Let's Brew - 1879 Adnams X

I was truly shocked when I first came across this beer. The only other 19th-century UK beers I’d seen that were under 4% ABV were Table Beers. This isn’t even the weakest example of Adnams X. One a few moths earlier had an OG of just 1030.5º.

I sort of wonder where X was sold. It seems to have only been brewed occasionally. Basically, whenever they brewed a strong beer, they parti-gyled a few barrels of it. With such a low gravity, they’d have to have shifted it pretty quickly, which makes it unlikely that it was always available.

Adnams didn’t have the most exciting of grists at this point. Base malt and sugar was it for every beer other than the Stout. Nothing really to sink your teeth into.

The hopping rate is quite high. You’ll see that X is one of Adnams most bitter Milds, only being pipped by the strongest, XXXX. There’s a simple explanation for that: this beer was parti-gyled with Tally Ho, one of their most heavily-hopped beers.

1879 Adnams X
mild malt	4.50 lb	66.67%
No. 2 invert sugar	2.25 lb	33.33%
Goldings 105 mins	2.50 oz
Goldings 30 mins	2.50 oz
OG	1037
FG	1009
ABV	3.70
Apparent attenuation	75.68%
IBU	69
SRM	9
Mash at	154º F
Sparge at	172º F
Boil time	105 minutes
pitching temp	64º F
Yeast	WLP025 Southwold