Scottish Pale Ale 1925 - 1929

Tables. Lots of lovely tables. (You're supposed to sing that in your head to the tune of "Feelings".) I warned you I'd too much info from the 1920's to fit in a single table. There's really more than enough for three. You'll be getting the final two today.

The Scottish market was quite different from the English one. The biggest difference being the tied house system, which didn't really exist in Scotland. The majority of the pubs were free houses, though I expect many weren't as free as they might appear. On the face of it, there was more scope for direct competition between brewers on quality and price. Perhaps the lack of the guaranteed outlets tied houses represent was why smaller brewers struggled and the trade became dominated by a few large concerns.

Another difference was in the beers brewed. Not that Scottish beers were necessarily of themselves hugely different from their English cousins. It's more the amount of each type brewed. Scotland, like Ireland, seems to have been out of phase with England in terms of style evolution. But the other way around, i.e. Scotland was ahead of the game.

What struck me about both the Gravity Book entries and brewing records is the preponderance of Pale Ales. and the paucity of Mild Ales.In the 1920's Mild accounted for more than 50% of beer sales in the UK. Not in Scotland, though. These are the number of analyses per style from the Thomas Usher Gravity Book:

Amber Ale	7
Barley Wine	4
Brown Ale	12
IPA	16
Lager	4
Mild	15
Pale Ale	434
Pils	2
Scotch Ale	15
Stout	56
Strong Ale	52

As you can see, around two thirds were for Pale Ale. The Whitbread Gravity Book has proportionally far more Milds and Stouts. Note also the poor showing of Scotch Ale in Scotland. Even worse when you consider many of the samples were brewed for the Belgian market.

Mild and Stout seem to have lost popularity more quickly in Scotland. In England both were major styles until well after WW I. Porter seems to have become extinct in Scotland in the 19th century. Of course, the same was to happen in England, but not until WW II. Scotland seems to have been 30 years ahead of England in terms of style evolution. It should also be noted that Lager took off much earlier in Scotland.

I'd love to be able to explain these differences. But I can't. I welcome your suggestions.

Back to the beers themselves. There are four main types of Pale Ale: 60/- at 1039º, 70/- at 1046º, 80/- at 1053 º and 90/- which, perversely, was a similar gravity to 60/-. I know nowadays 90/- is used to denote a Strong Ale. In the 1920's, it had quite a different meaning. Basically a carbonated, light bottled Pale Ale. Light Ale, I suppose, to use the English term.

You can also see how Export was becoming synonymous with 80/- Pale Ale. Though there isn't a single mention of Heavy.

The averages - OG 1040º, FG 1009º, 4% ABV, 77% attenuation - are very similar for all of the 1920's. That's a shade under average gravity for the UK, which was 1043º.

Time for the tables themselves. One last thing. The Thomas Usher Gravity Book includes comments on the flavour of some of the entries. Mostly not very complimentary, though there were a couple of beers praised. Considering the supposed lack of hops in Scottish beers, it's significant how often the level of bitterness is mentioned.

Table 1:

Scottish Pale Ale 1925 - 1929
Year	Brewer	Beer	Price	size	package	FG	OG	colour	ABV	App. Atten-uation
1925	Aitken	??		pint	bottled	1010	1039		3.76	74.36%
1925	Ballingall	Pale Ale carbonated		pint	bottled	1011.5	1046	40	4.48	75.00%
1925	Bernard	Pale Ale	4d	half pint	bottled	1010	1038	39	3.63	73.68%
1925	Deucher, J.	Montrose Ale		pint	bottled	1010	1041		4.02	75.61%
1925	McEwan	Pale Ale	4d	half pint	bottled	1007	1034	38	3.51	79.41%
1925	Murray	Strong Pale Ale		pint	bottled	1015	1034.5	25	2.51	56.52%
1925	Murray	Pale Ale	4d	half pint	bottled	1010.5	1039.5	25	3.76	73.42%
1925	Murray	Strong PA		pint	bottled	1014	1060		5.99	76.67%
1925	Murray	Strong PA	6d	half pint	bottled	1015	1060		5.86	75.00%
1925	Usher	PA 60/-		pint	bottled	1006	1038		4.17	84.21%
1925	Younger, Wm	Pale Ale	4d	half pint	bottled	1007.5	1039	28	4.10	80.77%
1926	Aitken	Sparkling Ale		pint	bottled	1005	1034	40	3.77	85.29%
1926	Bernard	Pale Ale		pint	bottled	1009	1040	40	4.03	77.50%
1926	Deucher, J.	Lochside Beer		pint	bottled	1008.5	1040.5		4.16	79.01%
1926	Dryborough	Pale Ale	4d	half pint	bottled	1009	1032	50	2.98	71.88%
1926	Dryborough	Pale Ale		pint	bottled	1007.5	1035.5		3.64	78.87%
1926	Dryborough	Pale Ale		pint	bottled	1008	1038		3.90	78.95%
1926	Jeffrey & Co	Pale Ale		pint	bottled	1006	1032	35	3.38	81.25%
1926	McEwan	Pale Ale	4d	half pint	bottled	1007	1035	40	3.64	80.00%
1926	McEwan	Pale Ale	4d	half pint	bottled	1006	1034	40	3.64	82.35%
1926	Murray	Pale Ale	4d	half pint	bottled	1010	1035	30	3.24	71.43%
1926	Murray	Pale Ale	4d	half pint	bottled	1008	1034	20	3.37	76.47%
1926	Tennent	90/-		pint	bottled	1005	1035	40	3.91	85.71%
1926	Younger, Wm	Sparkling Ale		pint	bottled	1007	1038	28	4.03	81.58%
1926	Younger, Wm	Sparkling Ale		pint	bottled	1006	1038	30	4.17	84.21%
1927	Aitchison	Pale Ale		pint	bottled	1006.3	1035.3		3.77	82.27%
1927	Aitchison	Pale Ale		pint	bottled	1006	1035		3.77	82.86%
1927	Bernard	Pale Ale		pint	bottled	1007	1040		4.29	82.50%
1927	Campbell, Hope & King	Pale Ale		pint	bottled	1006	1038.3		4.20	84.31%
1927	Dryborough	Pale Ale		pint	bottled	1006.3	1038.8		4.23	83.85%
1927	Jeffrey & Co	Pale Ale		pint	bottled	1004.8	1037.8		4.30	87.42%
1927	McEwan	Pale Ale		pint	bottled	1008.3	1040.3		4.16	79.50%
1927	McKay	Pale Ale		pint	bottled	1006.3	1039.3		4.30	84.08%
1927	Murray	Pale Ale		pint	bottled	1007	1039		4.16	82.05%
1927	Steel Coulson	Pale Ale		pint	bottled	1010	1041		4.02	75.61%
1927	Steel Coulson	Pale Ale		pint	bottled	1006	1039		4.30	84.62%
1927	Usher	Pale Ale		pint	bottled	1007.3	1040.3		4.29	81.99%
1927	Younger, Robert	Pale Ale		pint	bottled	1010	1038.5		3.70	74.03%
1927	Younger, Wm	Pale Ale		pint	bottled	1006.5	1038.5		4.16	83.12%
1927	Younger, Wm	Pale Ale		pint	bottled	1008.5	1040		4.09	78.75%
1928	Aitchison	60/- Pale Ale		pint	bottled	1007	1039.5		4.23	82.28%
1928	Calder Alloa	Pale Ale		pint	bottled	1008	1037		3.77	78.38%
1928	Deucher, J.	Pale Ale		pint	bottled	1007	1038.5		4.10	81.82%
1928	Deucher, J.	70/- Beer		pint	bottled	1013	1056		5.60	76.79%
1928	Deucher, J.	Pale Ale		pint	bottled	1008	1040		4.16	80.00%
1928	Lorimer & Clark	Pale Ale		pint	bottled	1008	1038.3		3.93	79.08%
1928	Lorimer & Clark	80/- Beer		pint	bottled	1010	1052.5		5.54	80.95%
1928	Maclay	Pale Ale		pint	bottled	1012	1038.8		3.46	69.03%
1928	Maclay	70/- Beer		pint	bottled	1014.5	1047		4.21	69.15%
1928	McEwan	70/- Ale		pint	bottled	1012.5	1047		4.48	73.40%
1928	Steel Coulson	80/- Beer		pint	bottled	1010	1055		5.87	81.82%
1928	Usher	PA 60/-				1014	1041		3.57	65.85%
1928	Usher	PA				1013	1035		2.91	62.86%
1928	Usher	PA 60/-				1014	1041		3.57	65.85%
1928	Usher	PA 60/-				1013	1041		3.70	68.29%
1928	Usher	PA 80/-				1015	1055		5.29	72.73%
1928	Usher	PA 70/-				1014.5	1048		4.43	69.79%
1928	Usher	PA 60/-				1014	1041		3.57	65.85%
1928	Usher	PA 60/-				1013.5	1041		3.64	67.07%
	Average					1009.2	1040.4		4.06	77.24%
Sources:
Thomas Usher Gravity Book document TU/6/11 held at the Scottish Brewing Archive
Younger, Wm. & Co Gravity Book document WY/6/1/1/19 held at the Scottish Brewing Archive
Thomas Usher brewing record document TU/6/6 held at the Scottish Brewing Archive

Scottish Pale Ale 1925 - 1929
Year	Brewer	Beer	Price	size	package	FG	OG	colour	ABV	App. Atten-uation	Flavour
1928	Usher	Pale Ale		pint	draught	1014	1040.8		3.46	65.64%
1928	Usher	Pale Ale		pint	bottled	1012	1040.5		3.69	70.37%
1928	Usher	70/- Ale		pint	draught	1014.5	1047		4.21	69.15%
1928	Usher	90/- Sparkling Pale Ale		pint	bottled	1009	1037	no. 10 - 11 (Newcastle dark)	3.63	75.68%
1928	Usher	90/- Sparkling Pale Ale		pint	bottled	1009	1038	no. 10 - 11	3.76	76.32%
1928	Younger, Geo	No. 1 Alloa Pale Ale		pint	bottled	1008	1043.5	no. 9 (standard colour)	4.62	81.61%
1928	Younger, Wm	Pale Ale		pint	bottled	1010.3	1040.3		3.89	74.53%
1929	??	Sparkling Ale		pint	bottled	1006	1032		3.38	81.25%
1929	Aitchison	60/- Beer		pint	bottled	1009.8	1038.8		3.76	74.84%
1929	Aitchison	60/- Beer		pint	bottled	1009.8	1040.3	Pale no. 1 2 glass paler than standard	3.96	75.78%	thin sweetish flavour with after bitter. Possibly indicates addition of priming.
1929	Aitchison	70/- Beer		pint	bottled	1008	1045	Pale no. 2 half glass paler than our Newcastle 70/-	4.82	82.22%	Does not drink its gravity.
1929	Aitchison	60/- (pale)		pint	bottled	1008	1045.5	Between 1 - 2. Same as our standard	4.89	82.42%	Thin sweetish flavour, but after bitter not so prounced as sample from ???
1929	Ballingall	90/-		pint	bottled	1008	1040.5	No. 9 Same as our standard.	4.23	80.25%	Bad nose and unpleasant flavour.
1929	Ballingall	Imperial Hopped		pint	bottled	1009	1036	No. 10 Same as our medium standard.	3.50	75.00%
1929	Bernard	Crown Brand Export (carbonated)		pint	bottled	1005.3	1049	No. 00 XX Pale	5.72	89.29%
1929	Bernard	90/- (carbonated)		pint	bottled	1008.5	1038.5	No. 10 Same as our medium standard.	3.90	77.92%
1929	Blair	Pale Ale		pint	bottled	1008	1038		3.90	78.95%
1929	Deuchar, R	60/-		pint	bottled	1009.5	1038.5	No. 4 1.5 glass paler than our standard.	3.76	75.32%	Full, but with rather harsh bitter flavour.
1929	Deuchar, R	60/-		pint	bottled	1009.5	1038.5	No.6 1 glass paler than our standard.	3.76	75.32%	Sweet, but cleansing harsh bitter.
1929	Deucher, J.	60/-		pint	bottled	1005	1039.5	Between 8 - 9. Almost same as our standard	4.50	87.34%	Fairly full, but bitter and not very clean palate.
1929	Jeffrey & Co	Pale Ale (carbonated)		pint	bottled	1007.5	1034	Between 7 - 8.	3.44	77.94%
1929	Maclay	Pale Ale		pint	bottled	1012.5	1039		3.43	67.95%
1929	McEwan	Pale Ale	8d	pint	bottled	1008.2	1041		4.27	80.00%
1929	McEwan	Export PA	6d	pint	bottled	1011.4	1056		5.82	79.64%
1929	McEwan	Blue Label Ale	4d	half pint	bottled	1008.2	1038		3.87	78.42%
1929	McEwan	Pale Ale		pint	bottled	1009	1039		3.90	76.92%
1929	McEwan	80/- Beer		pint	bottled	1011	1053		5.47	79.25%
1929	McEwan	60/- Beer (Pale)		pint	bottled	1007.5	1040	0.75 glass lower than our pale. 1.5 lower than standard.	4.23	81.25%
1929	McEwan	70/-		pint	bottled	1009	1045.5	No. 6 Same as our standard for Newcastle.	4.75	80.22%
1929	McEwan	60/-		pint	bottled	1006	1039.5	No.4 1.5 glass paler than our standard.	4.36	84.81%	Mildest so far received from Newcastle. Cleaner palate than 70/-.
1929	McEwan	Pale Ale (carbonated)		pint	bottled	1012	1041	Between 7 - 8. Same as our Newcastle Pale.	3.76	70.73%	Sweet. Heavily primed & lightly hopped. Characterless.
1929	McEwan	Export Ale (carbonated)		pint	bottled	1013	1053.5	Between 1 - 2. Extra pale.	5.27	75.70%	Extremely good - highly hopped.
1929	McEwan	90/- (carbonated)		pint	bottled	1008	1039	No. 10 Same as our medium darkened.	4.03	79.49%	Aromatic and rather bitter.
1929	McEwan	Blue Laberl Fourpenny Ale (carbonated)		pint	bottled	1005.5	1038	No. 3 Same as our ordinary pale.	4.23	85.53%	Going off.
1929	McEwan	Bleu Label (fourpenny / carbonated)		pint	bottled	1008	1039.5	No. 9 Same as our standard.	4.09	79.75%
1929	McEwan	Pale Ale		pint	bottled	1009.8	1043	Between 9 - 10.	4.32	77.33%
1929	McLauchlin	60/-		pint	bottled	1005	1033	Between 7 - 8. Same as our Newcastle Pale.	3.64	84.85%	a harsh bitter
1929	McLennan & Urquhart	Dalkeith Ale (carbonated)		pint	bottled	1015	1041	No. 11 Same as our dark.	3.36	63.41%
1929	Murray	Pale Ale		pint	bottled	1009	1038.5		3.83	76.62%
1929	Murray	90/-		pint	bottled	1007.3	1040	Between 9 - 10. Half glass darker than our standard.	4.26	81.88%	Soft, but leaving harsh flavour on palate.
1929	Murray	4d Pale Ale (carbonated)	4d	half pint	bottled	1011	1035.5	No. 7 One glass paler than our standard.	3.17	69.01%
1929	Murray	4d Pale Ale (carbonated)		pint	bottled	1011	1037	No 7 One glass darker than our standard.	3.37	70.27%
1929	Murray	Export Strong Pale Ale (carbonated)		pint	bottled	1013.5	1056	Between 5 - 6.	5.53	75.89%
1929	Tennent	90/- Glasgow Pale Ale		pint	bottled	1008	1039.3	No. 9 Same as our standard.	4.06	79.62%
1929	Tennent	90/- Glasgow Pale Ale		pint	bottled	1008.5	1039.5	Between 9 - 10.	4.03	78.48%
1929	Usher	Pale Ale (carbonated)		pint	bottled	1012	1040		3.63	70.00%
1929	Usher	90/- Sparkling Pale Ale (carbonated)		pint	bottled	1011.3	1040.5	Between 11 - 12	3.79	72.22%
1929	Usher	90/- Sparkling Pale Ale (natural condition)		pint	bottled	1009	1040.5		4.09	77.78%
1929	Usher	90/- Sparkling Pale Ale (carbonated)		pint	bottled	1011	1040.5	Between 11 - 12	3.82	72.84%
1929	Usher	120/- Strong Pale Ale (carbonated)		pint	bottled	1013.3	1051.5	Between 14 - 15.	4.97	74.27%
1929	Williamson, Broxburn	Pale Ale		pint	bottled	1012	1048		4.68	75.00%
1929	Wright (Perth)	Dinner Ale (Extra Hopped)		pint	bottled	1005.8	1027	No. 10 Same as our medium standard.	2.76	78.70%
1929	Younger, Geo	90/- PA		pint	bottled	1009	1039		3.90	76.92%
1929	Younger, Geo	PA		pint	bottled	1002	1035		4.31	94.29%
1929	Younger, Geo	PA 60/-		pint	bottled	1008	1037		3.77	78.38%
1929	Younger, Geo	Sparkling Pale Ale (carbonated)		pint	bottled	1004	1033.3	Between 7 - 8. Same as our Newcastle Pale.	3.80	87.85%	Thin & characterless
1929	Younger, Geo	Sparkling Pale Ale (carbonated)		pint	bottled	1007	1034	Between 7 - 8. Same as our Newcastle Pale.	3.51	79.41%
1929	Younger, Geo	Sparkling Pale Ale (carbonated)		pint	bottled	1008	1035.5	Between 8 - 9. Shade paler than our standard	3.57	77.46%
1929	Younger, Geo	Heavy Export Ale (carbonated)		pint	bottled	1013	1049	Between 11 – 12	4.67	73.47%
1929	Younger, Geo	Sparkling Pale Ale (carbonated)		pint	bottled	1007.8	1038	Between 7 - 8.	3.93	79.61%
1929	Younger, Geo	No. 1 Alloa Pale Ale (carbonated)		pint	bottled	1011	1044.8	No. 9.	4.38	75.42%
1929	Younger, Wm	90/-		pint	bottled	1008	1040.3	Betwwn 9 - 10 Half glass lighter than our standard. Half glass lighter than ours for Dundee.	4.19	80.12%	Soft, but slightly harsh.
1929	Younger, Wm	90/-		pint	bottled	1008	1039.5	Betwwn 9 - 10 Half glass lighter than our standard. Half glass lighter than ours for Dundee.	4.09	79.75%	Soft, but slightly harsh.
	Average					1009.1	1040.6		4.09	77.58%
Sources:
Thomas Usher Gravity Book document TU/6/11 held at the Scottish Brewing Archive
Whitbread Gravity Book document LMA/4453/D/02/001 held at the London Metropolitan Archives

Alloa, Alloa

Alloa's glory:


Alloa breweries weergeven op een grotere kaart

I hope I can do it justice.

Boiling at George Younger in the 1890's

You've guessed - Scotland again. Part two of our stroll through the brewhouse of George Younger of Alloa.

But let's begin with a little of the history of the brewery. I've nicked most of this from the Scottish Brewing Archive website. I assume that they've got things right.

The brewery described isn't George Younger's original Meadow Brewery. That was too small. Consequently in 1852 they leased the Candleriggs Brewery of Robert Meiklejohn & Co, which in 1871 they bought. A couple of years later the Meadow Brewery was converted into offices. After rebuilding in 1889 (I wonder if that was before or after Barnards's visit?) it was the largest brewery in Scotland outside Edinburgh. Having seen the capacity of their mash tuns, this comes as no surprise. I reckon they were in the top dozen or so breweries in the UK.

This is what the Meadow Brewery looked like:

They were bought by Northern Breweries of Great Britain Ltd in April 1960 and stopped brewing three years later. There's a car park on the site today. Surprisingly, some of the Meadow Brewery's buildings are still there:

One point of interest: they had big contracts to supply the British armed forces. Seems to have been a specialty of Scottish brewers.

Let's step into the boiling department.

"After having witnessed the operations and apparatus connected with the mashing, we next followed the progress of the wort to the underbacks, placed on the sub-floor beneath  the  mash-tuns. The worts are pumped therefrom to the coppers by two brass-lined gun-metal double pumps, fixed in close proximity. Passing up the main staircase we reached the copper house, a lofty place shaped like the letter L, 100 feet in length, the leg of the angle measuring 30 feet by 55 feet Here are to be seen four coppers all fitted with copper parachutes;  two of them splendid and imposing vessels; the largest we have seen in Scotland. The parachutes of the two larger vessels, which are lifted up and down by a chain and weight, are as large in circumference as some of the usual copper boiling vessels. The capacities of the coppers are as follows: two of 150 barrels, one of 90, and the other of 45 barrels content—the latter is used for porter. They are all brightly polished and kept beautifully clean.

The ventilation of this house is perfect, for not only are the walls latticed here and there, but the roof possesses a box louvre 6 feet high, running nearly the whole length of the building. This department represents a most interesting stage in the art of brewing; boiling being an absolute necessity in the operation. The object sought is the breaking up of the wort and the elimination from it of a large quantity of albumen, which we were informed, owing to the uncertainty of its nature—is better out of the beer. Also the absorption of the flavour and bitterness of the hops, which at this stage are introduced, not only to flavour but also to assist in keeping the beer.

It was an interesting sight to see the "boilers," for so the copper-house men are designated, weigh the required quantity of hops and tip them into the boiling wort ; and it was also very pleasant to inhale the aroma of those costly blossoms. we should here add that each set of men perform but one step in the process, and that all the details are performed by an ingenious application of mechanical power, characterising the whole proceedings by precision, uniformity of results, and accuracy.

From the coppers the wort falls by gravitation to the hop-back, placed on a lower floor. To reach it, we descended to the copper hearth, and from thence down a circular iron staircase, at the Vennel Street side of the structure. The hop-back is a fine cast-iron vessel, with draining plates, which nearly fills a room 55 feet by 35 feet, overlooking the Candleriggs. By its side is a powerful hop-press of an ingenious type suggested by Mr. Younger. It is a roller press, something like a sugar mill, having three rollers, and a this machine is that the hops, having been pressed, pass directly into the carts waiting beneath, and the liquor runs back into the receiver. The press is perfectly continuous in its operation, and easily managed by one man."
"Noted Breweries of Great Britain and Ireland, vol. 2", Alfred Barnard, 1889, pages 438 - 440.

Why did they have a boiler especially for the Porter? I suspect it's no coincidence that it's also the smallest. And by Porter I'm sure Barnard means both Porter and Stout. Straight Porter was pretty much extinct in Scotland by the 1890's. And the quantities of Stout brewed were much smaller than in England. Younger probably only brewed small batches of Stout, hence they used the smallest copper.

The size of the coppers corresponds with the size of the mash tuns. Which shouldn't really be a surprise.

It would be nice if Barnard had explained what the "ingenious application of mechanical power" was in detail. What more is there to do other than to weigh the hops and hoy them in the wort? I can speak with some authority on this matter, having done the hop hoying on several occasions. Once they're in, there's not much to do but sit back, have a beer and wait until it's time to end the boil.

Not sure if I've finished with George Younger yet. I need to check how much more goodness Barnard has about them. Just had a look. Still a few snacks to munch on. There will be a part three. Maybe I could throw in some stuff about other Alloa breweries. You can never have too much contextualisation.

Scottish Pale Ale 1920 - 1924

Time for a look at Scottish beer in more detail. Lots more detail. More detail than you can cope with, possibly. But isn't that what this blog is all about?

I'm kicking off with Pale Ales in the first half of the 1920's. Why? No particular reason. I have to start somewhere. And I've loads of Pale Ale analyses. It will take several posts to get through the interwar years.

Scotland was a strange place, beer-wise. Quite different from England. Not so much in the beers themselves as the names under which they were sold. Rather than Bitter and Best Bitter, in Scotland they used shillings to differentiate between Pale Ales of different strengths. With 60/- being ordinary Bitter, 70/- Best Bitter and 80/- Strong Bitter. All very logical. Except when you get to 90/-. Logic would dictate that this would be stronger than 80/-. It wasn't. For some reason 90/- was used for bottled Pale Ales around the strength of draught 60/-. Make any sense to you? It doesn't to me.

The analyses below all come from brewery sources. Pretty much every beer was specifically called Pale Ale (or PA) in the  original documents. Not Light, Heavy or Export. Because, despite what later style fetishists might claim, Scottish brewers themselves considered all these beers  Pale Ales. Light, Heavy and Export were the names used by drinkers. Much in the same way English beers were called Pale Ale in the brewery and Bitter in the pub.

I'm not surprised the shilling designations have caused so much confusion. Because they don't really pin down a style of beer. Before WW II, 60/- was the equivalent of ordinary Bitter. The sixty bobs I can recall from the 1970's were all Dark Milds. I'll repeat this once again: all the shillings tell you is the relative strength of the beer. Not which style it's in. If you forget this, Scottish beers won't make the slightest sense.

Most of the beers in the table are 60/- PAs. Though not all were clearly identified as that. Their average OG is 1039.4, average FG 1009.6, average ABV 3.8%, average apparent attenuation 75.6%. Retailing for 7d a pint. The William Younger beers from 1921, though not all are identified as such, in the source, are 60/-, 70/- and 80/- PA. Retailing for, respectively, 7d, 8d and 9d per pint. 70/- having a gravity around 1046 and 80/- 1052. This is very similar to the beers brewed in London, where Pale Ales over 1050 cost 9d a pint and ones in the mid 1040's were 8d a pint.

How, in a time when beer strengths weren't public knowledge, did brewers manage to keep their beers of such similar strength? The answer lies in the sources of this information: various breweries' Gravity Books. Brewers kept a close eye on what their competitors were up to. Gravities naturally tended to align with each other.

A final point: colour. That's where there is a difference. English Pale Ales were in the range 20 to 28. I've a log of Whitbread PA where the colour is 34 and there's a note saying "Too high". Most of the Scottish examples are darker, in the 30's or 40's. Or the colour of an amber Mild like Barclay Perkins'. Two of McEwan's Pale Ales from 1924, presumably 60/- PA, seem to confirm the Scottish practice of colouring a beer differently for different markets. Their gravities are about the same, but one has a colour of 35, the other 52. It's unlikely that this could be explained by them coming from different batches or by accident. The difference is too great.

Here's the luvverly table:

Scottish Pale Ale 1920 - 1924
Year	Brewer	Beer	Style	Price	size	package	FG	OG	colour	ABV	App. Atten-uation
1920	Usher	PA 54/-	Pale Ale		pint	draught	1010.5	1034		3.04	69.12%
1920	Usher	PA 60/-	Pale Ale		pint	draught	1012.9	1040		3.51	67.75%
1920	Usher	PA 90/-	Pale Ale		pint	draught	1016	1054		4.93	70.37%
1921	Bernard	PA 60/-	Pale Ale		pint	draught	1011	1039.2		3.65	71.94%
1921	McEwan	PA 60/-	Pale Ale		pint	draught	1007.1	1040.2		4.31	82.34%
1921	Younger, Wm. & Co	PA	Pale Ale	9d	pint	draught	1013.1	1053.2		5.21	75.38%
1921	Younger, Wm. & Co	PA	Pale Ale	8d	pint	draught	1012	1046		4.41	73.91%
1921	Younger, Wm. & Co	PA 60/-	Pale Ale		pint	draught	1011.2	1039.5		3.67	71.65%
1922	Aitken	PA	Pale Ale		pint	draught	1009.2	1036.2		3.50	74.59%
1922	Ballingall	PA 60/-	Pale Ale		pint	draught	1012.8	1040		3.52	68.00%
1922	Bernard	Pale Ale	Pale Ale	7d	pint	draught	1009.6	1039.2	40	3.84	75.49%
1922	Bernard	Pale Ale	Pale Ale		pint	bottled	1005.4	1042.5	27	4.85	87.31%
1922	Deucher, James Ltd	Lochside Beer	Pale Ale	7d	pint	draught	1011	1039.5		3.69	72.15%
1922	Hamilton	PA	Pale Ale		pint	draught	1010.2	1036		3.34	71.67%
1922	McEwan	Pale Ale	Pale Ale		pint	draught	1007.6	1039.8	30	4.18	80.83%
1922	McEwan	Pale Ale	Pale Ale	7d	pint	draught	1010	1038.7	35	3.72	74.16%
1922	McEwan	PA	Pale Ale	7d	pint	draught	1007	1039		4.16	82.05%
1922	Murray	PA	Pale Ale		pint	draught	1005	1037		4.17	86.49%
1922	Steel Coulson	PA	Pale Ale		pint	draught	1012	1040		3.63	70.00%
1923	Bernard	Carbonated Beer	Pale Ale	4d	half pint	bottled	1012.4	1037.6	45	3.26	67.02%
1923	Bernard	PA	Pale Ale		pint	bottled	1005	1039		4.43	87.18%
1923	McEwan	Pale Ale	Pale Ale		pint	bottled	1007	1040		4.29	82.50%
1923	Murray	Carbonated Beer	Pale Ale	4d	half pint	bottled	1011.8	1035.2	27	3.03	66.48%
1923	Tennent	Beer	Pale Ale		pint	draught	1006	1038	45	4.17	84.21%
1923	Tennent	Carbonated Beer	Pale Ale	4d	half pint	bottled	1007	1038	44	4.03	81.58%
1923	Tennent	Carbonated Beer	Pale Ale	4d	half pint	bottled	1005.5	1039.6	45	4.44	86.04%
1923	Tennent	PA 90/-	Pale Ale		pint	bottled	1006	1039		4.30	84.62%
1923	Younger, Geo.	carbonated	Pale Ale		pint	bottled	1007.3	1033.8	33	3.44	78.47%
1923	Younger, Geo.	No. 1 Pale Ale	Pale Ale		pint	bottled	1008.2	1014.9	31	0.87	45.27%
1924	Bernard	Pale Ale	Pale Ale	4d	half pint	bottled	1013.2	1040.2	35	3.49	67.16%
1924	Bernard	60/-	Pale Ale		pint		1014	1040	42	3.36	65.00%
1924	Gordon & Blair Ltd	Pale Ale	Pale Ale		pint	draught		1038.1
1924	J. Deuchar	Pale Ale	Pale Ale		pint	bottled	1005.3	1038.9	35	4.37	86.29%
1924	McEwan	Pale Ale	Pale Ale		pint	bottled	1008.6	1039.5	35	4.01	78.23%
1924	McEwan	Pale Ale	Pale Ale	6d	pint		1009.4	1038.7	52	3.80	75.71%
1924	McEwan	Pale Ale	Pale Ale		pint	draught		1041.6
1924	Murray	Pale Ale	Pale Ale	4d	half pint	bottled	1011.1	1036.3	25	3.26	69.42%
1924	Murray	Pale Ale	Pale Ale		pint	draught		1037.2
1924	Murray	Strong PA	Pale Ale		pint	bottled	1013	1057		5.73	77.19%
1924	Tennent	Pale Ale	Pale Ale	4d	half pint	bottled	1009.8	1037.3	48	3.57	73.73%
1924	Younger, Geo.	Alloa Pale Ale	Pale Ale			bottled		1039.7
1924	Younger, Wm. & Co	Sparkling Ale 90/-	Pale Ale		pint	bottled	1010.5	1041.5	30	4.02	74.70%
Sources:
Thomas Usher Gravity Book document TU/6/11 held at the Scottish Brewing Archive
Whitbread Gravity Book document LMA/4453/D/02/001 held at the London Metropolitan Archives
Younger, Wm. & Co Gravity Book document WY/6/1/1/19 held at the Scottish Brewing Archive

Drysdale

Mashing at George Younger in the 1890's

I'm taking my Scottish theme deadly seriously. Just a warning. There will be lots, lots more in the coming weeks.

As a relief from tables full of beers details, I'm making a small detour to Barnard, chronicler of  Britain's breweries at their late 19th century peak. First we'll look at one of the less fashionable Youngers, George of Alloa.

Brewing is a funny industry. Sometimes it settles in obvious places, such as large population centres, like London or Edinburgh. Others it pops up in seemingly random small towns such as Burton, Alton, Newark-on-Trent and, where we'll be today, Alloa. Water is usually cited as the reason for these strange sitings. And it certainly played a part in the case of all the examples I've quoted. All had the gypsum-rich water demanded for  Pale Ale brewing.

Though George Younger had been knocking around since the mid 18th century, mostly brewing strong Alloa Ales, their business only boomed when they got into Pale Ale. They were quick to spot the domestic market for  Pale Ales and were one of the first Scottish brewers to brew them in a big way.

Introduction over, let's see how they mashed.

"By the advice of our guide, we proceeded to the mashing-stage on the first floor of the brewhouse, passing through the Excise office to see the grist-hoppers, two in number, depending over the mash-tuns, and capable of holding 100 quarters; the crushed malt being delivered thereto by a Jacob's ladder. The hoppers are constructed of timber, stained and varnished, each being lined with zinc. The mashing-stage covers nearly half of the first floor of the brewery, and is 60 feet in length. It contains three domed mash-tuns, constructed of cast-iron, lagged and encased with match-boarding, which is stained and varnished. The mashing capacity of these tuns is 100 quarters, and they all contain the usual draining plates, mashing gear (driven by steam-power), and overhead revolving spargers. All the tuns are commanded by Steel's mashing machines, which are for saturating the malt and water, at a heat of about 150 degrees, or thereabouts, according to the lightness or heaviness of the malt, and this brings us to the subject of liquor or water, which plays such an important part in brewing. It may be as well to explain, that the water for brewing is obtained from a deep well in the north yard, which is excavated 100 feet, and bored to a depth of 300 feet There are also four other wells on the premises, used for different purposes. The storing tank is placed at the top of the brewery and commands a large malleable iron water heater, lagged with composition and heated by double furnaces. It is placed in a brick built room 50 feet long, on the south side of the copper hearth, and has a capacity of 300 barrels. On the copper hearth there are two more heaters, both used for heating mashing water, and containing together 400 barrels."
"Noted Breweries of Great Britain and Ireland, vol. 2", Alfred Barnard, 1889, page 437.

A mash tun with a 100 quarter capacity gives you a brew-length of approximately 400 barrels. Have three such tuns and you've a daily capacity of 1,200 barrels. Or an annual capacity of 360,000 barrels. That would put George Younger easily in the top 20 biggest breweries in the UK.

The kit is pretty standard. Cast-iron vessel insulated with wood; Steel's masher (that's the external screw that mixes grain and hot water on their way into the tun), internal mashing rakes and a sparger.

It may seem odd that there were two different types of mashing machine. Internal rakes had been the first type of mashing machine, inventd in 1807, it mechanised the mixing of grain and malt which until then had been performed by men with paddles. Must have been great fun in a tun containing hundreds of barrels.

Steel's masher, or the external masher, was invented in 1853. It gives a much more consistent mix of grain and water and does it as they both enter the tun. Such a good design that it's still in wide use today. So, if the mixing has been done before the grain has even got into the tun, why still have internal rakes?

Two reasons. First, for underletting. The standard late 19th century way of mashing was mash, underlet, sparge. Underletting, or introducing hot water from the bottom of the tun, was a way of doing a simple step mash. After underletting the rakes made a couple of revolutions to mix the hot water thoroughly into the mash. Second, to loosen a stuck mash.

See what Barnard has to day on this subject:

"The object of the rakes, or internal machine, inside the tuns is to stir the "goods" or mash, to make them homogeneous as to consistency and it is useful  for the draining operations  afterwards. We noticed also that the tuns are each tapped by several cocks placed in the bottom of the mash-tun, the object being to secure an equal outflow. The sparging is to sprinkle the goods evenly all over for the purpose of still further securing this object. When the tuns are drawn off, the grains are made to fall through spouts direct into the farmers' carts, which are drawn up in the grains' shed beneath."
"Noted Breweries of Great Britain and Ireland, vol. 2", Alfred Barnard, 1889, pages 437 - 438.

Sparging was, of course, initially a purely Scottish practice. I don't think Barnard has quite understood its purpose, which is really to extract sugars left in the grains after running off the first wort.

That was so much fun I'm going to do it all over tomorrow. Except then we'll be discussing boiling. Can't wait.

Let's Brew Wednesday - 1868 Younger XP

What an exciting day. The first recipe in our Scottish series and what a corker it is: Younger's IPA from the 1860's.

You may recall the tale of how I discovered XP was marketed as IPA. I'd seen the beer plenty of times in Younger's records, but it was only after stumbling on a presentation by Mitch Steele I realised what the beer was. You can't imagine how happy I was. You really can't. Younger's brewhouse names are so weird I needed help to decipher them.

The traces of Empire are all over this beer. Other than a certain amount of Scottish malt, all the ingredients are imported. Mostly from outside the UK, except for some of the hops. This is a point I've made before but I'm going to ram it down your throats once more. From the middle of the 19th century, British brewing depended on foreign raw materials. It just wasn't possible to grow sufficient quantities in the UK to meet demand.

Yet the style nazi way to define something as "English" or "British" is by the use of UK malt and hops. Even though beers actually brewed in Britain over the last 150 have almost always contained some non-British ingredients.

Breweries like Younger's would have struggled to achieve the size they did without the connection to the British Empire. Both as a market for their products and as a source of raw materials. That's why the hops-don't-grow-in-Scotland-so-Scottish-beer-couldn't-have-been-hoppy argument totally misses the point. Not just Scottish brewers, but the whole of the British brewing industry depended on imported hops.

The internationalisation of brewing in Britain was surprisingly early. Beer went out and barley and hops came back. It was only possible because of Britain's massive trading fleet and ever-improving ship technology which reduced freight costs. These made it practical to ship grain from as far away as California or Chile.

Younger's brewed a lot of XP. A shitload. It's one of the commonest beers in their logs of 1868. In the pages I've photos of , there were 298 brews. 55 were XP. Only 100/- was brewed more often. These are more exact details:

Younger's beers in 1868
Beer	Style	OG	FG	ABV	hops lb/brl	no. of brews
T	Table Beer	1031	1010	2.78	1.37	20
50/-	Ale	1040	1011	3.84	1.85	10
60/-	Ale	1047	1021	3.44	1.22	3
80/-	Ale	1068	1030	5.03	2.55	11
100/-	Ale	1076	1034	5.56	2.73	62
120/-	Ale	1088	1037	6.75	3.81	28
140/-	Ale	1102	1043	7.81	4.71	24
160/-	Ale	1116	1053	8.33	6.05	3
XP	IPA	1051	1013	5.03	3.40	55
XXP	IPA	1055	1014	5.42	3.29	4
X	Mild	1050	1023	3.57	1.36	2
XX	Mild	1057	1024	4.37	2.55	15
XXX	Mild	1068	1028	5.29	2.87	13
XXXX	Stock Ale	1086	1022	8.47	6.90	3
S	Stock Ale	1077	1032	5.95	2.89	13
XS	Stock Ale	1092	1033	7.81	3.70	1
XXXS	Stock Ale	1129	1066	8.33	8.37	1
1	Strong Ale	1099	1041	7.67	3.70	4
2	Strong Ale	1088	1034	7.14	3.18	7
3	Strong Ale	1077	1022	7.28	3.50	5
4	Strong Ale	1068	1022	6.09	1.67	3
BS	Stout	1046	1020	3.44	1.45	1
DBS	Stout	1062	1014	6.35	3.47	10
total						298
Source:
Document WY/6/1/2/21 held at the Scottish Brewing Archive.

XP was clearly one of Younger's most important products. I doubt any English brewery outside Burton was brewing such a high percentage of IPA at this date.





That's enough contextualisation for today. Over to Kristen for all the recipe details . . . . .

Kristen's Version

Ingredients

Grist – Very simple recipe. Two pale malts. One of the recipes called for Non-UK malt for the big portion but all called for the small portion to be Chilean. Being fresh out of Chilean malts I chose to use the omnipresent Maris Otter for the big part and then a nice Canadian 2-row pale or the lighter however any continental pale would do nicely also.

Hops –  Two hops. Fuggles and Saaz. Fuggles do a nice job for the bittering but the Saaz steal the show. Be sure to get some nice Czech Saaz and not the US grown ones. Although nice, they have some meaty elbows that will really take away the elegance. If you like that sort of thing, don’t listen though.

Yeast – The Thames valley really does a brilliant job here giving a little boost to the malt to support the vast amount of greenery in the beer. If you use a yeast that’s too dry, the only thing you’ll taste is hops. This really is one of the ones you can pretty much just choose your favorite yeast and be happy with it.