Let's Brew - 1879 Adnams Tally Ho

I like it when I have a good long run of brewing records from a brewery. Because then you can see how a beer developed over time. Like Tally Ho.

Tally Ho is unusual in being a very early named beer. Very few beers were called anything other than [brewery name] [style of beer]. For example, Bass Pale Ale or Guinness Extra Stout. I’m trying to think of other examples of named beers. Things like Old Tom, I suppose. I think there might have been a few with names like that before 1900.

The first version of Tally Ho I found in Adnams records is a very simple beer. But the brewing record is also a bit light on detail. There’s nothing about boiling or mashing, so that’s just a guess based on later versions. I could be way off. Oh, and there’s no FG, either.

The ingredients aren’t explained in much more detail than the process. Malt, saccharine and hops is as far as the description goes. All in all, there’s a whole lot of guesswork going on. Pale malt is obvious enough for the malt, but what about the sugar? I doubt if it was pure sucrose, though it could have been. In the end I plumped for No. 2 invert.

As for hops, Goldings are a safe bet. It’s on the early side for Fuggles, but they’re also a possibility. They were being grown commercially in the 1870’s.

One thing there is no argument about: the very high percentage of sugar in the grist. A third is about as high as it gets.

Apologies for the vagueness of it all. It will improve as we progress through the years.

1879 Adnams Tally Ho
pale malt	11.00 lb	67.69%
No. 2 invert sugar	5.25 lb	32.31%
Goldings 120 mins	4.00 oz
Goldings 60 mins	4.00 oz
Goldings 30 mins	4.00 oz
OG	1089
FG	1027
ABV	8.20
Apparent attenuation	69.66%
IBU	123
SRM	16
Mash at	150º F
Sparge at	175º F
Boil time	120 minutes
pitching temp	63º F
Yeast	WLP025 Southwold