Boddington beers in 1901

Let’s take a look at the beers Boddington was brewing at the turn of the 20th century.

There were ten of them, in all. Ranging from Table Ale to Strong Ale.

Beginning at the bottom, the Table Ale has a pretty decent gravity for the style at just a little short of 1040º. And a very decent rate of attenuation leaves it well over 4% ABV. It wasn’t brewed in huge quantities and I’m guessing was mostly aimed at the home trade rather than pubs.

Moving on, we come to a whole clutch of Mild Ales. A full set, from X through to XXXX. Something which was becoming less common, as many brewers concentrated on just one or two examples of the style. Despite its continued huge popularity.

X, the weakest of the set is a bit weaker than an equivalent London beer, which would have had an OG of around 1050º. About the same as Boddington’s XX. While XXX and XXXX are stronger than any London-brewed Mild of the period.

The attenuation of all the Mild Ales is a little on the low side. I assume that this was deliberate, in order to leave some body and residual sweetness.

A hopping rate of around 5.75 lbs per quarter (336 lbs) of malt is a bit lower than in London. But not much. And still enough to leave a decent amount of bitterness.

There were only two Pale Ales. Fewer than found in may Southern breweries. Especially those in Kent. Where Fremlin produced no fewer than eight.

The AK looks about bang on for the style. Though Manchester was quite a long way north for the type. Here, it seems to be playing the role of Ordinary Bitter. Despite being brewed in smaller quantities than the stronger IPA.

As you would expect, the hopping rate is greater than in the Mild Ales, at 8 lbs per quarter of malt. Not crazy heavy for a Pale Ale of the time.

Now we come to the only one of these beers that still exists: IPA. Because this is the beer that we all know as Boddington’s Bitter. Even in the 1980s, the brewhouse name was still IP.

It’s a bit too weak to be a full-strength Stock Pale Ale. And I doubt that it received much in the way of ageing. At almost 10 lbs of hops per quarter, it’s the most heavily hopped of Boddington’s beers.

What can I say about the two Stouts? Well, the weaker of the two looks very much like a London Porter. To be honest, I’m surprised that Boddington produced two Stouts.  I imagine the weaker one was probably sold in bottles as Nourishing Stout, or something similar.

The hopping of both Stouts is pretty low. Very similar to the Mild Ales. While in London, Black Beers were hopped at around 8 lbs per quarter.

Finally, we have BB, the Strong Ale. Though, very confusingly, a few years later the name BB would be used for a Mild Ale. It’s a decent strength and reasonably heavily hopped. It wouldn’t surprise if it was aged a year or more before sale.
 

Boddington beers in 1901
Beer	Style	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	lbs hops/ qtr	hops lb/brl
TA	Table Ale	1038	1006	4.23	84.21%	5.83	0.86
X	Mild	1045.5	1012.0	4.43	73.63%	5.62	1.03
XX	Mild	1051.5	1014	4.96	72.82%	5.67	1.18
XXX	Mild	1059	1018	5.42	69.49%	5.66	1.33
XXXX	Mild	1068	1022	6.09	67.65%	5.91	1.66
AK	Pale Ale	1046	1012	4.50	73.91%	8.00	1.50
IPA	IPA	1054	1015	5.16	72.22%	9.71	2.10
S	Stout	1051	1015	4.76	70.59%	5.50	1.16
DS	Stout	1067.5	1023	5.89	65.93%	5.38	1.56
BB	Strong Ale	1086	1030	7.41	65.12%	8.42	2.63
Source:
Boddington brewing record held at Manchester Central Library, document number M693/405/125.