Special Bitter adjuncts and sugars in the 1970s

Yes. Even more about 1970s Bitter. And I'm not even posting everything I've written. I've currently 36,000 words on 1970s beers.

Not a great deal going on in adjunct land. Just three of them. And no more than one of them in any beer. The adjunct content averages out to just 5%.

Old favourite flaked maize only turns up, in modest quantities, in Abbey Ale. There’s rather more flaked barley in Abbey Ale. Slightly exceeded by Truman, with their unusual attachment to pearl barley.

Moving quickly on, sugars. Quite a few of them, again.

OK. Not many that I know bugger all about. Malt extract. We know the deal there. It’s been added to the mash tun for extra enzymes. No.3, would be normal in a Mild. And maybe in small amounts in a Bitter. Over 12% of the grist is a crazy amount for the style.

While the average sugar content is around 13%, a couple of the examples, Abbey Ale and County Ale, contain much more. The former being not far short of 20%. Which about as much sugar as you ever see in a beer.

I’ve already said often enough how clueless I am about the proprietary sugars. No need to repeat it here. 

Special Bitter adjuncts 1969 - 1981
Year	Brewer	Beer	flaked maize	flaked barley	pearl barley	total adjuncts
1971	Shepherd Neame	Abbey Ale	3.82%			3.82%
1981	Eldridge Pope	Royal Oak				0.00%
1969	Truman	Ben Truman			8.89%	8.89%
1969	Fremlin	County Ale		7.54%		7.54%
	Average					5.06%
Sources:
As in the table above.

Special Bitter sugars 1969 - 1981
Year	Brewer	Beer	malt extract	no. 3 sugar	cane sugar	Wortex	Flow-sweet	WSI	caramel	total sugar
1971	Shep. Neame	Abbey Ale	0.64%	12.74%		6.37%				19.75%
1981	Eld. Pope	Royal Oak					8.77%			8.77%
1969	Truman	Ben Truman			2.96%			1.48%		4.44%
1969	Fremlin	County Ale						17.87%	0.05%	17.92%
	Average									12.72%
Sources:
As in the table above.