Whitbread Double Brown 1939 - 1945

Back to Whitbread Double Brown during the war year. This time looking at alll the fun ingredients: adjuncts, sugar and hops.

There wasn’t quite so much variation in the adjuncts and sugars employed by Whitbread. Pre-war, all of their beers had been brewed from malt and sugar only. Making them one of the small number of UK brewers who totally eschewed unmalted grains. This changed a couple of years into the war when, like everyone else, Whitbread was compelled to first oats and later flaked barley.

The proportion of sugar in the Double Brown Varied considerably. Presumably dictated by it availability, rather than out of choice. I suspect that what is listed as “Albion” in the early war years was really No. 3 invert. Though I can’t be sure of that. It’s with this that most of the variation in the percentage used occurred. Sometimes it was around 5%, others 20%.

What’s listed in the brewing record as “Hay” was a type of caramel. Probably a specific proprietary brand called Hay’s M, which was a favourite of Whitbread’s and which they were still using in the 1960s.

Located nearby in London, Whitbread had always used large quantities of Kent hops. Though they did also employ hops from other English regions and abroad.

In 1940 and 1941, some New Zealand hops found their way into Whitbread’s beers. Given their age, it’s safe to assume that these were old stock that they had lying around and which were used in times of shortage.

By the end of the war, the hops were 100% English. No real surprise, as hop imports had almost ground to a complete halt. Between 1940 and 1945, just 16,668 cwt were imported, compared to 44,056 cwt in the single year of 1939.

Whitbread Double Brown adjuncts and sugar 1939 - 1945
Date	Year	OG	flaked barley	no. 3 sugar	Albion	Hay	total sugar
21st Sep	1939	1054.5			19.57%	0.54%	20.11%
11th Apr	1940	1054.1			4.23%	0.53%	4.76%
14th Aug	1940	1049.3			10.53%	0.66%	11.18%
20th Nov	1940	1047.3			5.17%	1.78%	6.95%
31st Jan	1941	1046.1			5.38%	1.85%	7.23%
13th Oct	1944	1044.2	14.63%	6.50%		0.81%	7.32%
24th Aug	1945	1043.3	12.66%	16.89%		0.79%	17.68%
Sources:
Whitbread brewing records held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document numbers LMA/4453/D/01/107, LMA/4453/D/01/108, LMA/4453/D/01/111 and LMA/4453/D/01/112.

Whitbread Double Brown hops 1939 - 1945
Date	Year	OG	hops
21st Sep	1939	1054.5	Worcester (1938), MK (1937 CS), EK (1937 CS), Sussex (1936 CS)
11th Apr	1940	1054.1	MK Whitbread (1937 CS, 1938 CS, 1939), MK (1938)
14th Aug	1940	1049.3	MK Whitbread (1937 CS, 1938 CS), EK (1938 CS, 1939)
20th Nov	1940	1047.3	MK (1938, 1939, 1940), Kent (1938), New Zealand (1936)
31st Jan	1941	1046.1	Worcester (1939), Kent (1938), New Zealand (1936)
13th Oct	1944	1044.2	MK (1943) EK (1943)
24th Aug	1945	1043.3	MK (1944), Worcester (1944)
Sources:
Whitbread brewing records held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document numbers LMA/4453/D/01/107, LMA/4453/D/01/108, LMA/4453/D/01/111 and LMA/4453/D/01/112.