Other Dutch Lagers in 1943

I'll be honest with, you won't be getting that many words from me today. It's a lovely sunny day and Have an appointment with my mates Will and Lucas in Butcher's Tears in an hour. No time for any fancy word-spinning.  Looking forward to a few pints, though.

I feel very comfortable at Butcher's Tears as they have lots of space outside. No rubbing shoulders with the next table. The beer's not bad, either. They quite often have a Mild, too. Only a 15-minute walk away. Perfect, really.

On with the post. Lots of tables stuck together by the occasional sentence. Relating to lagers brewed towards the end of the war.

If you thought the Pils set looked as watery as hell, wait until you see this lot. None manage to crawl much over 1% ABV. Yeah, party time! The slightly below average degree of attenuation doesn’t help the alcoholic qualities, but I suppose helped to leave them with at least a little body.

Dutch Licht Lagerbier in 1943
Date	Brewer	Town	OG Plato	FG Plato	ABV	App. Atten-uation	Colour
25th Jan	Drie Hoefijzers	Breda	2.87	0.77	1.05	73.40%	0.58
26th Jan	Bavaria	Lieshout	3.02	1.05	0.98	65.51%	0.48
26th Jan	Amstel	Amsterdam	2.62	0.66	1.01	75.01%	2.8
26th Jan	Heineken	Rotterdam	2.85	0.71	1.08	75.30%	0.26
26th Jan	Kruis van Bourgondie		2.94	0.86	1.05	71.00%	0.62
27th Jul	Heineken	Amsterdam	2.85	0.79	1.01	72.51%	0.32
27th Jul	Heineken	Rotterdam	2.88	0.93	0.98	67.96%	0.38
	Average		2.86	0.82	1.02	71.53%	0.78
Source:
Rapporten van laboratoriumonderzoeken naar producten van Heinekenbrouwerijen in binnen- en buitenland en naar producten van andere brouwerijen held at the Amsterdamse Stadsarchief, document number 834 - 1794.

It’s much the same story with the dark type of Lagerbier – low gravity, weedy ABV. And an even worse degree of attenuation. And a couple of examples which are barely even dark. Why would you bother drinking stuff as dilute as this? I guess because there was no alternative.

Dutch Donker Lagerbier in 1943
Date	Brewer	Town	OG Plato	FG Plato	ABV	App. Atten-uation	Colour
25th Jan	Grolsch	Groenlo	8.22	1.74	3.33	79.38%	12.5
25th Jan	Van Vollenhoven	Amsterdam	3.06	1.07	1.01	65.31%	10.8
26th Jan	Bavaria	Lieshout	3.44	1.24	1.11	64.27%	5.8
26th Jan	Kruis van Bourgondie		3.21	1.10	1.08	66.03%	14.5
26th Jan	Heineken	Rotterdam	2.96	1.01	0.98	66.15%	6.2
27th Jul	Heineken	Amsterdam	2.87	0.91	0.98	68.54%	4.8
27th Jul	Heineken	Rotterdam	3.04	1.39	0.78	54.58%	8.5
	Average		3.83	1.21	1.32	66.32%	9.01
Source:
Rapporten van laboratoriumonderzoeken naar producten van Heinekenbrouwerijen in binnen- en buitenland en naar producten van andere brouwerijen held at the Amsterdamse Stadsarchief, document number 834 - 1794.

Another weird outlier in the set, this time from Grolsch. Some lucky devils got to drink a beer that was actually intoxicating. Heady stuff.

Weirdly Holland’s wateriest beer style, Oud Bruin, averaged out stronger than Licht Lagerbier.

Dutch Oud Bruin in 1943
Date	Brewer	Town	OG Plato	FG Plato	ABV	App. Atten-uation	Colour
25th Jan	Van Vollenhoven	Amsterdam	3.70	1.20	1.30	67.90%	25
26th Jan	St. Servatius	Maastricht	2.84	0.62	1.15	78.37%	7
26th Jan	Gulpener	Gulpen	3.19	0.87	1.19	72.98%	12.2
26th Jan	Het Hert	Corurau?	3.00	1.07	0.89	64.61%	11.5
	Average		3.18	0.94	1.13	70.96%	13.93
Source:
Rapporten van laboratoriumonderzoeken naar producten van Heinekenbrouwerijen in binnen- en buitenland en naar producten van andere brouwerijen held at the Amsterdamse Stadsarchief, document number 834 - 1794.

Surprised to see Gerste still being brewed at such a late date. Heineken had dropped theirs a couple of decades earlier.

Dutch Gerste in 1943
Date	Brewer	Town	OG Plato	FG Plato	ABV	App. Atten-uation	Colour
26th Jan	Phoenix	Amersfoort	2.91	1.19	0.87	59.39%	0.8
26th Jan	ZHB	Den Haag	3.13	1.65	0.78	47.60%	1.8
26th Jan	Oranjeboom	Rotterdam	3.06	0.93	1.07	69.87%	5
	Average		3.03	1.26	0.90	58.95%	2.53
Source:
Rapporten van laboratoriumonderzoeken naar producten van Heinekenbrouwerijen in binnen- en buitenland en naar producten van andere brouwerijen held at the Amsterdamse Stadsarchief, document number 834 - 1794.

Overall, the effect of shortages was to concertina all the different styles together, leaving very little difference between them in terms of strength.

Wasn't that both fun and informative? Not really. Well, not both.