Burton and Old Burton

Sometimes it's hard to work out what beers in brewing records were marketed and sold as.

Which is where this little price list from Barclay Perkins comes in handy. It gives both the brewhouse and retail names of their beers.

KK was Burton and KKKK Old Burton. I bet you're wondering what those beers were like. Let's take a look, shall we?

First Barclay Perkins KK or Burton:

17th February Barclay Perkins 1933 KK
	type	qtr	weight qtr	lbs	%
pale malt	Dereham California	8.5	336	2856	26.33
pale malt	Dereham MA	10	336	3360	30.97
pale malt	Page SA	5	336	1680	15.49
maize		3	336	1008	9.29
crystal malt		1.5	336	504	4.65
sugar	Martineau No.3	6	224	1344	12.39
sugar	caramel			96	0.88
total		34.00		10848	100.00
	lbs	type	year	%
hops	90	Fox MK Fuggles	1931	33.09
hops	49	Rogers MK Golding Varieties	1930	18.01
hops	42	Saaz	1930	15.44
hops	91	Mainwaring MK Fuggles	1930	33.46
hops	0			0.00
hops (lbs)	272
hops (lbs/barrel)	1.69
hops (lbs/qtr)	8.00
dry hops (oz/brl)	3
boil time (hours)	2.25
Hopping:	at inch:	91	Mainwaring MK Fuggles	1930
		49	Rogers MK Golding Varieties	1930
	after 1 hour boil	90	Fox MK Fuggles	1931
	after 1.5 hour boil	42	Saaz	1930
pitching temp (ºF)	59
gravity (lbs barrel)	19.39
gravity (OG)	1053.70
gravity (FG)	1015.50
ABV	5.05
apparent attenuation	71.14%
barrels wort	161
extract (lbs/barrel/qtr)	90.6
extract	3080.4
Colour	74
Source: Barclay Perkins brewing records

Now KKKK or Old Burton:

16th February Barclay Perkins 1933 KKKK
	type	qtr	weight qtr	lbs	%
pale malt	Dereham California	5.625	336	1890	28.89
pale malt	H and D T PA	10	336	3360	51.37
crystal malt		1.375	336	462	7.06
sugar	Martineau No.2	3	224	672	10.27
malt extract		0.5	224	112	1.71
sugar	caramel			45	0.69
total		20.50		6541	100.00
	lbs	type	year	%
hops	110	Reeves MK Golding Varieties	1932	50.00
hops	55	Reeves MK Goldings	1931	25.00
hops	55	Rogers MK Goldings	1930	25.00
hops (lbs)	220
hops (lbs/barrel)	3.31
hops (lbs/qtr)	10.73
dry hops (oz/brl)	4
boil time (hours)	2.50
Hopping:	at inch:	55	Reeves MK Goldings	1931
		55	Rogers MK Goldings	1930
	after 1 hour boil	55	Reeves MK Golding Varieties	1932
	after 1.5 hour boil	55	Reeves MK Golding Varieties	1932
pitching temp (ºF)	58
gravity (lbs barrel)	27.65
gravity (OG)	1076.60
gravity (FG)	1028.00
ABV	6.43
apparent attenuation	63.45%
barrels wort	66.5
extract (lbs/barrel/qtr)	89.1
extract	1826.55
Colour	90
Source: Barclay Perkins brewing records

I was a bit surprised at how the grists differed. I'd expected the KKKK to be pretty much a scaled up version of KK. That's not the case. As you've no doubt noticed, KK was Californian malt, SA malt, MA (Mild Ale) malt, crystal malt, No.3 invert sugar and a touch of caramel. KKKK, on the other hand, contained Californian malt, PA malt, crystal malt, No.2 invert sugar and caramel.

And, despite being brewed on consecutive days, the hops used were almost completely different: all Goldings or Golding Varieties for KKKK: Golding Varieties, Fuggles and Saaz for KK.

At about 6.5% ABV, KKKK was about as strong as draught beer came in the 1930's.

And, because I'm such a generous soul, here are the equivalent beers from Fuller's. First their Burton, BO.

26th June 1935 Fuller's BO
	type	qtr	weight qtr	lbs	%
pale malt	English	19	326	6194	26.67
pale malt	Australian	19	326	6194	26.67
pale malt	Australian	16.5	326	5379	23.16
pale malt	Chilean	2.5	326	815	3.51
flaked maize		10	336	3360	14.47
sugar	glucose	3	224	672	2.89
sugar	Intense		224	338	1.46
sugar	Tri ?? BP		224	235	1.01
sugar	BP			37	0.16
total		70.00		23224	100.00
	lbs	type	year	%
hops	131	Pemfret	1934	24.95
hops	394	Suninens??	1934	75.05
hops (lbs)	525
hops (lbs/barrel)	1.6
hops (lbs/qtr)	7.50
boil time (hours)	1.5	1.75
pitching temp (ºF)	60
gravity (lbs barrel)	20.20
gravity (OG)	1055.95
gravity (FG)	1014.40
ABV	5.50
apparent attenuation	74.26%
barrels wort	515.5
extract (lbs/barrel/qtr)	93.94
Source: Fuller's brewing records

Now their Old Burton Extra:

26th June 1935 Fuller's OBE
	type	qtr	weight qtr	lbs	%
pale malt	English	19	326	6194	26.67
pale malt	Australian	19	326	6194	26.67
pale malt	Australian	16.5	326	5379	23.16
pale malt	Chilean	2.5	326	815	3.51
flaked maize		10	336	3360	14.47
sugar	glucose	3	224	672	2.89
sugar	Intense		224	338	1.46
sugar	Tri ?? BP		224	235	1.01
sugar	BP			37	0.16
total		70.00		23224	100.00
	lbs	type	year	%
hops	131	Pemfret	1934	24.95
hops	394	Suninens??	1934	75.05
hops (lbs)	525
hops (lbs/barrel)	1.9
hops (lbs/qtr)	7.50
boil time (hours)	1.5	1.75
pitching temp (ºF)	60
gravity (lbs barrel)	24.40
gravity (OG)	1067.59
gravity (FG)	1019.94
ABV	6.30
apparent attenuation	70.49%
barrels wort	515.5
extract (lbs/barrel/qtr)	93.94
Source: Fuller's brewing records

As BO and OBE were party-gyled with each other, the grist and hopping are identical.

So here are my definitions of 1930's Burton and Old Burton.

Burton: OG 1050-1055, 5-5.5% ABV, 80-100 EBC, 1.5-1.75 lbs hops/barrel.
Old Burton: OG 1065-1075, 6-7% ABV, 80-110 EBC, 2-3.5 lbs hops/barrel.

There. Two more new styles. What a productive day it's been.

Bonnie Blue Flag

Do you ever get a tune stuck in your head? I've had one bouncing around the empty caverns of mine all week. The Bonnie Blue Flag.

You probably don't know it. I'd never heard it until a couple of weeks ago. When we visited Gettysburg.

Kids. You have to pretend to educate them. Even when you're on holiday. Gettysburg seemed a good one. What could be more educational? (Lessons by a qualified teacher, I know. They'd be more educational. I was going to say a term an university, but remembered my student days.)

And I fancied going myself.

On the journey from Washington, the kids got to see some proper countryside. Not just the fractured factories and hapless houses that line the railway. Fields of corn and hills of green. Didn't want them thinking the USA was one huge junk pile. Which is a natural enough assumption, if you've travelled through New Jersey by train.

The battlefield was as fun as a battlefield can ever be.

We had a guide in our car. Who showed us around and told us what happened where. He was very good. Alexei asked him lots of hard questions. (The sort he usually aims at me.) The guide fielded the lot without ever once swearing. Which is far better than I manage.

The guide guided us around the battlefield in the order of events. I spotted the brewpub as we swung through town.

"What about that brewpub in town?" I suggested as we pulled out of the car park

Jamie and Paul* were well ahead of me. "There's a better one in Frederick."

Frederick. Who wouldn't want to go to somewhere with just a first name?

On the way, Jamie put on a CD she'd bought in the museum shop. Of rebel songs. Many tunes were familiar. Hadn't I heard that in The Regent? (Before the bus drove into the bar.) Very catchy. But disturbing ethically.

It was nice. The brewpub in Frederick. Cask-conditioned Stout. Very nice. Type of thing I used to dream about. And a cake for Andrew's birthday (almost).

After blackmail, a bribe and some physical intimidation, Alexei and Andrew had their films ready on Sunday. For the holiday in the USA competition. Just like the Oscars, this competition has many categories. (If you have kids, you'll know why.) Andrew won the Music category hands down**. With photos accompanied by music.


He picked one of the songs he heard on the ride to Frederick. The Bonnie Blue Flag. A good choice, artistically.

But not for me. I can't get the bloody thing out of my head.


* our very generous hosts in Washington
** Alexei won the categories Craziness and Making Dad Look Good even more easily



Brewer's Alley Restaurant & Brewery
124 North Market Street
Frederick, MD 21701
Tel: 301-631-0089
Fax: 301-631-1874
http://www.brewers-alley.com/

Bayreuth to Munich

Some effing café 11:00

Mike's tapeworm is active again and he's dragged me into an effing café close to the station. I'm waiting for the Weihenstephaner pub over the road to open.  Mike wanted to drag me all the way back to the main square to save 1 euro on a sausage. It's tipping it down. Luckily, he's seen sense.

Just 30 minutes to wait. At least they sell coffee with stiffeners here. Pharisäer, I've had. The rum in it has taken some of the chill out of my bones. Some of the chill from the death walk uphill through the rain.

Mike has organised all of the trip. That's why I need the eye-opener. Today and every other day. Let's face it, if I didn't need to concentrate for my work, I'd have one every morning.




Restaurant Weihenstephaner 11:45

Finally. We're in a pub. A kitschy Bavarian type place, but it's a proper pub. Selling Weihenstephaner beer. You probably could have guessed that from the name. We're just about leaning on the door when they open. We're the first customers. I don't care. I hate people. Especially in groups of more than one. Shit. There are two of us.

As it's lunchtime and I don't have a tapeworm I just order a Bauernteller. Perfect for picking. Here's a confession: I don't much care for big meals when beer is the primary object. Just fills up valuable beer space in the stomach. Especially dumplings or spuds. Whereas a Bauernteller is just grown-up nibbles. The meaty meatiness of it combines perfectly with a Helles. Or a Dunkles. Or anything else German and beery you can think of. I order a Dunkles. I still can't help but think of it as Dark Mild.

Weihenstephaner Tradition Dunkles: Nutty. Not clack, just nutty.

The Bauernteller is very nice. Especially as I don't rush it. I've budgeted, stomach-wise, for a minimum of 4 half litres of this delicious brown stuff. And I hate missing targets. Must come from my days in management.

Brill! They have proper aged schnapps. I've never seen that before. Not in Germany. They're between 3 and 8 tears old. I'm so impressed, I take a photo:

The waitress isn't too happy. Doesn't like me photographing the menu. Until I explain why. Then she just looks at me in pity. I much prefer being the object of pity rather than anger.

When we leave the streets are deserted. Germany's game has just started. Eerily quiet. That's how I'd describe it.


I would be pissed off. But I've a bellyful of Bauernteller and Dunkles. And I've already stocked up with impulse Schnapps for the train.




Restaurant Weihenstephan
Bahnhofstraße 5,
95444 Bayreuth.
Tel: 0921 - 82288
Fax: 0921 - 853425