Boys Bitter malts 1969 - 1981

Oh look – all the examples have a base of pale malt. Who would have guessed that? Though, to be fair, I’ve seen Bitters that employed mild malt as part, or all, of the base.

One of the drums I often plaintively bang is about the role of crystal malt in Bitter. About how recent a development it is, basically post-WW II. It turns up in three of the beers, though in a fairly small quantity in Trumans. Scottish brewers never acquired the crystal malt habit, as is shown here by Maclay.

The wheat malt is a slightly odd one. Probably present for head retention. Wheat pops up in various forms in Bitters, presumably always with the same purpose.

At a bit over 80%, the total malt content is a little higher than in the Mild Ales we looked at earlier. 

Boys Bitter malts 1969 - 1981
Year	Brewer	Beer	pale malt	crystal malt	wheat malt	total malt
1971	Maclay	PA 6d	79.18%			79.18%
1971	Shepherd Neame	Best Bitter	78.87%	7.73%		86.60%
1969	Truman	LK	74.52%	1.28%		75.80%
1981	Eldridge Pope	Dorchester Bitter	70.39%	7.97%	5.50%	83.87%
	Average					81.36%
Sources:
Maclay brewing record held at the Scottish Brewing Archive, document number M/6/1/1/46.
Shepherd Neame brewing record held at the brewery, Brewing book 1971 H-5O5,
Truman brewing record held by Derek Prentice.
Eldridge Pope brewing record.