Sunday 13 December 2020

Scottish Mild in WW II (part two)

Quite brief today. Though this isn't the end of my ridiculously-detailed look at William Younger's Mild Ales. It was unusual that they had three Milds in their range. Most breweries had two at most. Except for weirdoes like Barclay Perkins, who made five or six.

Strongest of Younger’s Milds was XXX. It wasn’t, however, anything like as high in gravity as the top-grade London Milds, which were over 1040º when the war kicked off.  Younger’s XXX was the equivalent of a 5d per pint London Mild, which was effectively Ordinary Mild.

Being a bit stronger than their other Milds, there was more scope for reductions in gravity with XXX. Even so, a drop of just 4º between 1939 and 1944 isn’t bad going at all.

As with the weaker Milds, the hopping rate is feeble. Which I guess which is what drinkers must have expected from Younger’s Milds. Dry hopping was also dropped after a couple of years of war. Which, given the lack of copper hops, might have had quite a big impact on the flavour of the beer.


William Younger XXX Ale 1939 - 1944
Date Year OG FG ABV App. Atten-uation lbs hops/ qtr hops lb/brl dry hops (oz / barrel)
17th Nov 1939 1037.0 1014.0 3.04 62.16% 2.50 0.36 2.05
19th Sep 1940 1036.0 1014.0 2.91 61.11% 2.78 0.37 1.92
13th Mar 1941 1035.0 1014.0 2.78 60.00% 2.35 0.31 1.86
9th Dec 1941 1036.0 1015.0 2.78 58.33% 2.35 0.31 0.00
26th Dec 1941 1035.0 1013.5 2.84 61.43% 2.22 0.30 0.00
23rd Jan 1942 1034.0 1012.0 2.91 64.71% 2.35 0.29 0.00
24th Apr 1942 1033.0 1011.0 2.91 66.67% 2.19 0.28 0.00
15th Jul 1942 1033.0 1012.0 2.78 63.64% 2.24 0.29 0.00
8th Aug 1942 1033.0 1011.0 2.91 66.67% 2.24 0.29 0.00
11th Dec 1942 1033.0 1012.0 2.78 63.64% 2.94 0.39 0.00
4th Nov 1943 1033.0 1012.5 2.71 62.12% 2.94 0.39 0.00
9th Nov 1943 1033.0 1012.0 2.78 63.64% 2.94 0.38 0.00
12th Jan 1943 1033.0 1014.0 2.51 57.58% 2.78 0.38 0.00
9th Apr 1944 1033.0 1013.0 2.65 60.61% 2.94 0.38 0.00
Sources:
William Younger brewing records held at the Scottish Brewing Archive, document numbers WY/6/1/2/76, WY/6/1/2/77, WY/6/1/2/78 , WY/6/1/2/79 and WY/6/1/2/81.



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