Dutch Dubbelbock 2015

The last in my series spun from this year’s Bokbierfestival programme. It’s a much shorter set than the others, with only 11 examples. Ten really, as one is just the 2014 of the same beer, Duits & Lauret Rook Dubbelbock.

Mommeriete and Zeeburg are the only to that were bottom-fermented. Which struck me as odd. Surely Brand can't be top-fermented, s the programme claims?

I have to start off with the term Dubbelbock itself. It’s a mix of Dutch and German. Proper Dutch would be Dubbelbok, proper German Doppelbock. You’ll note that none of the beers below uses either. I can only think of one explanation. Everyone is copying the name of Brand Dubbelbgock, the first beer of this type brewed in Holland.

According to the German definition, a Doppelbock should have a minimum OG of 18º Plato. Something all the beers in the table managed, except for Duits & Lauret and Bijdehand. With a gravity of 26º Plato, Emelisse have some justification for tacking on an Imperial to their beer’s name. It has the highest OG and highest ABV of any of the beers at this year’s festival.

A quick comparison with my other two categories is illuminating. Unsurprisingly the average OG of the Dubbelbocks is easily the highest. More surprisingly, it’s FG is only slightly higher, giving it this group the highest degree of attenuation. Not what I would have guessed at all.

That Dubbelbock is both darker and more bitter on average makes lots of sense. Though there is considerable variation amongst the individual beers for both. Which means I’m not sure you can read too much into the averages.

Time for the tables.

type	OG Plato	FG Plato	ABV	App. Atten-uation	Colour (EBC)	bitterness (EBU)
top-fermenters	17.17	3.90	7.18	78.64%	67.6	30.7
bottom-fermenters	16.83	4.20	6.86	76.37%	54.2	30.4
Dubbelbock	19.2	4.30	8.33	79.31%	71.8	35.5

2015 Dutch Duppelbock
Year	Brewer	Beer	OG Plato	FG Plato	ABV	App. Atten-uation	Colour (EBC)	bitterness (EBU)
2015	Pelgrim	Pelgrim Dubbelbock	19.3	2.94	9.00	85.71%	95	30
2015	De Lepelaer (H)	Beemster Dubbelbock	18	3.35	8.00	82.44%	40	75
2015	Bijdehand (H)	Provenier Dubbelbock	17.8	3.50	7.80	81.40%	80	25
2014	Duits & Lauret	Rook Dubbelbock 2014	18.0	4.08	7.60	78.52%	70	27
2015	Brand	Brand Dubbelbock	18.0	4.27	7.50	77.50%	65	27
2015	Emelisse	Emelisse Imperial Dobbel-bock	26.0	6.78	11.00	75.77%	45	45
2015	Duits & Lauret	Rook Dubbelbock	17.5				60	28
2015	Molenduyn (H)	Dubbelbock					85	36
2015	Reuzenbieren (H)	ReuZ Dubbelbock					100	35
2015	Mommeriete	Gramsbarger Dubbelbock	18	4.27	7.50	77.50%	65	38
2015	Zeeburg (H)	Zeeburg Dubbelbock	20	5.17	8.20	75.62%	85	25
	Average		19.2	4.30	8.33	79.31%	71.8	35.5
Source:
Bokbierfestival programme 2015, pages 24 - 28.

Maybe I’ll be arsed to do the foreign Bocks.

Bokbier 2015 (part four)

Some more of this season's Dutch Boks.

Scheldebrouwerij Wildebok
Smells quite nice. And has the right basic flaour profile for a Bok: bit of caramel sweetness, balanced by bitterness from either malt or hops. But there's a nastines in the middle: over-boiled cabbage. Makes it pretty tough to drink. I can't finish it.

Bronckhorster Ijsselbock
Looks Lovely: dark brown body and cream-coloured head. Accentuated by the beer being pretty fizzy. Hang on while I knock out most of the condition with my twizzling stick . . . . . 

. . . . . . .

. . . . . . .

. . . . . . .

That took a while.  Still not quite finished . . . . . . Must have double the CO2 of Duvel. Was it worth the elbow grease? Not really. Another cabbagey one. Worse than the last one. Bitter in a bad way.

Het Uiltje Bosuil
Not a Bok, but a black IPA from a hot new Dutch brewery. Smells very nice, all that fruit salad stuff. Pretty much the same in the mouth, put sort of sour, too. Is that just from all the hops? I'm fucked if I know. Probably just an illusion. Pretty bitter, in a pleasant enough way. I'll finsh this one.

Let's Brew Wednesday - 1910 Barclay Perkins KKK

Time for another Edwardian Burton Ale. Probably one of my favourite style/period combinations.

Without WW II, would people still have been slurping back this sort of loony juice in the 1970’s? I suspect not, but you never know. Though, in fact, one of the biggest disincentives to brewing strong beer only dates from the 1920’s. In 1921 tax was set at 100 shillings a standard barrel, but as a concession to the brewers, in 1924 a rebate of 20 shillings per bulk barrel was introduced. This made stronger beers less tax-efficient.

Let me explain. A beer of standard-barrel gravity, 1055º, would pay 100 shillings minus 20. So 80 shillings tax. A beer of half standard-barrel gravity, 1027.5º, would pay 50 shillings minus 20, making 30 shillings. That meant that a 1055º beer paid 1.45 shillings per gravity point, but a 1027.5º beer just 1.09 shillings. This system continued right up until WW II.

I’m pretty sure this was a draught beer. Though I doubt it was a ubiquitous presence on the bars on Barclay Perkins tied pubs. You certainly wouldn’t have been able to knock back many pints of it in a session. A pub wouldn’t have got through huge quantities. But a beer this strong didn’t need to be shifted as quickly as one of 4% ABV.

The drop in strength in WW I caused lots of problems with draught beer quality for this very reason. Older beers had been more robust through their greater strength and heavy hopping. Landlords didn’t need to be that careful in their cellar management. After the war that was no longer true and many struggled to get their beer into good condition.

That said, Barclay Perkins did have a beer similar to this between the wars. KKKK, with an OG of 1079, was a winter seasonal which, if their adverts are to be believed, was served from a pin on the bar. A pin of Old Ale on the bar was something you still saw in the 1970’s and 1980’s during the colder weather. Maybe it still happens in the tied houses of some regional brewers.






Time to let Kristen weave his magic . . . . .

Kristen’s Version:
Notes: Look at the 1909 BP KK we did recently. Notice anything similar?? Yeah, these babies are twins!! Well, not exactly twins as there are a few differences but definitely ‘blood’.

Malt: The only difference between the KK and KKK we see here this week is the lack of SA malt, hence no mild malt. Choose two nice English pale malts or just one...or really whatever you’d like that is a really nice pale malt. I’m going with Maris Otter and Optic b/c they are great and I have them right in my little grimy bands… A touch more invert No2 but not massively so. Loads more caramel but same as always, feel free to lose it, or make your own but don’t go sub’ing in any sort of sinamar or the like.
 
Hops: Loads more hops than even last week. About equal split between Hallertauer and Goldings this time round. All towards the beginning and a load of dry hops should make this nice and aromatic.  I really prefer my dry hops on for a short time, around 3 days, at about 64-65F. I find I get exactly what I want and if I leave them on longer, it adds nothing…personal preference though

Yeast: (repeat of last week) Same problem as always with these types of beers is trying to keep the gravity higher and not finishing too dry. As long as you are north of 1.015 or so I think it will be close enough. Any drier than that and it will get oppressive.

Cask: Standard procedure:
1) let the beer ferment until finished and then give it another day or so. For me right around 5-7 days.
2) Rack the beer to your vessel of choice (firkin, polypin, cornie, whatever).
3) Add primings at ~3.5g/L
4) Add prepared isinglass at 1ml/L
5) ONLY add dry hops at 0.25g/l – 1g/L.
6) Bung it up and roll it around to mix. Condition at 55F or so for 4-5 days and its ready to go. Spile/vent. Tap. Settle. Serve at 55F.

Yet another Hammonds takeover

Back with Anthony Avis and another example of the strange atmosphere in many old brewing companies.

Case was one of the later companies Hammonds acquired, in 1959. It was located in Cumbria in the extreme Northwest of England.

“Case & Co began as a wine and spirit business in the main street of Ulverston in the middle of the nineteenth century, and expanded with the growth of Vickers shipyard in Barrow, building a brewery and acquiring a tied house estate in that town. The brewery in Barrow was begun by Geoffrey Case's father, and was his private domain; Geoffrey was allowed no part in its control until he had turned forty and by the time he took charge, it was a brewery business entirely, based in Barrow. He became the brewer, and the brewery became his main interest in life, apart from his horses and point to point meetings; and his golf. He was a good brewer, and his beer was very popular. His equipment was ancient, parts of it literally held together, if not with pieces of string, then assuredly with lengths of rope; but he knew how it was done and managed it all with adroitness. He had a good foreman brewer inherited from his father, who carried him through the learning phase.”
"The Brewing Industry 1950 - 1990", by Anthony Avis, 1997, page 65.

Usually brewery owners were keen on getting their son involved in the business with a view to the continuity of the business. Though autocratic owners weren’t rare, either. The son, as in so many cases, seems to have got a taste for country living, judging by his interests. Held together with rope? Very classy.

This next bit made me smile:

“His brewing routine produced very low rates of wastage, a matter of intense professional interest to the other brewers in the Hammonds group, after Case was taken in. This was until it was realised that the brewery fermenting vessels had such thin walls that they bulged when full. The Excise officers only calibrated the first three feet or so when assessing duty; the result was that Geoffrey gained quite a number of gallons of duty free beer.”
"The Brewing Industry 1950 - 1990", by Anthony Avis, 1997, page 65.

It’s an indication of the poor state of repair of many breweries. Many don’t seem to have had much in the way of investment since before WW I. The pressing need to replace knackered equipment prompted many to sell up. The most recent example I can think of is Gales. They needed to completely replace their brewhouse and either didn’t have the money or the inclination.

It seemed there were some real boozers in the brewery:

“Bookwork was not his favourite occupation, so he left the accountancy side of the business entirely to the company secretary, a man from the Principality named Tudwal C Roberts, a long serving employee locked into the drinking habits which then were common in small breweries. He had sacrificed his liver for the company and its owners, and if one could have warmed one's hands in York by the glow from James Melrose's nose, then a fire could have been ignited in Barrow from the heat of Tudwal's rubicund face.”
"The Brewing Industry 1950 - 1990", by Anthony Avis, 1997, page 65.

This sounds like me at a works do:

“The final negotiations were conducted in the Midland Hotel in Manchester over a luncheon, at which I was present with PLBL, the joint managing director of Hammonds. We met Geoffrey Case and T C Roberts, and soon settled outstanding points of detail and then went downstairs for luncheon. I noted the wretched Tudwal drank everything within reach, and with a neurotic and self absorbed compulsion; it was not drinking for pleasure and companionship, it was consumption because alcohol was available; it put me on notice.”
"The Brewing Industry 1950 - 1990", by Anthony Avis, 1997, page 66.

Not even I would do this:

“Some weeks later I made my first official visit to Barrow and to Case's office there. I saw T C Roberts in his room and was astonished by his behaviour. As we sat talking, he got up from his chair and sidled round to a filing cabinet, pulled open a drawer; and taking an opened bottle of red wine from it, with a glass, he filled it and drank, with his back to me. Some inner force made him do this; perhaps he did not care what I might be thinking; perhaps he was ashamed at his involuntary behaviour - I do not know. When he had finished splashing the wine down his throat and shirt front, he turned round and returned to his seat with no comment at all. It happened several times during the meeting; to me it seemed so unreal.”
"The Brewing Industry 1950 - 1990", by Anthony Avis, 1997, page 66.

Surely he should have been drinking beer in a brewery?

Many brewery owners seemed extremely naïve about the result of selling up:

“Geoffrey Case never got over the fact that he had sold the brewery and therefore control; like many before him, he held to the belief that somehow he had got his money out of the company, but that everything would stay the same. Initially, John Lees-Jones, a fellow director on the Hammonds board, and I went every week to Barrow, and gradually we altered the way the company was run. Geoffrey reverted to being the brewer only; Dudley Renwick was brought in by us as general manager; he was a member of the Deuchar brewing dynasty of Newcastle upon Tyne, and a man with an air of authority.”
"The Brewing Industry 1950 - 1990", by Anthony Avis, 1997, page 66.

It ended in tears for Geoffrey Case:

“The sole responsibility for the brewery had oppressed him and because of the sale he now had help and understanding from his new colleagues; and for him the outlook improved distinctly. He was a pleasant, hesitant, shy countryman. The idyll of his existence lasted a few years only; UB was formed, Hammonds went, and out of it came United Lancastrian Breweries, and a regime not to his liking. The outcome was inevitable.”
"The Brewing Industry 1950 - 1990", by Anthony Avis, 1997, page 65

Seem to have been a very eccentric bunch running breweries.

Bokbier 2015 (part three)

More randomish Bokiness.

Heineken Tarwebok 6.5% ABV
Not much of an aroma. Very sweet. Like a toffee apple with triple toffee.

Dolores: 'That's really sweet . . . and very thin at the end."

Grolsch Herst Bok 6.6% ABV
Sweet in a reallly dull way. "sweetened with sugar" it says on the label. I can believe it, the way two sips have got my teeth aching.

Dolores: "Mmm . . . that's quite nice." I let her finish it.

De Vriendschap Hopbock 6.6% ABV
This is from an outfit in the new wave of Dutch brewing. Smells like a mix of Caramel and grapefruit. Tastes much the same. But it finishes really bitter. More bitter to me than the 41 EBU's the Bokbierfestival programme proclaims. IPA Bok, really. Quite pale, too.

"Uugh. I don't like that one. Bitter."

Cost €2.45 for 33 cl. About €2 euros more than 7% ABV Amstel Bok (for 30 cl.) Which is a really good Bok as well as being dirt cheap.

2015 Top-fermenting Dutch Bok

Tables – dontcha just love ‘em? I do, as you’ve probably already gathered. I really do have a thing about numbers. Can’t get enough of them.

You really wouldn’t want to see what goes on in my head. It even looks weird to me. But I’m digressing like a digressing stick.

My second look at the 2015 Bock crop is focused on top-fermenting examples. It’s a sign of the transformation of Dutch brewing that these greatly outnumber their bottom-fermenting counterparts. 63 to 29, if you’re interested. Though neither of those totals includes beers labelled Doppelbock.

Once again, a couple of the beers fall outside the parameters of a Dutch autumn Bok. Anything under 15º Plato is too low in gravity. And anything with a colour value below 30 is way too pale.

Though the two beers with the highest EBU value were both top-fermenters, there’s nothing to pick between the average bitterness of them and the bottom-fermenters. Most of the other averages are also pretty close, with the top-fermenters slightly higher in gravity and ABV. The biggest difference is in the colour, where the bottom-fermenters are significantly paler. Take a look:

type	OG Plato	FG Plato	ABV	App. Atten-uation	Colour (EBC)	bitterness (EBU)
top-fermenters	17.17	3.90	7.18	78.64%	67.6	30.7
bottom-fermenters	16.83	4.20	6.86	76.37%	54.2	30.4

I’m having arsing issues again so I’ll leave you with all the pretty numbers lined up neatly in rows.

2015 Top-fermenting Dutch Bok
Year	Brewer	Beer	OG Plato	FG Plato	ABV	App. Atten-uation	Colour (EBC)	bitterness (EBU)
2015	Openluchtmuseum Goye Goet	Herfstbock	14.5	3.30	6.00	78.24%	104	17
2015	Apeldoornse Bierbrouwerij DeVlijt	Veluws Schavuyt Bockbier	14.7	2.58	6.50	83.24%	52	30
2015	Leidsch Bier	Pumpkin Raisin Bock	14.9	2.05	6.90	86.95%	47	37
2015	't IJ	Ijbok	14.9	2.79	6.50	82.16%	17	24
2015	Van de Streek (H)	Black Bock	14.9	3.73	6.00	76.05%	66	57
2015	De Eem (H)	Eem Bok	15.0	2.89	6.50	81.63%	65	37
2015	Erik's Bier	Erik's Zwarte Piet bokbier	15.5	1.20	7.70	92.71%	90	31
2015	Gringel (H)	Valkenburgse Gringelbock	15.5	3.43	6.50	78.93%	40	25
2015	Scheldebrouwerij	Wilde Bok	15.5	3.43	6.50	78.93%	40	24
2015	Hertog Jan	Hertog Jan Bockbier	15.9	3.86	6.50	76.87%	100	23
2015	Kompaan (H)	Weizen bock	15.9	3.86	6.50	76.87%	140	41
2015	Attemer Brouwerij	Attemer Bock	16.0	3.04	7.00	81.93%	69	26
2015	Groningse Bierbrouwerij (H)	Hunebed bock	16.0	3.04	7.00	81.93%	70	30
2015	Jopen	4 Granen Bok Bier	16.0	3.04	7.00	81.93%		22
2015	Koningshoeven	La Trappe Bockbier	16.0	3.04	7.00	81.93%	95	34
2015	Maximus	Maximus Bock 7	16.0	3.04	7.00	81.93%	75	35
2015	Hemel	Rookbok	16.0	3.96	6.50	76.41%
2015	Hemel	Oerbok	16.0	3.96	6.50	76.41%
2015	Troost	Bok	16.2	3.81	6.70	77.63%	55	38
2015	De Vriendschap	Hopbock	16.3	4.11	6.60	75.97%	26	41
2015	EleganT	EleganT Bruintje	16.4	1.99	7.80	88.51%	81	38
2015	Largum	Guur	16.4	2.46	7.55	85.83%	62	37
2015	Bax (H)	Oma's pruim oude bok	16.5	4.31	6.60	75.10%	59	29
2015	Berging Brouwerij (H)	Koe Bok	16.5	4.50	6.50	73.98%	57	31
2015	Jantjes Bieren (H)	Udens Bockbier	16.5	4.50	6.50	73.98%	35	33
2015	Pauw	Pauw's Herfsttrots	16.7	4.71	6.50	73.07%	80	18
2015	Snab (H)	Ijsbok	16.9	0.31	9.00	98.27%	100	32
2015	Snab (H)	Ezelenbok	16.9	3.08	7.50	82.73%	90	32
2015	Breugems (H)	Saense bock	16.9	4.01	7.00	77.46%	72	28
2015	Bourgondische brouwers (H)	Willem de duitser	17.0	3.01	7.60	83.27%	94	34
2015	Mieghehn	Bokkendonks Bokbier	17.0	3.55	7.30	80.18%	65	36
2015	Klein Duimpje	Slobberbok	17.0	3.74	7.20	79.11%	85	32
2015	De Vriendschap	Tarwebok	17.0	4.11	7.00	77.02%	40	20
2015	Groningse Bierbrouwerij (H)	Brandaris Blonde Bock	17.0	4.11	7.00	77.02%	60	20
2015	Groningse Bierbrouwerij (H)	Kruisheren Constatinus Bock	17.0	4.11	7.00	77.02%	20	40
2015	Linden boom	Herfslbock	17.0	4.11	7.00	77.02%	80	22
2015	t Volen	Valenbock	17.0	5.04	6.50	71.71%	100	23
2015	Hommeles (H)	Bokkepruik	17.0				66	30
2015	Oudaen	Oudaen Herfstbock	17.4	4.54	7.00	75.20%	75	21
2015	Wageningen	Mordicus	17.4	4.54	7.00	75.20%	60	22
2015	Texelse	Texels Bock	17.8	4.36	7.33	76.76%	56	26
2015	Rodenburg	Bronkhorster Usselbock	18.0	5.19	7.00	72.57%	50	26
2015	Witte Leeuw (H)	Oktober 23	18.0	5.74	6.70	69.60%	90	24
2015	Het roze varken	Wintervacht	18.3	4.59	7.50	76.24%	63	51
2015	Oldskool (H)	Einbockish	18.5	6.64	6.50	65.76%	40	32
2015	t Wort Wat (H)	Polderbock	18.7	4.30	7.90	78.27%	77	31
2015	Rock city beers (H)	Bockalade	19.0	2.61	9.00	87.12%	160	30
2015	De Arn (H)	Bokkige Arn	19.0	4.43	8.00	77.97%	60	30
2015	Gooische biergilde (H)	De blauwe bock	19.0	4.44	8.00	77.94%	80	28
2015	Jopen	Johannieter	20.0	3.70	9.00	82.62%		22
2015	Oldskool (H)	Shut the Bock up	20.0	5.17	8.20	75.62%	10	20
2015	Rodenburg	Brok in de keel	20.5	5.17	8.50	76.26%	37	53
2015	Texelse	Texels Stormbock	21.0	3.01	10.00	86.66%	67	24
2015	't IJ	Dubbelbok	21.0	3.91	9.50	82.60%	52	25
2015	De Prael	Herfstbock	21.0	7.14	7.70	67.77%	60	29
2015	Praght	Praght bokbier 2	22.7	9.33	7.50	60.96%	80
2015	Naeckle brouwers	Naeckte bok			7.50
2015	Blauwe Ijsbeer (H)	Weijsbeer bock			6.00
2015	Dampegheest	Dampegheest bockbier			7.00
2015	Oijen	Oijens Bockbier			6.00
2015	Pampus	Bokshoorn			6.80
2015	Praght	Ftevobock			7.50		50	28
2015	Ramses	Ramses Bok			7.00		88	59
	Average		17.17	3.90	7.18	78.64%	67.6	30.7
Source:
Bokbierfestival programme 2015, pages 24 - 28.

Just Doppelbock to go.

William Younger's Stout 1951 – 1960

Another series I can put to bed. This is the last of William Younger’s beer types from the immediate post-war years. Stout.

It’s fascinating to see how beer styles followed their own path in Scotland. Pale Ales became less hoppy than their English counterparts, Mild withered away decades earlier and Stout went sweet and not very alcoholic before 1900. And, of course, Lager was popular in Scotland long before England. It some ways you could argue Scotland blazed a path that England later followed.

Various writers have claimed that all English Stout went sweet in the early 20th century. But it just isn’t true. In fact there was a split in the Stout market, with weak lactose-laced Milk Stouts on the one hand and relatively dry, stronger beers on the other. But in Scotland things were quite different. Sweet Stouts with very low degrees of attenuation were already common in the 19th century and by WW II few drier versions survived.

Capital Stout I can spot in Younger’s 1949 brewing records. It’s DBS Btlg. In fact it had a long pedigree, having been brewed since at least the 1850’s. Weirdly, a descendent live on in a rather unexpected place: Denmark. Because when Carl Jacobsen, son of Carlsberg’s founder, returned from his apprenticeship in Britain he brought back recipes. Most faded away after a couple of years, but DBS – marketed as Carlsberg Porter – has survived until today. Though oddly Carlsberg claim it was only introduced in 1930.

Nourishing Stout is obviously just another name for Capital Stout.

Sweet Stout is archetypal of the Scottish style: an OG in the mid 1030’s, attenuation of around 50% and under 3% ABV. The low degree of attenuation doubtless helped by the addition of lactose. Why is its presence sometimes remarked upon in the Whitbread Gravity Book? Because they brewed the market-leader amongst Milk Stouts, Mackeson. They kept a very close eye on competing products.

The pricing of the two Stouts looks illogical, with the weaker Sweet Stout often costing the same or more than the stronger Capital Stout. Makes no sense to me. Capital Stout should be at least 2d per half more expensive.

William Younger's Stout 1951 - 1960
Year	Beer	Price	size	package	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	colour
1959	Capital Stout	15d	half	bottled	1043.7	1021.6	2.84	50.57%	376
1954	Capital Stout (Lactose present)	16d	half	bottled	1046.5	1019.7	3.45	57.63%	250
1954	Nourishing Stout	14d	half	bottled	1046.3	1021.6	3.18	53.35%	1 + 16
1951	Sweet Stout	14d	half	bottled	1035.7	1019.5	2.08	45.38%	1 + 10
1955	Sweet Stout	15d	half	bottled	1034.9	1017.5	2.24	49.86%	200
1959	Sweet Stout	14d	half	bottled	1033.3	1013.1	2.61	60.66%	300
1960	Sweet Stout (lactose present)	12d	half	bottled	1034.8	1016.9	2.24	51.44%	250
Source:
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/002.

Not sure what comes next.