A great christmas present for any beer lover

(and anyone Scottish) is my award-winning book of Scottish beer. It's available on Lulu at a very reasonable price.

http://www.lulu.com/shop/ronald-pattinson/scotland-vol-2/paperback/product-23090497.html

It's packed with all sorts of handy information about Scottish. Real facts backed up by documents from the Scottish Brewing Archive.

In addition to details of Scottish brewing methods and the ingredients used, it also has more than 370 historic recipes. More than one for every day of the year.

UK exports to the European Union 1985 - 1994

More lovely numbers. Dontcha just love them?

Probably not, if you're less of a weirdo than me. But what do I care? The whole point of this blog is saying all the things my family don't want to hear.

Though I have just been discussing UK beer exports with Alexei. Some of the weird ones from the 1970's and 1980's. Who would have guessed that the UK was exporting beer to Saudi Arabia? It's no surprise that exports to there dried up after 1979. But how on earth did 72 barrels head that way in 1982? I'd love to know the story behind that.

Anyway, getting back to the numbers that actually appear in the table, this set shows some fascinating trends. Like the slump in exports to Belgium. And the sudden boom in ones to France. I can't help thinking there must have been some specific reason for the sudden jump in 1994.  It's almost a tenfold increase.

And why did UK exports to Europe more than double in 1994? Oh right. It's to do with the introduction if the Single Market in 1993:

"Following the Introduction of the Single Market in January 1993 the method of recording exports to the European Union changed and the figures separated by a bold line are not comparable with earlier years."

Which doesn't make me much wiser. Were they just recording exports better, or did something really change. Hang on. Wouldn't that be when the personal allowance went up from a couple of bottles to a vanload? Is all that UK beer being sent to France getting no further than Calais and then coming back again?

I know that the figures for Danish beer exports to Germany are distorted that way. That virtually none of the beer "exported" is consumed in Germany. It's bought by Danes who hop over the border to take advantage of the cheaper price of alcohol in Germany.

UK exports to the European Union 1985 - 1994 (thousands of barrels)
Destination	1985	1986	1987	1988	1989	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994
Belgium & Luxembourg	136.6	96.8	107.5	94.7	64.6	62.0	44.4	46.8	37.1	52.2
Cyprus	2.5	1.2	2.4	2.0	3.8	2.7	2.7	4.6	3.1	3.7
Denmark	0.6	0.2	0.7	0.2	0.4	0.5	0.7	3.7	2.6	66.4
France	10.8	8.9	8.3	9.7	14.2	15.6	15.2	17.8	22.1	196.6
Germany	24.6	19.3	22.6	24.5	26.4	29.1	28.7	31.2	17.3	19.1
Greece	0.3	0.2	0.7	3.0	5.8	14.5	12.6	13.7	10.9	9
Ireland	71	108	141	175.1	189.3	234.3	295.6	369.8	246.7	387.8
Italy	51.5	54.3	50.2	43.8	40.6	47.2	56.3	79.0	85.1	144.7
Netherlands	10.9	10.8	11.9	26.4	28.1	42.2	70.0	37.5	10.4	30.6
Portugal	0.7	1.9	4.4	2.9	2.0	3.5	2.6	2.7	1.3	1.8
Spain	4.1	6.9	9.9	14.0	19.1	46.5	38.2	52.3	65.8	104.8
Sweden	2	2.3	2.5	2.9	5.0	6.8	19.2	23.1	19.8	26.5
Total	311	307	357	394.4	390.6	495.4	564.4	654.5	499.3	1,045.1
Sources:
"Statistical Handbook 1988", page 9.
BBPA Statistical Handbook 1995, page 9.
BBPA Statistical Handbook 1999, page 9.

UK exports to the European Union 1995 - 2016

Someone suggested after my last post about UK exports that it would be interesting to see where all that UK beer was going.

Luckily for you, I was crazy enough to spend my day off yesterday scanning tables and plonking them into a spreadsheet. There's too much data to put into a single table, so I'm only going back to 1995. I've got near complete data going back to 1946. If you're interested I can publish the older numbers, too.

Where is all that UK beer going in Europe? More than a third is going to Ireland, which might come as a surprise. My guess is that it's mostly stuff like Tennent's. In second place is France. Though the amount has fallen a fair bit since its peak of almost 1.5 million barrels in 2010. Third and fourth place is pretty close between Holland and Italy. Belgium is a long way behind in fifth. For a long period after WW I it was undisputed number one.

Considering the size of its population, there's quite a lot of beer going to Sweden. Lots of Fullers, I suppose. What beer is coming herre to Holland? You see a fair bit of Thornbridge about, but I can't imagine they're exporting anything like a quarter of a million barrels.

UK exports to the European Union 1995 - 2016 (thousands of barrels)
Destination	1995	1996	1997	1998	2000	2007	2008	2009	2010	2014	2015	2016
Austria	0.2	0.9	5.3	2.6	3.5	3.8	2.4	2.9	3.5	4.5	6.4	5.7
Belgium & Luxembourg	80.7	46.1	51.4	493	34.9	22.1	9.9	38.2	39.8	147.1	40.1	90.5
Cyprus	3.8	3	2.7	3	3.1	4.1	5.1	6.5	68	19.7	48.5	9.2
Denmark	45.4	42.7	233	13	9.6	14.8	12.6	11.4	15.9	8.8	16.1	18.1
Finland	8.8	4.5	3.1	2.4	5.1	11.5	9.8	8.3	12	14.3	16.6	14.3
France	183.7	512.2	279.4	526.2	427.6	1,094.4	919.7	1,299.9	1,443.2	438.0	501.2	544.6
Germany	26.9	24.3	23	103	14.6	48.5	117.8	16.9	80.2	34.8	28.5	58.0
Greece	8.8	4.4	4	5.2	8.4	19.3	7.8	10.4	5.4	6.0	7.1	7.0
Ireland	256	280.2	252.6	325.8	169.3	650.8	660.1	579.8	809.4	764.1	830.8	831.9
Italy	162.9	143.5	83.9	174.9	166.9	90.4	84.7	75.9	97.5	220.0	275.2	272.6
Malta					1	1.9	1.6	2.2	4.9	3.4	4.6	3.2
Netherlands	34.8	39.3	37.8	17.1	48.3	10.8	24.7	108	263.2	266.8	230.0	274.7
Poland									5.6	13.2	9.2	7.3
Portugal	2.1	2.3	13	0.5	1.8	4.1	3.9	3.7	3
Spain	80.4	65.7	41.6	64.1	59.8	80.9	61.9	45.6	53.3	44.0	51.9	54.2
Sweden	18.5	21	17	14.1	26.2	55.8	50.5	56.2	73.9	66.0	62.4	63.8
Other EU Countries						8.1	6.9	2.3	10.7	26.0	52.4	42.2
Total	909.1	1,187.1	823.8	1,205.6	975.9	2,121.3	1,979.2	2,271.0	2,983.9	2,076.8	2,181.2	2,297.2
Sources:
BBPA Statistical Handbook 1999, page 9.
BBPA Statistical Handbook 2011, page 9.
BBPA Statistical Handbook 2017, p. 18.

1940 Shepherd Neame MB

Now it’s the turn of Shepherd Neame's one Mild ale. Or rather Mild Beer, which is what Shepherd Neame called it.

The grist isn’t that different from their Pale Ales. The only difference is that the Mild contains a second sugar, something called VK. I’ve thrown in No.4 invert as a substitute. No idea how close to the mark that is. It could also have been something paler, like No. 2 invert. But No. 4 gives it something closer to a Dark Mild colour.

There’s also considerably more malt extract in this beer. No idea why that should be.

The high degree of attenuation means that despite the low gravity, it’s still over 3% ABV. It was probably even more than that. The chances are this was primed at racking time with a sugar solution. If Barclay Perkins are typical, that would have bumped up the OG by 1º or 2º and the secondary fermentation it caused would also have bumped up the ABV.

The level of hopping, even for a Mild, is very low. I’m curious as to how it would have tasted. Pretty thin, I would guess, though maybe not so much after the priming. Sweet and fruity, I suppose.

1940 Shepherd Neame MB
pale malt	4.75 lb	77.55%
No. 3 invert sugar	0.75 lb	12.24%
No. 4 invert sugar	0.50 lb	8.16%
malt extract	0.125 lb	2.04%
Fuggles 120 mins	0.25 oz
Goldings 60 mins	0.25 oz
Goldings 30 mins	0.25 oz
OG	1030.6
FG	1006
ABV	3.25
Apparent attenuation	80.39%
IBU	11
SRM	8
Mash at	151º F
Sparge at	170º F
Boil time	120 minutes
pitching temp	62º F
Yeast	a Southern English Ale yeast

UK beer exports 1900 - 2016

Another boring numbers post. Feel free to skip it if you prefer those word things. Though I will be throwing in a few of those as well.

I've accumulated some impressive sets of numbers over the years. Especially about British brewing. Mostly they're from the Brewers' Almanack and its successor, the Statistical Handbook. I've got a fairly complete set of most numbers for the 20th century, though there are a few gaps.

The longer the set, the more useful the numbers, I generally find. This lot certainly offered up some surprises. The biggest being that since 1987 UK beer exports have been greater than ever before.

For most of the 20th century, beer exports were in the range 300,000 - 500,000 hl per year. But over the last couple of decades this has shot up to several millions of hectolitres annually. Unfortunately, I don't know which specific beers are being exported. Though given the numbers, most of it must be being produced on an industrial scale.

Good news? I guess so. But there's a huge problem looming on the horizon. Because guess where most of those exports go: EU countries. 63% of exports in 2016. I'm surprised no-one has mentioned this yet. All I've heard are the supposed opportunities that Brexit offers brewers. I suspect that the opposite is more likely to be the case. Be interesting to see what the numbers look like in five years time.

UK beer exports 1900 - 2016
year	hl	year	hl	year	hl
1900	798,057	1945	213,478	1969	617,139
1905	798,057	1946	306,721	1983	749,544
1910	934,360	1947	179,498	1984	857,557
1913	1,066,657	1948	335,655	1985	984,000
1915	787,485	1949	415,927	1986	1,011,230
1920	519,063	1950	362,023	1987	1,145,000
1922	427,001	1951	450,763	1988	1,231,675
1923	421,339	1952	437,600	1989	1,335,443
1924	429,872	1953	466,320	1990	1,624,000
1925	436,852	1954	405,906	1991	1,842,767
1926	483,584	1955	368,902	1992	2,100,000
1927	452,931	1956	390,937	1993	2,100,000
1934	353,976	1957	391,824	1994	3,200,000
1935	381,055	1958	406,988	1995	3,019,000
1936	531,977	1959	349,168	1996	3,654,000
1937	557,669	1960	364,123	1997	3,290,710
1938	460,338	1962	463,128	1998	3,853,530
1939	464,740	1963	586,923	2000	3,646,600
1940	436,579	1964	623,189	2010	6,789,100
1941	369,129	1965	600,578	2014	5,241,900
1942	155,139	1966	538,643	2015	5,649,600
1943	175,143	1967	484,883	2016	5,974,500
1944	126,992	1968	556,979
Sources:
Brewers' Almanack 1928, p. 115
Brewers' Almanack 1955, p. 57
Brewers' Almanack 1962, p. 57
Brewers' Almanack 1971, p. 54
“The Brewers' Society Statistical Handbook 1988” page 17
“The Brewers' Society Statistical Handbook 1990” page 17
Statistical Handbook of the British Beer & Pub Association 2003, p. 21
Statistical Handbook of the British Beer & Pub Association 2005, p. 17
Statistical Handbook of the British Beer & Pub Association 2011, p. 17
Statistical Handbook of the British Beer & Pub Association 2017, p. 15 - 16

Midwest USA early March 2018

Sort of sorting a trip out. All a bit vague at the moment.

Interested in listening to a fat, old English (soon to be Dutch) bloke? Get in touch.

First two week in March. Or so.

Oh. And buy my books.

Kent Beers in 1902

Doing one of my random searches of the British Newspaper Archive a fascinating page of adverts.

It's from a local paper and features advertisements from three breweries from the immediate vicinity. What fascinates me are the similarities and differences between the three brewery's ranges.

The only beer common to all three is my old favourite, AK. Tomson & Wotton even brewed two AKs, presumably at different strengths because the prices are different. Slightly weird to see an AK described as East India Pale Ale. Light Bitter, which how the other two breweries describe it, is more usual.

Shepherd Neame and Tomson & Wotton also both have a beer called KK as their strongest Pale Ale. While Rigden's is called XXK. Though that is another way of writing KK. The london breweries originally called their Stock Ales XXK, XXXK and XXXK, before switching over to KK, KKK and KKKK. At 60s, Shep's KK was a very expensive beer. That's about the same as you'd pay for a barrel of Bass Pale Ale, a beer that commanded a high price.

I'm sure Tomson & Wotton brewed a Mild, even though it isn't mentioned in their advert. Odd that the other two breweries both call theirs Mild Beer rather than the more standard Mild Ale. Note that both only have a single beer described as Mild.

I was surprised to see that the two Faversham breweries produced both Table Ale and Table Beer. Table anything was pretty rare in England by this point. It had long been dropped by the big London brewers. The examples here must have been pretty low gravity as they're under 30s per barrel. At that price, they's have to be under 1040º.

Porter was already starting to die out in the provinces by this time. Though it seems to have clung on longer in the Southeast, possibly because of the proximity to London. Porter remained popular in the capital longer than elsewhere.

There's only one Strong Ale, Rigden's XXX. Which I'm guessing is a Stock Ale rather than a Stock Pale Ale.

Kent Beers in 1902
Brewery	Place	year	beer	price per barrel (s)	price per gallon (d)
Shepherd Neame	Faversham	1902	Stock KK India Pale Ale	60	20
Shepherd Neame	Faversham	1902	East India Pale Ale, No. 1	48	16
Shepherd Neame	Faversham	1902	East India Pale Ale, No. 2	36	12
Shepherd Neame	Faversham	1902	East India Pale Ale, AK	34	11.33
Shepherd Neame	Faversham	1902	Mild Beer	36	12
Shepherd Neame	Faversham	1902	Table Ale	28	9.33
Shepherd Neame	Faversham	1902	Table Beer	24	8
Shepherd Neame	Faversham	1902	Stout	50	16.67
Shepherd Neame	Faversham	1902	Porter	36	12
W.E. & J. Rigden	Faversham	1902	XXK Bitter Ale	50	16.67
W.E. & J. Rigden	Faversham	1902	SA Special Ale	42	14
W.E. & J. Rigden	Faversham	1902	AK Light Bitter Ale	36	12
W.E. & J. Rigden	Faversham	1902	XXX Stock Ale	58	19.33
W.E. & J. Rigden	Faversham	1902	X Mild Beer	36	12
W.E. & J. Rigden	Faversham	1902	TA Table Ale	28	9.33
W.E. & J. Rigden	Faversham	1902	TB Table Beer	22	7.33
W.E. & J. Rigden	Faversham	1902	DBS Double Brown Stout	53	17.67
W.E. & J. Rigden	Faversham	1902	Nourishing Stout	48	16
W.E. & J. Rigden	Faversham	1902	P Porter	36	12
Tomson & Wotton	Ramsgate	1902	AK Light Bitter Ale	30	10
Tomson & Wotton	Ramsgate	1902	AK Light Bitter Ale	36	12
Tomson & Wotton	Ramsgate	1902	AKK Pale Ale	42	14
Tomson & Wotton	Ramsgate	1902	KK Pale Ale	48	16
Source:
Whitstable Times and Herne Bay Herald - Saturday 06 December 1902, page 1.

Autumn sale still on

But I'm ot sure for how much longer. Probably not past 30th November.

So if you want to complete your collection of  my classic UK styles (all four of them) books, you'd best hurry.

I've knocked 15% off Strong!, Bitter! and Mild!Plus. And a massive 20% Off Porter!

Alexei has spent all his birthday money on vodka already. And his birthday was only a few days ago. How is he going to be able to saitisfy his cocktail cravings if he can't afford to get gin and rum, too? You should see his sad little face when he says: "Dad, another day without cocktails. Life isn't worth lving."

Please, please save this young man from the despair of cocktail-free evenings. Buy my books now.

Let's Brew Wednesday - 1940 Shepherd Neame PA

At the start of WW II there were still plenty of Best Bitters, brewed to a decent gravity.

Shepherd Neame PA is an example of such a beer. It had been brewed to around this strength since 1920, when things had started to get back to normal again after the turmoil of WW I.

The recipe is slightly more complicated than it looks as there were two types of pale malt used: one from UK barley and the other from Californian barley. The latter formed about 20% of the total. The small quantity of malt extract I assume is there to provide enzymes. It wasn’t unusual in grists of the period.

The hops are a total guess. I know nothing other than that they were English and from the 1937, 1938 and 1930 seasons. I’ve reduced the amount in the recipe to take into account the age of the hops. There’s no mention of dry-hopping in the brewing record, but I’m sure a draught Best Bitter like this would have been. The quarter ounce I’ve specified is the minimum amount that would have been employed.

It’s possible that there was some colour correction with caramel after primary fermentation.

1940 Shepherd Neame PA
pale malt	10.75 lb	99.08%
malt extract	0.10 lb	0.92%
Fuggles 120 mins	1.00 oz
Goldings 60 mins	1.00 oz
Goldings 30 mins	1.00 oz
Goldings dry hops	0.25 oz
OG	1047
FG	1012
ABV	4.63
Apparent attenuation	74.47%
IBU	43
SRM	5
Mash at	156º F
Sparge at	170º F
Boil time	120 minutes
pitching temp	62º F
Yeast	a Southern English Ale yeast