Fullers beers in 1939

When war broke out, Fullers had a decent-sized range of beers. Though it was a slightly unusual one for a London brewer. The oddest feature being the lack of a draught Stout, which was pretty bog standard in the capital.

At the core of the range were three Pale Ale, two Milds and two Strong Ales. Then there was P. That obviously stood for Porter, at least originally. But by the late 1930s it was no longer sold as that. Fullers had discontinued draught Porter, but P lived on, marketed as a bottled beer called Nourishing Stout.

A couple of the beers were very marginal, being brewed in tiny batches. AK and OBE were usually brewed no more than 10 barrels at a time. Minute quantities when you consider Fullers brew length was 400-500 barrels. Such small batches were only practical because Fullers parti-gyled.

PA and AK were both well-established products dating back to at least the 1880s. XK had also been around in the late 1880s but was dropped around 1900. It reappeared again just after the end of WW I, in 1919. PA had come through WW I pretty well intact, and between the wars was only 3º weaker than it had been in 1914. The next was wouldn’t be so kind to it.

XK and PA filled the Ordinary and Best Bitter slots, and retailed at 6d and 8d per pint, respectively. Many London brewers had similar beers. For example, Barclay Perkins with their XLK and PA.

Before WW I, Fullers brewed a single Mild, X Ale, at around 1050º. The war left X Ale’s gravity greatly reduced, at a little over 1030º. In the summer of 1919 they introduced a new, stronger Mild called XX. While not as much as X Ale, XX was brewed in quite large quantities.

Fullers two Burton Ales, BO (Burton Old) and OBE (Old Burton Extra) were both parti-gyled with the Milds. BO was a pretty typical draught Burton Ale, with an OG in the mid-1050ºs. OBE was more unusual. Also a draught beer, it had an exceptionally high gravity. The only similar beer I’ve come across is Barclay Perkins KKKK, which was a winter special.

The war years would see a massive reshaping of Fuller’s range.

 

Fullers beers in 1939
Date	Beer	Style	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	lbs hops/ qtr	hops lb/brl
30th Oct	X	Mild	1032.7	1007.5	3.33	77.12%	6.96011	0.95
6th Nov	XX	Mild	1042.7	1010.5	4.25	75.32%	6.9326	1.22
24th Oct	AK	Pale Ale	1033.4	1006.6	3.53	80.07%	9.19208	1.25
17th Oct	XK	Pale Ale	1039.4	1010.0	3.89	74.67%	9.20783	1.45
24th Oct	PA	Pale Ale	1051.1	1013.0	5.04	74.53%	9.19208	1.91
9th Nov	P	Porter	1038.5	1013.0	3.37	66.19%	7.62353	1.35
18th Oct	BO	Strong Ale	1055.5	1015.2	5.32	72.54%	7.0126	1.63
8th Nov	OBE	Strong Ale	1069.6	1013.3	7.45	80.90%	7.28653	2.00
Source:
Fullers brewing records held at the brewery