Let's Brew - 1946 Whitbread XXXX

I originally planned to publish my WW II book before May this year. Then I changed my target date to August. Until I got totally consumed by writing a stupid number of recipes. Of which this is one.

There hadn’t been much of a change in XXXX since the war ended. Which must have been reassuring to drinkers in search of something with some punch.

I assume that this was an exclusively draught beer. Certainly its predecessor, 33, had been. It was popular enough to be economical to brew single-gyle. This batch was of 790 barrels, which is a lot of beer by any reckoning.

Making it all the more surprising that this seems to be the last year it was brewed. At least, I have no later photographs of XXXX brewing records. If I were to guess, I’d say that they dropped it in 1947, when UK beer strengths hit a nadir, and just never bothered bringing it back. Odd, as in the 1950s Burton was a standard draught beer in London, where Whitbread was based.

The grist is unchanged, with the classic combination pale and chocolate malt, flaked barley, No. 3 invert and caramel.

The hops were Mid-Kent Whitbread from the 1945 harvest, Mid-Kent from 1945 and East Kent, also from 1945, plus some Hopulon.

1946 Whitbread XXXX
pale malt	6.00 lb	65.50%
chocolate malt	0.33 lb	3.60%
flaked barley	1.25 lb	13.65%
No. 3 invert sugar	1.50 lb	16.38%
caramel 1000 SRM	0.08 lb	0.87%
Fuggles 60 mins	1.25 oz
Fuggles 30 mins	0.75 oz
Goldings 30 mins	0.25 oz
Goldings dry hops	0.50 oz
OG	1043.5
FG	1010
ABV	4.43
Apparent attenuation	77.01%
IBU	28
SRM	22
Mash at	149º F
After underlet	154º F
Sparge at	168º F
Boil time	60 minutes
pitching temp	62º F
Yeast	Wyeast 1099 Whitbread Ale