Without parti-gyling, it’s a beer which couldn’t have existed. Because the quantities in which it was brewed were so tiny, that they would have been totally impractical to brew single-gyle. This particular brew was one of the larger batches of OBE – a whole 26 barrels. Along with 134 barrels of BO and 223 barrels of X Ale. In total, not far short of 400 barrels were in the entire brew.
As it was parti-gyled with X and BO, the recipe is exactly the same. Just rather more of everything in OBE.
Surprisingly, for a beer of its strength, OBE seems to have principally been a draught beer. I had wondered whether it was a seasonal beer. Barclay Perkins also called their KKKK Old Burton Extra. It was even stronger than Fullers’ version and was only available during the winter. As I’ve found batches of Fullers OBE brewed in July, I’m guessing that it was available year-round.
| 1939 Fullers OBE | ||
| pale malt | 13.00 lb | 81.25% |
| flaked maize | 2.25 lb | 14.06% |
| glucose | 0.50 lb | 3.13% |
| caramel 1000 SRM | 0.25 lb | 1.56% |
| Fuggles 90 mins | 2.25 oz | |
| Fuggles 30 mins | 2.25 oz | |
| Goldings dry hops | 0.50 oz | |
| OG | 1069.5 | |
| FG | 1020 | |
| ABV | 6.55 | |
| Apparent attenuation | 71.22% | |
| IBU | 48 | |
| SRM | 19 | |
| Mash at | 149º F | |
| After underlet | 152º F | |
| Sparge at | 168º F | |
| Boil time | 90 minutes | |
| pitching temp | 60.5º F | |
| Yeast | WLP002 English Ale | |
This was the beer that George Izzard, landlord of the Dove at Hammersmith, described in his memoirs as "a strong Burton … a very strong beer which … didn't strike you as powerful at first sip. It had a winey, rather sweet taste. All the same, three pints of it were enough for the heaviest drinker, if he wanted to go out of the pub on his feet."
ReplyDeleteMartyn,
ReplyDeletethe Dove was probably one of a very few number of pubs that sold it, given the minute quantities that were brewed of it.