Adnams grists in 1970

What exactly went into Adnams beers in 1970? Let’s see.

For most of the beers, the malt content was pretty high at 85% plus. The exceptions being the two Pale Ales. We’ll see why that was when we get to the sugars.

Wondering why Tally Ho has a base of Mild malt when none of the other beers do? It’s because that comes from a slightly earlier period when all the dark beers had a base of mild malt. They must have swapped to all pale malt sometime in the late 1960s. Enzymic malt is another ingredient that was dropped in the late 1960s.

You might be surprised to see that crystal malt is present in all the beers except the two Pale Ales. As I repeatedly say, the use of crystal malt in Bitters is of very recent origin. It’s only after WW II that it started to be employed with any frequency in Pale Ales. And there were breweries, such as Adnams, where it was never adopted.

Adnams was another brewery which used chocolate rather than black malt as the roast element in its Stout. They must have been one of the first to do so, starting just before WW I. 

Adnams grists in 1970
Beer	Style	pale malt	choc. Malt	crystal malt	MA malt	enzymic malt	total malt
XXX	Mild Ale	77.06%		8.26%			85.32%
LBA	Pale Ale	76.71%					76.71%
BB	Pale Ale	76.88%					76.88%
XXXX	Old Ale	77.06%		8.26%			85.32%
Double Stout	Stout	64.86%	8.11%	16.22%			89.19%
Tally Ho	Barley Wine			8.06%	75.20%	2.69%	85.95%
	Average						83.23%
Source:
Adnams brewing record held at the brewery.