As with 60/- and 70/-, the gravity range is quite narrow, a degree or two either side of 1044ยบ. It's very convenient if, like me, you trying to categorise beers. English beers are all over the place and I have to resort to artificial categorisations.
I'm pleased to see one example that has clearly been coloured darker: the Younger's keg Bitter. That was probably only 25, as brewed. To give you an idea of how dark 55 is, Bitter was 20-25, Dark Mild around 80, on that scale.
The Younger's beer came under different names. In Scotland, it was 80/- or Export, in England it was usually sold as IPA. Which is a bit odd as the IPA they brewed in the 19th century was called XXP, which by 1945 was the name of their 60/-, at least in the brewery.
Does anyone still brew a classic 80/-? I guess Belhaven must. And Caledonian.
| Draught Scottish 80/- Pale Ale 1947 - 1960 | ||||||||
| Year | Brewer | Beer | Price per pint (d) | OG | FG | ABV | App. Atten-uation | colour |
| 1951 | Maclay | Exp | 1043 | 1014 | 3.84 | 67.44% | ||
| 1964 | McEwans | Special | 20 | 1043.6 | 1007.6 | 4.50 | 82.57% | 20 |
| 1959 | Wm. Younger | Keg Bitter | 19 | 1043.7 | 1007.8 | 4.68 | 82.15% | 55 |
| 1960 | Wm. Younger | Younger's Bitter | 18 | 1043.9 | 1010.8 | 4.30 | 75.40% | |
| 1947 | Gordon & Blair | Pale Ale | 20 | 1045.5 | 1004.5 | 5.36 | 90.11% | |
| 1958 | Bernard | Special No. 1 | 1046 | 1013 | 4.28 | 71.74% | ||
| Average | 19.3 | 1044.3 | 1009.6 | 4.49 | 78.23% | |||
| Sources: | ||||||||
| Thomas Usher Gravity Book held at the Scottish Brewing Archive, document number TU/6/11. | ||||||||
| Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/002. | ||||||||
| T & J Bernard's brewing records held at the Scottish Brewing Archive. | ||||||||
| Maclay brewing record held at the Scottish Brewing Archive, document number M/6/1/1/28 | ||||||||
| Which Beer Report, 1960, pages 171 - 173. | ||||||||
https://www.ratebeer.com/beer/stewart-80/72638/
ReplyDeleteThe Gordon & Blair beer seems quite strong for something dating from 1947.
ReplyDeleteIt does. That final gravity is very low, i wonder what yeast they used
DeleteJames is spot on. The Stewart's 80/' is a delightful pint.
ReplyDeleteI'm wondering if you are lacking in brewer's caramel to color the beer, if you can juts boil down the first runnings instead?
ReplyDeleteAgree. We had Stewart 80/' at our Beer Festival in Ilkley mainly because our beer selector was called Stewart. It was a lovely pint.
ReplyDeleteA Brew Rat,
ReplyDeletepretty sure no-one in Scotland ever did that. If you don't have caramel, just don't do anything.
There are quite a few 80/– beers still about, at least in comparison to 70/- and 60/– which are moribund if not extinct. Stewarts as mentioned is a substitute for McEwan’s 80/– (if that's not damning it with faint praise) good enough to have replaced the former at the lagendary Diggers pub in Edinburgh. Caledonian have recently added more hops to theirs!
ReplyDeleteA Brew Rat, if you are doing a home brew version, fairly pure caramel is available in supermarkets in small bottles (as a gravy browning). Here in Australia we have stuff called Parisian Essence and on an Aussie Brewing Forum a UK member confirmed that his Morrison's sourced product was basically the same formulation. Couple of tsp in a 23L brew will darken nicely for milds etc - I always use it in Ron's recipes.
ReplyDelete