Pale Ale Before WW I

Before 1850, Pale Ale was mostly brewed by specialist brewers, either in Burton or in Scotland. After the middle of the century, the style went mainstream.

The biggest boost to the style was given by the introduction of Light Pale Ales around 1850. The original Pale Ales were all brewed as Stock Ales, being aged for 6 to 12 months before sale, always in trade casks rather than vats. The new running versions were aged for no more than a few weeks and were much lower in gravity. While a typical Stock Pale Ale had an OG around 1060-1065º, AK, a common name for a Light Pale Ale, was in the range 1045º-1050º.

Provincial Pale Ales follow a similar pattern to those from London: a weaker one at about 1045º and a stronger one around 1060º. The exceptions being the two Manchester breweries, Boddington and Lees, whose strongest version was only around 1055º. Truman, unsurprisingly, as they were in Burton, had the strongest Pale Ale.

There a big variation in the hopping rates between different breweries: only around 3 lbs per quarter at Boddington to over 12 lbs at Tetley. Though generally the hopping rates are a little lower than in London.

Scottish hopping rates, at 4.5 lbs to 7.5 lbs per quarter, aren’t very different from provincial English breweries, but are lower than in London. What does stand out is how weak some versions were. One is even below 1030º, a gravity unknown in England. Even the strongest only has a gravity of 1056º. Odd, given that Scotland was once famous for brewing very strong beer.

The lower gravities were general.

London Pale Ale before WW I
Year	Brewer	Beer	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	lbs hops/ qtr	hops lb/brl
1911	Barclay Perkins	PA	1060.0	1014.5	6.02	75.83%	6.00	2.97
1914	Barclay Perkins	XLK (trade)	1049.9	1012.2	4.99	75.58%	7.51	1.52
1914	Barclay Perkins	XLK (bottling)	1045.0	1009.4	4.71	79.07%	7.51	1.35
1914	Whitbread	FA	1047.1	1013.0	4.51	72.39%	10.97	2.22
1914	Whitbread	IPA	1049.3	1013.0	4.80	73.63%	11.96	2.53
1914	Whitbread	2PA	1053.0	1016.0	4.89	69.81%	8.94	2.05
1914	Whitbread	PA	1060.2	1021.0	5.18	65.11%	8.94	2.33
1914	Fuller	AK	1044.3	1009.1	4.65	79.38%	7.33	1.34
1914	Fuller	PA	1054.2	1012.2	5.56	77.52%	8.1374	1.98
Sources:
Whitbread brewing record held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/01/079.
Barclay Perkins brewing record held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number ACC/2305/1/602 and ACC/2305/1/603.
Fullers brewing record held at the brewery.

Provincial Pale Ale before WW I
Year	Brewer	Beer	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	lbs hops/ qtr	hops lb/brl
1914	Adnams	BLB	1044.0	1007.0	4.89	84.09%	7.00	1.34
1904	Tetley	PA	1059.3	1007.8	6.82	86.92%	12.55	2.94
1914	Boddington	AK	1044.0	1013.0	4.10	70.45%	2.92	0.57
1914	Boddington	PA	1046.0	1014.0	4.23	69.57%	3.33	0.97
1914	Boddington	IP	1053.0	1016.0	4.89	69.81%	4.00	1.35
1911	Lees	B	1054.0	1015.0	5.16	72.22%	7.30	1.61
1915	Truman (Burton)	P1	1063.7	1020.5	5.72	67.83%	9.71	2.48
1914	Truman (Burton)	P2	1056.8	1009.4	6.27	83.41%	8.79	2.01
1914	Truman (Burton)	P3	1049.9	1008.3	5.50	83.33%	8.79	1.77
1910	Warwicks	LBB	1042.7	1012.5	3.99	70.78%	3.68	0.62
1910	Warwicks	XXX B	1049.9	1015.5	4.54	68.89%	6.58	1.31
1910	Warwicks	BB	1052.6	1015.8	4.87	70.00%	6.58	1.38
1910	Warwicks	IPA	1058.4	1018.3	5.31	68.72%	7.40	1.76
Sources:
Adnams brewing record Book 2 held at the brewery.
Boddington brewing record held at Manchester Central Library, document number M693/405/126.
Lees brewing record held at the brewery.
Tetley's brewing record held at the West Yorkshire Archives, document number WYL756/51/ACC1903.
Truman's brewing record held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number B/THB/C/329.
Warwicks & Richardsons brewing record held at the Nottinghamshire Archives, document number DD/NM/8/4/1.

The above is an excerpt from my book on brewing in WW I.  Buy this wonderful book.