Beanes' Patent Grist (part two)

Thanks very much to those who commented on my last post. You saved me a good bit of research time with your links to various books. 

I'd already found a couple of references in "The report of the departmental committee on beer materials". But they were too vague, only implying it was prepared from some type of grain.

Frank Thatcher's book was the suggestion that answered pretty much all my questions. It's a book I already had, both physically and digitally. A bit embarrassing, really.  I've been using Thatcher as a source in my current book project. Specifically the part on beer ingredients. In my defence, I haven't got to adjuncts yet.

Beanes' Patent Grist is mentioned many times. There are even descriptions of how it was produced and how it was used.

"In the previous chapter on malting I have thoroughly explained the manufacture of malt and what a good sample of malt should resemble. It will now be necessary to define the other materials employed by brewers. These consist of amber, chocolate or brown , crystal and black malts, hops, various types of sugar such as invert, glucose, dextrin-maltose, and other types of such sugars including caramelized malt extract, maltodextrins, etc .; also raw cane sugar, caramels — those suitable for colouring purposes only, and those which possess a characteristic flavour for giving black beers features entirely of their own. We have also employed in convertors, raw grain , such as barley, oats , rice, maize, rye, wheat and sago ; and specially prepared grain , which includes flaked maize and rice, retorrefied rice, such as Beanes' Patent Grist, retorrefied barley and other forms of prepared grain."
"A Treatise of Practical Brewing and Malting" by Frank Thatcher, The Country Brewers' Gazette, 1905, page 226.

That's specific enough: retorrefied rice. But what the hell is that? We'll get to that later. First we'll look at what the point in using it was.

""Beanes' Patent Grist” is prepared from rice by a special process of the manufacturers. It imparts to the finished beers a high percentage of dextrin, so that the palate thinness given to beers by flaked rice is entirely avoided, and beers brewed from this patent grist improve in brilliancy and condition the longer they are stored, while their flavour is clean and entirely satisfactory. It yields a high extract and does not produce the defects in beers which are observable in those brewed from other preparations of rice or maize. For the production of pale ales and beers which are required to remain sound during hot weather, this material is indeed an excellent one, as it is already practically converted when the brewer receives it."
"A Treatise of Practical Brewing and Malting" by Frank Thatcher, The Country Brewers' Gazette, 1905, pages 260 - 261. 

Right. It was an improved version of flaked rice. One which didn't have its disadvantages and had a few other useful qualities. The high dextrin content would explain why it didn't thin out the body.

Odd that it's use is particularly handy in Pale Ales and in producing clear beers. When you see Cairnes' use of the material: only in there Stouts. Where clarity is not such a big deal.

Here's how it was made, for the more technically minded amongst you.

"Beanes’ Patent Grist is manufactured in the following way;— The grain is steeped in a solution of acid at a certain strength, and after it has absorbed as much of the acid solution as desired, it is washed with water to remove any excessive amount of acidity until the water coming away from the grain becomes neutral to litmus paper. Then the grain is dried on a kiln in a suitable manner, and the temperature raised from 280° to 310º until the starch in the grain has been changed to what is required, the grain being then more or less converted into dextrin. By this unique method of treatment one of the most excellent brewing materials that can be obtained is manufactured. The process appears at first sight a very simple one, but many who have tried to imitate it have failed to produce the exact article with regard to quality as supplied by the original manufacturers."
"A Treatise of Practical Brewing and Malting" by Frank Thatcher, The Country Brewers' Gazette, 1905, page 516.

 Now I know what Beanes' Patent Grist was. My problem is what do I use to replace it? Flaked rice, from the texts above, wouldn't produce the same result.

If you look in the comments, fellow beer historian Peter Symons suggests brown rice syrup.

 

Let's Brew Wednesday - 1889 Harveys Stout

Everyone brewed a Stout in the late 19th century and Harveys was no exception. Porter might have been slowly disappearing, but Stout was still going strong.

And this is a proper Stout, not a Porter masquerading as such. Why do I say that? Because of the gravity. At 1079º, it’s just about getting into Double Stout territory.

There’s a bit more to the grist than many provincial Stouts, which were mostly just pale malt and black malt. Here, there’s also a quantity of crystal malt. But no brown malt, as was normal in London. About 16% of the base malt was made from Smyrna, i.e. Middle Eastern, barley.

The sugar is described as Johnson BK. Guessing that BK stands for “Black”, I’d usually interpret it as No. 4 invert. Except that would leave the colour at over 60 SRM, which seems way too dark. Even with No. 3 invert, it ends up at high end of the expected colour for Stout.

All English hops: Sussex from the 1886 harvest, Kent from 1887 and East Kent from 1888.

At the end of the fermentation details, it says: “Run into Puns”. That is, racked into large casks, presumably for ageing. I’d guess at a minimum of six months secondary conditioning, probably 12 months or more. 

1889 Harveys Stout
pale malt	10.50 lb	63.64%
black malt	1.00 lb	6.06%
crystal malt 60 L	2.00 lb	12.12%
No. 3 invert sugar	3.00 lb	18.18%
Fuggles 120 mins	1.50 oz
Goldings 60 mins	1.50 oz
Goldings 30 mins	1.50 oz
Goldings dry hops	1.00 oz
OG	1079
FG	1026
ABV	7.01
Apparent attenuation	67.09%
IBU	49
SRM	41
Mash at	150º F
Sparge at	160º F
Boil time	150 minutes
pitching temp	58º F
Yeast	Wyeast 1099 Whitbread Ale

Cairnes grists in 1914

Cairnes grists have become simpler. Whereas in 1898 there were six different ingredients, now there are just four.
    
The biggest change is the introduction of an adjunct in the form of flaked maize. In 1914 only malt and sugar were used. Other than B.P.G., which, rather than the sugar I first thought, is some sort of preparation of unmalted grain. Exactly what sort of preparation and which type of grain it was made from isn’t clear.

The three sugars of 1898 – No. 2 and No. 3 invert, and caramel – have been slimmed down to just one: glucose. It’s not specified in which form the glucose was. In a couple of the beers – 2d Ale and Bitter Ale – the sugar content is around 20%. That’s very high, even for England. And in Ireland, where little sugar was used, it’s extremely high.

The percentage of malt has fallen from between 80% and 90% to between 65% and 75%. The introduction of flaked maize is the biggest reason for the decline in the malt content. As before, the base malt was made from a combination of Middle Eastern and UK barley. 

Cairnes grists in 1914
Beer	Style	OG	pale malt	black malt	flaked maize	glucose
2d Ale	Mild	1038	65.22%		14.49%	20.29%
Mild Ale	Mild	1062	75.90%		14.46%	9.64%
Bitter Ale	Pale Ale	1050	70.59%		9.80%	19.61%
SS	Stout	1050	70.03%	7.74%	13.34%	8.89%
DS	Stout	1067	66.39%	6.21%	18.97%	8.43%
Source:
Cairnes brewing record held at the Guinness archives.

Beane’s Patent Grist

In the 1898 Cairnes grists I published a couple of weeks back contained a mystery ingredient: B.P.G. 

From it's placement in the brewing record, I assumed it was a type of sugar, guessing that the G stood for glucose. How wrong I was.

Someone helpfully posted a link to the 1909 Brewer's Journal with a reference to B.P.G. Calling it "Beane’s Patent Gist" I realised the last word was misspelt, because it vaguely rang a bell. So I started digging around a bit. It soon became clear that it wasn't a type of sugar.

So, what was it?

I found this mention of in the newspaper archive:

"PURE BEER.
The proceedings of the departmental committee appointed by the Treasury to consider the question of beer materials, so far as they have gone, have just been made known. At the first day’s inquiry, the Earl of Pembroke and Montgomery presiding, Mr. John Steele, Chief Inspector of Inland Revenue and Excise, was examined. He stated that his principal work was to advise the Board of Inland Revenue with regard to regulations in connection with the beer duty. Each brewer had to take out a yearly licence to brew, at a cdst of one sovereign. In brewing 42 lb. weight of malt or corn of any description and 28 lb. of sugar were deemed the equivalents of a bushel of malt, and a brewer was expected to produce eighteen gallons of beer at a gravity of 55 deg. from each bushel. The bushel might be grain or it might be sugar ; 421b. of the one or 28 lb. of the other was fixed by law so as to have the charge upon the worts instead of the materials. It was difficult for them to say that the use of a certain material was a practice of adulteration if the brewer obeyed the proper regulations in using it. In reply to questions, the witness said that the brewer had full liberty to use any kind of saccharine material — having the benefit of what was called the "free mash tun." No action would be taken against the use of hop substitutes that were not injurious to health. The Board would not interfere with the use of quassia, but it would with the use of cocculus indicus, because the latter was poisonous. It was used in beer many years ago. The materials used in brewing included malt, gelatinized rice, flaked rice, maize flour, torrefied malt, malt flour, Dutton's malt flour, Beane’s patent grist, patent rice malt, gelatinized maize, desiccated rice, maizone, cerealine, rizine, patent flaked maize, rice shells, and Sheppherd’s corn malt. Besides these ingredients there were black malt sugar, dextrinous caramel, glucosine caramel, caramelized dextro-maltose, viscosiline, liquorice, malto-dextrine, ground sago, and varieties of sugars glucoses, and saccharums under fancy trade names. The Government officers had power to enter public-houses and take samples. There was no restriction as to the quantity of salt put into beer."
St James's Gazette - Thursday 22 October 1896, page 15.

Note that it's listed along with various types of unmalted grains. OK, Probably some sort of prepared grain. But which grain?

Stopes also list it along with a variety of adjuncts:

"Other malts are now known to commerce. It is extremely difficult to procure information conceming the manufacture and nature of some of them, and that they are classed here with malt at all will doubtless be objected to by some.

Of these mention may be made of short-malt germless maize, short-malt rice, germless-maize, Beane’s patent grist, granulated grain, zealine, cerealine, grits, hominy, &c."
"Malt and Malting" by Stopes, F, W, Lyon, London, 1885, page 167.

Unfortunately, he gives no further details as to its composition. I need to dig further.

Cairnes beers in 1914

Let’s take a look at what Cairnes beers looked like just before the outbreak of WW I.  There have been a few changes in the years since 1898.

Table Beer seems to have been replaced by something called 2d Ale. I assume that refers to the retail price per pint. Now, that’s the price of a London X Ale. But that was considerably stronger at around 1055º. I’m guessing that it was considered a Mild Ale. Though, confusingly, its hopping rate is halfway between that of Mild Ale and Bitter Ale. Talking of which, the hopping of 2d Ale is quite heavy for such a low-gravity beer.

Mild Ale must be the new name for the beer formerly known as simply Ale. The gravity is down 5º. But is still over 1060º, stronger than English X Ale. However, the biggest change is in the hopping rate, down from 9.99 lbs per quarter (336 lbs) of malt to 6.21 lbs. Which is quite a hefty drop.

The Pale Ale and the IPA have both disappeared. In their place, a single beer called Bitter Ale has appeared. Though it’s possible that it’s just a rebadging of E.I. Ale. The hopping rate (per quarter) of the two is pretty much identical. The gravity is 5º lower. About what you would expect. Tax increases in the early years of the 20th century prompted brewers to reduce strengths to avoid raising prices.

Both Stouts are still around. With predictably lower gravities: a 5º reduction for Single Stout, 4º for Double Stout. The per quarter hopping rates are down, but not by a significant amount.
 

Cairnes beers in 1914
Beer	Style	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	lbs hops/ qtr	hops lb/brl	Pitch temp
2d Ale	Mild	1038	1012	3.44	68.42%	7.89	1.14	58.5º F
Mild Ale	Mild	1062	1022	5.29	64.52%	6.21	2.06	58.75º F
Bitter Ale	Pale Ale	1050	1019	4.10	62.00%	9.64	1.81	58.5º F
SS	Stout	1050	1014.5	4.70	71.00%	6.70	1.27	59.25º F
DS	Stout	1067	1023	5.82	65.67%	8.49	2.42	58.75º F
Source:
Cairnes brewing record held at the Guinness archives.

 

Coronation Ale

It's a great British tradition to brew beers to celebrate royal events. Marriages, Jubilees, coronations.

I always appreciated the extra holiday. The mean bastards here in Holland do all this shit on a Saturday. No day off.

I've a load of recipes from from 1952 and 1853. Not any actual Coronation Ale recipes. But a whole load of different styles. I'll be happy to supply commercial breweries with a suitable recipe for a mere 100 euros.

Charles won't be crowned for a while yet. Leaving plenty of time to get a Coronation Ale in the fermenter.

Let's Brew - 1889 Harveys SB

I’m pretty sure that SB stands for Stock Beer. Pretty sure, but not certain. It certainly has the characteristics I’d expect of a Stock Ale.

Why is that? Because it looks very much like the strongest Mild Ale, XXX. It’s a few points higher in gravity, but the grist is the same. Same two elements – pale malt and No. 3 invert sugar – in the same proportions.

The difference lies in the hopping rate which was 35% higher in SB. Which is what you would expect in a beer intended to undergo a long fermentation. A minimum of 12 months, would be my guess. Not sure what the vessels used in this process were. Possibly trade casks. Or some wort of large r casks. There’s no indication in the brewing record, sadly.

Just two types of English hops, East Kent from the 1887 harvest and Kent from 1888. I’ve guessed that the former were Goldings and the latter Fuggles. 

1889 Harveys SB
pale malt	13.75 lb	83.33%
No. 3 invert sugar	2.75 lb	16.67%
Fuggles 95 mins	2.00 oz
Fuggles 60 mins	2.00 oz
Goldings 30 mins	2.00 oz
OG	1079
FG	1019
ABV	7.94
Apparent attenuation	75.95%
IBU	58
SRM	17
Mash at	152º F
Sparge at	165º F
Boil time	95 minutes
pitching temp	58º F
Yeast	White Labs WLP025 Southwold

Cairnes hops in 1898

It’s very obvious which country was the main source of hops for Cairnes: England. Not really surprising, seeing as it was right next door and a major hop producer. However, just like brewers in England, they also used North American hops. Which by this point meant West Coast hops.

Most of the hops were very fresh, as these beers were brewed in the autumn of 1898, just a few weeks after the harvest. The rest of the hops were from the year before, so still not that old. The exception being Pacifics from the 1895 season used in Single Stout.

It’s not surprising that Single Stout should have the oldest hops as that was by far the biggest selling beer for Cairnes. In that respect it was filling the same slot as X Ale in England. 

Cairnes hops in 1898
Beer	Style	OG	hop 1	hop 2	hop 3
TB	Table Beer	1045	English 1898	English 1898
Ale	Mild	1067	English
E.I. Ale	Pale Ale	1055	English 1898	English 1897	Californian 1897
IP Ale	IPA	1064	English 1898	English 1897
SS	Stout	1055	English 1897	Californian 1897	Pacifics 1895
DS	Stout	1071	English	English
Source:
Cairnes brewing record held at the Guinness archives.

Cairnes grists in 1898

The grists are notable for a couple of reasons. First, there are no adjuncts of any description. Which seems to have been pretty typical of Irish brewing. By the 1890s, most English brewers were using an adjunct of some sort, usually flaked maize, but sometimes grits or flaked rice.

The bulk of all the grists is base pale malt. Made from either UK-grown or Middle Eastern barley. The only other type of malt employed was black malt. Obviously enough, in the two Stouts. Like most brewers outside London, those in Ireland dropped brown malt and relied on black malt for colour and roast flavour.

Talking of colour, all of the beers apart from the Pale Ale and IPA contained an amount of caramel, mostly pretty small. I assume that this was for colour correction.

Every beer contains sugar of some sort. Mostly in the form of No. 2 invert in the case of the Ales. Though Table Beer also includes a small quantity of No. 3 invert. Again, presumably for colour correction purposes.

The two Stouts contained a sugar called B.P.G.. I’ve no real idea why it was, but I’m guessing some sort of glucose. 

Cairnes grists in 1898
Beer	Style	OG	pale malt	black malt	No. 2 invert	No.3 invert	B. P. G.	caramel
TB	Table Beer	1045	88.77%		7.40%	3.70%		0.13%
Ale	Mild	1067	91.26%		8.69%			0.05%
E.I. Ale	Pale Ale	1055	91.53%		8.47%
IP Ale	IPA	1064	89.36%		10.64%
SS	Stout	1055	90.41%	7.00%			2.32%	0.28%
DS	Stout	1071	82.47%	6.30%			10.69%	0.55%
Source:
Cairnes brewing record held at the Guinness archives.

Let's Brew Wednesday - 1889 Harveys Pale Ale

Pale Ale clearly wasn’t very important for Harveys. They only had the one – a full-strength version – and no Light Bitter. Which is quite unusual for this late in the 19th century.

The quantities were tiny, too. Over a period of 5 months, it was brewed just three times. In batches of around 25 barrels. A couple of hundred barrels over a year, at most. Quite a contrast to today.

At 1067º, it looks to me like a Stock Pale Ale. “Run into Puns [puncheons]” it says at the bottom of the fermentation record. A puncheon being a large cask. Too large a cask to be sent out to pubs.

The grist has very little to it. A single type of English pale malt and No. 1 invert sugar. That’s it. Not a great deal to discuss there.

There’s little more to talk about with the hops. Worcester from the 1888 crop. All in all, it’s a very simple recipe.

My guess would be a minimum of 9 months, probably more than 12 months of ageing.  

1889 Harveys Pale Ale
pale malt	10.00 lb	76.92%
No. 1 invert sugar	3.00 lb	23.08%
Fuggles 120 mins	2.50 oz
Fuggles 60 mins	2.50 oz
Fuggles 30 mins	2.50 oz
Goldings dry hops	1.00 oz
OG	1067
FG	1020
ABV	6.22
Apparent attenuation	70.15%
IBU	80
SRM	8
Mash at	152º F
Sparge at	165º F
Boil time	120 minutes
pitching temp	58.25º F
Yeast	White Labs WLP025 Southwold

Cairnes beers in 1898

Now here's a treat for you: the beers of a regional Irish brewery. Cairnes being based in Drogheda, a town about 40 km north of Dublin.

Their set of beers is an intriguing one: a Table Beer, a Mild Ale, a Pale Ale, and IPA and two Stouts. Though the latter aren't quite what they appear.

Single Stout (SS) looks like it's really a Porter to me. It's about the same strength as contemporary London Porters. The terms Single Stout and Porter seem to have been used fairly interchangeably in Ireland.  Guinness Porter was a little stronger at about 1060º.

Double Stout (DS) is a little bit weaker than the Guinness of the day, Which was around 1075º. I assume Guinness Extra Stout was the beer it was supposed to compete with.

It's intriguing that Cairnes IPA wasn't all that much stronger - just 0.75% ABV - than the Table Beer. By the 1890s Table Beer had pretty much disappeared in England. With the dramatic fall in strength the conflict entailed, I don't expect that it survived WW I.

I assume that the beer simply called Ale was a type of Mild Ale. Though it is quite strong for a base-level Mild. Oddly, it's their second-strongest beer, after Double Stout.

The IPA is pretty close to the classic 1065º gravity. Though a poor degree of attenuation leaves it just under 5.5% ABV. It's not clear is this was a Stock Ale. If it were, then the real FG would have been considerably lower.

Cairnes beers in 1898
Beer	Style	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	lbs hops/ qtr	hops lb/brl	Pitch temp
TB	Table Beer	1045	1009	4.76	80.00%	7.35	1.40	60º F
Ale	Mild	1067	1017	6.61	74.63%	9.99	3.01	60º F
E.I. Ale	Pale Ale	1055	1012	5.69	78.18%	9.76	2.23	60º F
IP Ale	IPA	1064	1023	5.42	64.06%	10.91	3.01	60º F
SS	Stout	1055	1012	5.69	78.18%	7.32	1.79	60º F
DS	Stout	1071	1016	7.28	77.46%	8.68	2.99	60º F
Source:
Cairnes brewing record held at the Guinness archives.

 

Epilogue

I did manage to get through the two weeks without strangling one of the bastards. Didn’t even come close. The reverse probably isn’t true. They did look like they wanted to physically attack me a couple of times when I was being “annoying” as they claimed.

All unscarred physically. And only slightly mentally. I’ll call that a win.

I was a bit disappointed with the beer choice in most taprooms. These were the options mostly: IPA, Sludge IPA, Sour, Sludge IPA with fruit, Sour with fruit, Sludge IPA with fruit and shit, sour with fruit and shit, Pilsner. Other than a couple of Porters, almost no dark beers of any description.

According to my Lager consultant (Andrew), North American brewers are getting better at brewing Pilsner. He says a couple even tasted like German ones. Though there were still quite a few well wide of the mark.

On a personal level, great to meet some old friends and to make some new ones. That’s what these trips are all about: blagging free beer for me and the kids. We may have succeeded too well, if you see the bruises on Andrew’s arms from carrying a box of (very nice) beer.

“It’s a price worth paying for that beer, Andrew.”

“You’re not the one fucking paying it, Dad.”

“That’s a bit selfish.”

“Just fuck right off, or carry it yourself.”

“You’re making such a good job of it.”

“Fuck off with your bullshit.”

Aah. The happy banter. How much fun was it?

“Not as much as you think, Dad.”

“Did I . ..

“Yes, Dad. You did say that out loud. Now shut up.”

A few hours in Seattle (part 2)

The closer we get to Seattle, the denser the traffic becomes. We come to a full stop a couple of times. Great. This was what I feared. A traffic jam. I’ve seen Seattle traffic before.

Luckily, it clears. Though it’s still dead busy. My other fear is an accident. We’ve seen plenty of those. And how some people drive. Scarily irresponsibly.

The last kilometre or so, off the motorway, to King Street Station, takes forever. But we still roll around the back of the station on time.

“It’s a handy place to get dropped off. Look! There’s the taxi rank.” I’m so observant.

“I’d already seen it.” Smartarse Andrew says.

Our taxi driver is very friendly. But tries to short-change me by $10. The cheeky bastard. He didn’t do much arguing when I pointed out his “mistake”.

I don’t have to show any proof of right of entry to Holland. It’s so stupid. Feeling brave, we check in three bags. They’ve always popped out like clockwork until now.

“Where’s the lounge?”

“At gate A1.”

That’s where we go. Not even pausing to grab some duty-free booze.

I have to pay for one of the kids $39. That’s cheaper than at Schiphol.

“You’d better eat and . . .”

“We know, Dad. We have to get our money’s worth.”

This is much bigger than the lounge in San Diego. With a much better spread of food.

“A double bourbon, no ice, please. What would you kids like?”

“IPA.”

“IPA.”

Hop Valley Kraken Stash IPA
Standard grapefruit stuff. Better than they have in the lounge back in Schiphol, mind. There your only choice is Heineken Pils.

We can see half of Mount Rainier. Sadly, it’s the bottom half.  Some stupid bridge between terminals obscures the interesting half.

I need to relax before the flight. In a whiskey sort of way.

It was a nightmare booking the seats. I ended up getting us all aisle seats, but on wildly differing rows. Less cramped – something important on a long flight.

“Whiskey time again.”

“Don’t go crazy, Dad.” Lexxie warns.

“When have I ever done that?”

“Is that a serious question? Because if it is, you’re delusional.”

“But fun delusional.”

“No. Just delusional.”

I watch the planes for a while. Grab some food. Get another bourbon or three.

“You’re not going to go crazy, are you, Dad?” Lexxie is still worried.

“Would I ever?”

“We’ve already had this conversation.”

I don’t go crazy. But start heading to our gate well before the 60 minutes recommended. Picking up some whiskey on the way.

“Welcome aboard our flight to Atlanta.” The pilot announces.

What the fuck?

“Sorry, our flight to Amsterdam. Definitely Amsterdam, not Atlanta.”

That’s reassuring.

The bloke in the window seat next to me moves to the row behind, which was empty. Leaving me two seats. Which is brilliant.

It helps me get a fairly decent kip. It must be at least six hours of OK sleep.

We use our reserve EU passports to get through the machines. Though the queue for other passports isn’t bad. It still seems crowded here, but not as chaotic as two weeks ago.

That’s a bit worrying. There are piles of luggage in the corridors. And even bigger piles of bags behind screens close to the carousels. That’s super worrying.

There’s a huge scrum around the carousel. Three flights are unloading at once. No sign of our bags. Even after it says all the baggage has been unloaded. Damn.

Then I spot my scruffy case. The other two are right behind it. Phew. Minutes later, we’re speeding along the motorway to Amsterdam. And an awaiting Dolores. Who – angel that she is – has tea ready.

Let's Brew - 1889 Harveys XXX Ale

The late 19th century saw a reduction in the number of X Ales brewed by many breweries. Breaking down the standard X to XXXX set.

In the case of Harveys, this meant the disappearance of XX and XXXX. Leaving just X and XXX. Unsurprisingly, XXX was a good bit stronger than X. And way stronger than any modern Mild Ale at over 7% ABV.

There’s only base malt, but there are two types of it. One made from English barley, the other from Smyrna barley. The big difference from X Ale is the use of No. 3 rather than No. 2 invert sugar. Which explains the much darker colour. Much closer to that of modern Mild.

Two types of hops were employed, both East Kent, from the 1887 and 1888 crops.

The mashing temperatures for all of Harveys beers is a guess. In the brewing records they are in code.

1889 Harveys XXX Ale
pale malt	13.25 lb	84.13%
No. 3 invert sugar	2.5 lb	15.87%
Fuggles 95 mins	1.50 oz
Goldings 60 mins	1.50 oz
Goldings 30 mins	1.50 oz
OG	1075
FG	1021
ABV	7.14
Apparent attenuation	72.00%
IBU	49
SRM	16
Mash at	152º F
Sparge at	165º F
Boil time	95 minutes
pitching temp	57.5º F
Yeast	White Labs WLP025 Southwold

 

A few hours in Seattle (part 1)

It is an early start today. Our replacement bus is at 9:00. Based on getting the train a few years back, we’ll need to be at the station well before it leaves. I’m aiming for 7:00.

Which means we need to be up early. Like 6:00. I organised wake-up calls for both our rooms. I’m already up when mine comes in. Checking my emails one last time. Just in case.

I pick up the kids at 6:30. Surprisingly, Andrew is both conscious and dressed. And all packed up and ready to go.

There’s a taxi waiting outside. Which we take. It’s not far to the station. And it allows me to get rid of most of my remaining Canadian dollars.

“What have you been doing in Vancouver?”

“Just a holiday.”

“Seeing the sights?”

“Yes.”

“Which ones?”

“The Steam Clock. And other stuff.” Thinking back, other than breweries and restaurants, that’s all we’ve seen.

“Stanley Park?”

“Yes.”

We did plan that. Just got nowhere near visiting. Not a total lie, then. I’m weirdly embarrassed to tell him 95% of our time in Vancouver has been spent drinking.  That’s waking, time, obviously.

Our driver rattles off a few more tourist sites and, polite Englishman that I am, I pretend we visited some. Luckily, it’s not a long drive. Shorter than my lying capacity.

Pacific Central Station is very quiet. Except for where the buses depart. There, a few confused people are milling around. Great.

I look for something about the Amtrak bus replacement. And eventually spot, in a weird spot, a tiny poster – smaller than A4 – that gives a few details. Very few details. Evidently it departs from bay 8 or 9. And that’s about all it says. Very informative.

Even though quite a few other buses are leaving, it’s not that busy. Just a few small clumps of people nervously checking their phones. The joys of bus travel. So great, that I usually avoid it, lest my heart explode in ecstasy. Or make my arse sore and my neck ache. It’s one of those two I’m avoiding. You decide which.

This should be an Amtrak rail service. But the trains aren’t running. I think because of a staff shortage. Annoyingly, they’re supposed to start running again in a few weeks.

Last time we had to check in and do US immigration and customs before boarding the train. That doesn’t seem to apply. Meaning we turned up way earlier than we needed to.

Oh, silly me! I get it. We’re going through the road crossing. All the checks will be at the border. Just like in Tijuana. I wonder how long that will take?

It’s going to be a long journey today. We’ve an early evening flight back to Amsterdam. By the time we get home, we’ll have been travelling for the best part of a day.

I wasn’t able to check in online because I wasn’t able to provide documents that show I have the right to enter Holland. Thanks, Brexit. I suppose I’ll have to show them my Dutch passport at check in.

Bus stations are always so chaotic. Always. Way more confusing than railway stations. Maybe that’s just me. You’re never quite sure from which bay a bus will leave. It’s very unsettling.

I make a quick visit to the bogs before we board. They’re very impressive for free toilets in a station. Better than many airport toilets.

I get back to the kids just before boarding starts. At 8:10 rather than the scheduled 8:30. The bus is almost full. But, luckily, I have an empty seat next to me. Where I park the rucksack containing my laptop. I wasn’t going to have that thrown into the hold.

We leave almost 30 minutes early, Brilliant! My big fear is the bus being delayed and having to rush to get to Seattle airport in time. In time for a decent length of time in the lounge, I mean.

Over four and a half hours might seem a lot. But I’m a paranoid old twat. I’m not taking any chances.

The road follows pretty much the same route as the railway line. Quite often you can see the tracks. Luckily, the roads aren’t too crowded. I was afraid we might get stuck in traffic.

It takes around an hour to get to the border. Where we hang around for a while before disembarking and joining the immigration queue.

“This is fun, kids.”

“No, it isn’t.”

“At least it isn’t as bad as at Schiphol.”

“That’s not saying much. Like Middlesbrough is prettier than Scunthorpe.”

“Have you been to either of those towns, Andrew?”

“I don’t need to. I’ve seen enough video. And you’re always going on about how shit Middlesbrough is.”

“It is.”

“And how often have you been there?”

“A few times.”

“Could you be more precise.”

“Twice. Maybe. It could have been once.”

“Mr. First-Hand expert, then?”

“Fuck off. I still know it’s a shithole. That’s what Dave said. And he came from there. He said the only worthwhile part of the city was Ayresome Park, the football ground.”

Lexxie jumps in. “That’s a bit extreme.”

“He really hated his hometown, Dave.”

“Who’s Dave.”

“A bloke who lived in 96 Brudenell Road. Worked as a town planner in Peterlee for a couple of years and had some sort of breakdown. He quit his job and moved to Leeds, where I think he’d studied. I don’t know if he was studying or . . .”

“I just asked who he was. Not for a biography.”

It takes a while. But once we get to the immigration officer, we’re done in a couple of minutes. With no need for fingerprints, just a photo.

When we\re through, I join the queue for the two toilets. The kids start getting anxious about missing the bus.

“Come on, Dad. You can have a piss on the bus.”

“I prefer a proper toilet to pissing my kecks.”

“Wimp. There’s a bog on the bus.”

“I’m old. I deserve some luxury.”

“Don’t come with that ‘I’m old’ shit again. Just shut up.”

There’s another passenger queueing behind me. The bus isn’t going without me.

We’ve spent over an hour at the border. The driver tells us we’ll get to Seattle in around 1 hour 45 minutes. Which would be 15 minutes ahead of schedule. I hope that’s true.