Now I'm back from my travels, I've been getting stuck into some research. Specifically, research for my book "Free!" Aiming to fill a Brown-Ale-sized hole in my knowledge.
Trawling through the newspaper archive, I immediately got a couple of promising hits. Bottled beers clearly called Brown Ale from the early 1900s. What's even better, one of them is an advert from Fullers. From 1909.
Why is that such a good thing? Because I have their brewing records from 1910. Meaning I can match up the beers on the advert with the relevant brewing records. And, hey presto, I have my earliest Brown Ale brewing record. My only one from before WW I.
Let's start with the Fullers ad.
 |
Fullers advert in the Acton Gazette - Friday 16 July 1909, page 4. |
Brown Ale appears as both a draught beer and one sold in crates of four bottles. The former is unusual. Usually Brown Ale was exclusively a bottled beer.
Here's that advert in handy table form:
Fullers Advertisement from 1909 |
beer |
price per barrel |
price (per gallon) |
price (per doz) pint |
size |
XK Bitter
Pale Ale |
48 |
16 |
|
|
AK Light
Bitter Ale |
38 |
12.67 |
|
|
X Amber Mild
Ale |
38 |
12.67 |
|
|
H Brown Ale |
38 |
12.67 |
|
|
Double Stout |
56 |
18.67 |
|
|
Single Stout |
46 |
15.33 |
|
|
Porter |
38 |
12.67 |
|
|
Pale Ale |
|
|
2s 9d |
|
India Pale
Ale |
|
|
3s 9d |
|
Nourishing
Stout |
|
|
2s 9d |
|
Oatmeal Stout |
|
|
2s 9d |
|
Extra Stout |
|
|
3s 9d |
|
Pale Ale |
|
|
1s 4d |
crate of 4 quarts |
Brown Ale |
|
|
1s 4d |
crate of 4 quarts |
Stout |
|
|
1s 4d |
crate of 4 quarts |
India Pale
Ale |
|
|
1s 10d |
crate of 4 quarts |
Extra Stout |
|
|
1s 10d |
crate of 4 quarts |
Source: |
Acton Gazette - Friday 16 July 1909, page 4. |
And here are the beers from the brewing record.
Fullers beers in 1910 |
Beer |
Style |
OG |
FG |
ABV |
App.
Atten-uation |
lbs
hops/ qtr |
hops
lb/brl |
X |
Mild |
1052.6 |
1014.7 |
5.01 |
72.08% |
5.17 |
1.21 |
AK |
Pale Ale |
1044.9 |
1008.3 |
4.84 |
81.48% |
7.29 |
1.43 |
PA |
Pale Ale |
1054.2 |
1012.2 |
5.55 |
77.49% |
8.92 |
2.15 |
P |
Porter |
1048.6 |
1011.9 |
4.85 |
75.47% |
6.64 |
1.28 |
BS |
Stout |
1069.5 |
1019.9 |
6.56 |
71.30% |
6.64 |
1.84 |
BO |
Strong Ale |
1074.9 |
1024.4 |
6.68 |
67.44% |
9.84 |
3.05 |
Source: |
Fullers brewing record held at the brewery. |
A couple of notes on the draught beers. XK from the advert is obviously PA in the brewing record. And both X and H must be derived from X in the brewing record. With H just being X coloured up darker at racking time.
And where does Single Stout come from? There's just Porter and one Stout in the brewing record. It has to be a blend of Porter and Stout. Based on the price, a 50-50 blend.
In the crate beers, Pale Ale must be AK, Brown Ale must be X and Stout must be Porter.
What does this tell us? That Brown Ale, even in its earliest days, could already just be a tweaked version of Mild Ale.