1894 Thomas Usher XX 60/-

Here’s a type of beer that was already becoming a rarity in the 1890’s – a genuine Scottish Mild Ale.

I should probably be more specific. It was draught Scottish Mild that was a rarity. There were still plenty of Shilling Ales, the bottled form of Mild that was specific to Scotland. Though the popularity of these beers was on the wane, as increasing amounts of Pale Ale were brewed. The situation south of the border was very different. Mild was the favourite style and becoming ever more popular, mostly at the expense of Porter.

Like most Scottish beers of this period, it had a very simple grist, just pale malt and sugar. It’s not clear exactly what sort of sugar it was. I’ve guessed at No. 1 invert.

To put this beer into its historical context, I’ve put it in a table together with the X Ale from three London breweries:

Mild Ales of the 1890's
Date	Year	Brewer	Beer	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	lbs hops/ qtr	hops lb/brl
6th Aug	1891	Barclay Perkins	X	1058.0	1015.0	5.69	74.21%	8.32	2.07
13th Jul	1894	Whitbread	X	1058.4	1016.0	5.62	72.62%	8.23	2.09
7th Jul	1894	Truman	X Ale	1056.5				9.0	2.19
28th Jul	1897	Fuller	X	1049.6	1012.2	4.95	75.42%	6.58	1.44
13th Apr	1894	Thomas Usher	XX 60/-	1055	1015	5.29	72.73%	10.00	2.77
Sources:
Barclay Perkins brewing record held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number ACC/2305/1/587
Whitbread brewing record held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/01/060
Truman  brewing record held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number B/THB/C/175
Thomas Usher brewing record held at the Scottish Brewing Archive, document number TU/6/1/2
Fullers brewing record held at the brewery.

Usher’s beer is surprisingly similar to the London ones, though a little more heavily hopped. Isn’t that a shock? Didn’t the Scots use almost no hops? Oh, I remember. That story is total bollocks. The hops themselves are just listed as Kent and Columbia in the brewing record. Cluster and Fuggles seem fair enough guesses for the varieties.

1894 Thomas Usher XX 60/-
pale malt	11.50 lb	93.88%
No. 2 invert sugar	0.75 lb	6.12%
Cluster 105 min	1.25 oz
Fuggles 90 min	1.50 oz
Fuggles 60 min	1.50 oz
Fuggles 30 min	1.50 oz
OG	1055
FG	1015
ABV	5.29
Apparent attenuation	72.73%
IBU	78
SRM	7
Mash at	150º F
Sparge at	170º F
Boil time	105 minutes
pitching temp	58º F
Yeast	WLP028 Edinburgh Ale