Tuesday 28 April 2020

Bitter on the eve of WW II

No, this isn't another preview of my new book. But rather something to settle a Twitter argument. Or not, as the case might be.

Martyn Cornell and Dominic Driscoll were arguing about whether Northern Bitters were more heavily hopped than Southern ones to take into account the use of a sparkler, which would reduce the perceived bitterness.

It just so happens that I've written a large number of recipes for Bitters from all over the country. Part of the process being to calculate the IBUs using BeerSmith. I wouldn't take the numbers as gospel, but they give a general idea.

Are the Northern versions more Bitter than Southern ones? Well, yes and no. Boddington Bitter comes out top at 48 IBU. But Tetley comes bottom at 14 IBU. While all the London beers in the table are reasonably well-hopped.

Surprisingly, for a brewery in the middle of hop country, most of Shepherd Neame's beers weren't that bitter. Other than their PA.

About the only real discernible pattern is in the Scottish beers. Which are mostly not very bitter at all. Except for the Maclay beers.


Bitter on the eve of WW II
Year Brewery Beer OG IBU
1939 Adnams PA 1039 33
1939 Barclay Perkins IPA 1044 30
1939 Barclay Perkins XLK (trade) 1046 30
1939 Barclay Perkins PA 1053 38
1939 Boddington IP 1045 48
1939 Drybrough 54/- 1032 19
1939 Drybrough 60/- 1038 21
1939 Drybrough 80/- 1050 26
1939 Fullers AK 1033.5 35
1939 Fullers XK 1039.5 40
1939 Fullers PA 1050 43
1939 Lees Bitter 1047 30
1939 Maclay PA 5d 1032 28
1939 Maclay PA 6d 1038 30
1939 Maclay PA 7d 1042 32
1940 Shepherd Neame AK 1030.5 19
1940 Shepherd Neame BB 1038 21
1940 Shepherd Neame PA 1047 39
1940 Shepherd Neame SXX 1055 28
1941 Tetley Bitter 1038 14
1939 Truman Pale 2 1047.5 27
1939 Truman Pale 1B 1053.5 30
1939 Whitbread IPA 1037 36
1939 Whitbread PA 1048 29
1938 William Younger XP 1037 14
1938 William Younger XXP 1042 16
1939 William Younger XXPS 1046 12
1939 William Younger Export 1054 22
Sources:
various brewing records

2 comments:

Mike in NSW said...

Even as late as the mid 1970s Boddingtons IP was fiercely bitter. I was living in Cardiff where Brains beers were more malt forward and on visiting Manchester for the first time to see my cousin we went out to his local Boddies pub. First thing I noticed was the beer looked more like lager, then the first sip was a shock. I can still remember it.

Marquis said...

The 1977 CAMRA Good Beer Guide described Boddington as "exceptionally bitter"