Tuesday 26 July 2016

Small London brewery Ordinary Mild Ale 1950 – 1953

Numbers. I look on them as friends. Much more reliable friends that people. You know where you are with numbers. A five doesn’t turn into a four behind your back. Though a six may turn out to be nine.

That’s my excuse for bothering you with a load more numbers. Not quite as many as in the last of this series. But enough to tide you through a sunny Tuesday morning. Unfortunately there are quite a few holes in the table. Because many come from the Truman rather than the Whitbread Gravity Book.

To be honest, there’s not much difference with the large brewery Milds. An average OG just over 1030º, about 3% ABV, around 75% attenuation. The only significant difference is the colour, which is a full 20 points lower. Oh, the price. That’s lower, too. About 0.75d.

On a personal not, I drank one of this set: Fuller’s Hock. I believe they still occasionally brew it. A shame it isn’t regularly available as it’s a very pleasant beer, when in good nick.

Wenlock Amber Ale is a bit odd. It’s one of the darkest beers in this set. How can that be amber by anyone’s reckoning?

Small London brewery Ordinary Mild Ale 1950 - 1953
Year Brewer Beer Price per pint d Acidity OG FG ABV App. Atten-uation colour
1950 Wenlock Ale 12 0.05 1030.6 1008.4 2.88 72.55% 100
1951 Wenlock X 12 1032.83 88
1953 Wenlock Amber Ale 14 0.05 1031.6 1006.5 3.26 79.43% 100
1950 Beasley Ale 12 1031.43 56
1953 Beasley X 13 1031.47 116
1953 Cannon X 13 1031.84 96
1951 Friary Mild Ale 14 0.06 1029.9 1004.5 3.30 84.95% 85
1950 Friary Holroyd X 12 1033.47 82
1951 Fullers Mild Ale 14 0.04 1031.2 1008.9 2.89 71.47% 90
1950 Hammerton Ale 12 1030.41 94
1950 Harman's X 12 1032.07 84
1950 Young & Co X 12 1033.07 68
1953 Young & Co X 13 1030.73 60
Average 12.7 0.05 1031.6 1007.1 3.08 77.10% 86.1
Sources:
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/002.
Truman Gravity Book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number B/THB/C/252


Either provincial Milds or London Best Mild next.

2 comments:

J. Karanka said...

Hey Ron!

The attenuations are quite high but a lot of people I've met comment on those older milds being sweet. Would the sweetness come from a primer? Or would it just be an impression of sweetness from the sugars / caramel used in brewing? Or maybe they weren't sweetish?

Ron Pattinson said...

J. Karanka,

probably from both. And I think some really were quite sweet.