Belhaven Beers in 1881

Time to take another look at Belhaven's beers, from a decade later. And there have been a lot of changes.

There are far fewer different beers. That could just be because not everything was transcribed from the original record. But I suspect not. A majority of the brews were XX 54/-. Which I assume was a Pale Ale. I'm guessing this and XXX 60/- are the same beers as XX and XXX in 1871.

Of the Shilling Ales only 80/- and 100/- have survived. (At lower gravities.) Though there's also a new beer called P 48/-. I would have guessed that the "P" stood for "pale". But it seems too lightly hopped to be a Pale Ale.

All of the Strong Ales are gone, both the Shilling Ales and the numbered Ales.

Overall, it's a way simplified set of beers. And one very dominated by a single Pale Ale, XX 54/-.

Belhaven Beers in 1881
Date	Beer	Style	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	lbs hops/ qtr	hops lb/brl
21st Nov	TB	Table Beer	1036	1015	2.78	58.33%	5.00	0.71
12th Jan	P 48/-	Ale	1057	1027	3.97	52.63%	5.88	1.18
21st Dec	80/-	Ale	1062	1027	4.63	56.45%	6.15	1.67
28th Nov	100/-	Ale	1069	1031	5.03	55.07%	5.56	1.64
8th Dec	XX 54/-	Pale Ale	1050	1017	4.37	66.00%	9.09	1.85
14th Dec	XXX 60/-	Pale Ale	1055	1020	4.63	63.64%	9.09	2.06
Source:
Belhaven brewing record held at the Scottish Brewing Archives, document number B/6/1/1/3.

 

 

Belhaven beers in 1871

Here's the first results of last week's trip to the Scottish Brewing Archive in Glasgow. Details of Belhaven's beers in 1871.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, this information copmes from a transcript rather than the brewing record itself. I'm guessing that there's more information in the original records. As it doesn't give any details of the malt and hops, just the quantities. Which is a bit of a bummer. But I'm just grateful to get anything at all.

The good thing is, because of the period, I know that the grist can't be that complicated. Being pre-1880, there can't be any adjuncts. And there's probably no sugar, either. And, this being Scotland, most of the beers almost certainly contain nothing other than base malt. The exception being the Stouts.

Interestingly, despite there being 17 different beers, there don't seem to be any Pale Ales. Unless they're hiding amongst the Shilling Ales. I'm ruling out XX and XXX because, though they have some of the highest hopping rates, they look too strong to be Pale Ales.

Not sure what the real name of the weakest beer, listed as "###" was. Maybe they just couldn't read the original. Whatever it was called, it looks very much like a Table Beer to me. What with its low gravity and quite heavy hopping.

What there are a lot of are strong beers. There are three with gravities over 1100º. Plus two others over 1090º. In fact, 12 of the 17 beers have gravities over 1070º. Which makes for quite an unbalanced range. Like William Younger, there were two parallel ranges of strong beers. Shilling Ales and numbered Ales. The only difference being that the latter were more heavily hopped.

The degree of attenuation is pretty crap. Though that's typical of Scottish beers in general. Only a couple are a little over 70%. And a couple are under 60%. 

Belhaven beers in 1871
Date	Beer	Style	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	lbs hops/ qtr	hops lb/brl
12th Oct	###	Ale	1033	1011	2.91	66.67%	10.00	1.03
14th Oct	50/-	Ale	1041	1011	3.97	73.17%	13.00	0.90
13th Oct	60/-	Ale	1058	1022	4.76	62.07%	6.67	1.74
6th Oct	80/-	Ale	1072.1	1025	6.23	65.33%	6.33	2.38
10th Oct	100/-	Ale	1084	1035	6.48	58.33%	5.41	2.35
5th Oct	120/-	Ale	1095	1035	7.94	63.16%	6.98	3.49
6th Oct	140/-	Ale	1110	1035	9.92	68.18%	7.17	4.47
9th Oct	160/-	Ale	1125	1053	9.53	57.60%	7.69	5.36
4th Oct	London	Ale	1078	1028	6.61	64.10%	8.33	3.41
9th Oct	XX	Mild	1064	1025	5.16	60.94%	7.80	2.32
11th Oct	XXX	Mild	1076	1028	6.35	63.16%	7.67	2.74
10th Oct	BS	Stout	1038	1013	3.31	65.79%	8.67	1.37
13th Oct	S	Stout	1076	1039	4.89	48.68%	8.48	3.26
7th Oct	2	Strong Ale	1096	1032	8.47	66.67%	8.14	4.17
3rd Oct	3	Strong Ale	1078	1025	7.01	67.95%	11.43	4.55
3rd Oct	4	Strong Ale	1068	1020	6.35	70.59%	12.41	4.29
14th Oct	II	Strong Ale	1108	1043	8.60	60.19%	7.88	5.13
Source:
Belhaven brewing record held at the Scottish Brewing Archives, document number B/6/1/1/3.

 

 

Scottish IPA 1947 - 2004

Look at that. I'm getting so modern. Writing about something in the 21st century. It makes me feel all weird.

IPA has been brewed in Scotland for a long time. More than 170 years, to be precise. Despite the fact that few outside Britain associate Scotland with the style at all. Or are only away of such latecomers as Deuchars or Twisted Thistle. As we've learned these beers are just the most recent in a long lineage.

The Scottish IPA that's been around the longest - it was one of the first to be brewed - is Younger's IPA. It's one of the first IPA's I tried. Believe me, that was yonks ago. Back when I could still see my feet and walk up two flights of stairs without collapsing in a wheezy heap. It's not many people's idea of an IPA nowadays, but it has been around for an awfully long time. Let's think. Is there one that's been brewed longer? It depends if you count Draught Bass an IPA, I suppose. Other than that and White Shield, I don't think there are any contenders.

The two conflicting strands of Scottish IPA are clearly visible in the table below. There's the type typified by William Younger's draught IPA and McEwan's Export IPA. Beers somewhere in the 1040's. It's nice to see that some of the more modern versions - Broughton and Deuchars - fit into this mould.

The other type is the piss-weak bottled variety. As epitomised by Younger's bottled IPA from 1954. Beers with a gravity around 1030º. You'll notice one - Bernard's from 1949 - is billed as a 90/-, despite having a gravity below 1030º. Remember what I told you about the use of 90/- for Strong Ale being very recent? This is an example of 90/- being used with a completely different meaning.

One thing just about every beer in the table has in common is a decent level of attenuation. Something which isn't always the case with Scottish beer. Only one beers has an apparent attenuation of less than 70%. High attenuation is something you would expect in an IPA. One of the skills in brewing IPA for export to the tropics in the 19th century was to get the attenuation as low as possible, so there was no food for anything nasty during the long voyage.

One last point about colour. Somewhere in the low 20's EBC is what you'd expect an IPA to be. The canned Bernard's from 1958 is more than double that at 50. But as we've already learned, the Scots often liked their Pale Ales quite dark.

Here's the table:

Late 20th century Scottish IPA
Year	Brewer	country	Price	size	package	Acidity	FG	OG	colour	ABV	App. Atten-uation
1947	Younger, Geo	India Pale Ale 120/-	14d	half	bottled		1010	1042		4.16	76.19%
1949	Bernard	90/- India Pale Ale		pint	bottled		1006.5	1029.5		2.98	77.97%
1949	Fowler	India Pale Ale (Extra Pale)		pint	bottled		1009	1030		2.72	70.00%
1949	McEwan	India Pale Ale Export		pint	bottled		1008	1045.5		4.89	82.42%
1949	McEwan & Co.	Export IPA		half	bottled	0.06	1008.5	1046.8	19.5 brown	4.99	81.84%
1950	McEwan	Export IPA	1/1.5d	half	bottled	0.05	1012.6	1048.8	25 B	4.70	74.18%
1954	McEwan	India Pale Ale			bottled	0.05	1008.2	1048.6	24	5.27	83.13%
1955	Younger, Wm.	India Pale Ale	9.5d	half	bottled	0.04	1006.9	1030.2	22	3.02	77.15%
1957	McEwan	Export India Pale Ale	2/2d	16 oz	can	0.05	1010.7	1046.4	22	4.64	76.94%
1958	Bernard	India Pale Ale	21d	16 oz	can	0.04	1008.9	1030.6	50	2.71	70.92%
1958	Bernard	IPA (Bottling)		pint	bottled		1010	1030		2.59	66.67%
1959	Usher	India Pale Ale	10d	half	bottled	0.03	1008.4	1032.3	18	2.99	73.99%
1961	Jeffrey & Co	Export IPA	15d	half	bottled	0.05	1010.8	1042.3	24	3.94	74.47%
1961	McEwan	Export India Pale Ale	17d	half	bottled	0.04	1011.6	1045	20	4.18	74.22%
1961	McEwan	Export IPA	15d	half	bottled	0.05	1012.2	1048.1	22	4.49	74.64%
1972	Younger, Wm.	IPA	13.5p	pint	draught		1008.2	1043.5		4.59	81.15%
1977	Younger, Wm.	IPA		pint	draught			1043.2
1979	Younger, Wm.	IPA		pint	draught			1043.2
1981	Younger, Wm.	IPA		pint	draught			1043.2
1982	Younger, Wm.	IPA		pint	draught			1042.2
1983	Younger, Wm.	IPA		pint	draught			1043
1986	Younger, Wm.	IPA		pint	draught			1042
1989	Younger, Wm.	IPA		pint	draught			1042
1993	Caledonian	R&D Deuchars IPA			draught		1008	1038		3.9	78.95%
1994	Borve	Tall Ships IPA		pint	bottled					5.00
1994	Caledonian	Deuchars IPA		pint	bottled					4.60
2001	Caledonian	Deuchars IPA		IPA			1008.7	1038		3.8	77.11%
2001	Caledonian	Lorimers IPA		IPA			1014	1054		5.2	74.07%
2004	Broughton	Clipper IPA		IPA			1009.7	1042		4.2	76.90%
2004	Broughton	Greenmantle IPA		IPA			1009.7	1042		4.2	76.90%
2004	Cairngorm	Highland IPA		IPA			1008.3	1036		3.6	76.94%
2004	Caledonian	Deuchars IPA		IPA			1009.7	1039		3.8	75.13%
2011	Belhaven	Twisted Thistle			bottled					5.3
Sources:
Thomas Usher Gravity Book document TU/6/11
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/002
T & J Bernard's brewing records held at the Scottish Brewing Archive
1993 Real Ale Drinker's Almanac
Good Beer Guide 1978, 1980, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1987, 1990, 2002, 2005
The Best of British Bottled Beer
Daily Mirror July 10th 1972, page 15