Pages

Wednesday, 30 July 2025

Let's Brew Wednesday - 1911 Eldridge Pope XXXX

An Eldridge Pope Huntsman brand Strong Old Ale featuring a drawing of a monocled huntsman holding a glass of beer.
Just for a bit of variety, here's a recipe that isn't from William Younger. That must be a relief. And a nice strong beer, too.

Rather surprisingly, XXXX has a higher gravity than in 1897. It’s only by 1º, but it’s better than a decline.

Ther have been a couple of changes to the recipe, too. The flaked maize has been dropped. In its place there comes a small quantity of crystal malt. There’s also be a change in the type of sugar, from No. 2 invert to No. 3. Which leaves the colour of this version far darker. Something which would have been very noticeable, had it happened in one go. Which I doubt is how it went.

There were four types of hops, three English, two from the 1909 harvest and one from 1910. As well as Oregon hops from 1909.

This looks very much like a candidate for ageing, given the reasonably high gravity and the heavy hopping. My guess would be for at least a year. 

1911 Eldridge Pope XXXX
pale malt 14.00 lb 85.50%
crystal malt 60 L 0.75 lb 4.58%
No. 3 invert sugar 1.625 lb 9.92%
Cluster 125 mins 1.75 oz
Fuggles 90 mins 1.75 oz
Fuggles 60 mins 1.75 oz
Fuggles 30 mins 1.75 oz
OG 1076
FG 1024
ABV 6.88
Apparent attenuation 68.42%
IBU 86
SRM 15
Mash at 153º F
Sparge at 170º F
Boil time 125 minutes
pitching temp 60º F
Yeast White Labs WLP099 Super High Gravity

 

 

Tuesday, 29 July 2025

William Younger (Holyrood) processes in 1884

A MY Scotch Lager label with a tartan background and drawings of a hand holding up a globe and an old man with a long white beard wearing a top hat and holding a glass of beer. There's the text "Brewed and bottled in UK by Scottish Brewers Ltd Edinburgh Scotland".
We're now moving onto some of the processes at William Yoinger. Namely boiling and fermentation. Why not mashing? Because it's too difficult to record in my spreadsheet.

The boiling times are very consistent two hours for the first wort and 2.5 hours for the second. Except for some of the stronger beers, where it was 2.5 hours and 3 hours. Oh, and the Pils. But, in that case, it was because it was parti-gyled with XXX.

Is that particularly long? The boil that supposedly reduced the first wort to a syrup? Well, no. Long boils were common at the time. For example, in 1883, in Truman's Burton brewery, every wort was boiled for three hours. Between 1.5 and 2 hours was more common, but there were plenty that were longer. What's odd is that earlier in the century Younger's boil times were very short. Sometimes an hour or even less. It's only in the 1860s that they became longer.

All of the pitching temperatures are under 60º F. Which is a little on the cool side. Though that's probably explained by the reasonably high gravity of the beers. You'll see that, in general, the stronger the beer, the lower the pitching temperature. On average, the maximum temperature was around 12º F higher. Hitting somewhere in the low 70sº F. 

The exception, quite logically, being the Pils. Starting at just 42º F and only rising a couple of degrees. As this seemed to be brewed on their standard equipment, were they achieving this just with attemperators? I suppose it would be possible if the wort had been cooled to 42º F before being transferred to the fermenter.

Around a week was pretty typical for primary fermentation. Nothing unusual there. Obviously, the cool fermentation of the Pils took much longer.
 

William Younger (Holyrood) processes in 1884
Beer Style boil time (hours) Pitch temp max. fermen-tation temp length of fermen-tation (days)
S XP IPA 2 2.5 58.5º F 70º F 7
XP IPA 2 2.5 58.5º F 69º F 7
XXP IPA 2 2.5 58.5º F 70º F 6
XXX Mild 2.5 3 58.5º F 69º F 6
XXXX Mild 2.5 3 59º F 72º F 7
XXXX / 3 Mild 2 2.5 56º F 72º F 6
Ext Pale Ale 2 2.5 57º F 72º F 7
S Ext Pale Ale 2 2.5 59º F 69.5º F 7
PX Pils 2.5 3 42º F 45º F 16
1 Strong Ale 2 2.5 56º F 72.5º F 7
3 Strong Ale 2.5 3 57º F 73º F 7
Average   2.18 2.68 56.4º F 68.5º F 7.5
Source:
William Younger brewing record held at the Scottish Brewing Archive, document number WY/6/1/3/11.

 

Monday, 28 July 2025

UK Beer exports by continent in 1898

A Beverleys Export Pale Ale label featuring a drawing of an eagle about to take flight with the text "Beverley Bros Lyd Eagle Brewery Wakefield. Mimimum contents 6.33 fl. oz.".
Just one more post on this topic. An overview of UK exports by continent.

The three largest markets for UK beer were Europe, Asia and Australasia. The first makes sense, due to its proximity. Exports to Asia seems to have been mostly for the British military. But what about Australia? That didn't have a large number of British forces stationed there. It seems that it was mostly consumed by ordinary Australian residents. Though that would change after Confederation in 1901, when import duties were imposed on UK beer to encourage local production.

There's a big variation in the value of the beer exported to the different continents. Ranging from a little under 60 shillings a barrel for the beer sent to Europe to over 85 shillings to that destined to North America. The logical conclusion would be that North America was getting stronger beer.

Equally varied is the percentage of exports that were Scottish. Two continents were well below the average of almost 17%. For Europe Scotland's share was a mere 8% and for Africa 15%. While for Asia it was a massive 56%. That's quite a difference. North America was also above average at around a third. Though that was boosted by the liking of Caribbean islands for Scottish beer. 

After WW I, the Scottish share of UK beer exports would increase, eventually hitting 50%. 

UK Beer exports by continent in 1898
Destination From England. From Scotland. From the U.K.    
  Quantity. Declared Value. Quantity. Declared Value. Quantity. Declared Value.    
  Barrels £ Barrels £ Barrels £ % Scottish shillings/barrel
Europe 128,433 382,924 11,115 33,368 139,550 416,338 7.96% 59.67
Africa 49,375 155,805 8,603 32,286 57,978 188,031 14.84% 64.86
Asia 44,949 142,769 57,226 168,548 102,175 311,317 56.01% 60.94
Australasia 75,196 304,730 25,841 101,289 101,639 406,022 25.42% 79.89
North America 35,847 151,076 19,739 75,992 58,788 251,348 33.58% 85.51
South America 8,826 31,815 3,296 14,610 12,182 46,515 27.06% 76.37
Total 342,626 1,169,119 125,820 426,093 472,312 1,619,571 26.64% 68.58
Source:
The Brewers' Journal vol. 35 1899, June 15th 1899, page 344.
Note:
Year ending 30th September 1898.

 

 

Sunday, 27 July 2025

The Sale of Lager Beer

A Red Tower Lager Beer label featuring a drawing of a red tower and the text "Brewed at the Rotal Brewery Manchester England.".
Lager, it seems, was sold to pubs in a different manner to other beers. Essentially, falling outside the usual tied house structure.

For Lager wasn't supplied by the brewery owning the pub, but rather by third parties. This was very unusual and wouldn't have been tolerated for UK-style beers.

At the present moment, however, we propose to consider briefly one or two of the problems that will come before brewers should lager beer become in any way a popular beverage. Up to now the sale has been of such a limited description that bottled lager has been hawked about in much the same manner as aerated waters. The one or two lager beer brewers in the country — who cannot be said to altogether "flourish ” — have practically had a free hand in vending their wares. Their transport carts have called at each public-house on the route assigned, and have freely taken orders for and sold the required number of dozens of bottled lager. So long as the trade is limited and uncertain it has not been deemed worth while to make any particular arrangements in the matter, so that we have witnessed the curious anomaly of tied houses, bought in many eases at absurdly high prices, being supplied with a certain amount of bottled beer by alien firms. It is true that in some cases an arrangement has been made whereby a small percentage of the invoice price handed in by wholesale lager-beer vendors has been refunded to the firms owning houses where these sales are effected, but, as a matter of fact, this system has only been in operation in isolated cases as far as the great mass of country brewers is concerned, and the policy which directed this toleration may easily be defined.
The Brewers' Journal vol. 35 1899, March 15th 1899, page 126.

Because the trade in Lager was so small, brewers weren't really concerned about that niche being filled by specialist Lager brewers. And here was a simple reason why brewers wanted their pubs to have a supply of Lager.

Supposing half-a-dozen men stroll into a tavern for the purpose of refreshing themselves after their labours. Perhaps four or five will call for a pint or half-a-pint of beer apiece, whilst the odd man will demand a "lager.” If his beverage be not forthcoming, it is as likely as not that the whole batch would sulkily withdraw and leave the publican in the lurch. 
The Brewers' Journal vol. 35 1899, March 15th 1899, page 126.

This is definitely what is likely to happen when one of a group of drinkers wants a specific type of beer that can't be supplied by the pub. Something similar happened in my university years, when I wouldn't want to drink in a pub which didn't have cask beers. While, ironically, Lager drinkers weren't so fussy as every pub sold the sort of fizzy piss they liked.

Not caring about buying in Lager from other brewers was likely to change when larger brewers started to produce Lager themselves.

As long as the consumption of lager is confined to such narrow limits there is no doubt that brewers could afford to extend a slight indulgence to the lager brewers, but when it becomes a question of pushing this class of beer on the part of large and powerful British firms, the whole aspect of the question is materially altered. The prices that have been paid for licensed property during the past few years preclude any idea of laxity in the matter of whose beer is to be sold within premises owned by brewery companies, and we only voice the general opinion of the trade when we say that no ousting of custom in English beers in tied houses will be tolerated by the owners of these houses. If lager beer take any hold on the public the profits of its manufacture will have to be divided between the lager brewers and the owners of the houses where it is sold, and it is just as well that this fact should at once be recognised so as to avoid future misunderstandings.
The Brewers' Journal vol. 35 1899, March 15th 1899, page 126.

And that's exactly what happened. Brewers either brewed Lager themselves or had agreements with Lager brewers. Though it would be well after WW II when Lager moved from a niche to the mainstream. 

Saturday, 26 July 2025

Let's Brew - 1885 William Younger DBS Stout

A William Younger Extra Stout label featuring a drawing of a monk holding a tankard of beer.
In addition to the weird, sweet Stouts, Younger also had a more normal-looking Stout. DBS, which I
assume stands for Double Brown Stout. One that they had been brewing for longer., since at least 1851.

DBS is the same gravity as S1, but that’s about where the similarity ends. There’s no sugar in DBS and the proportion of black malt is lower. Which leaves the colour a bit paler.

The biggest difference, however, is in the hopping. Which is just 2 lbs per quarter (336 lbs) of malt. Compared to 16 lbs per quarter for DBS. That’s quite a difference. And one which would be pretty obvious to drinkers.

In addition to lots of hops as well as lots of different types of hops. Two types of Kent from the 1884 harvest, American from 1883 and 1884, Californian from 1884 and Spalt from 1884.

This is definitely a beer for ageing. My guess is at least 12 months and possible as much as 24 months. 

1885 William Younger DBS Stout
pale malt 16.00 lb 92.75%
black malt 1.25 lb 7.25%
Cluster 120 min 4.00 oz
Cluster 60 min 2.50 oz
Spalt 60 min 1.50 oz
Fuggles 30 min 4.00 oz
Goldings dry hops 1.50 oz
OG 1073
FG 1025
ABV 6.35
Apparent attenuation 65.75%
IBU 182
SRM 34
Mash at 155º F
Sparge at 163º F
Boil time 120 minutes
pitching temp 58º F
Yeast WLP028 Edinburgh Ale

 

 

Friday, 25 July 2025

William Younger (Abbey) hops in 1885

A William Younger Old Scotch Stout label featuring a six-pointed star and the text "Wm. Younger & Co. Ltd Edinburgh Scotland" and "Estd 1749".
Time to look at the hops at William Younger's other brewery. How different are they from the ones at Holyrood?

The most obvious is that there are far fewer East Kent hops. Which makes sense as there are far fewer Pale Ales being brewed at the Abbey brewery. On the other hand, there are a lot more Kent hops. I'm sure that these difference are mostly due to the types of beer being brewed. Most of which - for example Shilling Ales and Mild Ales - aren't particularly hop-accented.

There's also another source. In addition to US, German and English hops, there are also a few from Bohemia. Which I assume were Saaz or something similar.

Just shy of half the hops were from the USA. Which isn't unusual for the period. The UK imported massive quantities of American hops. Simply because they were very economical to use, being not only relatively cheap, but also high in alpha acid. Though most brewers weren't very keen on their flavour.

There were almost as many German hops as English hops. In this case, from Württemberg and Spalt. They certainly liked their German hops at Younger. 

Only a couple of types of hops in S1 and S2. Though those aren't totally typical brews, as they used all fresh hops. Most brews contained some, or all, reused hops from other brews. Which meant that they could have large numbers of different types, depending on where the spent hops came from.

William Younger (Abbey) hops in 1885
Beer Style hop 1 hop 2 hop 3 hop 3 hop 5 hop 6
T Table Beer Kent 1884 Kent 1885 Calif. 1884 Würt. 1884 US 1884 US 1885
50/- Ale Kent 1884 Calif.1884 Würt. 1884 Spalt 1884 US 1884
S 50/- Ale Kent 1884          
B 50/- Ale Kent 1884 Spalt 1884 US 1884      
H 60/- Ale Kent 1884 Calif. 1884 Würt. 1884 Spalt 1884 US 1884  
60/- Ale Kent 1884 Calif. 1884 Würt. 1884 Spalt 1884 US 1884  
80/- Ale Kent 1884 Kent 1885 Calif. 1884 Würt. 1884 US 1884 US 1885
100/- Ale Kent 1884 Calif. 1884 Würt. 1884 Spalt 1884 US 1884  
120/- Ale Kent 1884 Calif. 1884 Würt. 1884 Spalt 1884 US 1884  
140/- Ale Kent 1884 Calif. 1884 Bohemian 1885 US 1885 US 1884  
160/- Ale Kent 1884 Calif. 1884 Bohemian 1885 US 1885 US 1884  
X Mild Kent 1884 Calif. 1884 Würt. 1884 Spalt 1884 US 1884  
XX Mild Kent 1884 Calif. 1884 Würt. 1884 Spalt 1884 US 1884  
XXX Mild Kent 1884 Calif. 1884 Würt. 1885, US 1885 US 1884 Kent 1885
XXXX Stock Ale Kent 1884 Calif. 1884 Kent 1884 Spalt 1884 US 1884  
P Pale Ale Kent 1884 Calif. 1884 Würt. 1884 Spalt 1884 US 1884  
XP IPA Kent 1884 Calif. 1884 Würt. 1884 Spalt 1884 US 1884  
XP Scotch Pale Ale Kent 1884 Kent 1885 Calif. 1884 Würt. 1884 US 1884 US 1885
DBS Stout Kent 1884 Calif. 1884 Kent 1884 Spalt 1884 US 1884 US 1883
S1 Stout US 1883 EK 1883        
S2 Stout Spalt 1884 US 1883        
1 Strong Ale Kent 1884 Calif. 1884 US 1885 US 1884 Kent 1885  
2 Strong Ale Kent 1884 Würt. 1885 US 1884 US 1885    
3 Strong Ale Kent 1884 Bohemian 1885 US 1885 US 1884    
3 pale Strong Ale Kent 1884 Kent 1885 Würt. 1884 US 1884    
Source:
William Younger brewing record held at the Scottish Brewing Archive, document number WY/6/1/2/31.

 

Thursday, 24 July 2025

UK Beer exports to South America in 1898

A Barclay Perkins Export Brown Stout label with a drawing of an anchor and the text "Specially bottled by Barclay Perkins & Co. Ltd.", "This label is issued by Barclay Perkins & Co. Limited" and "Brewers, London."
The final post in this series looks at the UK's smallest export market: South America. There's a simple reason it took so little British beer. There was only one part, with a very small population, ruled by the British.

Yet Guyana still manages to be number two in the quantity of UK beer taken. Beaten only by Brazil. It may seem odd that Guyana took so much beer from Scotland. But it makes sense, when you think that it was culturally part of the Caribbean. Where Scottish beer was very popular. As we saw in an earlier post. The rest of South America only imported 251 barrels combined.

The countries on the East Coast of the continent - Chile, Peru and Ecuador - took bugger all UK beer. Not really surprising, given how mush trouble it was to get there by sea. All of them were importing less than the Falkland Islands. Where almost no-one lived.

Only Brazil was a significant market for UK beer. Still not that much, really. But more than a third of the total for the whole continent. At a value of just under 69 shillings a barrel, it can't have been that strong.

I might have expected Argentina to be keener on British beer. But they only bought a little over 1,000 barrels. 

UK Beer exports to South America in 1898
Destination From England. From Scotland. From the U.K.
  Quantity. Declared Value. Quantity. Declared Value. Quantity. Declared Value.
  Barrels £ Barrels £ Barrels £
British Guiana 768 3,076 3,045 13,432 3,813 16,598
French Guiana 35 106 - - 35 106
Dutch Guiana 169 619 - - 169 619
Republic of Colombia 908 3,092 106 481 1,074 3,573
Venezuela 121 394 38 161 159 555
Ecuador 5 16 5 39 10 55
Peru 295 1,261 3 15 298 1,276
Chili 291 1,118 84 359 375 1,477
Brazil 4,460 15,305 14 118 4,474 15,423
Uruguay 114 407 1 5 115 412
Argentine Republic 1,156 4,719 - - 1,156 4,719
Paraguay 8 23   - 8 23
Falkland Islands 496 1,679 - - 496 1,679
Total 8,826 31,815 3,296 14,610 12,182 46,515
Source:
The Brewers' Journal vol. 35 1899, June 15th 1899, page 344.
Note:
Year ending 30th September 1898.

 

Wednesday, 23 July 2025

Let's Brew Wednesday - 1885 William Younger S1 Stout

A William Younger XXX Stout label featuring a six-pointed star the text "Brewed expressly for export", "Estab. 1749", "Brewers Edinburgh" and the signature "Wm. Younger".
Continuing with the Younger's festival, here’s the stronger version of Sweet Stout, S1. Which has a more typical Stout gravity. But is still very sweet.

The degree of attenuation is even worse than for S2, at a good bit below 50%. All those residual sugars, along with the light hopping, must have resulted in a very sweet beer. I assume it must have been sold pretty soon after racking, as with all that sugar it can’t have been very stable.

Which leads onto the question: was this a draught or bottled beer? It was mostly racked into barrels and kilderkins, which implies to me that it was going to be sold on draught. But I could be wrong.

The grist is a bit more complicated than for S2. With a small percentage of glucose. And rather more black malt. Leaving the colour extremely dark.

The hops were the same as in S2: American from the 1884 and 1885 harvests, Kent from 1884 and Bohemian from 1885.

Definitely no ageing for this Stout. 

1885 William Younger S1 Stout
pale malt 14.50 lb 85.29%
black malt 1.75 lb 10.29%
glucose 0.75 lb 4.41%
Cluster 120 min 0.50 oz
Cluster 60 min 0.50 oz
Fuggles 30 min 0.25 oz
Saaz 30 min 0.25 oz
OG 1073
FG 1041
ABV 4.23
Apparent attenuation 43.84%
IBU 22
SRM 42
Mash at 151º F
Sparge at 163º F
Boil time 120 minutes
pitching temp 57º F
Yeast WLP028 Edinburgh Ale

 

 

Tuesday, 22 July 2025

William Younger (Holyrood) hops in 1884

A William Younger 90/- Sparkling Ale label featuring a six-pointed star and the text "Bottled by the brewers".
As promised, a look at William Younger's hops. Which are far more varied than the malts they used.

Everyone knows that hops didn't grow in Scotland. Which is why they hardly used any (joke). No, it's really why they imported them from all over. Just as English breweries had to in the second half of the 19th century when the English hop-growing industry couldn't keep up with brewers' needs.

There were three sources of the hops: USA, Germany and Kent. Of the 53 hops in the table, 21 were from the USA, 17 from Germany and 15 from Kent. So the majority were from outside the UK.

Most of the hops were pretty fresh, coming from either the 1883 or 1884 season. Only a couple were from 1882, and they were the oldest hops. As most of the beers were Pale Ales or Strong Ales, that shouldn't really come as any surprise.

Lots of different hops in most of the beers: between five and seven. The only exception being the Pilsner and XXX. Which have a single type of Württemberg hops. Not so odd in the case of the Pils. But why the XXX? Simple. The two beers were parti-gyled together.

Moving onto the dry hops, I don't have the details for every beer. All of the beers, other than the Pils, were dry hopped. There were three types" American, East Kent and Württemberg. With the last being the most common.

I'm quite surprised that so many were from America. As UK brewers were, to say the least, not keen on the flavour of American hops. Other than a couple from the 1883 harvest, all the hops were from 1884. So pretty fresh.

William Younger (Holyrood) hops in 1884
Beer Style hop 1 hop 2 hop 3 hop 3 hop 5 hop 6 hop 7
S XP IPA Kent 1884 US 1884 US 1883 Hallertau 1884 Spalt 1883    
XP IPA Kent 1884 EK 1883 Calif. 1883 US 1884 US 1883 Spalt 1884 Spalt 1883
XXP IPA Kent 1884 EK 1883 Calif. 1883 US 1884 US 1883 Spalt 1884 Spalt 1883
XXX Mild Würt. 1883            
XXXX Mild MK 1883 US 1882 Würt. 1883 US 1883 EK 1883    
XXXX / 3 Mild Kent 1884 EK 1883 Calif. 1883 US 1884 US 1883 Spalt 1884 Spalt 1883
Ext Pale Ale Kent 1884 EK 1883 US 1884 US 1883 Spalt 1884 Spalt 1883  
S Ext Pale Ale Calif.  1883 US 1882 Würt. 1883 US 1883 EK 1883    
PX Pils Würt. 1883            
1 Strong Ale Kent 1884 EK 1883 Calif. 1883 US 1884 Würt. 1883 Spalt 1884  
3 Strong Ale Kent 1883 Calif. 1883 Würt. 1883 US 1883      
Source:
William Younger brewing record held at the Scottish Brewing Archive, document number WY/6/1/3/11.

 

William Younger (Holyrood) dry hops in 1884
Beer Style hop 1 hop 2 hop 3
S XP IPA EK 1884 Württemberg 1884 American 1884
XP IPA EK 1884 Württemberg 1884 American 1884
XXP IPA EK 1884 Württemberg 1884  
XXXX / 3 Mild EK 1884 Württemberg 1884 American 1884
Ext Pale Ale EK 1884 Württemberg 1884  
S Ext Pale Ale American 1883 Württemberg 1883  
1 Strong Ale EK 1884 Württemberg 1884 American 1884
Source:
William Younger brewing record held at the Scottish Brewing Archive, document number WY/6/1/3/11.