Binnie beers 1903 - 1905

More results from my visit to the Scottish Brewing Archive. This time we're looking at Binnie, a small brewery in Haddington.

With batch sizes of just 20 barrels, it really was on the small size. Though they did still brew a decent range of beers, from a Table beer to a 140/-.

In most of the UK, Table Beer had disappeared by the middle of the 19th century. While in Scotland it was still being brewed up until WW I. The example here is particularly weak at under 1030º and only 2.25% ABV.

There are three Shilling Ales, 80/-, 100/- and 140/-. The latter was brewed surprisingly often, parti-gyled with Table Beer. Do I need to remind you that this 80/- has nothing to do with the modern beer of the same name? Because it doesn't.

BB and Ex B might well be the same beer. As they look very similar. For a Pale Ale of the period, it's pretty weak. But reasonably heavily hopped. It would be difficult to find a Pale Ale this weak in England.

The two IPAs appear under different names. 54/-, 54/- IPA and 54/- Bitter. And 60/-, 60/- IPA and 60/- Bitter. Which is pretty confusing. Though given the strength and recipes are pretty much the same, I'm sure that they're the same beers. If you remember, Belhaven also had Pale Ales at 54/- and 60/- with similar gravities. And at Thomas Usher, their PA and PA 60/- were around the same gravities, too.

The Porter and the Stout might also be the same beer. Given the similarities of their gravities. Which both look about right for a Double Stout.

The rates of attenuation are pretty crap. With the highest just 66%. Though it's possible the high FGs might be deliberate to leave enough fementables for secondary conditioning without the addition of primings.

Pretty low hopping rates all around, maxing out at just 6 lbs per quarter (336 lbs) of malt. 

Binnie beers  1903 - 1905
Date	Year	Beer	Style	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	lbs hops/ qtr	hops lb/brl
7th Apr	1904	TB	Table Beer	1028	1011	2.25	60.71%	0.66	0.63
24th Dec	1903	80/-	Ale	1059	1020	5.16	66.10%	3.27	0.82
24th Feb	1905	100/-	Ale	1068	1034	4.50	50.00%	3.00	0.95
19th Jan	1905	140/- Ale	Ale	1084	1039	5.95	53.57%	3.00	1.34
18th Feb	1904	BB	Pale Ale	1037	1013	3.18	64.86%	6.40	1.04
3rd Jun	1904	Ex B	Pale Ale	1037	1014	3.04	62.16%	6.40	1.00
22nd Sep	1904	54/- IPA	IPA	1049	1019	3.97	61.22%	6.00	1.23
15th Sep	1904	60/- IPA	IPA	1057	1020	4.89	64.91%	5.00	1.50
3rd Dec	1903	XXX Porter	Porter	1075	1029	6.09	61.33%	4.39	1.33
9th Mar	1905	DBS	Stout	1071	1036	4.63	49.30%	4.55	1.42
Source:
Binnie brewing record held at the Scottish Brewing Archives, document number BH/6/1/1/1.