Friday 30 April 2021

AK during WW II

The excitement just never ends when it comes to AK. Or perhaps it just never started. For you. For me, I can't never get me enough.

Someone mentioned recently that they thought AK died out between the wars. That's not really true. AK was given a good old kick in the bollocks by WW I. Many found their demise in the war's brutal gravity cuts. Others, though fatally weakened, soldiered on. Another war was the last thing they needed.

Kicking off the war at a little over 1030º, there wasn't far they could go once a new round of gravity cuts began to bite. 

Greene King seem to have dropped theirs early doors. Its AK had the bad luck to have another beer, PA, that was just a tiny bit stronger. When gravities fell, it dropped into AK's slot and that was it.

At Fullers, their three pre-war Pale Ales, in ascending order of strength, AK, XK and PA, were pared back to just a single beer in 1942, PA No. 2.

Shepherd Neame's version had the good fortune that the next Pale Ale up the hierarchy of strength, BB, was a good bit stronger at the outbreak of war. 1039.3º to AK's 1031.3º. A gap large enough that, even after the drop in strength, there was still a gap of 4º at war's end. The reprieve was only temporary. AK was discontinued in 1951.

AK during WW II
Date Year Brewer Beer OG FG ABV App. Atten-uation lbs hops/ qtr hops lb/brl
23rd Jan 1940 Greene King AK 1031.6 1007.2 3.22 77.19% 6.00 0.75
8th May 1940 Fullers AK 1029.1 1008.6 2.71 70.48% 9.02 1.05
20th May 1940 Shepherd Neame AK 1030.5 1005.5 3.30 81.82% 6.89 0.80
25th May 1941 Fullers AK 1028.4 1006.4 2.91 77.56% 7.40 0.81
4th Feb 1943 Shepherd Neame AK 1027.1 1005.0 2.93 81.63% 4.62 0.54
18th Dec 1943 Shepherd Neame AK 1027.1 1005.9 2.81 78.16% 4.59 0.52
21st Feb 1944 Shepherd Neame AK 1027.1 1005.8 2.82 78.47% 4.45 0.51
27th Nov 1944 Shepherd Neame AK 1027.1 1006.4 2.75 76.53% 4.87 0.53
22nd Feb 1945 Shepherd Neame AK 1027.1 1005.5 2.86 79.59% 4.87 0.55
7th May 1945 Shepherd Neame AK 1027.1 1006.0 2.80 78.06% 4.75 0.55
Sources:
Fullers brewing records held at the brewery.
Greene King brewing record held at the brewery, document number AC93/1/14 .
Shepherd Neame brewing record held at the brewery.

Grists next time.

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