Old Ale after WW II

After WW II, the term Old Ale rarely referred to a beer that had been aged for any length of time. Mostly, it was just something stronger than usual. And how much stronger that was varied from region to region and brewery to brewery. There was one feature they all had in common: a dark colour.

In the Southeast, Old Ale was effectively a stronger version of Dark Mild. And was often parti-gyled with it.

In the North, it was often something stronger. Old Tom, for example. Or Old Something. Strong, dark beers often had an Old prefix. Often the difference between these stronger types and Barley Wine is blurred.

Bottled Old Ale 1950 - 1965
Year	Brewer	Beer	Price per pint d	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	colour
1950	Barclay Perkins	No. 1 Southwarke Ale	32	1052.4	1021.1	4.04	59.73%	80
1953	Bentley's Yorkshire Brewery	Old Timothy	45	1075.6	1014.7	7.98	80.56%	100
1953	Bullard	Old Ale	48	1080.5	1026.2	7.06	67.45%	68
1952	Courage	Double Courage	43.5	1068.4	1010.8	7.55	84.21%	150
1953	Duttons	O.B.J.	32	1060.9	1013.7	6.15	77.50%	83
1959	George Gale	Prize Old Ale		1089.3	1006.9	10.95	92.27%	60
1953	Greene King	Suffolk Ale	36	1062.8	1020.7	5.46	67.04%	56
1953	John Smith	Magnet Old Ale	42	1072.5	1022.9	6.44	68.41%	83
1953	JW Green	Dragon's Blood	45	1073.6	1028.1	5.88	61.82%	56
1953	McMullen	Old Time Ale	45	1062.1	1015.1	6.12	75.68%	105
1958	Mitchell & Butler	Amba Pale Old Ale	45	1056.3	1012.4	5.49	77.98%	18
1953	Steward & Patteson	Old Ale	48	1080.3	1011	9.13	86.30%	80
1959	Websters	Old Tom	26	1045.1	1012.5	4.23	72.28%	150
1965	Wrekin	Old Ale	31	1039.8	1012.7	3.39	68.09%	90
1953	Youngs, Crawshay & Youngs	Old John	54	1075.2	1025.3	6.47	66.36%	80
	Average		40.9	1066.3	1016.9	6.4	73.71%	83.9
Sources:
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/002.

The above is an extract from my book on UK brewing after WW II, Austerity!.

http://www.lulu.com/content/paperback-book/austerity/23181344