Scottish draught Pale Ale on the eve of WW II

Between the wars little other than Pale Ale was brewed in Scotland. Most breweries produced three at different strengths. In most cases, these were parti-gyled together in various combinations. Though William Younger mostly brewed single-gyle.

The names used could be very confusing, especially when it came to bottled beer. 60/- usually indicated a beer between 1037º and 1041º. But 90/-, which you would expect to be stronger, was actually much weaker, generally just over 1030º. Were Scottish drinkers baffled by this? I would have been.

To complicate things even more, some of the post-WW II names were already in use, such as Heavy and Export. They referred to the same classes as post-war, but had considerably higher gravities.

Drybrough brewed a fairly typical range of Pale Ales, ranging in gravity from 1032º to 1049º. Though the vast majority of what they brewed – around 85% - was 60/-. Having so much output in the form of a single beer was pretty much unknown in England.

Drybrough Pale Ales in 1938
Beer	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	lbs hops/ qtr	hops lb/brl
P 54/-	1032	1012	2.65	62.50%	4.86	0.64
P 60/-	1038	1012	3.44	68.42%	4.93	0.78
P 80/-	1049	1012	4.89	75.51%	4.93	1.01
Source:
Drybrough brewing record held at the Scottish Brewing Archive, document number D/6/1/1/4.

The level of hopping is very light, considerably less than London X Ale, which usually contained 7-8 lbs per quarter, or around 50% more than Drybrough’s Pale Ales.

Maclay of Alloa brewed a very similar range of Pale Ales:

Maclay Pale Ales in 1938
Beer	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	lbs hops/ qtr	hops lb/brl
IPA 5d	1032	1014	2.38	56.25%	5.00	0.70
IPA 6d	1038	1016	2.91	57.89%	5.00	0.83
IPA 7d	1045	1017	3.70	62.22%	5.00	0.98
Source:
Maclay brewing record held at the Scottish Brewing Archive, document number M/6/1/1/3.

In this case, rather than Shilling designations the names are the retail price per pint. In contrast to in London, where Pale Ales where were usually in the 7d and 8d classes, most Scottish brewers stuck to the 5d, 6d and 7d classes. The hopping rate at Maclay was very similar to at Drybrough.

Scottish draught Pale Ale 1936 - 1938
Year	Brewer	Beer	Price per pint (d)	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation
1936	McEwan	90/- Ale	6	1034.2	1009	3.27	73.68%
1938	Aitken	Pale Ale		1039.8	1006.8	4.30	83.02%
1938	Aitken	Heavy Ale	7	1045	1007	4.95	84.44%
1938	Usher	Amber Ale		1044.5	1009	4.62	79.78%
Sources:
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/001.
Thomas Usher Gravity Book held at the Scottish Brewing Archive document TU/6/11,