The name Imperial Stout was used by quite a few breweries after WW II. Mostly for pretty feeble beer. If you thought Barclay Perkins effort was a bit feeble, take a look at this lot. The weakest, from Russell, is only about the strength of Mild Ale.
Sorry, I missed the weakest McEwan sample, which doesn't even reach 3% ABV.
Only the beers from Bass/Worthington (almost certainly the same beer) and Carlsberg come anywhere near to living up to the name.
| Post WW II Imperial Stout | |||||||
| Year | Brewer | Beer | OG | FG | ABV | App. Atten-uation | colour |
| 1948 | McEwan | Imperial Stout | 1047 | 1018.5 | 3.68 | 60.64% | |
| 1949 | McEwan | Imperial Stout | 1039.5 | 1017 | 2.90 | 56.96% | |
| 1949 | McEwan | Imperial Stout | 1046.4 | 1014.4 | 4.14 | 68.97% | 275 |
| 1950 | Carlsberg | Imperial Stout | 1077.1 | 1025.9 | 6.64 | 66.41% | 315 |
| 1950 | McEwan | Imperial Stout | 1043 | 1014.4 | 3.70 | 66.51% | |
| 1950 | Unknown | Imperial Stout | 1066.8 | 1017 | 6.49 | 74.55% | 350 |
| 1951 | Bents | Imperial Stone Stout | 1039.7 | 1006.8 | 4.28 | 82.87% | |
| 1952 | Bents | Imperial Stone Stout | 1041.3 | 1007.1 | 4.45 | 82.81% | 100 |
| 1953 | Bass | Imperial Stout | 1078.2 | 1025.1 | 6.90 | 67.90% | 375 |
| 1954 | Bents | Imperial Stone Stout | 1039.8 | 1006.5 | 4.34 | 83.67% | 200 |
| 1954 | Plymouth | Brown Imperial Stout | 1048.6 | 1018.5 | 3.89 | 61.93% | 375 |
| 1954 | Russells | Imperial Stout | 1041.6 | 1016.8 | 3.20 | 59.62% | 175 |
| 1955 | Bass | Imperial Stout | 1078.8 | 1018.4 | 7.90 | 76.65% | 375 |
| 1955 | Worthington | Imperial Stout | 1078.2 | 1017.3 | 7.97 | 77.88% | 325 |
| 1956 | Bass | Imperial Stout | 1077.5 | 1027.9 | 6.43 | 64.00% | 350 |
| 1959 | Plymouth | Imperial Brown Stout | 1045.1 | 1016.4 | 3.71 | 63.64% | 350 |
| 1959 | Russell | Imperial Stout | 1039.4 | 1014.2 | 3.26 | 63.96% | 200 |
| 1966 | Bass | Imperial Stout | 1077.2 | 1027.7 | 6.41 | 64.12% | 312 |
| Source: | |||||||
| Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/002. | |||||||
| Thomas Usher Gravity Book held at the Scottish Brewing Archive, document number TU/6/11. | |||||||
In what conceivable sense were these "imperial"? (Nobody mention the Russian court!) I'm struggling to understand what they were thinking.
ReplyDeleteWhat was your "last exam ever"? Did you take the BJCP exam? ;^)
ReplyDeleteA Brew Rat,
ReplyDeleteno, I didn't take the BJCP exam. No point, really, as I get to judge competitions without it. I'd probably start arguing about the answers, anyway.
It was a much more boring exam than that.
Phil,
ReplyDeletein the case of the Bass Stout, it's just lost as much gravity as you would expect over the two World Wars. For the others, the term is obviously just a name. Much as IPA was in the 20th century.