W Duke of Gloucester St,
Williamsburg, VA 23185.
Tel: +1 757-229-8610
http://www.thetrellis.com/

Random Dutch (beers part twenty-five)

Blame the Dutch brewing industry for being too dynamic. If there weren't so many new beers I wouldn't have anything to review sketch.

It's been another productive Saturday. I finished the first draught of an article. Just a bit of polishing left. Andrew has put together a customer database for me. I've harvested some analyses of North American Lagers. And it isn't even one o' clock.

I deserve a beer. Time to try the new ones from supermarket Deen. Three beers under the Veluwse Schavuyt brand, brewed at De Vlijt in Apeldoorn.

Veluwse Schavuyt Amber 6.5% ABV
It's a lovely colour. A deep reddish copper. It smells like beer. Pretty useless description, eh? Bacon, I can definitely pick that up. Though it's probably from the bacon Dolores is frying in the kitchen. Tastes like a boiled sweet that's had most of the flavour sucked out of it. But not quite all. It's OK, I suppose. I prefer a little more something.

What does Dolores think? "Mmm. Very buttery. Nice."

Thumbs up from Dolores then.

Veluwse Schavuyt IPA 6.5% ABV
Paler and not crystal clear. Restrained grapefruit and mango aroma. Not so much fruit salad in the mouth, just a tongue-clinging bitterness.  It literally leaves a bitter taste in the mouth. Dolores is going to love this one.

"Do you want to try another one from them?"

Dolores takes a big mouthful.

"It's OK. I prefer the other one."

"It's an IPA. I thought you'd hate it."

"It has that horrible grapefruit taste, but it's OK."

I've just remembered. I need to finish off next Wednesday's recipe.

Veluwse Schavuyt Tripel 7.5% ABV
I was going to say it looks exactly the same colour as the IPA. But their website is another with reasonable details. And it lists identical colours for the two. Spicy. Quite dry. ANd spicy again. Bum. Not coming up with much.

"Dolores"

"Mm. That's quite nice as well. I like the first and the third best."

Everyone and his budgie is making an IPA here now. Leading to some odd-looking product ranges. De Vlijt is a good example:

De Vlijt Beers 2016
Beer	Style	OG Plato	ABV	Bitterness EBU	Fermentation	Colour EBC
Veluwse Schavuyt Amber	Amber	14.7º	6.50%	17	top	24
Veluwse Schavuyt Witbier	Witbier	11.9º	5%	18	top	7
Veluwse Schavuyt Blond	Blond	13.3º	5.60%	17	top	13
Veluwse Schavuyt IPA	IPA	13.9º	6.50%	40	top	17
Veluwse Schavuyt Tripel	Tripel	16.8º	7.50%	39	top	17
Veluwse Schavuyt Herfstbock	Bok	14.7º	6.50%	30	top	52
Source:
De Vlijt website http://www.veluwseschavuyt.nl

A mix of Belgain and Dutch styles with an IPA thrown in for fun.

A woman asked in Ton Overmars today "Do you have any of the blue St. Bernardus?"

I'd just stripped every bottle off the shelf. Luckily they had another crate out the back.




Got the recipe done. It's meant to be in one of my book projects. One so far from done. Barely started.




De Vlijt
Vlijtseweg 114/130,
Apeldoorn.
Tel: 06-144 39 518
http://www.veluwseschavuyt.nl

Historic Williamsburg day one

I’ve arranged to meet Paul and Jamie after breakfast in my hotel.

I scour the lobby, but can’t spot them. Then I hear a female voice say: “Ron!”. It’s Andrea Stanley, my favourite maltster, and her family. The full set this time, not just her and husband Christian. It’s good to see them again. Especially I’m supposed to be participating in Andrea’s talk.

Paul and Jamie appear with Brian Hunt, brewer at Moonlight, who they’d bumped into at their hotel over a particularly disgusting breakfast. They hadn’t met before but seem to be getting along fine. I get a feeling the day is going to continue in this vein.

There are a few things on today’s schedule. Like registering for the conference. And a technical rehearsal in the auditorium. I’m no too concerned, having spoken there before.

I pick up the bumph at registration and bump into Craig, another one of the crew from Washington. It’s getting close to lunchtime, so we wander over to DoG Street Pub with a few others. Though we’ve managed to lose Paul and Jamie. I’m sure they’ll feed themselves somewhere.

The name DoG Street Pub has nothing to do with our canine friends. It comes from the name of the street it’s on: Duke of Gloucester. We can’t get a table, so we sit at the bar. Which is a good place to admire all the taps. I’m soon wrapping my chops around something IPA-ey. Just what I needed. It’s the first beer of the day.

It bills itself as an unpretentious gastropub. Which I guess isn’t far from the mark. It’s light and airy inside, with high ceilings and a long bar running almost the length of the building. I’ve been here before. I had a couple of resolve-strengthening whiskies here before the last time I spoke.

I troll back to the auditorium for my technical rehearsal. It doesn’t take long. It’s basically just a question of copying my powerpoint and making sure it works. I slip back to DoG Street for a couple more beers. There’s almost an hour before the first event of the weekend, a beer tasting at Chownings Tavern Garden.

DoG Street Pub just outside Colonial Williamsburg proper, in a commercial area on its western edge. While Chownings is a part of Colonial Williamsburg, being a reconstruction of a 1760’s tavern. A pretty suitable place to try some recreations of 18th-century beers.

As you know, historical recreations are my thing. I stand eagerly at the bar waiting to be served. But I must have accidentally put on my invisibility cloak. The barman serves customers to my right and left while looking through me. Those serves he wanders off to do something else behind the bar. It takes a frustratingly long time to get a Stitch (a type of strong Brown Ale) in my hand.

Everyone and his dog is at the tasting. It’s hard to know who to talk to. Not leaving me much time for any actual beer tasting.

Once the tasting is over, we hurry back to the auditorium for Randy Mosher’s keynote address. He’s a confident and fluent presenter, but has a few timing issues. Not so much of a problem today as he’s the only speaker.

The reception that follows gives me a chance to catch up with Stan Hieronymus, Martyn Cornell, Chris Bowen and Mitch Steele. It’s not often you’ll see those three in one room. I’m certainly not going to pass on the opportunity.

I’ve one more appointment. In the hotel bar, with Andrea and John Mallett, her presenting partner. We’re running through their talk, which is in the form of a play. I’m the narrator. It goes pretty well. Especially after Andrea fetches some whiskies. Everything goes better with whisky

I don’t stay up late. Tomorrow is another busy day.





DoG Street Pub
401 W Duke of Gloucester St,
Williamsburg, VA 23185.
http://www.dogstreetpub.com/



Josiah Chowning's Tavern
109 E Duke of Gloucester St,
Williamsburg, VA 23185.
Tel: +1 757-229-2141