Scottish & Newcastle beers in 1996 yet again, again

More of this drivel. I find it interesting, though. Don't know what that says about me.

A keg Pale Ale to start with. One of Ordinary Bitter strength.

XXPS Btg
also brewed at Fountain.

Holyrood brews kegged at Park Stores. Fountain brews kegged at Tyne.
Holyrood and Fountain beer specifications held at the Scottish Brewing Archive, document number WY/6/1/8/1.

Originally a William Younger beer, hence being brewed at Holyrood. That it was also brewed at Fountain, the NcEwan brewery is interesting. As is the fact that those brews were kegged miles away in Newcastle. Parhaps because it was intended for the English market.

Now the delicious Sweet Stout with all that lovely ullage.

Sweet Stout
Brewing- - Mashed alone or with D.B.S. Export. Processed at HMV Room.

Distribution - In tanker ex HMV room to
Fountain - Supplied bowser filtered for bottling and canning 

Glasgow - Supplied bowser filtered for bottling

London (Bates) - Supplied bowser filtered for bottling
Holyrood and Fountain beer specifications held at the Scottish Brewing Archive, document number WY/6/1/8/1.

Interesting that it was only canned at the Fountain brewery and elsewhere only bottled. Note that it was parti-gyled with the stronger DBS Export aka Milk Stout.

We finish with the strong Brown Ale.

Double Century Ale
Brewing- - Mashed alone as Double Century Ale

Processed at Park Stores. Bottled at Park Stores (LS 1/2 pints) for all branches in Scotland. Supplied also to export market mainly America and Canada.

Distribution - In road tanker ex IIMV room to
Kendal - Supplied sheet filtered for bottling

London (Bates) - Supplied sheet filtered for bottling.
Holyrood and Fountain beer specifications held at the Scottish Brewing Archive, document number WY/6/1/8/1.

So Double Century Ale was sold in Scotland, perhaps not as late as 1996, but at least reasonably recently. Though it looks like a lot was exported. 

Scottish & Newcastle beers in 1996

Back with that odd document of loose sheets. Which contain some useful information about Scottish & Newcastle's beers.

What's nice, is that the bitterness levels are recorded. Well, for the pale beers. They didn't bother measuring it for the Brown Ales and Stouts. Which leads me to believe that they weren't very bitter.

Sweet Stout was brewed at 540 EBC. After blending with "reprocessed beer", i.e. ullage and other crap, the colour was 270 EBC. Something similar happened with Brown Ale, which was brewed at 220 EBC and then blended with reprocessed beer. In both cases, there must have been quite a high percentage of rubbish blended in to reduce the colour so much.

MxEwan's IPA, McEwan's Pale Ale and Younger's Pale Ale all look incredibly similar. The only difference being a slightly higher FG in McEwan Pale Ale. Scottish & Newcastle had another IPA, Younger's IPA, which was much stronger, 1042º. It was also sold as sold as 80/-, just to make things even more confusing.

XXPS was also sold as Scotch Bitter or, when in cask form, 70/-.

McEwan's Scotch Ale and Export look remarkably simialr, with just 1º difference in gravity a 1 IBU in bitterness. Irinically, it seems to have been Scotch Ale that was exported.

Talking of exports, McEwan's Strong Ale was exported to Jamaica and Canada. While Milk Stout was exported to Jamaica. The same beer was exported elsewhere as McEwan's Extra Stout.

I ssume that the Strong Ale is what is now sold as McEwan's Champion. A Scotch Ale of pretty decent strength, looking much like the ones brewed between the wars.

Double Century Ale was a Brown Ale of the strong type, which was introduced in 1949 to celebrate the 200th anniversary of William Younger. I wonder when it was discontinued? 

Scottish & Newcastle beers in 1996
Brewer	Beer	Style	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	IBU	colour
Wm. Younger	Brown Ale	Brown Ale	1030.5	1006.5	3.18	78.69%		85
Wm. Younger	Double Century Ale	Brown Ale	1053.0	1009.6	5.74	81.89%		70
McEwan	IPA	IPA	1030.5	1006.8	3.14	77.70%	17	24
McEwan	Pale Ale	Pale Ale	1030.5	1009.1	2.83	70.16%	17	48
Wm. Younger	Pale Ale	Pale Ale	1030.5	1006.8	3.14	77.70%	17	24
Wm. Younger	XXPS Btg	Pale Ale	1036.5	1007.6	3.82	79.18%	24	25
McEwan	Export	Pale Ale	1043.5	1009.2	4.54	78.85%	27	25
McEwan	Scotch Ale	Pale Ale	1044.5	1010.2	4.54	77.08%	26	26
McEwan	Sweet Stout	Stout	1030.5	1011.5	2.51	62.30%		270
McEwan	Milk Stout	Stout	1058.5	1020.0	5.09	65.81%		270
McEwan	Strong Ale	Strong Ale	1088.5	1022.0	8.80	75.14%	30	85
Source:
Holyrood and Fountain beer specifications held at the Scottish Brewing Archive, document number WY/6/1/8/1.

Holyrood and Fountain beer specifications

There's a bunch of papers in the Scottish Brewing Archive title "Holyrood and Fountain beer specifications". They seem to be the reply to an enquiry about the Scottish & Newcastle beers brewed in Scotland in the 1990s.

The original enquiry isn't included, just the reply, and a bunch of loose sheet.

23rd June 2001
Dear Alma
Pleas find enclosed the specifications of the fountain and Holyrood Beers. These would be about five years old and I think that they would be correct lor the previous fifteen years. I hesc are Photostats taken from Gordon Buchanan's own note book and I hope that you can cut them up a bit as I have no access to a guillotine and the notes were back to back. I now have them in the correct order. I lope to see you soon

Kind Regards
Holyrood and Fountain beer specifications held at the Scottish Brewing Archive, document number WY/6/1/8/1.

The loose sheets contain colour specifications for all the beers. Plus individual sheet for some beers. Which include things like OG, FG, IBUs, colour and CO2 content. But no details of ingredients or process.

At the very end, there's an interesting note.

The query relating to McEwans Pale Ale was related to the market for "low" gravity beers. Many of the customers were involved in the coal industry and they requested higher colours. Pale Ale was brewed at 1030 and blended with fairly large quantities of yeast pressings. The bottled Pale Ale was sold as Blue Label mostly in small screw tops and the darker Pale Ale as larger Green Label screw tops. The principal beer sold in the fifties and sixties was 5/A which was 25 Lovibond and for the Glasgow and Lanarkshire market 46 Lovibond. It was strange that the miners market changed to lager and paler beers at a later date.
Holyrood and Fountain beer specifications held at the Scottish Brewing Archive, document number WY/6/1/8/1.

5/A was the brew house name for McEwans Pale Ale. And pretty watery stuff it was. This is from the specs, so the 1990s version of the beer:

McEwans Pale Ale
OG	1030.5
FG	1009.1
ABV	2.83
App. Attenuation	70.16%
colour EBC	48
IBU	17
Source:
Holyrood and Fountain beer specifications held at the Scottish Brewing Archive, document number WY/6/1/8/1.

I'm sure all those yeast pressings added character to the beer.

I already knew about the Scots colouring up the same beer in different colours for different markets. You'll note that the 1990s version was brewed at the darker colour. The pale version seems to have disappeared. Though the spec is for the keg version. An earlier sheet has these two bottled beers:

Beer	EBC
XXP (P5/A)	30°
G5/A (D5/A)	80º
Source:
Holyrood and Fountain beer specifications held at the Scottish Brewing Archive, document number WY/6/1/8/1.

Where P5/A stands for Pale 5/A and D5/A stands for Dark 5/A. G/5A is Glasgow 5/A. Which shows the Glasgow version as being even darker. As dark as Dark Mild.

Wasn't that fun. All from a few little bits of text. 

A pint of Best Scotch

There were some odd regional kinks when it came to beer styles. Best Scotch is a good illustration.

Scotch and Best Scotch were used in the Northeast of England to refer to certain classes of Pale Ales. Essentially, draught Bitter. These names weren't used either in Scotland, or in the rest of the UK, for such beers.

They were sometimes brewed in Scotland, but also in the Northeast of England. For example Vaux in Sunderland and Newcastle Breweries in, well, Newcastle.

It seems customers weren't always getting exactly what they expected.

PINT OF BEST (?) SCOTCH
WHEN a customer asks for a pint of Best Scotch at his local does he know what he is getting? 

Analysis a number of brands beer sold in Northumberland has disclosed that although Best Scotch’ marketed by various companies is the same price there is variation in strength. In fact, some firms’ ‘Best Scotch’ is WEAKER than other brewers’ ordinary beer. 

A Northumberland County Council General Purposes Committee REPORT says that a representative of one firm whose Best Scotch was particularly low in original gravity, explained that his company could not produce beer as cheaply as the larger concerns. His firm marketed lower gravity beer at the same price as the higher gravity beer sold by other companies. Money was saved on materials and less duty was payable. 

The report explains that there no legal standard of compositional quality for beer.
Shields Daily News - Saturday 01 November 1952, page 1.

If you look in the table, you'll see that Scotch was around the same strength as draught Mild or Boys Bitter. While Best Scotch, averaging out at about 1037º, looks very much like Ordinary Bitter. In Scottish terms, Scotch was 60/- and Best Scotch 70/-.

I'm guessing that the small brewery was selling something around the strength of Scotch as Best Scotch. Naughty, but, in the days before the stre4ngth of beer was made public, who was to know? There was no legal definition of either term and brewers could sell anything they liked under those names.

Scotch and Best Scotch 1964 - 1967
Year	Brewer	Beer	Price	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	colour
1964	Newcastle Breweries	Sotch Ale	15	1032.3	1005.4	3.36	83.28%	30
1967	McEwans	Scotch	19	1031.8	1009.5	2.79	70.13%	35
	Average		17	1032.1	1007.5	3.08	76.70%	32.5
1964	McEwans	Best Scotch	17	1038.1	1007.1	3.87	81.36%	30
1965	McEwans	Best Scotch	18	1037.9	1008.2	3.71	78.36%	25
1967	McEwans	Best Scotch	21	1037.4	1005.9	3.94	84.22%	31
1964	Vaux	Best Scotch	17	1036.3	1006.6	3.71	81.82%	30
1965	Vaux Lorimer	Best Scotch	18	1036.4	1006.3	3.76	82.69%	26
1967	Younger, Wm.	Best Scotch	21	1036.7	1007.6	3.78	79.29%	31
	Average		18.7	1037.1	1007.0	3.80	81.29%	28.8
Source:
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/002.

Scottish Strong Stout before WW II

You can probably guess which part of my next book I'm working on currently. Yes, it Scottish beer during WW II.

I've only recently acquired the data needed to write it. After finally finishing off William Younger's records after what seemed like several years transcribing, I had everything I needed. Or just about. I'm missing the Abbey Brewery's records for 1945. I do have those from the Holyrood Brewery, but they mostly only brewed Pale Ales there, along with some No. 3.

Good research is very time-consuming. Just as well I'm unemployed and have plenty of time on my hands.

In addition to watery, super-sweet Stouts, there were also a few which resembled more those brewed in England. These had OGs over 1050º and a more reasonable rate of attenuation. Which left some well over 6% ABV. Which is stronger than most Stout brewed in England, other than a few oddities like Russian Stout.

Note that most of these beers are also called Milk Stout, despite not being all that sweet, judging by the FG. I know that in the case of William Younger, the quantity of lactose employed was quite small – less than 5% of the total fermentables.

For colour, William Younger relied on a little roast barley and crystal malt, plus a big dollop of caramel. I don’t know if other brewers employed similar materials. For those brewers conjuring up Stout from a Pale Ale brew, various sugars would have been their only option.

Scottish Stout before WW II
Date	Year	Beer	Price per pint (d)	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation
1937	Calder	Milk Stout		1055.8	1022.3	4.32	60.09%
1936	McEwan	Milk Stout	12	1064.4	1013.1	6.70	79.66%
1933	Younger, Wm.	Stout	8	1052.6
1936	Younger, Wm.	Milk Stout	10.5	1063	1014.7	6.30	76.67%
1937	Younger, Wm.	Milk Stout		1068	1020	6.24	70.59%
Sources:
Truman Gravity Book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number B/THB/C/252.
Thomas Usher Gravity Book held at the Scottish Brewing Archive, document number TU/6/11.
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/001.

Scottish Strong IPA before WW II

Yet more WW II-themed IPA fun. Remaining in Scotland, but with a rather stronger set of beers.

The stronger type of Scottish IPA looks very much like those from Burton, with a gravity of around 1055º.

The William Younger beer is an odd one. They brewed a couple of different versions of their No. 3 Scotch Ale. One of these, No. 3 Pale, they also called IPA. It’s all a bit odd. The hopping was heavier than in the other versions. But, being Scottish, it still wasn’t exactly overflowing with bitterness.

Though the McEwan’s beer has “export” in its name, I don’t believe it was principally sent overseas. It’s just being used as a strength indicator. Also, the analysis comes from a rival Edinburgh brewer, who presumably bought it locally.

Scottish Strong IPA before WW II
Year	Brewer	Beer	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation
1938	Wm Younger	IPA	1055	1017	5.03	69.09%
1928	McEwan	Export IPA	1055.1	1009.5	5.95	82.76%
1929	McEwan	Export IPA	1055.3	1011.8	5.67	78.73%
1929	McEwan	Export IPA	1054.5	1012	5.53	77.98%
	Average		1055.0	1012.6	5.55	77.14%
Sources:
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/001.
Younger, Wm. & Co Gravity Book document WY/6/1/1/19 held at the Scottish Brewing Archive
Thomas Usher Gravity Book document TU/6/11 held at the Scottish Brewing Archive.

Bottled Scotch Ale after WW II

You must be sick of Scotch Ale by now. You're not the only one. But I feel obliged to continue my death march until I lie by the roadside like a crumpled heap of rags.

On the face of it, WW II seems to have had little impact on the character of Scotch Ale. Unlike most styles, it seems to have bounced back to pre-war like gravities soon after the end of hostilities.

The majority of examples retained a gravity of somewhere around 1080º. Which in the immediate post-war years counted as super strong. Why was that, when other styles were emasculated?

Partly, I assume it’s because some were genuine export beers. Scotch Ale was popular in Belgium and they expected it to be full strength. Belgian drinkers wouldn’t have stood for a 5% ABV Scotch Ale. But some was probably just due to Scotch Ale being an expensive treat: if it wasn’t pretty strong, why bother with it?

Though there had been some reductions is strength. Fowler’s Twelve Guinea Ale, for example. Pre-war it had an OG of over 1100º. In the late 1940’s, that was down to just 1080º. Still strong, but not crazily so.

There are a few quite weak examples, beers under 1060º. McEwan Double Scotch Ale is a good example. I suspect that’s really a Double Brown Ale. Especially as it’s eerily similar in gravity to William Younger’s Double Century Ale. The two firms had merged by this point and my guess is that Double Scotch was just a rebadge of the William Younger beer.

The eagle-eyed amongst you may have noticed one odd brewery in the table: John Smith. Which is very much an English brewery. They brewed a Scotch Ale exclusively for the Belgian market. I doubt they could have got away with selling it in the UK. I think Scottish brewers would have got pretty annoyed had they done so.

Bottled Scotch Ale after WW II
Year	Brewer	Beer	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	colour
1950	Aitchison	Scotch Ale	1080	1020.8	7.73	74.00%	55
1948	Aitken	Strong Ale	1067.5	1021	6.04	68.89%
1948	Ballingall	"Angus" Strong Ale	1073.5	1023.5	6.49	68.03%
1948	Calder Alloa	Scotch Strong Ale	1065.5	1019	6.04	70.99%
1950	Campbell	Royal Scotch Ale	1080.1	1014.2	8.66	82.27%	77
1948	Dryborough	Strong Ale	1060	1019.5	5.25	67.50%
1947	Fowler	Heavy Ale	1081.4	1025.5	7.27	68.67%
1948	Fowler	Twelve Guinea Ale	1080	1021.5	7.63	73.13%
1949	Fowler	Twelve Guinea Ale	1077.7	1030.3	6.13	61.00%	100
1948	Gordon & Blair	"Unique" Scotch Ale	1043.5	1016.5	3.49	62.07%
1948	Jeffrey	Strong Ale No. 1	1067	1025	5.43	62.69%
1950	John Smith	Scotch Ale	1080.3	1025.6	7.11	68.12%	65
1948	Maclachlan	Strong Ale	1070.5	1024.5	5.96	65.25%
1948	McEwan	Strong Ale	1078	1022.5	7.23	71.15%
1950	McEwan	Double Scotch Ale	1057.7	1018.4	5.09	68.11%	80
1950	McEwan	Scotch Ale	1088	1022.6	8.56	74.32%	65
1947	Murray	Heavy Ale	1066.3	1017.25	6.38	73.96%
1948	Steel Coulson	Strong Ale	1063	1026	4.77	58.73%
1947	Usher	Old Scotch Ale	1073.5	1020.5	6.90	72.11%
1948	Usher	Strong Ale	1090.5	1024.5	8.63	72.93%
1950	Younger, Geo.	Gordon Xmas Ale	1090.7	1032.3	7.58	64.39%	50
1948	Younger, Robert	Strong Ale	1048	1014.5	4.34	69.79%
1947	Younger, Wm.	No. 1 Strong Ale	1074	1022	6.76	70.27%
1950	Younger, Wm.	No. 1 Scotch Ale	1087.6	1017.5	9.21	80.02%	60
Sources:
Thomas Usher Gravity Book held at the Scottish Brewing Archive, document TU/6/11.
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/002.

Scottish colours

Just a quick post. Something I harvested at the Scottish Brewing Archive on my recent visit.

It's quite a handy document. It has the brewery specifications of all the beers brewed and William Younger's Holyrood Brewery and William McEwan's Fountain Brewery. Lost of useful information about the beers. But tehre's one little problem: I don't no when exactly it's referring to.

The document is a bunch of loose leaves which was the response to an enquiry to a former brewer. The covering letter is dated 23rd June 2001. But it must refer to much earlier because the Holyrood Brewery closed in 1986. It also mentions No. 1, which I think was discontinued well before Holyrood closed. My guess would be 1960's or 1970's.

It's another demonstration of how crazy the Scots were about colouring beer.

Fountain Beers
Beer	colour (EBC)
B5/A (BL)	30
XXPS (Btg)	24
No 3 (Btg)	48
H5/B	24
4/A	26
H2/B	95
E2/B	80
XXP (P5/A)	30
G5/A (D5/A)	80
XXP (Pale)	18
XXP (P70/-)	20
3 L	65
P80/-	25
BE2/B	80
1 BR	75
3 BR	55
1 BR	90
200/- B	80
NBA	52
Source:
Holyrood and Fountain beer specification sheets held at the Scottish Brewing Archive, document number WY/6/1/8/1.

NBA = Newcastle Brown Ale.

Holyrood Beers
Beer	colour
* S/Stout	270
Harp (bott)	9
DCA	70
DBS	270
PA	24
K 5/A	48
** BA	85
Harp (CT)	9
XXPS	25
5/B	25
Source:
Holyrood and Fountain beer specification sheets held at the Scottish Brewing Archive, document number WY/6/1/8/1.

There's a lovely note under this second table:

* SS is brewed at a colour of 600° - when blended with reprocessed beer, the final colour is 270°
** BA is brewed at a colour of 220° - when blended reprocessed beer, the final colour is 85°

"Reprocessed beer" is a euphemism for returned beer and all sorts of other shit. It must have formed a large pecentage of the blend, given that it's more than halved the colour value.

DCA = Double Century Ale.
DSB = Double Brown Stout.
BA = Brown Ale.

I'm amazed at how many different products they had. Most Scottish breweries only had half a dozen.

Takeover time in Scotland

The 1950's was the startr of huge process of consolidation in the UK brewing industry. In Scotland it took even more extreme form than in England. By the end of 1960's only a handful of Scottish breweries remained. 

"Pending brewery fusion
In view of current rumours, the directors of William McEwan and Co and James Deuchar announce that preliminary discussions have taken place between them as to a possible fusion of interests, but as yet nothing has been decided.

William McEwan are Edinburgh brewers with an issued capital of £1,000,000 and total assets of £5,716,000. They have a working agreement with William Younger and Co through Scottish Brewers.

James Deuchar are Newcastle brewers, owning some 125 licensed houses. Their issued capital £550.000. while their latest assets total was £2,584,000. Both companies account to April 30.
Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer - Saturday 16 October 1954, page 9.

The Deuchars are almost as confusing as the Youngers. Robert Deuchar, another Newcastle firm, owned a brewery in Duddingston, Edinburgh. And there was James Deuchar brewing in Montrose. They all seem to have ended up in Scottish & Newcastle.

The relationship between two of Edinburgh's largest brewers, William McEwan and William Younger was a bit strange. They'd formed a joint venture, Scottish Brewers, in 1930, but the two brewers remtained separate limited companies, with their own separate boards. It wasn't until 1955 that they finally fully merged into a single legal entitiy.

"Breweries take-over plan
The shareholders of Scottish Brewers. Ltd.. William Younger & Co, Ltd., brewers, and William McEwan & Co., Ltd., brewers, are to meet to consider a proposal by the directors of the three companies that Younger and McEwan should become wholly-owned subsidiaries Scottish brewers.

In three petitions presented the Court of Session in Edinburgh it was stated that the directors are of opinion that it would be in the interests all three companies as a group, and of each company separately, that Younger and McEwan should become wholly-owned subsidiaries of Scottish Brewers. The debenture stock and preference shares of Younger and McEwan should be eliminated, the holders receiving in exchange debenture stock or preference shares of Scottish Brewers.

Such an arrangement, the petitioners state, would enable the raising of capital to be effected as a central operation through Scottish Brewers, if and when necessary. The three companies yesterday obtained the authority of the second division of the Court Session to summon separate meetings of the shareholders at which the scheme might be considered.
Belfast News-Letter - Wednesday 25 May 1955, page 10.

This structure didn't last that long. In 1960 they merged with Newcastle Breweries to become Scottish & Newcastle.

McEwans and Youngers

Keeping the relationships between McEwans and Youngers clear in my head is quite a struggle. Let’s see if this helps.

I found it rather strange that the managing director of William McEwan should bear the name of the company’s greatest rival, William Younger. It turns out he was from a Younger brewing family, but not that one. He was a member of the George Younger family, brewers in Alloa. Though it seems he was related to William McEwan.

“THE LATE WILLIAM YOUNGER.
The death has taken place, at Midhurst, in his 67th year, of Mr William Younger, chairman and managing director of Messrs. William McEwan & Co., brewers, Edinburgh. The deceased, who was a brother of Viscount Younger, was well known the Borders. Several years ago he bought the estate of Ravenswood, near Melrose, which embraces the property Old Melrose, where the original church of St. Aidan was set up. He was a keen follower the Buccleuch and Lauderdale packs foxhounds.

Third son of the late Mr James of Messrs George Younger Son, Alloa, he went to Edinburgh as a young man, and entered the brewing business of his uncle, the late Mr McEwan. who was formerly M.P. for one of the divisions of the city, and donor of the McEwan Hall. Mr Younger attended scientific classes in Edinburgh University, and was fortunate in receiving the practical part of his training under the direction of his uncle. Both uncle and nephew early recognised that one must be able to brew before one can become a successful brewer. In 1886 he was left in charge of the great business while Mr McEwan attended to Parliamentary duties. Three years later, when the business converted into a limited liability company, Mr Younger was appointed managing director, and under his management the brewery at Fountainbridge increased in importance. In the conduct of the business he displayed great tact, shrewdness and fertility of resource for meeting unexpected emergencies. Mr Younger was vice-chairman of the Caledonian Railway Company and on its amalgamation with the Midland Company retained a seat on the directorate. In his earlier years was a member of the Edinburgh Polo Club team which brought the cup to Edinburgh from Hurlingham against all-comers. is survived by his widow, two sons, and a daughter.
Southern Reporter - Thursday 27 August 1925, page 5.

William Younger was a relatively young man – just 38 – when he took control of the brewery. It was quite a large concern for such a young man to be running. Though, given the profits it generated during the early years of his reign, he must have been doing something right.

It sounds as if the young William Younger, like many sons of brewing families, went to another company to serve his brewing apprenticeship. And then never returned to Alloa. At this time it was still usual for members of the owning family to learn to brew. It was considered a prerequisite for running a brewing concern. That would change in the 20th century, when owners served as executives and the brewing was left to technicians.

Canadian Ale in 1909

Numbers – I can never get enough of them. If only I had more time to harvest them. But for some reason a day only has 24 hours rather than the 60 I’d need to get through everything.

This particular set come from a handy little pamphlet published by the Canadian Department of Inland Revenue’s Laboratory. Who says the taxman is no use for anything?

I‘ve billed this as Canadian Ales, but there are a couple of exceptions. Namely the Pilsener that for some inexplicable reason is included with the Ales. And McEwan and Bass, which are British imports. It’s handy having the latter two, as it gives some sort of context for the Canadian beers.

You’ll note that the Canadian examples are generally weaker than the British ones. Though the imports were both top-class beers. Overall, the average of 1050º for Canadian Pale Ales looks low compared to British beers of the period, which you would expect to be around 1055º.

What does surprise me is the high degree of attenuation amongst the Canadian samples. Though this could be because these are finished, bottled beers. Whereas I usually taken the FG of British beers form brewing records, which gives the racking gravity rather than the true final gravity. As many British Pale Ales were still genuine Stock Ales with a long secondary fermentation, the final gravity would have been a good few points lower.

I was also interested to see just how alcoholic the Ginger Beer and Root Beer is. As strong as a lot of 1920’s British Mild Ale.

No long dissertation this time. I’ll just leave you with the table.

Canadian Ale in 1909
Brewer	Town	Beer	Style	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation
Dolan Bros.	St. Johns, NB	Stone Ginger Beer	Ginger Beer		1028.7	1.34
S.H. McKee & Sons	St. Johns, NB	Stone Ginger Beer	Ginger Beer		1010.7	2.93
Simeon Jones	St. Johns, NB	Red Ball India Pale Ale	IPA	1050.6	1007	6.02	86.17%
McEwan	Edinburgh	India Pale Ale	IPA	1060.1	1004.7	7.61	92.18%
Bass	Burton	Pale Ale	IPA	1065.7	1008.7	7.74	86.76%
average IPA				1058.8	1006.8	7.12	88.37%
T.B. Renaud & Co.	Quebec	Ale	Pale Ale	1010.6	1000.3	1.65	97.17%
John Labatt	London, Ont.	Ale	Pale Ale	1037	1014.1	3.42	61.89%
G.E. Amiot	Quebec	Ale	Pale Ale	1047.1	1009.4	5.24	80.04%
G.E. Amiot	Quebec	Ale	Pale Ale	1047.3	1009.8	5.24	79.28%
John Labatt	London, Ont.	Ale	Pale Ale	1049.4	1010.3	5.31	79.15%
Protean & Carignan	Quebec	Ale	Pale Ale	1050.3	1012.2	5.32	75.75%
Boswell	Quebec	Ale	Pale Ale	1052.2	1004.8	6.48	90.80%
Oland & Son	Halifax, NS	Pale Ale	Pale Ale	1053.4	1008.8	6.24	83.52%
Keith	Halifax, NS	Pale Ale	Pale Ale	1055.5	1006.5	6.71	88.29%
James Ready	St. Johns, NB	Ready's Pale Ale	Pale Ale	1059.8	1005.1	7.40	91.47%
James Ready	Fairville, NS	Ale	Pale Ale	1061.5	1007.1	7.48	88.46%
Halifax Breweries	Halifax, NS	Howard's Ale	Pale Ale	1061.7	1006.7	7.57	89.14%
Halifax Brewing Co.	Halifax, NS	Ale	Pale Ale	1065.6	1014.1	7.01	78.51%
average Pale Ale				1050.1	1008.4	5.77	83.34%
Crystal Spring Mineral Waters Co.	Halifax, NS	Ramey's Pilsener Beer	Pilsner	1024.9	1001.4	3.48	94.38%
W.B. Daley	St. Johns, NB	Root Beer	Root Beer		997.7	2.72
Source:
"Ale and lager beer" by McGill, A. (Anthony), 1910, pages 4 - 19.