tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5445569787371915337.post1838469151963434796..comments2024-03-29T05:24:30.793-07:00Comments on Shut up about Barclay Perkins: Are you a Stalinist or a Trotskyist?Ron Pattinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03095189986589865751noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5445569787371915337.post-7785654210305742602008-12-06T14:04:00.000-08:002008-12-06T14:04:00.000-08:00According to the table, for the years shown betwee...According to the table, for the years shown between 1805 and 1856, the brown malt in the mash declined. Correlatively, the hop rate increased in this period except for the last year (although the decrease in hop rate in that year is relatively minimal).<BR/><BR/>Thereafter, the picture changes and the "pattern" is broken, for which there could be many reasons -or maybe there is no pattern.<BR/><BR/>I'd like to suggest, though, a reason for the inverse relationship between brown malt usage and hop rate in the period mentioned.<BR/><BR/>In Byrn's 1852 Complete Practical Brewer, he states that the substitution earlier in the century of pale malt for a good part of the brown malt in a porter grist caused a problem in that the "bitterness" which he states was characteristic of porter produced by brown malt was lessened due to the increased use of pale malt in the mash bill. He states that brewers, to restore the lost bitterness, resorted to use of burnt sugar, quassia, "even oppium" (!). Oddly to my mind, Byrn does not state that adding more hops would remedy this default - a seemingly obvious solution. Maybe he felt that the smoky bitter tang of brown malt was not something that hop resins could duplicate. <BR/><BR/>Still, I find it interesting that for some considerable time in the 1800's, as brown malt went down in the mash bill, hops went up. Perhaps this was done to restore the bitter edge porter lost with the reduced usage of brown malt. <BR/><BR/>GaryAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5445569787371915337.post-21024604232555914052007-07-25T13:14:00.000-07:002007-07-25T13:14:00.000-07:00Russ,thanks for pointing out the failings of the A...Russ,<BR/><BR/>thanks for pointing out the failings of the Amercian brewing scene. I think you're being a little harsh, personally.Ron Pattinsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03095189986589865751noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5445569787371915337.post-28664767381583881022007-07-25T13:09:00.000-07:002007-07-25T13:09:00.000-07:00This comment has been removed by the author.Ron Pattinsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03095189986589865751noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5445569787371915337.post-53537735150228975152007-07-25T12:15:00.000-07:002007-07-25T12:15:00.000-07:00Yeah, I'd hate to see the UK follow the slippery s...Yeah, I'd hate to see the UK follow the slippery slope of US style guidelines. After all, that's why you don't see any imaginative, creative or innovative craft beers coming out of the United States.Chibehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00255790557381362058noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5445569787371915337.post-50693402598050524762007-07-25T05:49:00.000-07:002007-07-25T05:49:00.000-07:00Ron, I don't think we will go down that route over...Ron, I don't think we will go down that route over here. If you look at the ranges offered by most breweries, they really don't go for a standardised line-up - and I think that's what an overemphasis on style categories would produce. Their ranges tend to be very idiosyncratic.<BR/><BR/>Much as I like their beers, Sierra Nevada seems to be the ultimate manifestation of "style-conscious" brewing. They just produce a middle-of-the-road version of each of a set number of rigidly defined categories.<BR/><BR/>I note, by the way, that in his book <I>Beer</I>, Michael Jackson counts "fidelity to style" as a criteria on which to judge a beer. Not something I agree with.<BR/><BR/>Belgian and British brewers prove their worth by not worrying about all that tosh.Stonchhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15927490011165896353noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5445569787371915337.post-80671408927724629812007-07-25T04:05:00.000-07:002007-07-25T04:05:00.000-07:00I hope the UK doesn't go down the same route as th...I hope the UK doesn't go down the same route as the US. Perhaps the creation of a "Golden Ale" category is just a start. It's a slippery slope.Ron Pattinsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03095189986589865751noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5445569787371915337.post-48244484599773282482007-07-24T16:46:00.000-07:002007-07-24T16:46:00.000-07:00Brilliant post!My favourite yet!Brilliant post!<BR/><BR/>My favourite yet!Stonchhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15927490011165896353noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5445569787371915337.post-20153476878968370002007-07-24T15:29:00.000-07:002007-07-24T15:29:00.000-07:00Watch out for the icepicks, Ron ...The ludicrousne...Watch out for the icepicks, Ron ...<BR/><BR/>The ludicrousness of overprescriptive beer style descriptions is nowhere better shown than in the development in the UK of Golden Ale and how Camra eventually had to take beers such as Summer Lightning out of the "best bitter" category where they had been stuck because they didn't know what to do with them, and give them a Champion Beer of Britain slot of their own, because Golden Ales kept winning the Best Bitter section all the time ...Terryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01703548364118364764noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5445569787371915337.post-19021625924592022862007-07-24T14:38:00.000-07:002007-07-24T14:38:00.000-07:00I hadn't noticed the scrapbooks. They sound intere...I hadn't noticed the scrapbooks. They sound interesting. I was hypnotised by the brewing logs:<BR/><BR/>http://www.europeanbeerguide.net/beerale.htm#griffingrist<BR/><BR/>Wonderful things archives. Very neglected, sadly.<BR/><BR/>What a lost opportunity when I lived in London. I never realised what a treasure trove the archives were.Ron Pattinsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03095189986589865751noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5445569787371915337.post-89486245099370246092007-07-24T13:11:00.000-07:002007-07-24T13:11:00.000-07:00Interesting. The Westminster City Archive is just ...Interesting. The Westminster City Archive is just round the corner from where I work -- I go there a lot, just nosing around. I posted a while ago about an 80-odd volume set of scrapbooks compiled by a Victorian beer and pub obsessive. There's lots of that kind of thing.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5445569787371915337.post-63779511895003760172007-07-24T11:03:00.000-07:002007-07-24T11:03:00.000-07:00The London Metropolitan Archive is my main source....The London Metropolitan Archive is my main source. It's just of the Farringdon Road (conincidentally, just around the corner from the site of the Griffin Brewery, whose records are in the Westminster City Archive).<BR/><BR/>If you live in London, you're very lucky (in the beer research sense, not quality of life).Ron Pattinsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03095189986589865751noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5445569787371915337.post-82934912895512057242007-07-24T10:54:00.000-07:002007-07-24T10:54:00.000-07:00Fascinating figures, these. As used by the Pitfiel...Fascinating figures, these. As used by the Pitfield Brewery for their "historical" porters/stouts..? You've probably already mentioned this elsewhere, but which archive in London are you using?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com