Tuesday 6 July 2021

Bass and Allsopp IPA 1851 - 1901

Just to show how much of an outlier those strong Allsopp and Salt beers were, here's a selection of IPAs from Bass and Allsopp. They span the whole of the second half of the 19th century.

The strongest is 7.58% ABV - well short  of the strong IPAs, whether that Lancet article is listing ABV or ABW. They average out to around 1065º and just under 7% ABV. Which is exactly what I would have expected. 1065º was the classic OG for Burton-brewed IPA.

I.m at a total loss as to how to explain those two strong IPAs. They are very different to any 19th-century IPA that I've seen. It leaves me wondering if they've been misidentified and are actually Burton Ales rather than Pale Ales. Though The Lancet is a pretty reliable source so I'm disinclined to believe that.

Let me know if you have any ideas.

Bass and Allsopp IPA 1851 - 1901
Year Brewer Beer OG FG ABV App. Atten-uation
1851 Allsopp Export IPA 1057.1 1009 6.32 84.59%
1851 Allsopp Export IPA 1060.8 1009 6.84 85.86%
1869 Allsopp Pale Ale 1064.2 1010 7.18 83.82%
1869 Allsopp Pale Ale 1068.5 1013 7.19 80.32%
1901 Allsopp India Pale Ale, Red Hand 1061.6 1009 6.80 85.27%
1851 Bass Domestic IPA 1064.0 1013 6.69 80.00%
1852 Bass Domestic IPA 1073.7 1019 7.11 73.95%
1862 Bass Pale Ale 1067.8 1014 7.04 78.91%
1862 Bass Pale Ale 1069.0 1017 6.80 75.07%
1862 Bass Pale Ale 1069.5 1017 6.91 75.68%
1862 Bass Pale Ale 1063.2 1012 6.69 80.38%
1862 Bass Pale Ale 1066.9 1016 6.74 76.68%
1869 Bass Pale Ale (brewed 2nd Jan 1869) 1065.9 1010 7.33 84.50%
1869 Bass Pale Ale (brewed 24th Dec 1868 1065.4 1013 6.96 80.87%
1869 Bass Pale Ale (brewed 27th Jan 1869) 1066.7 1012 7.20 82.33%
1869 Bass Pale Ale 1067.0 1013 6.81 80.31%
1869 Bass Pale Ale 1056.5 1010 5.98 82.08%
1870 Bass India Pale Ale 1060.0      
1880 Bass Pale Ale 1055.2 1017 4.90 68.48%
1887 Bass Pale Ale 1064.2 1009 7.08 84.75%
1887 Bass Pale Ale 1063.5 1010 7.08 85.04%
1888 Bass Pale Ale 1069.6 1011 7.58 83.82%
1888 Bass Pale Ale 1069.0 1011 7.58 83.77%
1896 Bass Pale Ale 1060.8 1007 6.98 87.97%
1898 Bass Pale Ale 1064.9 1016 6.43 76.02%
1901 Bass Dog's Head 1065.6 1003 8.06 94.59%
1901 Bass White Label 1063.8 1007 7.25 87.73%
1901 Bass draught Pale Ale 1064.0 1013 6.48 78.03%
    Average 1064.6 1011.9 6.89 81.51%
Sources:
The Lancet 1852, vol.1, 1852, page 474
British Medical Journal August 28th 1869, page 245 
Wahl & Henius, pages 823-830
The Lancet 1852, vol.1, 1852, page 474
The lancet 1853, Volume 2, 1853, page 631.
Bass price list
Chemie der menschlichen Nahrungs- und Genussmittel by Joseph König, 1889, page 835
Brockhaus' konversations-lexikon, Band 2 by F.A. Brockhaus, 1898 


2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Can you shed any additional light on "Dog's Head" -- whether it has any special meaning, where it came from, anything else?

This book includes a lot of detail from 1882 about a copyright fight over the use of "Dog's Head" but it's not clear to me if it's just a random, happenstance connection or if there is any fuller meaning.

https://books.google.com/books?id=wCIyAAAAIAAJ

Ron Pattinson said...

Anonymous,

I thought it was the trademark of a specific bottler. I could be wrong.