Beer in the DDR (part 7)

More individual DDR beer styles. 

What I like about the standards for DDR beers is that they are so specific that you could easily brew beers based on them. Also using the rules on ingredients, for example, on the malt percentages, and hop types and quantities. It's a dream of mine to have a DDR beer festival, with examples of all the different styles. Oddly, no-one seems that keen on brewing these beers. Which is a shame. Get in touch if you fancy giving any of these styles a try.

Getting back to the slides, Märzen is another style which exists in the standards documents and for which I have labels, but which seemed to be extremely rare. I certainly never came across it. Which is a shame, as it sounds like an interesting beer. Strangely, it was unfiltered, but pasteurised. And only came in bottles.

Extra is another odd one. A sort of Schankbier version of Helles. It's another type that I can't remember ever seeing. And one which didn't have an equivalent in the West.

Weizenbier was so rare that I don't even have a label for it. Meaning I don't even have an idea of which breweries might have brewed it. The OG was a bit lower than in the West, where Weizen was usually over 12º Plato.

Lichtenhainer was a local style, only found around Jena in Thüringen. It was so obscure, that it doesn't even show up in the standards documents. It died out in the early 1980s.

Gose is brewed all over the place now. It was only brewed sporadically in the DDR, disappearing between 1966 and 1985. In its brief revival in the late 1980s, it was brewed at the Berliner Weisse brewery. Presumably because they were experienced in sour beer production. I spent years trying to track it down in the 1990s. Now every fucker makes one.

What was DDR beer like? Much better than its reputation. There were some excellent beers brewed. Sure, there were some crap ones. But that's true everywhere. I've been sticking up for it for the last 30-odd years. Many of those slagging DDR beer off never really drank any of it.

The Berliner Weisse was better than any of the West Berlin versions. Many of the Pilsators were excellent. As good as the Pale Lagers brewed in Czechoslovakia. Those form Mühlhausen and Sternquell were particularly good. And the standard Pilsners of Berlin were pretty decent.

The Gothaer beers were shit, mind.

This is the end of the presentation. Feel free to ask questions in the comments. 

 

 

 

Beer in the DDR (part 6)

Today we continue with the individual beer styles of the DDR.

What I find fascinating is how they were mostly pretty much the same as in West Germany. But not exactly. And how there were some styles which were unique to the DDR. Schwarzbier being a good example of a beer which only really existed in the East.

There are multiple slides on Berliner Weisse because, well, I have more information. And I particularly liked the version brewed in the East, at the former Willner brewery. It was a wonderful beer. Sour, bone dry and very complex. You just had to ignore the funny looks when you ordered it "ohne Schüss", that is, without syrup. I don't think I ever saw anyone else drinking it straight.

I was recently given a bottle from the 1980s. I'm saving it until I can find someone who can culture up whatever is in it in the way of yeast and bacteria. Having seen photos of the brewery, where there were open wooden fermenters, I imagine that there's quite a cocktail of microflora.

Porter is a style which while not unique to the East, was much more common there than in the West. Not sure exactly why that was. The eastern version was remarkably authentic, having a top-fermenting primary fermentation and a Brettanomyces secondary.

Doppel-Karamel was unique to the DDR. And really weird. It was brewed as a 6º Plato Dunkel Malzbier, then, after primary fermentation sugar was added to bring the virtual OG up to 12º Plato. Amazingly, a couple of breweries in the former DDR still brew examples.

The base low-gravity Dunkel Malzbier was also sold straight. Surprisingly, not just in bottled form, but also on draught. Not sure how common that was. I certainly never came across it in that form.

 

Beer in the DDR (part 5)

Not finished yet with my DDR talk. Clearly, it's better when I'm giving it in person. As then you get all my bad jokes.

You do, at least, get to admire some of my DDR label collection. I have, literally, hundreds of the things. I just really love the aesthetic. And they bring back back happy memories of the socialist days.

These slides are where I start running through the styles individually. Starting with the most popular type, Helles. 

Various types of Pilsner were brewed. With Pilsner Spezial and Pilsator being more heavily hopped an containing better quality ingredients. Some of the Pilsators were cracking beers. For example, the one from Sternquell in Plauen whose label decorates the appropriate slide.

Dunkles is a type that I never came across in the wild. There can't have been much of it brewed. I only have a few labels for it. 

 

  

Brewers' Exhibition Mild conundrum

Trawling through the newspaper archives looking for "original gravity", I came across loads of hits from the 1950s relating to the Brewers' and Allied Traders' Exhibition competition. These were always local papers, which listed winning breweries from within their area.

Something that struck about the competition's categories. They were split into bottled and draught, subdivided into Pale Ale, Mild Ale and Stout, then further by gravity. I was surprised to see victors in the Mild Ale of 1042º to 1046º category. Who brewed a Mild that strong in the 1950s? Then totally gobsmacked to see medals awarded in the 1047 to 1055 category. I'm certain there were no Milds of such a strength.

For example, in 1957, Walsall Clubs and Hardy & Hanson, won medals for the strongest category of draught Mild.* What the hell were these beers? Were they ever sold in pubs, or were they just competition beers? Or another type of beer, submitted as Mild? I'm dead confused.

In 1954, Drybrough of Edinburgh won a medal for a bottled Mild Ale of an original gravity of 1036 to 1041.** Have their brewing records for that year. Not only did they not brew a Mild of any description, they didn't brew a beer in that gravity range. Take a look. There's nothing between 1032º and 1043º. What the hell was the beer they entered in the competition.

Drybrough beers in 1954
Beer	Style	OG
B 60/-	Pale Ale	1031
60/-	Pale Ale	1032
XXP	Pale Ale	1043
Export	Pale Ale	1045
Burns	Strong Ale	1073
Source:
Drybrough brewing record held at the Scottish Brewing Archive, document number D/6/1/1/7.

In 1957, Murray, another Edinburgh brewer, won silver in the draught Mild category of 1042º to 1046º.*** I've analyses of quite a few of their beers from this period. This looks like their Export to me. A beer of 1044º. Did they just submit one coloured up with caramel? Scottish brewers did that a lot.

It makes you wonder how many of the beers entered in all of the categories were special "competition" beers.

* Birmingham Daily Post - Tuesday 01 October 1957, page 5.
** Edinburgh Evening News - Thursday 07 October 1954, page 7.
*** Edinburgh Evening News - Monday 30 September 1957, page 8.

Regional Beer Styles ca. 1900 (part two)

This time we're going to look at how these different types of beer were brewed 

Starting with Mild.

"The brewer who wishes nowadays to succeed in his profession must certainly understand how to blend the materials employed and treat the brewing water, manipulating this for the mash-tun in such a way that by the correct method of fermentation and use of the right type of yeast, any class of beer desired may be turned out by him. This subject is too intricate to discuss fully in these pages, but I might say that for luscious mild ales, it is necessary to employ a large percentage of sugar in the copper, and well-cured malts in the mash-tun, in conjunction with a percentage of prepared rice or maize. For dry mild ales, it is usual to employ a fairly large percentage of glucose, also prepared grain, with fairly pale or lightly cured malts. The water used has, naturally, as I have already mentioned, a great deal to do with the palate-fulness, flavour and characters of the beers turned out."
"A Treatise of Practical Brewing and Malting" by Frank Thatcher, The Country Brewers' Gazette, 1905, pages 293 - 294.

For a Mild, then, you needed a shitload of sugar, some darker malts and an adjunct.. But the water was key to the character of the finished beer.

Next its the turn of Porter and Stout.

"The imitation of the London porters and stouts is not a difficult matter, considering that caramel and sugars which yield a luscious flavour are added to the copper. Then also, we have blends of black, crystal, amber and brown malts in addition to the ordinary pale or high-dried malts which are generally used; whereas for stouts produced in Ireland, it is usual to employ high-dried English and Irish malts blended with brown, amber, crystal and black or chocolate malts. In my former book on Brewing I dealt with this subject at great length, but, considering that operations in all breweries van so considerably, I do not now think it advisable to deal with the matter in extenso, but would add that in addition to the mash-tun materials employed, it is equally necessary to give sufficient attention to the blend of hops employed in the copper and cask, and as the type of yeast used, system of fermentation, and many other details affect the quality, flavour and condition of the finished beers produced, I think it somewhat inadvisable to give in these columns any percentages of materials, since they might be somewhat misleading."
"A Treatise of Practical Brewing and Malting" by Frank Thatcher, The Country Brewers' Gazette, 1905, page 294. 

He's right that London Black Beers had more complex malt bills than those brewed elsewhere. In particular, brown malt was a defining feature of London versions. Crystal and amber malts were more optional. With the latter mostly appearing in posh Stouts.

Regional Beer Styles ca. 1900

One of the frustrating aspects of old brewing manuals is how little they talk about specific beers. Other than when it's something very new. Like IPA.

Frank Thatcher's book is an exception. It has a couple of pages discussing the types of beer brewed in the different parts of the UK. Regionality was still very much a thing: Hes starts with the well-known brewing regions and the beers they brewed.

"Much might be written upon the important question of the blend of materials employed in the mash-tun and copper for the production of various classes of beers in the different brewing centres of the United Kingdom. Burton is noted for its pale and strong ales, London for mild ales and stouts, Edinburgh for the special type of Scotch ales of which pale ales form a large percentage of the output from the different breweries there. Other parts of Scotland also produce similar beers, particularly Alloa, etc. Then we have Dublin and Cork noted for Irish porter and stout, and I must not forget the well-known beers produced in the West of England, whereof Oakhill stout and the Anglo-Bavarian beers of Shepton Mallet are familiar examples."
"A Treatise of Practical Brewing and Malting" by Frank Thatcher, The Country Brewers' Gazette, 1905, page 293.

Burton was famous for Strong Ales long before the first Pale Ale was brewed there. 

London and Mild may have long lost their association, but it was once very strong. It was the capital's favourite for getting on for a century. 

Edinburgh was, by this point, as well, if not better known, for its Pale Ales. Their Scotch Ale was still quite a thing in some markets.

A bit more obvious is Cork and Dublin brewing Stout. Both still are.

Some more detail on the West Country stuff would be nice. Other than one Stout.

Most of the rest seems to refer to mild Ale.

"In districts where miners consume the beers produced, it is usual to aim at luscious palate-fulness, and a sweet type of mild ale. In other districts, dry beers are desired, and then we have the colour of the beers varying from a dark nut brown to a very pale amber. We also have stouts and porter produced with a large percentage of sugar, such as is usual to the London and Northampton stouts, while the Irish porters and stouts are produced, as a rule, from all malt and hops."
"A Treatise of Practical Brewing and Malting" by Frank Thatcher, The Country Brewers' Gazette, 1905, page 293. 

That seems to be saying that Milds were very diverse, some being sweet and others dry. While the colour varied from pale to dark.

From what I know, he's right in saying Irish Stout usually contained no sugar.

Dutch Beer production by type 1938 - 1954

I know. More numbers. But some of them are just so juicy. How could I leave them on the vine?

One large change – which was either precipitated of accelerated by the war – was in the type of beer being produced and consumed.

Rather surprisingly, the most popular class of beer pre-war was Lagerbier. That is, either Pale or Dark Lager of 3.5% ABV. The equivalent of Pale or Dark Mild, these were the beers consumed in draught in the cafés of the large cities in the West of Holland: Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Den Haag. Heavy beer – the 5% ABV Pils and Münchener – sold in rather lower quantities, but was more popular in the provinces.

The other two classes were far less popular. Extra Heavy was Bokbier. As this was only available for a couple of months a year, it’s no surprise its sales were modest. Its high price doubtless played a role, too. The Intermediate class of beer was only produced by a limited number of breweries. As the name implies, it was halfway in strength between Lager and Heavy.

Sales of Lagerbier collapsed after the war, as did those of the Intermediate class. It’s quite likely that the rise of Pils was connected to rising living standards with drinkers upgrading to Pils. Something similar happened in the UK with a move from Mild to Bitter. Eventually, Lagerbier totally disappeared.

By 1950 Heavy Beer, which at that point was almost all Pils, claimed more than 80% of sales. It would only go on to consolidate its position as most popular style in the 1960s and 1970s, leaving Holland a virtual monoculture.

Bokbier – after an initial post-war burst of enthusiasm – settled back down to around 1% of the market. Perhaps drinkers had just been thrilled to get their hands on a properly strong beer again.

Dutch beer production by type 1938 - 1954 (hl)
Year	Lager	Intermediate	Heavy	Extra heavy	Total
1938	663,650	30,303	565,189	10,214	1,269,336
1939	747,458	32,986	605,576	12,091	1,398,111
1946	668,838	18,077	1,090,303	12,188	1,789,406
1947	388,834	9,731	1,191,739	8,998	1,599,302
1948	257,986	7,915	1,020,550	23,499	1,309,950
1949	174,240	6,717	807,996	18,822	1,007,775
1950	166,471	6,894	880,865	14,232	1,068,462
1951	160,244	6,732	901,933	13,744	1,082,653
1952	161,328	4,592	945,166	13,423	1,124,509
1953	188,973	2,965	1,078,995	12,486	1,283,419
1954	198,588	1,789	1,195,980	14,139	1,410,496
Source:
De Nederlandse Brouwindustrie in Cijfers, by Dr. H. Hoelen, Centraal Brouwerij Kantoor, 1955, held at the Amsterdam City Archives, page 39.

Dutch beer production by type 1938 - 1954 (%)
Year	Lager	Intermediate	Heavy	Extra heavy
1938	52.28%	2.39%	44.53%	0.80%
1939	53.46%	2.36%	43.31%	0.86%
1946	37.38%	1.01%	60.93%	0.68%
1947	24.31%	0.61%	74.52%	0.56%
1948	19.69%	0.60%	77.91%	1.79%
1949	17.29%	0.67%	80.18%	1.87%
1950	15.58%	0.65%	82.44%	1.33%
1951	14.80%	0.62%	83.31%	1.27%
1952	14.35%	0.41%	84.05%	1.19%
1953	14.72%	0.23%	84.07%	0.97%
1954	14.08%	0.13%	84.79%	1.00%
Source:
De Nederlandse Brouwindustrie in Cijfers, by Dr. H. Hoelen, Centraal Brouwerij Kantoor, 1955, held at the Amsterdam City Archives, page 39.

 

Defining Pale Ale (part five)

Surprisingly, I haven't run out of enthusiasm for these style definitions yet. Let's see how long it lasts.

We've now moved post-WW II, but are still looking at London Ordinary Bitter. Which, as the 1950s turned in the 1960s was sidling its way past Mild to become the most popular type of beer.

The set of beers I'm basing this definition on were remarkably consistent, the weakest being 1036.3º and the strongest 1037.9º. They average out to 1037.1º, which, coincidentally, was about exactly the same as overall average gravity.

The grist mostly consisted of four elements: base malt, crystal malt, sugar - usually in the form of No.1 or No. 2 invert - and flaked barley or maize. Though the former mostly disappeared in the 1950s when brewers were no longer compelled to use it. Sometime the base malt included some mild malt in addition to pale malt.

With plenty of UK hops available - enough to cover the needs of the country's brewers - few hops were imported. Those that were used in Bitter were mostly classy Central European varieties like Saaz and Hallertau.

Postwar London Ordinary Bitter
OG	1035-1039
ABV	3.5-4%
Apparent attenuation	70-85%
IBU	20-35
SRM	5 - 9
grist
pale malt	70-85%
crystal malt	0-10%
flaked barley or maize	10-20%
sugar	5-20%
hops
Goldings
Goldings Varieties
Fuggles
Bramling Cross
Northern Brewer
Styrian Goldings
Saaz
Hallertau
Spalt

 

 

Defining Pale Ale (part four)

No, I hadn't forgotten about my attempt to create a straitjacket for UK beer styles. As I'm breaking them down both by period and region, it's going to take me a while.

I'm still on London Pale Ales, now moving down a class to what I suppose you would call Ordinary Bitter. With the quite strict pricing hierarchy of the interwar period, it's quite easy to break Pale Ales down into different categories. Today we're looking at the 7d per pint (on draught, in a public bar) category.

Sometimes 7d PA was the strongest Bitter in a brewer's portfolio. Whitbread didn't brew a beer in the 8d class, having only a single draught Bitter with a gravity of 1048º.

For most brewers in the capital 7d Bitter was their second-best selling draught beer, after Mild Ale. Though it could be a long second. For example, in 1939 Whitbread brewed 50,740 barrels of 7d PA, but 232,453 barrels of X Ale.

If you're thinking that this just looks like a watered-down version of 8d PA you'd be correct. As the two classes were commonly parti-gyled together, that's exactly what it was. Colour adjustment with caramel, however, meant that 7d PA was mostly around the same shade as its stronger sibling.

Interwar London 7d PA (Ordinary Bitter)
OG	1044-1049
ABV	4-5%
Apparent attenuation	65-85%
IBU	30-40
SRM	6 - 10
grist
pale malt	75-85%
crystal malt	0-5%
flaked rice or maize	10-15%
sugar	5-20%
hops
Goldings
Fuggles
Farnham
Bramling Cross
Northern Brewer
Styrian Goldings
Cluster
Saaz
Hallertau
Spalt

Let me know when you get bored of this stuff. It's going to take forever for me to get through them all. Just covering Pale Ale will entail a couple of dozen definitions.

Defining Pale Ale (part three)

Here's the final part of my definition of London Best Bitter. This time covering the post-WW II period.

This definition is mostly based on 1950 to 1975. Immediately after the war, no beers of this type were brewed due to government restrictions of gravity. By this time pre-war PAs at places like Fullers and Whitbread were a shadow of their former selves, with gravities in the low 1030ºs. They'd become Ordinary Bitters.

A new breed of Best Bitters started emerging around 1949 when brewers started to have the freedom to introduce stronger beers. I haven't found a single example of an old PA having its strength bumped up. These were all newly-introduced beers. A classic example is Fullers London Pride, but most of the then still numerous London brewers had an example.

The grist was quite similar to pre-war, with a couple of exceptions. At the start of this time slice flaked barley was the usual adjunct, simply because that's what the government insisted on. Once they had the choice, brewers universally switched back to maize. The use of crystal malt was becoming more common, but only in relatively small quantities. It was still not universally present in this class of beer.

No.1 and No. 2 invert remained the favourite types of sugar. Fullers continued to use a little glucose in their Pale Ales. Some beers also included a little caramel for colour adjustment.

Hops from all over the world continued to be imported, but in much smaller quantities than before the war. With the UK just about self-sufficient in hops there was far less need for foreign examples.The ones which were imported tended to be higher-quality varieties such as Styrian Goldings ,Saaz and Hallertau. Most beers contained 100% English hops.

Postwar London PA (Best Bitter)
OG	1040-1045
ABV	4-5%
Apparent attenuation	75-85%
IBU	20-30
SRM	5 - 8
grist
pale malt	70-85%
crystal malt	0-5%
flaked barley or maize	10-15%
sugar	5-20%
hops
Goldings
Goldings Varieties
Fuggles
Bramling Cross
Northern Brewer
Styrian Goldings
Saaz
Hallertau
Spalt

 

Defining Pale Ale (part two)

As a couple of you said you wouldn't mind some more historic style definitions, here's another one. 

It's the same style, but from a later period. Well, the next period, really. As this is for 1921 to 1929. Didn't the last period end at 1914? Why is there a gap? Because WW I totally messed UK beer about. In the latter stages of the war, changing restrictions meant styles were sometimes changing every couple of months. T cover the whole war I'd need at least half a dozen different definitions. If you're interested in seeing what they might look like, get yourself a copy of Armistice!, my book about brewing in WW I.

Unsurprisingly, the gravity is lower than before WW I. Though the strongest examples were about the same OG as the weakest pre-war versions. The gravity is no accident. These beers cost 8d per pint in the public bar. In the last set of wartime price controls, the top slot, costing 8d per pint, was set at anything over 1055º. And even after the controls were abolished, 1055º remained the highest gravity pretty much any draught beer was brewed to. In London that meant Burton Ale, Stout and PA.

The only changes to the grist are that no London PA was brewed from 100% pale malt and that a few examples employed a little crystal malt. But that was definitely the exception rather than the rule. Most PAs still only contained pale malt.

As for the hops, pretty much anything goes. Ones from Alsace, Belgium, New Zealand, Canada and everywhere else that grew them are possible. I've not mentioned some of the older varieties such as Cobb, Tolhurst and Colgate as they aren't currently available and, as they were of lesser quality, they weren't usually found in strong Pale Ales.

The preferred varieties, especially for late copper additions and dry hopping, remained Goldings, Fuggles and sometimes Saaz or Hallertau. Cluster, whose aroma British brewers weren't great fans of, was limited to early copper additions.

Interwar London PA (Best Bitter)
OG	1050-1055
ABV	5-6%
Apparent attenuation	65-85%
IBU	30-45
SRM	6 - 10
grist
pale malt	75-85%
crystal malt	0-5%
flaked rice or maize	10-15%
sugar	5-20%
hops
Goldings
Fuggles
Farnham
Bramling Cross
Northern Brewer
Styrian Goldings
Cluster
Saaz
Hallertau
Spalt

Defining Pale Ale

Remember my piss-take style guide to IPA? Here's something similar for Pale Ale. Or rather the opposite.

As this time I'm publishing a serious style specification for Pale Ale. But according to the system mentioned in yest another post. That is, split up across time. In this case 1880 to 1914.And I've further subdivided it by region. I considered simply classifying it as England. Then remembered how different beers were in London and, say, Southwold. 

London is good. Because I have examples from numerous breweries. From the brewing records and analyses, it's obvious that the London brewers made beers which were roughly similar. Their X Ales were much the same. And so were their Pale Ales.

Making my life simple. Which is one of the thing I value most. A nice simple life, filled with archives and numbers.

Here's my stab at defining London Pale Ale. Not that many of you will be in a position to mark my homework.

I'm not sure what it was ordered as down the pub. Most likely, simply Bitter.

I haven't listed all the types of hops which were used at some point. Just the most commonly-used ones.In general, they tended to be the best varieties and fresh. 

The best quality pale malt was used. Mostly made from English 2-row barley, sometimes accompanied by 6-row Californian. No other type of malt was used. Definitely not crystal.

As they were going for as pale a colour as possible, the sugar was mostly No. 1 invert, or something similar.  Rice was more popular in the first decade or so of the period. After that, it was maize all the way. Not everyone used adjuncts, just most. There were those who never acquired the habit, such as Whitbread.

Hopping was heavy in both copper and cask. It would need all those hops as the chances are, especially in the 19th century, they were brewed as Stock Pale Ales, aged for up to 12 months in trade casks. Hence some Brettanomyces character is acceptable.

1880 - 1914 London PA (Best Bitter)
OG	1057-1065
ABV	5.5-7%
Apparent attenuation	70-85%
IBU	60-80
SRM	5 - 8
grist
pale malt	75-100%
flaked rice or maize	10-15%
sugar	10-20%
hops
Goldings
Fuggles
Farnham
Cluster
Saaz
Hallertau

If you find this stuff interesting I can write some more guidelines. Either horizontally or vertically.