Thomas Usher brews December 1900 to February 1901

My technique varies when photographing brewing records. Sometimes I'll skip through looking for specific beers. While when they're in Scottish format (multiple beers per page), I'll sometimes do long blocks where I'll photograph every page. Especially if I have time.

Which is what I did with the Thomas Usher records for around 1900. Leaving me with several consecutive months where I have every beer photographed. Giving me a decent picture of what they were brewing and how much of it. Like for the three months December 1900 to February 1901. And, as I'm wont to do, I've stuck the information into a handy table.

It was a fairly wide range. Twelve different beers in all. Five Shilling Ales, an IPA, four Pale Ales, a Stock Ale and A Stout. Though the quantity brewed of each varied widely. A massive 82% of the total brewed was in the form of Pale Ales (including IPA). With just 12% Shilling Ales and a mere 4% Stout.

At Whitbread in London, things looked very different. Their output was about 18% Pale Ale, 46% Mild Ale, 33% Porter and Stout, and only about 2% Burton Ale.

What does this tell us? That at Usher the transition had already been made to being basically a Pale Ale brewer. Something which become complete after WW I, when Pale Ale was all they brewed. Scotland was out of phase with England in terms of beer styles. Mild Ale never dominated, as it did in England for 100 years or more. There was a much earlier switch to Pale Ale. And, in the 20th century, a much earlier change to Lager. 

You could say that Scotland was blazing a trail that England would later follow. And what about Ireland? That's a totally different story. 

Thomas Usher brews December 1900 to February 1901
Beer	Style	No. brews	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	lbs hops/ qtr	hops lb/brl	barrels	%
100/-	Ale	12	1065.6	1027.4	5.05	58.17%	5.08	1.82	338.5	2.75%
50/- Br	Ale	9	1032	1009.3	3.00	70.83%	6.22	1.00	233	1.89%
60/-	Ale	10	1040	1015.6	3.23	61.00%	5.1	0.90	246	2.00%
60/- Br	Ale	8	1035.3	1010	3.34	71.62%	6.25	1.13	205.5	1.67%
80/-	Ale	11	1050	1017.1	4.35	65.73%	5.09	1.13	479.5	3.89%
IP	IPA	22	1043.4	1013.3	3.99	69.43%	6.59	1.42	2781.5	22.57%
X	Pale Ale	24	1046	1014.2	4.21	69.17%	6.71	1.54	2564	20.80%
PA	Pale Ale	21	1049	1015	4.49	69.31%	7	1.67	3089	25.06%
X 60/-	Pale Ale	3	1052	1015.7	4.81	69.87%	7	1.83	130	1.05%
PA 60/-	Pale Ale	11	1055	1015.9	5.18	71.16%	7	1.78	1567.5	12.72%
XX	Stock Ale	1	1052	1015	4.89	71.15%	10	2.57	171	1.39%
Stout	Stout	8	1057.9	1026.9	4.10	53.57%	5	1.47	519.5	4.22%
Total		140							12,325
Source:
Thomas Usher brewing record held at the Scottish Brewing Archives, document number TU/6/1/3.