What is Barley Wine?

Another little video, this time looking at the strongest type of English Beer, Barley Wine. And, of course, I mention Whitbread Gold Label, a minor obsession of mine. 

 

Let's Brew - 1960 Youngs XXXX Ale

It’s wonderful to see a post-war brewery making a full range of X Ales, from X all the way through to XXXX.

That’s all very well, but what was this beer sold as? It looks like a strong Burton Ale. Especially as it was parti-gyled with th3eir Mild Ale. Just like their standard Burton Ale, XXX. Given the strength, I’m guessing that this was a bottled beer. Was this later renamed Old Nick? Or was it already being sold as that?

Not a huge amount to discuss about the recipe. As it’s essentially the same all the other X Ales. This particular example being parti-gyled with X Ale.

The colour comes from a combination of sugar and quite a dark crystal malt. There are no roasted malts of any kind.

Guess what the hops were? One English type from the 1958 harvest and another from 1959. Exactly the same as in all the other beers. 

1960 Youngs XXXX Ale
mild malt	11.50 lb	67.65%
crystal malt 150 L	1.50 lb	8.82%
flaked maize	2.50 lb	14.71%
pale malt extract	0.50 lb	2.94%
No. 3 invert	0.75 lb	4.41%
caramel 500 SRM	0.25 lb	1.47%
Fuggles 120 min	1.75 oz
Goldings 30 min	1.75 oz
OG	1078
FG	1022
ABV	7.41
Apparent attenuation	71.79%
IBU	35
SRM	21
Mash at	152º F
Sparge at	170º F
Boil time	120 minutes
pitching temp	58º F
Yeast	WLP002 English Ale

 

Listen to brewer John Hatch explain how they brewed at Youngs in the 1990s.  

Let's Brew Wednesday - 1990 Youngs Old Nick

Strongest of Young’s regular beers was Old Nick. Another of the casualties of the move to Bedford. Though I’m not sure if it disappeared immediately. 

It was usually a bottled beer. Though it may have appeared in bulk form – cask or keg – as a special. I should ask John Hatch or Derek Prentice. They would know. The label calls it a Barley Wine. (Barley Wine Style Ale in the USA.)

It’s a post-WW II beer. Not sure when they started brewing it. I can’t find it in the 1`960 brewing book. Though there is a beer called XXXX with a gravity of 1077º. And dark in colour. That could possibly an earlier name. Or just the brew house name.

Getting back to this particular beer, the grist is pretty complicated. With four types of sugar. Though three of them – the glucose, molasses and caramel – were bought premixed as Young’s Special Mix. The crystal malt darker, 150 L, than indicated in the recipe. It’s just that BeerSmith doesn’t go any higher than 120 L.

There’s an awful lot of sugar. Almost 30% of the grist.  Most of it in the form of No. 3 invert. Not sure I’ve ever seen quite so much of it in a beer.

Two types of hops. Goldings and Fuggles seem a fair enough guess. Unlike for other beers, no late copper hops are listed. I’ve assumed that they were all added at the start of the boil. Which, at 60 minutes, was short for a beer of this gravity being brewed single-gyle. Maybe that’s why there’s so much sugar.

Unlike for the other beers from this set, I haven’t had to drastically increase the hopping rate to hit the IBUs listed in the brewing record. Only by 0.75 oz. 

1990 Youngs Old Nick
pale malt	10.50 lb	62.28%
crystal malt 120 L	0.75 lb	4.45%
torrefied barley	0.75 lb	4.45%
No. 3 invert sugar	3.50 lb	20.76%
glucose	1.00 lb	5.93%
molasses	0.33 lb	1.96%
caramel 2000 SRM	0.03 lb	0.18%
Fuggles 60 min	3.25 oz
Goldings 60 min	3.25 oz
OG	1088
FG	1032.5
ABV	7.34
Apparent attenuation	63.07%
IBU	61
SRM	26
Mash at	148º F
Sparge at	165º F
Boil time	60 minutes
pitching temp	59º F
Yeast	WLP002 English Ale

 

Listen to brewer John Hatch explain how they brewed at Youngs in the 1990s.  

Let's Brew Wednesday - 1975 Youngs Old Nick

Sometime between 1970 and 1975, Youngs dropped their Celebration Ale and replaced it with Old Nick. A pretty similar beer, except with a slightly higher gravity. Still being parti-gyled with Best Malt Ale, the grist remained much the same.

Which means that it’s mostly pale malt, with a touch of crystal malt and flaked maize. Like a typical Mild recipe, which is no surprise. As that’s what it is. The sugars are, again, a combination of Flosweet and DAS. But no CDM.

CDM does appear in the brewing record. But it was all added to the second copper. And Old Nick was 100% first wort, along with a little water to hit the right gravity.

Two types of English hops, as always. Without any indication of variety or harvest year. 

1975 Youngs Old Nick
pale malt	12.25 lb	68.06%
crystal malt 60 L	1.75 lb	9.72%
flaked maize	1.75 lb	9.72%
malt extract	0.50 lb	2.78%
No. 3 invert sugar	1.75 lb	9.72%
Fuggles 105 min	2.00 oz
Goldings 15 min	2.00 oz
OG	1084
FG	1024
ABV	7.94
Apparent attenuation	71.43%
IBU	32
SRM	18
Mash at	149º F
Sparge at	180º F
Boil time	105 minutes
pitching temp	59º F
Yeast	WLP002 English Ale

Let's Brew Wednesday - 1970 Youngs Celebration Ale

Parti-gyled with the Best Malt Ale I published a few days ago was this beer called CA in the brewing book. Which I’m guessing stands for Coronation Ale Celebration Ale, a renaming of Coronation Ale . Though it may not have been marketed as that. As it looks suspiciously like the Old Nick from 1975.

I’m fairly sure that this was an exclusively bottled beer. Though they may have filled up the odd pin for a special occasion. There wasn’t a great deal o fit brewed. This batch was just 30 barrels along with 279 barrels of Mild.

The finishing gravity is very high. Or at least the racking gravity is. It’s possible that there could have been further conditioning in tank before bottling. 

1970 Youngs Celebration Ale
pale malt	11.25 lb	66.18%
crystal malt 60 L	1.50 lb	8.82%
flaked maize	2.25 lb	13.24%
malt extract	0.50 lb	2.94%
No. 3 invert sugar	1.25 lb	7.35%
caramel 1000 SRM	0.25 lb	1.47%
Fuggles 120 min	2.00 oz
Goldings 15 min	1.75 oz
OG	1079
FG	1032
ABV	6.22
Apparent attenuation	59.49%
IBU	32
SRM	27
Mash at	149º F
Sparge at	170º F
Boil time	120 minutes
pitching temp	57.5º F
Yeast	WLP002 English Ale

Let's Brew - 1890 Adnams Tally Ho

Strongest in Adnams range remains Tally Ho. Not sure what they called it back then. In recent years, they’ve called it a Barley Wine. Not so sure they would have called it that in 1890. More likely Old Ale or even just Strong Ale.

Main difference with the 1879 recipe is the presence of something called “colour”. Which I’m taking to mean a caramel of some sort. A bit tricky to work out the quantity, as it’s listed in pints rather than pounds. Or to know exactly what shade it was. Guesses all around, then.

While we’re on the topic of guesses, the brewing records don’t include FG’s or boil times. Though, oddly, they do specify when a copper sample was taken. After two hours for this brew. Meaning the boil time must have been, at least, 120 minutes.

Three types of hops: Worcester, Kent and Burgundy. No real clue what variety the last might have been. I’ve gone with the only French-grown type I know. Could me miles off there. But, as the quantity is small and I’ve put it at the start of the boil, it will probably have a negligible effect on the flavour.

Returning to guesses, one to two years conditioning in oak is what I’d plump for. Along with Brettanomyces, obviously. 

1890 Adnams Tally Ho
pale malt	13.00 lb	76.11%
No. 2 invert sugar	4.00 lb	23.42%
caramel 1000 SRM	0.08 lb	0.47%
Fuggles 120 mins	3.75 oz
Strisslespalt 120 mins	1.25 oz
Goldings 30 mins	4.50 oz
OG	1086
FG	1024
ABV	8.2
Apparent attenuation	69.66%
IBU	88
SRM	18
Mash at	153º F
Sparge at	165º F
Boil time	120 minutes
pitching temp	57º F
Yeast	WLP025 Southwold

Barley Wine sugars 1970 - 1982

There are so many sugars that I’ve split them into two tables. This is pretty typical of UK brewing in the 1970s. With all types of specialist sugars still being in use.

Let’s start with the “normal” sugars. That is, ones where I know what the hell they are.

Starting with the most common: malt extract. This turns up a lot in 20th-century recipes. Usually in very small quantities. Presumably, for extra enzymes. Something brewers seemed to be particularly paranoid about. Perhaps because they no longer used malt made from North American barley, which contained more enzymes.

A dark sugar like No. 3 invert is no surprise in a dark beer like Tally Ho. More so, in Golden Pride. Again, I think, on account f the parti-gyling. Caramel only shows up in the two dark versions, other than a minute quantity in Stingo Gold.

Then we have glucose in Golden Pride and fructose in Tally Ho. Both there because, well, they were the sugars that the breweries used in general.

Having fun? Well, we haven’t finished the sugars yet. Now we have the ones for which I have no fucking clue.

Five of the beggars. None of them in multiple beers. CWA I at least know was an enzymatic syrup. Yet another attempt at boosting enzymes. Not really anything I can say about the rest. 

Barley Wine sugars 1970 - 1982
Year	Brewer	Beer	malt extract	no. 3 sugar	caramel	glucose	fructose
1977	Adnams	Tally Ho		6.29%	0.87%		3.15%
1971	Watney	Yorkshire Stingo	3.20%		0.50%
1981	Eldridge Pope	Hardy Ale
1982	Eldridge Pope	Goldie
1968	Fullers	Golden Pride	0.69%	2.31%		0.93%
1970	Higson	Stingo Gold	3.48%		0.04%
1971	Watney	Export Gold	3.00%
1973	Whitbread	Gold Label
Sources:
Adnams brewing record held at the brewery.
Eldridge Pope brewing record.
Fullers brewing record held at the brewery.
Boddington brewing record held at Manchester Central Library, document number M693/405/134.
Watney Man Quality Manual
Whitbread brewing record held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/09/141.
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/002.

Barley Wine proprietary sugars 1970 - 1982
Year	Brewer	Beer	PEX	CWA	DS	SLS	Fermax
1977	Adnams	Tally Ho
1971	Watney	Yorkshire Stingo					13.00%
1981	Eldridge Pope	Hardy Ale
1982	Eldridge Pope	Goldie
1968	Fullers	Golden Pride	1.62%
1970	Higson	Stingo Gold		3.48%	4.35%
1971	Watney	Export Gold					2.00%
1973	Whitbread	Gold Label				21.41%
Sources:
Adnams brewing record held at the brewery.
Eldridge Pope brewing record.
Fullers brewing record held at the brewery.
Boddington brewing record held at Manchester Central Library, document number M693/405/134.
Watney Man Quality Manual
Whitbread brewing record held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/09/141.
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/002.

Barley Wine grists 1970 - 1982

The recipes for Barley Wine were pretty diverse. A total of five different malts were used, including three different base malts: pale, mild and lager. Both f the beers using the latter had the word “gold” in their names: Export Gold and Gold Label.

After the base malts, the most common malt was crystal, appearing in three beers. A bit surprised to see it in Hardy Ale. As with Golden Pride, I’m sure that its presence can be explained by the fact that it was parti-gyled with Bitter.

I’ll be honest with you: I’m not sure what form the wheat was in the Eldridge Pope beers. The brewing records aren’t very specific. It could have been flaked or even just simple flour.

Most examples have a malt content of 80% or more. The exception being Gold Label, with just 70% malt.

No shock that flaked maize is the most popular adjunct. Given how beloved it was of UK brewers. The only other unmalted grain was a tiny amount of roast barley in Yorkshire Stingo. Obviously there for colour. Something which the majority of the beers, being pale in colour, didn’t require. 

Barley Wine grists 1970 - 1982
Year	Brewer	Beer	pale malt	mild malt	lager malt	crystal malt	wheat malt	total malt	flaked maize	roast barley
1977	Adnams	Tally Ho		84.97%		4.72%		89.69%
1971	Watney	Yorkshire Stingo	83.00%					83.00%		0.30%
1981	Eldridge Pope	Hardy Ale	59.67%		26.52%	4.97%	8.84%	100.00%
1982	Eldridge Pope	Goldie	92.59%				7.41%	100.00%
1968	Fullers	Golden Pride	77.78%			2.08%		79.86%	14.58%
1970	Higson	Stingo Gold	80.84%					80.84%	7.82%
1971	Watney	Export Gold			90.00%				5.00%
1973	Whitbread	Gold Label			69.70%			69.70%	8.88%
Sources:
Adnams brewing record held at the brewery.
Eldridge Pope brewing record.
Fullers brewing record held at the brewery.
Boddington brewing record held at Manchester Central Library, document number M693/405/134.
Watney Man Quality Manual
Whitbread brewing record held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/09/141.
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/002.

Barley Wine in the 1970s

Usually, the strongest beer produced by a brewery, these beers were almost exclusively available in bottled form.

A surprising number of breweries still made these very strong beers, which had gravities over 1070º and 7% ABVnd greater. Going to over 1100º and 10% ABV.

Classic beers in this style were Bass No. 1 and Whitbread Gold Label The latter was very widely available, often even in pubs owned by rival brewers. They represented the two substyles of Barley Wine, No. 1 being of the older dark kind, while Gold Label was a modern pale version.

I was pleased to discover that I have examples from six different breweries. Which is a little under half of the breweries in the recipe section. Most of the beers are in the pale style, with only two dark examples.

There are some pretty impressive gravities in there, with Tally Ho the lowest at 1073º. The highest, no shock here, is Hardy Ale at 1124.7º. There were few beers in the world brewed at gravities as high as the stronger versions.

One of the oddities of UK brewing was that its standard beers were some of the weakest anywhere. While at the same time brewing the strongest beers in the world. It’s an unusual split.

Some of the FGs should be taken with a grain of salt, as they are racking gravities rather the true end point. Hardy Ale is a good case in point. After secondary conditioning, it fermented out a lot further.

On the other hand, the Watney FGs, which come from analyses, genuinely reflect the beer as sold. And they show a pretty high degree of attenuation: 77% and 87%. Even with a couple of unrealistically high FGs, the average of both types is over 70%.

The hopping rate per quarter (336 lbs) of malt – which takes the OG of the beer out of the equation – varies from 4 lbs to 8 lbs. Which is from slightly below average to well above. The average in 1970 being 4.9 lbs per quarter of malt.

There’s a large variation in the colour, too. But note there’s a combination of measured and calculated numbers. Watney and Whitbread being the former and all the others the latter. I suspect that Golden Pride is relatively dark on account of being parti-gyled with Bitter.

Most of the others took advantage of being single-gyled by using lager malt as their base. Eldridge Pope parti-gyled their beers and used lager malt anyway.

As all the bitterness values are my calculation, I wouldn’t take them as gospel. Most were pretty bitter by the standards of the day. Something they needed to balance out all the malt. The outlier being Tally Ho, with a bitterness level more typical of a Bitter. 

Barley Wine 1970 - 1982
Year	Brewer	Beer	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	lbs hops/ qtr	hops lb/brl	colour	IBU
1977	Adnams	Tally Ho	1073.0	1026.0	6.22	64.38%	4.04	1.41	70	33
1971	Watney	Yorkshire Stingo	1086.4	1019.9	8.80	76.97%			110
	Average		1079.7	1023.0	7.51	70.68%	4.04	1.41	90.0	33.0
1981	Eldridge Pope	Hardy Ale	1124.7	1055.4	9.16	55.56%	7.57	3.73	48	60
1982	Eldridge Pope	Goldie	1085.3	1027.7	7.62	67.53%	5.56	2.88	26	63
1968	Fullers	Golden Pride	1090.0	1026.6	8.38	70.44%	7.51	2.57	52	57
1970	Higson	Stingo Gold	1083.7				8.12	2.71	40	56
1971	Watney	Export Gold	1079.9	1010.3	9.21	87.11%			24
1973	Whitbread	Gold Label	1101.4	1014.8	11.46	85.40%	5.48	2.34	30	49
	Average		1094.2	1027.0	9.17	73.21%	6.85	2.85	36.7	57.0
Sources:
Adnams brewing record held at the brewery.
Eldridge Pope brewing record.
Fullers brewing record held at the brewery.
Boddington brewing record held at Manchester Central Library, document number M693/405/134.
Watney Man Quality Manual
Whitbread brewing record held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/09/141.
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/002.

Let's Brew - 1971 Watneys Yorkshire Stingo

This is a famous beer acquired by Watney when the took over the Yorkshire Stingo Brewery in 1907. A brewery which wasn’t, as the name implies, in Yorkshire, but on the Marylebone Road in London.

Yorkshire Stingo must have been a decent brand, as Watney was still brewing it 70-odd years later.

This has been another piece together job. The Watney Mann Quality Manual doesn’t have a full entry for Stingo. Just a list of the grist ingredients. Luckily, I have some analyses which tell me the FG and OG. The No. 2 is my substitution for something called Fermax.

That just left the hopping to guess. I used the same hopping rate as for Watneys Pale Ale, obviously scaled up for the gravity. Because of the strength, I extended the boil time to 120 minutes. And I used a combination of Fuggles and Goldings, as in many of their other beers.

Despite the guesswork, I feel it was worth putting together this recipe. 

1971 Watneys Yorkshire Stingo
pale malt	15.25 lb	84.07%
roast barley	0.05 lb	0.28%
malt extract	0.50 lb	2.76%
No. 2 invert sugar	2.25 lb	12.40%
caramel 2000 SRM	0.09 lb	0.50%
Fuggles 120 mins	3.25 oz
Goldings 120 mins	2.25 oz
OG	1086
FG	1020
ABV	8.73
Apparent attenuation	76.74%
IBU	62
SRM	21
Mash at	156º F
Sparge at	175º F
Boil time	120 minutes
pitching temp	60º F
Yeast	WLP023 Burton Ale