Midlands Brown Ale after WW II

Brown Ale really took off after WW II. It would have been bigger during the war, but shortages of bottles, crates and even crown corks restricted the production of bottled beer. It also profited from the shift from draught to bottled beer, prompted by the often poor quality of cask beer.

As, just like with Mild, there were considerable regional variation in Brown Ales, I’ve split them up geographically.

Beginning with the Midlands. This was a real stronghold of Mild and the examples tended to be a bit stronger than average. This tendency can also be seen in the region’s Brown Ales. No surprise, really, as most of them were doubtless really bottled versions of the brewery’s Mild.

dry beers. The exception being the 1952 Northampton example, which, with a finishing gravity of 1013º, must have been reasonably sweet.  The high attenuation also means that the ABV of a majority of the samples is 315% ABV or higher.

The colours are all over the place. Most fall in semi-dark territory. Though the two from the Northampton Brewery are very dark. The 1952 example being almost as dark as a Stout.

Midlands Brown Ale after WW II
Year	Brewer	Beer	Price per pint (d)	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	colour
1952	Ansell	Nut Brown Ale	16	1036.2	1005.8	3.96	83.98%	48
1949	Davenport	Brown Ale	13.5	1031	1004	3.51	87.10%	60
1948	Everards	Nut Brown Ale	18	1030.8	1003.7	3.53	87.99%	62
1948	Northampton Brewery	Brown Ale	18	1032.4	1008.4	3.11	74.07%	150
1952	Northampton Brewery	Brown Ale	18	1038	1013	3.23	65.79%	200
1952	Shipstone	Nut Brown Ale	15	1033.3	1006.7	3.45	79.88%	62
	Average		16.4	1033.6	1006.9	3.47	79.80%	97.0
Source:
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/002.