Strongest of the Shilling Ales was, of course, 68/- M. You explain the logic to me. I can’t see it myself.
This wasn’t in a Shilling Ale parti-gyle, but in a Pale Ale one. With a much higher hopping rate. Hence the high (calculated) bitterness. The black malt was added to the first copper, so a lower percentage of the darkened wort would have been in the PA and X, the parti-gyle partners.
The single type of pale malt was Scottish. Now there’s a surprise. While the hops were all imports: California from the 1883 season and Alsace from 1884.
Was this aged? If the “M” stands for “Mild”, then that’s unlikely. Though the heavy level of hopping makes it look more like a Stock Ale. Age it if you feel like it. But don’t feel obliged.
| 1885 Thomas Usher 68/- M | ||
| pale malt | 18.50 lb | 98.67% |
| black malt | 0.25 lb | 1.33% |
| Cluster 120 min | 3.75 oz | |
| Strisselspalt 30 min | 3.75 oz | |
| Goldings dry hops | 0.50 oz | |
| OG | 1080 | |
| FG | 1025 | |
| ABV | 7.28 | |
| Apparent attenuation | 68.75% | |
| IBU | 91 | |
| SRM | 15 | |
| Mash at | 151º F | |
| Sparge at | 175º F | |
| Boil time | 120 minutes | |
| pitching temp | 60º F | |
| Yeast | WLP028 Edinburgh Ale | |
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4 comments:
Maybe the "M" stood for "Matured"?
I'm wondering if this was something like a Younger No 3, or a draft Burton competitor? OG is within a few points of No 3 from the same year, grist is like Belhaven Wee Heavy, but with Burtonesque hopping. The nonsensical shilling code might make slightly more sense if it's something of an internal production ledger code for a quicker turnaround strong ale that went out to Usher's pubs.
I'm pretty sure it stands for Mild.
At this point, I'm pretty sure that the shillings really did reflect the wholesale price.
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