Even though not everyone was aware of them all, there were at least three AKs still being brewed at the start of the 1980s. McMullen's, the obvious one, Courage's (formerly Holes), the obscure one and Eldridge Pope's, the hidden one.
As you can see, versions after the war were very much like those produced during it, in terms of strength. A fairly puny one, at around 1030ยบ. About the minimum level that's worth bothering with.
The hopping rate rate is also similar to that of wartime, at around 5 lbs per quarter (336 lbs) of malt. Which is also pretty low.
Varying from just over 60% to 85%, the apparent rate of attenuation is all over the place. So much so, that I can't really draw any conclusions.
| AK after WW II | |||||||||
| Date | Year | Brewer | Beer | OG | FG | ABV | App. Atten-uation | lbs hops/ qtr | hops lb/brl |
| 22nd Jan | 1946 | Shepherd Neame | AK | 1027.1 | 1005.8 | 2.82 | 78.57% | 4.64 | 0.55 |
| 15th Jul | 1947 | Shepherd Neame | AK | 1027.1 | 1004.2 | 3.04 | 84.69% | 4.80 | 0.53 |
| 19th Mar | 1952 | Strong | SAK | 1030.5 | 1006.1 | 3.22 | 80.00% | 5.03 | 0.61 |
| 3rd Jan | 1964 | Eldridge Pope | BAK | 1030.2 | 1007.8 | 2.97 | 74.31% | 5.10 | 0.61 |
| 6th Jan | 1967 | Eldridge Pope | BAK | 1030.2 | 1011.6 | 2.46 | 61.47% | 5.81 | 0.69 |
| 17th May | 1982 | Eldridge Pope | BAK | 1030.2 | 1006.1 | 3.19 | 79.82% | 9.03 | 0.82 |
| 27th Jun | 1984 | Eldridge Pope | BAK | 1032.7 | 1005.0 | 3.66 | 84.75% | 4.00 | 0.54 |
| Average | 1029.7 | 1006.6 | 3.05 | 77.66% | 5.49 | 0.62 | |||
| Sources: | |||||||||
| Strong brewing record, number 79A01-A3-3-27. | |||||||||
| Eldridge Pope brewing record. | |||||||||
| Shepherd Neame brewing record held at the brewery. | |||||||||
To finish, here are some details of the current survivor, McMullen'a:
| McMullen's AK 1967 - 2002 | |||||||
| Year | Brewer | Beer | OG | FG | ABV | App. Atten-uation | colour |
| 1967 | McMullen | AK | 1034 | 1004.5 | 3.69 | 86.76% | 25 |
| 1977 | McMullen | AK | 1033 | ||||
| 1979 | McMullen | AK | 1033 | ||||
| 1981 | McMullen | AK | 1033 | ||||
| 1982 | McMullen | AK | 1033 | ||||
| 1982 | McMullen | AK | 1033 | ||||
| 1983 | McMullen | AK | 1033 | ||||
| 1989 | McMullen | AK | 1033 | 1003.8 | 3.80 | 88.48% | |
| 1999 | McMullen | AK | 1034 | ||||
| 2002 | McMullen | AK | 1036 | ||||
| Sources: | |||||||
| Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/002. | |||||||
| Good Beer Guide 1978, Good Beer Guide 1980, Good Beer Guide 1982, Good Beer Guide 1983, Good Beer Guide 1983, Good Beer Guide 1984, Good Beer Guide 1990. | |||||||
| What's Brewing (Beer) May 2005, p.17; July 2005 p.5 | |||||||
| What's Brewing (Beer) July 2005 p.5 | |||||||
Interesting to see that the gravity increased a little in the 1990s.
Grists next time.
Do you have any idea how they were carbed and serving temps?
ReplyDeleteIn the US there were (and still are in a few places) light ales that were carbed like lagers and served equally cold, and were clearly trying to very similar to typical US lagers. Was that happening at all with AK?
Ron,
ReplyDeleteIn Kent in the early 1980s there was a Fremlins AK. They had a promotion night for it in the Dolphin in Canterbury.
It wasn't up to much........
Mike
Unknown,
ReplyDeleteas far as I know, they were mostly either cask beers or bottled beers. The former relatively flat, the latter quite fizzy. Neither really trying to be like Lager.
Was Eldridge Pope's AK sold on draught under the name of Dorchester Bitter?
ReplyDeleteChris Pickles,
ReplyDeletepretty sure it was an exclusively bottled beer.
OK, but they did have a draught at the same gravity. I had some just outside Salisbury in 1979 - I remember it as being very bitter, so I wondered if it corresponded to the 1982 version of AK.
ReplyDeleteChris Pickles,
ReplyDeletejust checked the records. There's a parti-gyle of Royal Oak, IPA, Dorchester Bitter and BAK. The latter two are identical, but still listed separately. not sure why they bothered.