Continuing my series on UK Lager, I look at the 1970s, the decade Lager really broke through.
Continuing my series on UK Lager, I look at the 1970s, the decade Lager really broke through.
Just back from a few days in Folkestone. As part of my annual trip with Mikey.
"But weren't you just in Peru?" I hear you ask? Yes. I arrived back on Tuesday afternoon and on Thursday morning headed off in Mikey's car. A short turnaround, I know. But one that didn't work too badly. All I had to do was sit in the car until we got to the UK. Not exactly challenging.
I won't go into the trip blow-by-blow. As we didn't do anything particularly interesting. Mostly, we were just hanging around in 'Spoons or the chippy. Those two pillars of UK culture.
The most shocking event was on Thursday, when the East Kent Arms closed at 20:30. What the fuck? When does a pub close that early?
I didn't realise how big Halloween was in the UK. Loads of people in fancy dress on Saturday night. We met some rather nice young people in 'Spoons who were all dressed up. They were wondering where the drinks they'd ordered were. Before twigging that they'd ordered them for the right table number, but in a different 'Spoons. One in Southampton, where one of them is studying. I'm surethat it must happen quite frequently.
You probably want to know about the beer that I drank. I hand a couple of really nice pints of Tim Taylor Landlord in the Pullman. Some OK and some Dodgy Greene King Abbot in 'Spoons. A pint of Wobbly Bob in "Spoons that was just about OK. And that was about it.
Because even fewer pubs seem to be serving cask in Folkestone. Chambers, the cask specialist, has closed. Which had a big impact on choice. I ended up drinking espresso martinis in 'Spoons when the Abbot was tasting weird.
I had two chippy meals: fish, chips and peas; pie and peas. Really good stuff. Even the peas, which are often shit in the South.
We had some rather nice Vietnamese food, too. Accompanied by a Saigon beer. Allowing me and Mikey to reminisce about our time in Saigon earlier in the year.
I'll be back to Peru trip reports tomorrow. Luckily, I took extensive notes.
On 21st November at 12:00 in the Butcher's Tears shop on Witte de Witstraat I'll be celebrating reaching my 8th decade.
There should be three historic beers to try: 1955 Lees Best Mild, 1956 Lees Strong Ale and 1832 Truman XXXX.
Everyon is welcome to come along. Just remember to bring me a present.
It's a pretty early start. My flight is at 9:55 and I don't want to rush at the airport. I’ll get in some lounge time, too. I wake just after six with Dolores wishing me happy birthday.
I don't bother with breakfast. I can get that in the lounge. I order an Uber at 7:00. It takes a little while to come.
The motorway isn't too bad. But there's a long queue in the approach to the drop-off point at Schiphol. We wait more than 5 minutes there.
I pick the wrong check-in desk and have to wait a while as someone makes weird inquiries about a wheelchair. It’s a woman in her early twenties who seems perfectly mobile.
Security is always a doddle with priority. And the queue isn't too bad for passport control. I'm through in 10 minutes and headed for the duty free. Where I get a Jura white oak cask. That being the cheapest single malt.
The lounge is reasonably crowded. But I can still find a table. First destination is the bar for my habitual brace of whiskies. Both doubles. They seem to have changed their policy on doubles. Which is cool.
Next stop is the hot food counter. I'm here at the best time: breakfast. I get an omelette, scrambled egg, mushrooms and two rostis. I know they’re dead good.
I don't have a huge amount of lounge time. About 40 minutes. I need to make the best of it. Which means another three rostis and two more whiskies.
I head to the gate about an hour before departure time. I know it's going to take about 15 minutes to walk there. My flight is at D47: about as far from the lounge as you can get.
Zone 1 starts boarding just about when I arrive. I only need to wait a couple of minutes before it’s my turn.
The flight is pretty full. Despite that boarding is completed in plenty of time. It's just the 10-minute taxi to the polderbaan that delays us.
I get stuck into the films straight away. Starting with The Incredibles 2. Which is pretty good.
I actually finish all the first meal: chicken, green beans and spuds. Along with a red wine, of course.
Next is a long German film with a weird title. I don't bother with English subtitles and can understand it perfectly well. Othe than a brief appearance by someone with a thick Bavarian accent.
About halfway, we're served a sandwich. A not particularly inspiring one. With which I drink a red wine.
My Daughter is a Zombie is a Korean film. For which I do need subtitles. It's not bad. And a change from all the American films. Like The Proposal, which is so fucking predictable. I finish with sitcom The Mick. Which is just about OK.
The last meal is a small pizza. I manage two bites. It isn't very appetising. I only finish the chocolate pudding.
We land about on time. Immigration is quick, as I join the oldie people queue. As always in South America, oldies like me get priority. I pick up my bag and head landside. Where I check in my bag again. So much fun.
Joining the priority queue, there's no waiting at security. And soon I'm airside again.
I have to wait a while before the gate is announced for my flight. I sit in a large food court area. First having bought few miniatures of pisco and a bottle of cola. Which I combine into one of my “special” drinks. Which I proceed to drink. What else would you do with a drink? Especially a “special” one.
When my gate is announced, I troll out there. It's C17. Also, about as far away as you can get. All the seats are taken when I get there. I have to stand around for a while. Before boarding first with my oldie advantage.
Not much to report about the flight. It lasts just an hour. And there's no drinks service.
My bag comes out almost as soon as I get to the carousel. In a jiffy, I'm outside and wondering where my lift is. I message Silvia and she arranges an Uber for me.
The only problem now is working out where the pickup point is. A helpful traffic policeman finds my Uber for me. And off I go.
The ride is so bouncy, that I think the road is cobbled. It isn't.
I'm not taken to the hotel but the location of the judges' reception. Well, not exactly to it. I'm dropped on a square and the driver tells me "It's over there." Pointing vaguely at a restaurant. I message Silvia and she comes to fetch me. The actual location is just around the corner.
Lots of judges are there. Several whom I met in Medellin a couple of weeks ago. a pisco sour is thrust into my hand. And everyone sings Happy Birthday, which is slightly embarrassing.
After another pisco sour, I get an Uber to the hotel with a Columbian judge.
I'm happy to be in my room. It's 22:00. I left home 21 hours go.
After a little Jura and some internet fiddling, I get my head down.
Not much in the way of aroma. Mostly just metallic. With a touch of oxidation. It's very full in the mouth, Some dark fruit flavours and liquorice. It finished bitterweet. Very nice. I think the extra alcohol helps.
I saved the Brand until last because I expected it to be the best. And I was right. A pretty decent beer, full of malty goodness.
This will have been brewed at one of Heineken's breweries, as the Brand plant has closed. Sadly. They brewed some fairly decent Lagers.
Hopefully I can find some more Bokbiers. Especially Amstel Bok.
A couple of times in the past I attempted to blind taste all a seasons's Bokbiers. What fun that was. Well, not really, given how horrible some of them were. I doubt I'll ever attempt that again.
It being the season, I trolled down my Local Dirk van den Broek to pick up a few examples. A bit of a disappointing selection. Only five. Three of them from Grolsch. One from Heineken and one from AB Inbev. All beers from global brewers, then.
I'm kicking off with Grolsch Herfstbok, their original Bokbier. I don't have high hopes for this. I wouldn't usually buy it, because it's way too sweet. Or at least has been all the times I've tasted it in the past.
Here I go. It smells a bit oxidised, if I put my beer-judging hat on. A bit of fruit, too, which is OK. Very sweet in the mouth. Some dark fruit flavours and even a touch of liquorice. It finishes a bit harshly bitter and with an odd metallic taste. It has some good features, in a rather disjointed whole. Not my thing. And the finish is quite unpleasant.
While Dolores finishes off the Hefstbok, I've moved on to another Grolsh offering, Winterbok.
It smells very differnt from its sibling. Spicy. No surprise, as it is spiced. Cinnamon, I think, dominates. Mmm. Lots of cloves in the mouth and lots of herbal bitterness. Unlike Herfstbok, there's not much sweetness. I like it more than Herfstbok. ThoughI suspect that all the spices would get annoying after a glass or two.
I may as well get on with the third Gulpener beer, Dunkel Weizenbock. Which, interestingly, has the name of the beer in German.
Spicy aroma. Mostly cloves, which I suppose is from the wheat beer yeast. Quite wheaty in the mouthg with more spice. Easily the best of the three. And one I don't think they brewed themselves. I seem to remember that their Weizen was brewed somewhere in Germany.
That's enough Bokbier for today. Time for some whisky.
| Youngs boiling and fermentation in 1945 | ||||||
| Beer | Style | boil time (hours) | Pitch temp | max. ferment-ation temp | length of fermen-tation (days) | |
| A | Mild | 1.5 | 1.5 | 59º F | 66.75º F | 6 |
| X | Mild | 1.5 | 1.5 | 58º F | 66.5º F | 7 |
| PA | Pale Ale | 1.75 | 1.75 | 58º F | 68º F | 7 |
| PAB | Pale Ale | 1.75 | 1.75 | 59º F | 67.25º F | 7 |
| Average | 1.63 | 1.63 | 58.50º F | 67.13º F | 6.75 | |
| Sources: | ||||||
| Young's brewing records held at Battersea Library, document numbers YO/RE/1/13. | ||||||
| 1910 Lees Bitter | ||
| pale malt | 9.75 lb | 82.42% |
| flaked maize | 0.33 lb | 2.79% |
| No. 2 invert sugar | 1.75 lb | 14.79% |
| Fuggles 125 min | 1.25 oz | |
| Fuggles 60 min | 1.25 oz | |
| Hallertau 30 min | 1.25 oz | |
| Cluster dry hops | 0.125 oz | |
| OG | 1055 | |
| FG | 1016 | |
| ABV | 5.16 | |
| Apparent attenuation | 70.91% | |
| IBU | 44 | |
| SRM | 8 | |
| Mash at | 153º F | |
| Sparge at | 166º F | |
| Boil time | 125 minutes | |
| pitching temp | 61º F | |
| Yeast | Wyeast 1318 London ale III (Boddingtons) | |
Every time I go on a trip, I have to queue up nine or ten blog posts. I'm writing this almost two weeks in advance. One of seven posts that I've written today. I can be very diligent when I need to be. Tomorrow I'll be recording a few videos to tide my YouTube channel over while I'm away. How did I ever fit in a full-time job?
Anyway, time to get on with the actual post. All eight sentence of it. Enjoy.
Continuing with the hops, there’s not a huge amount to report.
Just the two types of hops in every beer. Both English, of course. Kent from the 1943 harvest and Sussex from 1944. Fairly fresh, then. Pretty much the same as in earlier war years. And that’s about all I can string out of this meagre information. Sorry about that.
| Youngs hops in 1945 | |||
| Beer | Style | hop 1 | hop 2 |
| A | Mild | Kent 1943 | Sussex 1944 |
| X | Mild | Kent 1943 | Sussex 1944 |
| PA | Pale Ale | Kent 1943 | Sussex 1944 |
| PAB | Pale Ale | Kent 1943 | Sussex 1944 |
| Sources: | |||
| Young's brewing records held at Battersea Library, document numbers YO/RE/1/13. | |||
| 1910 Lees XXXP | ||
| pale malt | 6.50 lb | 50.98% |
| brown malt | 1.75 lb | 13.73% |
| crystal malt 60 L | 1.75 lb | 13.73% |
| black malt | 1.25 lb | 9.80% |
| flaked maize | 0.25 lb | 1.96% |
| No. 2 invert sugar | 1.250 lb | 9.80% |
| Fuggles 120 min | 0.75 oz | |
| Fuggles 60 min | 0.50 oz | |
| Fuggles 30 min | 0.50 oz | |
| OG | 1059 | |
| FG | 1019 | |
| ABV | 5.29 | |
| Apparent attenuation | 67.80% | |
| IBU | 21 | |
| SRM | 47 | |
| Mash at | 152º F | |
| Sparge at | 168º F | |
| Boil time | 120 minutes | |
| pitching temp | 61º F | |
| Yeast | Wyeast 1318 London ale III (Boddingtons) | |
| Youngs adjuncts and sugars in 1945 | |||||||
| Beer | Style | flaked barley | malt extract | no. 1 sugar | no. 3 sugar | caramel | total sugar |
| A | Mild | 15.79% | 3.01% | 10.53% | 0.75% | 14.29% | |
| X | Mild | 15.91% | 3.79% | 9.09% | 0.76% | 13.64% | |
| PA | Pale Ale | 14.37% | 2.99% | 8.38% | 2.40% | 13.77% | |
| PAB | Pale Ale | 14.37% | 2.99% | 10.78% | 13.77% | ||
| Average | 15.11% | 13.87% | |||||
| Sources: | |||||||
| Young's brewing records held at Battersea Library, document numbers YO/RE/1/13. | |||||||
Just about done here in Peru. Been a great time. Met some really cool new people, reconnected with some old friends. Drank far too much pisco.
As I've already bored you with, one of the reasons I do all this crazy travelling (that's a quote from Dolores) is all the social aspects. In this trip didn't disappoint in that respect.
The high altitude that I feared didn't work out as bad as I feared. As long as I didn't walk up any hills or carry any weight. The alien landscapes, amazing food and lots of pisco more than made up for that.
I'm going to travel as long as I have those few last breaths in my body.
Can't write any longer. About to go out to drench my stomach in a few last pisco sours.
| Youngs malts in 1945 | ||||||
| Beer | Style | pale malt | mild malt | PA malt | crystal malt | total malt |
| A | Mild | 11.28% | 49.62% | 9.02% | 69.92% | |
| X | Mild | 11.36% | 50.00% | 9.09% | 70.45% | |
| PA | Pale Ale | 17.96% | 53.89% | 71.86% | ||
| PAB | Pale Ale | 17.96% | 53.89% | 71.86% | ||
| Average | 71.02% | |||||
| Sources: | ||||||
| Young's brewing records held at Battersea Library, document numbers YO/RE/1/13. | ||||||
| 1910 Lees K | ||
| pale malt | 8.25 lb | 79.29% |
| black malt | 0.03 lb | 0.29% |
| flaked maize | 1.00 lb | 9.61% |
| No. 2 invert sugar | 1.125 lb | 10.81% |
| Cluster 120 min | 0.50 oz | |
| Fuggles 60 min | 0.50 oz | |
| Fuggles 30 min | 0.50 oz | |
| OG | 1049 | |
| FG | 1010 | |
| ABV | 5.16 | |
| Apparent attenuation | 79.59% | |
| IBU | 22 | |
| SRM | 7 | |
| Mash at | 153º F | |
| Sparge at | 166º F | |
| Boil time | 120 minutes | |
| pitching temp | 61º F | |
| Yeast | Wyeast 1318 London ale III (Boddingtons) | |
| Youngs beers in 1945 | |||||||
| Beer | Style | OG | FG | ABV | App. Atten-uation | lbs hops/ qtr | hops lb/brl |
| A | Mild | 1026.9 | 1006.1 | 2.75 | 77.35% | 4.13 | 0.47 |
| X | Mild | 1028.9 | 1005.3 | 3.13 | 81.79% | 4.17 | 0.50 |
| PA | Pale Ale | 1042.8 | 1008.9 | 4.49 | 79.29% | 5.41 | 0.94 |
| PAB | Pale Ale | 1031.8 | 1008.3 | 3.11 | 73.87% | 5.41 | 0.71 |
| Sources: | |||||||
| Young's brewing records held at Battersea Library, document numbers YO/RE/1/13. | |||||||
| Youngs X Ale boiling and fermentation 1939 - 1945 | |||||||
| Date | Year | boil time (hours) | Pitch temp | max. fermen-tation temp | length of fermen-tation (days) | dropped after (hours) | |
| 18th Oct | 1939 | 1.75 | 1.75 | 60º F | 68º F | 8 | |
| 17th May | 1940 | 58º F | 63.25º F | 5 | |||
| 2nd Dec | 1940 | 1.75 | 1.75 | 58º F | 65.25º F | 8 | |
| 30th Apr | 1941 | 2 | 2 | 59º F | 66º F | 7 | |
| 6th May | 1941 | 2 | 2 | 58º F | 65.5º F | 8 | 37 |
| 24th Oct | 1941 | 1.75 | 1.75 | 58º F | 65.5º F | 7 | 38 |
| 4th May | 1942 | 1.75 | 1.75 | 58º F | 64.75º F | 7 | 37 |
| 8th Jul | 1942 | 2 | 2 | 58º F | 65.5º F | 6 | 41 |
| 19th Oct | 1942 | 2 | 2 | 58º F | 65º F | 8 | 41 |
| 5th May | 1943 | 2 | 2 | 58º F | 64º F | 7 | 36 |
| 28th Apr | 1944 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 58º F | 65º F | 5 | 40 |
| 5th May | 1944 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 58º F | 63.5º F | 6 | 37.5 |
| 20th Oct | 1944 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 58º F | 66º F | 7 | 41 |
| 2nd Jul | 1945 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 58º F | 66.75º F | 5 | 37.75 |
| 4th Jul | 1945 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 58º F | 67.25º F | 4 | 46 |
| Sources: | |||||||
| Young's brewing records held at Battersea Library, document numbers YO/RE/1/8 YO/RE/1/9 YO/RE/1/10, YO/RE/1/11, YO/RE/1/12, YO/RE/1/13 and YO/RE/1/14. | |||||||
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