Austrian Märzen 1868 - 2004

Another thromise fulfilled: stuff about the Austrian form of Märzen.

Weird things are sort of my thing. One of my weird things is with Anton Dreher. Not that I want his babies or anything sick like that. More a fascination with - and admiration for - the way he dragged Austrian brewing into the industrial. But has ended up a marginal figure through fickle fashion.

Who else, looking at that table of beer analyses in "Jahresbericht über die Leistungen der chemischen Technologie", would have been more excited over Schwechater Märzen than all the Oktoberfesbiers combined? Not that they were dull.

Chemistry periodicals are a great source of 19th-century beer analyses. Frustrating, too. The commercial-oriented gravity books of Truman and Whitbread by definition have to disclose the brewers. The chemistry mags are less open. And often vague about the type of beer being analysed. Irritating for an anal arsehole like me.

"That's not a proper Märzen." is an accusation I've heard thrown at the modern Austrian form. Too pale and too weak. Apart from irritating the flob out of me, that got me wondering: when did Austrian Märzen get paler and weaker.

I've no new information on the colour question. Strength? Maybe. I say maybe, because it's based on a single sample. Chemists weren't always that precise when it came to styles. But . . . it is clearly included for comparison purposes with Oktoberfestbiers.

That said, you can see a general trend in the gravity of Schwechat's Märzen: downwards.

Austrian Märzen 1868 - 2004
Year	Brewer	Beer	package	Acidity	OG Plato	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation
1868	Schwechat	Märzen	draught	0.12	15.39	1062.7	1019.76	5.57	68.47%
1869	Schwechat	Dreher's Beer	draught	0.12	15.28	1062.2	1019.76	5.54	68.22%
1869	Liesing	Liesing Beer	draught	0.12	15.16	1061.7	1019.11	5.56	69.01%
1870	Schellenhof	Märzen		0.14	13.83	1056.0	1021.5	4.45	60.30%
1870	Schwechat	Märzen		0.14	13.54	1054.7	1016.9	4.90	67.95%
1870	St. Mark	Märzen		0.11	13.80	1055.8	1019.2	4.74	64.35%
1870	Brunn	Märzen		0.19	14.89	1060.5	1016.7	5.69	71.19%
1898	Schwechat	Märzenbier	bottled		14.60	1059.3	1018.1	5.34	69.45%
1901	Schwechat	Märzenbier	draught	0.14	12.75	1051.4	1015.6	4.53	68.66%
2004	Baumgartner	Märzen			12.30	1049.5	1010.3	5.10	78.37%
2004	Eggenberg	Märzen			12.20	1049.1	1011.4	4.90	75.98%
2004	Hofstetten	Märzen			11.50	1046.1	1009.9	4.70	77.65%
2004	Kaltenhausen	Märzen			11.60	1046.5	1008.2	5.00	81.72%
2004	Mohren	Märzen			11.60	1046.5	1008.9	4.90	80.17%
2004	Schlägl	Märzen			11.80	1047.4	1009.0	5.00	80.25%
Sources:
Birmingham Daily Post - Wednesday 27 January 1869, page 6.
British Medical Journal Jan 23rd 1869, page 84
"Theory and Practice of the Preparation of Malt and the Fabrication of Beer" Julius E. Thausing, Anton Schwartz and A.H. Bauer, Philadelphia 1882, pages 748-751
Brockhaus' konversations-lexikon, Band 2 by F.A. Brockhaus, 1898
Jahresbericht über die Leistungen der chemischen Technologie, 1903 page 434.
Baumgartner website
Eggenberg website
Hofstetten website
Kaltenhausen website
Mohren website
Schlägl website

Modern Austrian Märzen reminds me of low-gravity British IPA. Undervalued because it isn't what ideology tells us it should be.

My San Diego schedule

I realise this must ge getting boring for those of you who don't live in Southern California. But I don't want a repeat of my last visit where lots of people didn't realise I was coming until it was too late.

This is my schedule for next week:

Wednesday 14th May
Fly in.



Thursday 15th May
Liberty Station: Brew East India Porter.
16:00 – 18:00 meet/greet and a book signing.

Stone Liberty Station
2816 Historic Decatur Road
San Diego, CA 92106
(619) 269-2100
http://www.stonelibertystation.com



Friday 16th May
16:00 - 18:00 Meet and Greet at main Stone brewery in Escondido
18:30 - 20:00 radio show in Mission Valley

Stone Brewing
1999 Citracado Parkway
Escondido, CA 92029
http://www.stonebrewing.com/calendar/default.asp?intEventsID=3658



Saturday 17th May
11:00 - 13:00 at ChuckAlek Independent Brewers, Informal talk, Homebrewer’s Q&A, book signing.

ChuckAlek Independent Brewers
2330 Main St, Suite C
Ramona, CA 92065
http://www.chuckalek.com/

18:00 at The Brew Project I give a talk on Brettanomyces in British Brewing

The Brew Project
1735 Hancock St #1,
San Diego, CA 92101
http://thebrewproject.com/


Sunday 18th May
Fly back.



That's not too demanding a schedule, is it?





Obviously I'll be doing my best to persuade as many of you as possible to buy my wonderful book. I guarantee a custom, illegible dedication in every book I sign. It will become a trasured heirloom you children will fight over after you're dead.


The Home Brewer's Guide to Vintage Beer.

The Red Lion Brewery (part two)

We're back with Barnard's description of Hoare's Red Lion Brewery. This time it their water supply and mash tuns being discussed.

Barnard must have forgotten to take his photographer along because the only illustration of the brewery is a reproduction of a painting. It's really annoying because I'm struggling to find any images of the brewery.

Red Lion Brewery in 1869

But first here's something I missed last time:

"Retracing our steps to the brewery, we made our way to the top of the malt warehouses, to witness the arrival of some malt from the railway waggons. The sacks are lifted therefrom by a powerful steam hoist, by which they are drawn up to the different loophole doors on the various floors, when they are wheeled away to the bins."
"Noted Breweries of Great Britain and Ireland, vol. 3", Alfred Barnard, 1890, page 55.

So they did have a hoist for malt. But only for supplies arriving by rail. Why didn't they use it for the malt arriving by boat?

Now on to water. I knew London brewers didn't use Thames water for brewing. Given the state of the river in the 19th century, you wouldn't want its foul water anywhere near your mash tun. But it did have a use:

"There is no district in England in which springs and wells are exhibited in a more instructive manner than the London Basin. Nearly the whole of Middlesex and other districts surrounding the Metropolis are contained in an immense bowl of chalk, many miles in extent, in the interior surface of which there is a thick lining of sand, supporting a deep bed of clay, called the London blue clay. Above this, in most places, is another bed of gravel and vegetable mould, and on this latter the Metropolis is built. The interposition of this bed of clay has a remarkable effect on the mode in which water accumulates beneath the soil of London, for its texture is so dense that very little water can penetrate it; that which accumulates above it must remain there, while that beneath it is unable to force a passage upwards. The quality of the water beneath the clay is said to be very fine, especially for brewing. Many wells of vast depth have been sunk by the London brewers, piercing through the entire mass of clay and sand into the chalk beneath. The noted well at Messrs. Hoare's brewery is one of these. It is sunk 100 feet, and to that depth is 5 feet in diameter, being lined with cast-iron curbs; after that there are two bore-holes, 12 inches and 9 inches respectively, 300 feet down to the chalk. There is an unfailing supply from this well, the water therefrom being alone used for brewing Hoare's celebrated porter and ales. Near to this there is a land spring 8 feet in diameter and 53 feet deep; and beneath the vaults are six tube wells, all used in connection with each other. This water is drawn from above the London clay, and is only used in the summer, when the Thames water is not cold enough, for supplying the refrigerators. From this point of the brewery there is a ladder stair leading to the topmost roof (over which, on a pedestal, is the effigy of the Red Lion, lifesize, the trade mark of the firm), from whence we obtained an extensive view of the shipping in the Thames, the Tower, St. Paul's, and a distant view of the Crystal Palace.
"Noted Breweries of Great Britain and Ireland, vol. 3", Alfred Barnard, 1890, pages 56 - 57.

"As a matter of fact, in this, the oldest brewery in London, Thames water was never used, the supply from the wells being considered superior for mashing, and in preserving the intrinsic quality of the article."
"Noted Breweries of Great Britain and Ireland, vol. 3", Alfred Barnard, 1890, page 58.

All the London breweries seem to have had their own wells. Clearly there was a difference in quality between the water from above and below the clay. 400 feet is pretty deep. Presumably it was worth digging that far to get clean, pure water for brewing. Refrigerators were used for cooling the wort. They were a network of copper pipes through which cold water was passed. The wort flowed over the pipes and was cooled. In this period they were used in conjunction with the older large shallow coolers (the things people insist on calling coolships nowadays). Coolers were useful not just for cooling wort, but also getting a lot of the gunk out of it. Because they were very shallow, solids quickly fell to the bottom.

It would have been safe to use Thames water in the refrigerators because it never came into contact with the wort. I wonder if they also used it in their attemperators?

The Lion Brewery in Lambeth wasn't the only brewery in London with a lion on top of it.

"After this we made our way downstairs, to see the pumping machinery connected with the deep well, and then directed our steps to the brewhouse. Of the great brewhouse itself, to which we had now arrived, it is difficult to give a description. It is a massive and lofty building, constructed principally of iron and brick, with louvred walls, and exits for steam in the open and extensive roof. On ascending the iron staircase, leading to the mash tun stage, the first effect on our minds was a state of bewilderment; the brewing vessels and utensils seemed so large and massive, and the pumps, pipes and rods so numerous, that for a while the whole seemed a mass of confusion. Nor was it until we had followed the brewing processes in their regular order that the whole assemblage assumed its proper shape and order."
"Noted Breweries of Great Britain and Ireland, vol. 3", Alfred Barnard, 1890, page 57.

I'm surprised that Barnard was so awe-struck by the scale of Hoare. This is volume three of his book and he'd already been around Guinness, Bass, Allsopp, Truman and Barclay Perkins in volume one. Those were all considerably larger than Hoare.

Now let's look at the mash tuns:

"Running through the enormous buildings are five chimney shafts, connected with the boilers and coppers; and, from the first floor to the lofty roof, the view upwards is uninterrupted by distinct floors or partitions, except where stages or platforms occur at various heights, forming the support of the various vessels. The principal part of the floor, which is laid all over with iron plates, is occupied by three mash tuns, of enormous dimensions, and three coppers, the latter rising from the floor to a height of 20 feet. Two of these mash-tuns are constructed of cast iron, the other of oak, and all of them have domed covers. One of them, mashing 220 quarters, manufactured by Spence, of Dublin, is the most remarkable mash tun that we have seen in our travels. This massive vessel, which is used for porter brewing, weighs twenty and the dome-cover ten tons, together thirty tons of cast iron, and this without taking into consideration the weight of the slotted draining-plates and ponderous mashing apparatus, or the porcupine machinery, which they all contain. One of them is commanded by a Steel's mashing machine, and the mashing capacity of the three is 450 quarters. Before leaving the mashing-stage, our guide pointed out the numerous appliances for extinguishing fire, such as main-pipes, hose, stand-pipes, etc ; also the valves at the bottom of the mash tuns, by which the grains are released therefrom. The valve-traps communicate with shoots connected to a Jacob's ladder, by which they are conveyed direct into the grains contractors' vats. This method is a saving both of time and labour, as the largest tun can be emptied in one hour and twenty minutes.
"Noted Breweries of Great Britain and Ireland, vol. 3", Alfred Barnard, 1890, pages 57 - 58.

A mash tun with a capacity of 220 quarters was pretty big, even for a London brewer. Whitbread's seem to have taken no more than 100 quarters and they would use two, three or four mash tuns for a single brew. Barclay Perkins also regularly used multiple mash tuns for a single batch. 220 quarters was enough to brew around 900 barrels of standard-strength Porter. The other two mash tuns must have been considerably smaller because combined they only had a capacity of 230 quarters.

By "porcupine machinery" I assume he means internal rakes, the earliest form of mashing machine. It's odd that only one mash tun had an external Steel's masher. These were pretty standard by 1890, having been first developed in 1853. And dead useful devices. They mixed the grain with water as it was going into the tun and was a good way of making sure the two were thoroughly mixed. Having tried to mix malt and grain with a paddle while brewing at Colonial Williamsburg, I can vouch for how tricky it is to remove any clumps of malt manually.

Next time we'll be looking at the black malt backs, amongst other things. There's something I've not come across before.

Munich Oktoberfestbier 1901 - 2006

The recent sunshine has got me thinking of Lager. That and a link posted on BeerAdvocate.

It was to a book called "Jahresbericht über die Leistungen der chemischen Technologie", published in 1901. In it are analyses of five beers served at the Oktoberfest in 1901. Right down my street. That's just the sort of stuff I collect.

As you must have noticed, I have an unhealthy interest in Lager styles and their development. It surprised me how little attention has been paid to their history. It's as if everyone assumes they've remained constant. Which obviously they haven't. If there's one point I've tried to get across it's that the past was a dynamic place.

If I'm honest, I'm not surprised at the difference between modern versions and those from more than 100 years ago. It's a pattern I've seen repeated over other styles. The gravity has fallen but the degree of attenuation has increased, leaving the ABV about the same.

It's even more extreme in the case of Salvator, where some 19th-century versions were under 50% apparent attenuation. The modern Paulaner beer is about 75%.

It's slightly odd that every one of the examples from 1901 has too high a gravity to be called Märzen in Germany today. The upper limit is 14º Plato. The two over 16º Plato would now be classified as Bock. There's also more variation in gravity than you see across modern examples.

But the biggest difference is in the degree of attenuation, which averages 80% for the modern ones, and 68% for those from 1901. Which leaves the Hacker-Pschorr beer from 1998 stronger than any of those from 1901, even though it has one of the lowest gravities.

I'm quite surprised by the amount of lactic acid in all those from 1910. I'd have expected a Lager to be below 0.10.

Munich Oktoberfestbier 1901 - 2006
Year	Brewer	package	Lactic acid	OG Plato	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation
1901	Unknown Munich	draught	0.18	15.19	1061.8	1019.3	5.41	67.48%
1901	Unknown Munich	draught	0.17	16.07	1065.6	1020.3	5.78	67.78%
1901	Unknown Munich	draught	0.17	15.40	1062.7	1017.3	5.83	71.24%
1901	Unknown Munich	draught	0.16	14.60	1059.3	1018.8	5.15	67.11%
1901	Unknown Munich	draught	0.17	16.27	1066.5	1020.6	5.85	67.63%
1992	Löwenbräu	draught		13.74	1055.6	1011.9	5.74	78.60%
1998	Hacker-Pschorr	draught		13.60	1055	1010.5	5.90	80.91%
2004	Löwenbräu	bottled		13.70	1055.4	1008.7	6.10	83.50%
2004	Spaten	bottled		13.70	1055.4	1010.2	5.90	80.80%
2006	Paulaner	draught		13.10	1052.9	1012.1	5.40	77.20%
Sources:
Jahresbericht über die Leistungen der chemischen Technologie, 1903 page 434.
Derek Walsh analysis
Löwenbräu website
Spaten website

"Jahresbericht über die Leistungen der chemischen Technologie" also had an analysis of Schwechater Märzen. One that surprised me. Which is why we'll be looking at Austrian Märzen next.

Bier Tuin

Another weekend, another new Amsterdam beer venue. At least for me. I've become out of touch with the scene here. Biertuin is further proof of that.

"Do you fancy a beer in the East, Dolores."

She thought about it a while.

"Linaeus straat, opposite the park"

Continued thought.

"They've got De Koninck."

That swung it.

The part of Linaeus straat facing Oosterpark is lined by attractive late 19th-century houses, with, for Amsterdam, huge front gardens. It's been a while since I last ambled along this part of the street. One thing is obvious. It's got trendier. That's before we've even reached Biertuin. Dolores, seeing a decent beer selection advertised outside another pub almost goes into it by mistake.

Biertuin lives up to its name by having a packed front garden (biertuin = beer garden). It's not that warm so we sit inside instead. Plenty of  room here. Other than at the tables occupied by eight raucous male students. And the other by a more restrained mixed group of just-about-twentysomethings. Oh, and the group of female German tourists in their fifties who seem to have randomly wandered in. Good Germans that they are, all have a half litre in front of them.

I already know what Dolores wants. But what for me? Ah, there's a beer breed for them by Emelisse. A 4.9% IPA called Bier Tuig. That'll do. Emelisse on draught in a pub full of young things? What is the world coming to.

I suppose you want to know what it looks like inside. Bar at the back bristling with beer taps. Bare brick walls, bare wooden tables. Fairly minimalist, in not too austere a way. Dolores likes it and she's far fussier than me. My minimum requirements are a seat and one beer I'm happy to drink. Everything else is a bonus.

My Bier Tuig demolished, I wonder what to have next. I make some enwuiries of or friendly but terribly young waitress. She suggests an Oedipus beer, whose name I don't quite catch. Mama Liefde, or something like that.

"What type of beer is it?"

"It's sort of like an Ale."

I realise further discussion isn't going to get me anywhere. I just order one. Dolores opts for a De Prael Johnny.

"It better not be a Porter or a Stout."

"Why not, Ronald?"

"Because they're both BEERS. At least if you go by 18th-century definitions. Which I do. Anything more modern is too scary."

Dolores has to put up with a lot of stuff like this. I'm amazed she's ever up for a pint.

The waitress returns with my beer. The name is actually Mannen Liefde (Man Love) and it has a pink label. Mmm... Why was the waitress so keen to suggest it? Was she trying to tell me something? It's a bit disappointing, but drinkable. At least it wasn't a Stout.

I haven't really told you about the beer list. It's a bit of a rum one. Both draught and bottled. Draught there are stalwarts like De Koninck, Brugse Zot and La Chouffe, the established beers of Het Ij, but also beers from newer breweries some of which, dare I say it, is a bit "craft".

Bottled, it's the same story: Duvel, Westmalle and Guinness (they get extra points from me for stocking the delicious Guinness Special Export); stuff from older small breweries like Het Ij and De Prael; but also beers from Amsterdam's newest wave of breweries Oedipus, 2 Chefs and Butcher's Tears; finally out and out "craft" things like Flying Dog.

Much like the current range of Het Ij, it's a combination of two different beer cultures, one from the past, the other from the present; one inspired by Belgium, the other by America and Denmark. Is this a transitional phase? Will the new replace the old or complement it?

Us and the German ladies aside, the customers are all under 30. A very different age profile from Wildeman, Arends Nest or Gollem.

They do food as well. An eclectic mix, I think you'd call it: fish and chips, pulled pork and Schweinshaxe. At a, for Amsterdam, very reasonable price of €14-16.

Overall, not bad at all. Except for all those young people. Bit depressing, those toned bodies and exuberance. What it needs are a few more miserable old gits like me to cheer the place up.  Sideways. maybe. Cheer it sideways. May not be up, but it isn't down.

Oh, one bad point: totally inadequate female toilet capacity. At least that's what Dolores tells me. Just one toilet.






De Biertuin
Linnaeusstraat 29
Amsterdam
Tel. 020 665 0956
http://www.debiertuin.nl/


Boom
Linnaeusstraat 63,
1093 EJ Amsterdam.
Tel. 20 665 5224
http://www.boom-amsterdam.nl/

The increasing popularity of Lager-beer in North America

I came across this informative piece in a Brewers' Guardian from 1873.

I like it for a couple of reasons. For one, it explains the rapid growth in the popularity of Lager in the USA in the second half of the 19th century. It also explains why there was an exchange of techniques between Ale and Lager brewers. A process which by no means all one way.

Why was the drinking public switching to Lager?

"THE INCREASING POPULARITY OF LAGER-BEER IN NORTH AMERICA.

IT is useless for ale brewers to disguise the fact that the popular taste is becoming more and more in favour of lager-beer. We need not theorise as to the causes which lead to this, for a cursory perusal of the Brewers’ List, which we have recently presented to our readers, shows how great the increase of the number of lager-beer breweries is, and further, with what a ratio of increase the lager-beer brewers are enlarging their returns. That this is due to the corresponding advance of the quality and condition of lager-beer over that of ale we are disposed stoutly to deny; for it is the rather due to the cold temperature at which, in the case of lager-beer, it is a necessity that it should be sent out. The intense heat of summer, moreover, renders a beverage, at the lager-beer temperature, particularly grateful to one's heated condition, so that it is rather by accident than by any inherent virtue or superiority that it is gaining in popularity. It is accepted on all hands that there has been a most satisfactory improvement of late years in the quality and condition of our various ales, but the circumstances of our climate militate against a corresponding advance in the demand for it. The ale may possess the luscious flavour of the malt, judiciously blended with that of a fragrant hop ; its brilliancy may be of the most transparent character, but, alas! all the skill of the ale brewer counts for nothing by the side of the coldness of lager-beer.

This is the fact. and the act must be looked fairly in the face, and boldly grappled with. How shall this be done? What shall ale brewers do about it?"
"Brewers' Guardian, Volume 3", 1873, page 171.

Pretty simple, really: because Lager was served cold and it gets damn hot in the USA.

"It may be that ale brewers may learn something from their lager-beer brethren. In former days, lager-beer brewing was, both in the recesses of mashing, as well as in that of fermentation, widely different from that of ale-brewing. The orthodox way of brewing lager-beer was by the process of the thick mash, which has thus been described :

“The malt is moistened slightly twelve or sixteen hours before crushing it, with about three-fourths of a gallon for every bushel. When crushed, cold water is admitted, and it is thus left for a few hours ; meanwhile water is made to boil in the copper kettle, and a sufficient quantity drawn off into the mash-tun to bring up the temperature to 140.5°. This stands for about an hour, when additional water is added and mashed. The whole mash, malt as well as water, is now pumped into the copper-kettle, and the heat raised to boiling point, and is kept at that temperature for half an hour. The mash is again returned to the tun, and now a portion of the wort drawn off, pumped up to the copper, and boiled, and again returned to the mash tun. The wort is then drawn off, and allowed to remain in the under back two hours, so that the wort may be pumped up clear into the copper kettle."

This cumbersome and tedious system of mashing has, we believe, become nearly obsolete. The lager-beer brewers now — the more advanced of them — mash exactly as an ale brewer does, with considerable advantage, we doubt not, for an experienced ale brewer would at once raise a host of well-founded objections to the thick mash system. Not only is the time and labour involved in carrying on the thick mash something to be saved, but the application of boiling temperatures to the malt will yield, in the worts, not merely saccharine, but also such a quantity of the mucilaginous constituents of the grains, that the ale brewer will prefer to see the extra extract thereby obtained going to the farmer rather than into his ale.
"Brewers' Guardian, Volume 3", 1873, page 171. 

If I interpret that correctly, Lager brewer shad abandoned decoction and switched to infusion mashing. It doesn't surprise me. Decoction is time-consuming and expensive compared to a simple infusion mash.

Probably one of the reasons decoction has been retained in Central Europe is tradition. But how many of the big industrial brewers still decoct, even in Germany? I'd love to know. In the DDR they started switching to infusion mashing on purely economic grounds. Logic would say that similar commercial applies in all of Germany today, where overcapacity and falling demand have put downward pressure on beer prices.

Lager brewers had learned a better way to mash from Ale brewers. What could Ale brewers learn?

"Thus we see the lager-beer brewer has taken a most important leaf out of the ale brewers' book by forsaking the thick mash, and adopting the ordinary ale mash. It appears to us that the ale brewer has simply to turn round, and, just as the lager-beer brewer has adopted ale mashing, so should the ale brewer adopt the Unterhefe fermentation, which is the simple difference between ale and lager beer. It is true that the ale brewer will have to adapt his fermenting room and his cellars so that they shall not be dependent on changes of temperature ; but this is a small matter for his energy and enterprise to accomplish. As it is always well to look before you leap, and to exercise necessary precautions before taking any step which causes any large outlay, a few experimental brewings may, with facility, be carried through ; having been fermented, and afterwards stored in a small temporarily-constructed icehouse, or, better still, in a cellar where the temperature is artificially reduced by an inexpensive ice-making apparatus. The difficulties in the way of an ale brewer engrafting on his ale brewery a lager-beer department are far less than he imagines, and will melt to nothing in the presence of the same bold front with which he deals with the perplexities by which ale brewing is attended in the height of summer. It is one of the signs of wisdom in an individual that he “accepts the situation," as the phrase goes, into which the constant change of circumstances brings him, and deals with them accordingly. Some of the most enterprising of our ale brewers have already “accepted the situation” in this respect. We have a notable instance at the present time, for, in one of the best ale breweries in New York City, a lager-beer fermenting room and store of very large dimensions is being erected. Its proprietor is well known as the leading spirit of the Association of Brewers, and therefore as one whose foresight is such that whatever he does may be taken as an example. It has always been one of the marks of men who are in advance of their age that they possess what has been called the Napoleonic gift of seeing what is coming in the future, and of acting accordingly. Such is the course taken by the gentleman to whom we have thus ventured to refer. Nor is New York City alone in this, for, in one of the largest cities in the north-west of this State of New York, the enterprising proprietor of the most reputed ale brewery in that section of the country is expending a hundred thousand dollars in doing the same thing. The importations of lager beer from this brewery to this city, last summer, were, to our judgment, fully equal, if not superior, to the best brands of lager beer sent from the enormous distances of Milwaukee and Cincinnati. In both these instances, we believe we are correct in stating that the simple difference of the brewings consist in the ale being fermented with the Oberhefe fermentation, and the lager beer with the Unterhefe fermentation, the latter, of course, in a regulated temperature. We are strongly of opinion that the course thus indicated by these men of enterprise will be largely followed by the most courageous of our ale brewers, and that the results will not merely be shown in the large increase of their returns, but that they will also have the happiness of finding that the knowledge they possess of the essential principles of ale brewing will enable them, with complete success, to compete with the present quality of lager beer."
"Brewers' Guardian, Volume 3", 1873, page 171.

Switch to bottom fermentation, that's what Ale brewers could learn. And it's true, some did do that. But there were also Ale brewers who stuck with top-fermentation yeast, but adopted Lager methods of conditioning. Most important of these was chilling and filtering. That allowed Ale to be served cold and clear.

Here's a description of the difference between top- and bottom-fermentation. One word of warning: it sounds like total bollocks to me.

"This leads us to refer to the differences of the two fermentations. it need scarcely be mentioned that the lager beer, or Unterhefe, fermentation deposits its yeast at the bottom, as the ale fermentation throws its yeast to the surface. The former has to be conducted at a temperature of about 40° or 45° F., while the latter usually has a range of from 56° to 70° F. There are, of course, many differences in the details of storage, fining and racking, but the above are the essential particulars. The great German chemist, von Liebig, in speaking of the two fementations, thus describes their difference : “When wort,” he says, “is set to ferment by the ordinary process, it evolves a large quantity of yeast in the state of a thick froth, with bubbles of carbonic acid gas attached to it, whereby it is floated to the surface of the liquid. This phenomenon is easily explained. In the body of the wort, alongside the sugar decomposing, there are particles of gluten being oxidised at the same time, and enveloping as it were the former particles, whence the carbonic acid of the sugar and the insoluble ferment from the gluten, being simultaneously produced, should mutually adhere. When the metamorphosis of the sugar is completed, there remains still a large quantity of gluten dissolved in the fermented liquor, which gluten, in virtue of its tendency to appropriate oxygen, and to get decomposed, induces also the transformation of alcohol into acetic acid. On the other hand, in the fermentation of lager beer the wort is set to ferment in open backs, and placed in cool cellars having an atmospheric temperature not exceeding 45- 50°. The operation lasts three or four weeks; the carbonic acid is disengaged not in large bubbles, which burst on the surface of the liquid, but in very small vesicles, like those of a mineral water, or of a liquor saturated with carbonic acid when the pressure is removed. The surface of the fermenting wort is always in contact with the oxygen of the atmosphere, as it is hardly covered with froth : and as all the yeast is deposited at the bottom of the back, it is hence called Unterhefe."

Dr. Ure, in referring to the distinctive difference of an ale femientation and that of lager-beer, informs us that the yeast on the surface is gluten oxidised in a state of putrefaction, while the yeast precipitated in the fermentation is gluten oxidised in a state of eremacausis, or slow decay. “The surface yeast," he goes on to say, “excites in liquids containing sugar and gluten the same alteration which itself is undergoing, whereby the sugar and gluten suffer a rapid and tumultuous metamorphosis. We may form an exact idea of the different states of the two kinds of yeast by comparing the superficial to vegetable matters putrefying at the bottom of a marsh, and Unterhefe, or deposited yeast to wood slowly decaying. The Unterhefe fermentation is merely a simultaneous metamorphosis of putrefaction and slow combustion, the sugar and the Unterhefe putrify and the soluble gluten gets oxidised by the oxygen of the air, and then falls in the insoluble state. The matters liable to decay are separated by intervention of the air at a temperature too low for the alcohol to become oxidised.”"
"Brewers' Guardian, Volume 3", 1873, page 171.

Strange that the author uses the German terms Unterhefe and Oberhefe. The description of how the fermentations differ sounds utter crap to me. Surely both types of yeast digest sugar exactly the same way. I thought bottom-fermenting yeast had gradually evolved in Bavaria because it was harvested from the bottom rather than the top of the wort. Silly me.

It is definitely not true that bottom-fermenting yeast creates almost no head on the wort. I've been in enough Franconian fermentation rooms to know that's not correct. Interesting that he says Lager was fermented in "open backs". Would Ale also have been fermented in the open in the 1870's?

"There is no ale brewer in a climate like ours, but who has experience of the severity of the conflict with acidity in the summer time. It is true that the records of experience, combined with the help of science, have enabled him to some extent to overcome these difficulties, but he knows the unceasing diligence and watchfulness which is imperatively necessary. The Gordian knot of these difficulties our Alexanders may at once cut by the sword of low temperatures. At ordinary temperatures our scientific men give us no encouragement of being able completely to overcome them. We are told that no inconsiderable portion of gluten remains undecomposed in our ale, which by its extreme proneness to corruption afterwards attracts oxygen greedily from the air, and at a temperature above 52º imparts a contracting action to the alcohol, changing it to acetic acid. At the same time we are told by the same authority that the result of an Unterhefe fermentation is beer free from acetic acid, and hardly a trace of gluten, so that it does not possess the conditions requisite to intestine change or deterioration. The writer, on whose authority the above is given, qualifies his statement by a leaf from his experience, when he says, “This perfection is rarely if ever attained, for I have met with much ill-made lager beer.”

The ale brewer, in the light of these statements, is in this position, that both the demands of his customers and also the warnings of men of science point the same way. The difficulties are rather in anticipation than in fact. When once a resolution is taken, the consequent action must be taken with no niggard hand. Parsimony, in taking insufficient measures to have a complete control of temperatures, will probably prove the truth of the English proverb, “Penny wise and pound foolish." On the other hand, if this is duly provided for, the ale brewers' knowledge of the essential elements of success, which bear equally on all malt liquors, will certainly place him on such vantage ground in brewing lager-beer, that the present lager-beer brewers will have to look well to their laurels.—The American Brewers' Gazette."
"Brewers' Guardian, Volume 3", 1873, page 171.

I can imagine brewers would have had trouble keeping their Ale sound in and American summer, where temperatures could be above 30º C for weeks on end. A week or so at 25º C can wreak havoc with cask beer in Britain. Not sure I agree with his explanation of the cause of acidity. Bacteria and wild yeast must have been the reason.

10% off my Lulu books.

Slight cockup with the discount code. All due to my inability to read properly.

Forget about that last discount code. It was for pictures, not books. This one, though it is a smaller discount, will work. My apologies for my total incompetence.

Until May 11th there will be 10% off all my Lulu books if you use this discount code: MOM10.

A great chance to pick up some of my wonderful books cheaply.

The Red Lion Brewery

Time for some more about the history of the Red Lion Brewery. Latterly know as Hoare and Co.

The brewery stood just to the east of St. Katharine's Docks, which were constructed in the 1820's. Luckily the brewery escaped the destruction need to construct them:

"The total cost of St. Katharine's Docks amounted to £1,700,000, and 1,252 houses (besides the hospital) had to be pulled down and removed to make room for that great undertaking. Hoare's brewery, although but fifty yards distant, was, however, spared from the wholesale demolition that then took place, and still stands as a relic of the most ancient brewhouse in England. As far back as the end of the fifteenth century there existed on this very spot a public brewhouse, where the citizens of London could bring their malt and raw material, and for a fee, or license, paid to the Government, brew therein their own ales. Pennant, referring to this building, says : "Below St. Catherine's, on the river side, stood the great breweries, or Bere Houses, as they are called in the map published in the first volume of the 'Civitates Orbis.' They were subject to regulations as early as the reign of Henry VII., who, in 1492, licensed John Merchaut, a Fleming, to export fifty tuns of ale called Berre. And in the same reign, one Geffry Gate, probably an officer of the king's, spoiled the brewhouses at St. Catherine's twice, either for sending too much abroad unlicensed, or for brewing it too weak for their home customers." He further states that the demand for this article, from foreign parts, increased to a high degree, and that in the reign of Queen Elizabeth 500 tuns were exported at once. At this time there seems to have been a free exportation, except when checked by proclamation, for fear of enhancing the price of corn by excess of brewing in scarce times; but even then it was permitted by the royal license."
"Noted Breweries of Great Britain and Ireland, vol. 3", Alfred Barnard, 1890, page 52.

Red Lion Brewery in 1746

It really was probably the oldest brewery in Britain. At the time of its closure in the 1930s it was noted that it was one of the oldest businesses in London. Given its very central location, it's probably more surprising that it lasted as long as it did.

I should also point out that back in Tudor times it was outside the City of London, which ended at the Tower.

"Entering beneath a broad archway from Lower East Smithfield, we found ourselves in a spacious courtyard engirt on one side by a lofty brewhouse, tun rooms and cask sheds ; on the other by a handsome semicircular block of buildings, lofty offices, etc. We were received by one of the partners, who introduced us to the head brewer, Mr. E. J. Tabor, by whom we were conducted through the works.

On the opposite side of the road in front of the brewery on the river Thames, is the firm's wharf, where sailing barges from the east coast deliver malt for the manufacture of Hoare's celebrated porter and ales. Thither we walked, accompanied by our guide, who at once drew attention to the means by which the malt is conveyed to the great malt warehouses in the brewery buildings. This is done by a string of sturdy porters, each carrying from the barge a large sack on his back. We counted forty of these men, who followed each other pretty closely, each one bringing his sack of malt (weighing about one-and-a-half hundredweight) from the barge and depositing the contents in the warehouse. Each one carries his sack of malt into the warehouse up several flights of stairs, and empties the contents into one of a series of enormous bins or boxes. At every second flight of steps there are halting-places, with shelves whereon the men deposit their loads for a few moments, to rest themselves before climbing higher. The bins, which are sixteen in number, are of such extraordinary dimensions, especially in height, that they will hold from 500 to 2,000 quarters each — as a matter of fact, they will hold together upwards of 15,000 quarters of malt. They are formed entirely of wood, and are supplied with malt till full, the earlier portions of the supply being introduced at a door half-way up the bin, afterwards closed up."
"Noted Breweries of Great Britain and Ireland, vol. 3", Alfred Barnard, 1890, pages 54-55.

At this time many breweries still had maltings in the brewery complex. Not in London, though. Land was presumably too dear for that by the end of the 19th century.

Red Lion Brewery in 1802

I'm amazed that they were still manually unloading malt at this late stage. The process had been mechanised at Barclay Perkins much earler. OK, I can understand that, not being directly on the river, they might have to carry the sacks to the brewery, but having porters carry them up to the top of the building? Hadn't they ever heard of a hoist? In a typical tower brewery - Holes is a good example - there's a special doorway with a beam above it for placing a pulley next to the malt store. It's the thing with the wooden surround here:

One-and-a-half hundredweight is 168 lbs, or around 75 kg. I wouldn't want to be carting that weight up several flights of stairs. Literally back-breaking work.

As a quarter of malt is 3 hundreweight, or two sacks, filling all the malt bins would require 30,000 trips up the stairs. A staggering amount of physical labour. Even at a time when labour was relatively cheap, that still sounds an expensive way of shifting malt about. A steam-powered lift would surely have been cheaper and more efficient.

Brew Brittania

Boak & Bailey's book will be hitting the shops soon. I'm really looking forward to it. Based on the stuff that's been leaking out onto their blog, it looks like being a very useful and well-researched modern history of British beer.

They certainly have been going to the right sources. The Pub and the People, for example. Properly-researched history is what beer needs. It's an area that, brewery histories aside, has been badly neglected.

You can find links to the various outlets for the book here:

http://boakandbailey.com/book-brew-britannia/



Disclosure time: I've met the pair (once) and had fairly regular email contact with them. 

AHA Conference

My speaking engagement at the AHA Conference  in Grand Rapids in June is 100% confirmed.

It will be a great chance to not only listen to me drone on about historic beer but also to buy my book on the subject, The Home Brewer's Guide to Vintage Beer. I'll sign it for you, too, in my unforgable scrawl.


The Home Brewer's Guide to Vintage Beer.

20% off my Lulu books

Please ignore this post. All a misunderstanding. Go here for a discount that works.


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A great chance to pick up some of my wonderful books cheaply.

Huggins Pale Ale quality 1922 - 1923

I'm finding it difficult to uncover much about Huggins. Which is why I'm forced to use this newspaper article, which is mostly about Whitbread. Or at least a court case involving Whitbread.

I've noticed that back in the 19th century you were likely to only be fined for kicking the shit out of someone, but could get serious time for anything involving money. See what you think of this:

"William King, 26, was indicted for uttering a forged order for £20, with intent to defraud William Henry Whitbread and others.

Mr. Clarkson prosecuted; Mr. Parry defended the prisoner.

It appeared that on the 5th of October an intelligent lad, named Henry Ridley, was going along Chiswell-street, on an errand for his mother, when he was accosted by a man, whom he swore positively to be the prisoner, who asked him to take a letter to Messrs. Whitbread's brewery, and bring him back an answer; and, upon his consenting to do so, the man told him that if he was asked any questions he was to say that he brought the letter from Mr. Hugh Hughes The boy accordingly took the letter to the brewery, and on its being opened by one of the gentlemen belonging to the firm, it turned out to be an apparent request, by Mr. Hugh Hughes, the landlord of the Elephant and Castle Tavern, St. Pancras-road, that the firm would oblige him by cashing a cheque for £20, which was enclosed, to save the lad from going into the City, and the letter also contained a request that three kilderkins of the "very best stout" should be got ready by the afternoon, when they would be called for by one of Pickford's vans. It appeared that Messrs. Whitbread had a customer named Hugh Hughes, but he was not the landlord of the Elephant and Castle, and some suspicion being created, the boy was questioned, and eventually given into custody, and he was detained until the 7th of October, when he was discharged upon bail. The prisoner, it appeared, was subsequently taken into custody upon some other charge, and the boy Ridley immediately identified him as the person who had sent him with the letter under the circumstances above narrated.

Mr. Parry, on behalf of the prisoner, endeavoured to show to the jury that they would not be justified in convicting the prisoner of so serious an offence upon the unsupported testimony of a lad like the witness Ridley.

Several witnesses were called, who gave the prisoner a very good character.

Mr. Baron Alderson summed up, and the jury returned a verdict of Guilty. They were about to recommend him to mercy on account of his good character, but the learned judge said they had better hear the result of some inquiries he was about to make before they did so.

Two other lads were then questioned by the Court, and it appeared they were in attendance to support other indictments of a similar kind against the prisoner. They both positively identified him as the man who had sent them with forged cheques contained in letters, one of which was directed to Messrs. Huggins and Co., the brewers, and the other to another firm.

The Jury said that after this evidence they should not consider themselves justified in recommending the prisoner to mercy.

Baron Alderson then sentenced the prisoner to be transported for 15 years."
London Standard - Saturday 30 November 1850, page 4.

Transported means being carted off to Australia to work for free in some prison colony. Lovely. And all for a fraud of twenty quid. Still, he could count himself lucky. A century earlier he might well have got the death penalty.

First a recap on Huggins' standing for other styles. For Mild they came tenth out seventeen with an average score of 0.20. For Burton eleventh out of thirteen, with an average score of 0.67. Not particularly good.

Their Pale Ale is a typical Ordinary Bitter of the period: gravity in the mid-1040's, bit less than 5% ABV and around 80% apparent attenuation.

Here are the samples of their Pale Ale:

Huggins Pale Ale quality 1922 - 1923
Year	Beer	FG	OG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	Appearance	Flavour	score	Price
1922	PA	1007.8	1046.3	5.02	83.15%	bright	good	2	8d
1922	PA	1006.9	1044.7	4.93	84.56%	v hazy	poor	-1	8d
1922	PA	1008.1	1047.1	5.08	82.80%	bright	good	2	8d
1922	PA	1009	1045.5	4.75	80.22%	bright	rather bitter flavour	-1	8d
1923	PA	1009.2	1045.7	4.75	79.87%	brilliant	good	2	8d
1923	PA	1008.4	1046.4	4.95	81.90%	thick	sour	-3	8d
1923	PA	1009.4	1046.9	4.88	79.96%	not bright	moderate	1	8d
1923	PA	1010	1045	4.55	77.78%	bright	fair	1	7d
1923	PA	1009.6	1046.1	4.75	79.18%	bright	sour	-3	7d
1923	PA	1009	1045.5	4.75	80.22%	fairly bright	v fair	2	7d
1923	PA	1008.2	1046.7	5.02	82.44%	fairly bright	good	2	7d
Average		1008.7	1046.0	4.86	81.10%			0.36
Source:
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/001

Just six out of eleven properly clear is not particularly impressive. Then again, most other breweries we've looked at didn't do any better. Seven out of eleven had positive score for flavour, which should have given them a decent average score, except that there were a couple of stinkers. The average score of 0.36 is still reasonable.

Note again the lack of correlation between clarity and good flavour: half of the examples with a negative score were clear.

You'd probably be fairly safe ordering a Huggins Bitter, though you might be unlucky and get a foul pint.

Hoare Brown Ale 1927 - 1933

We've now got to Brown Ale in our leisurely wander through Hoare's beers of the interwar years.

Had the brewery closed a couple of decades earlier, they would probably never have brewed a Brown Ale. There's the odd example from before WW I, but it was only in the 1920's that it became a mainstream style and every brewery produced one.

In the early days in particular, Brown Ales were a diverse bunch. It's only after WW II that they mostly became tweaked versions of Dark Mild. Beers like Whitbread Double Brown had no connection at all with Mild. It was brewed single-gyle with a grist unlike any of their other beers. At over 5% ABV, it was also stronger than any interwar Mild. Apart from in the Northeast of England, stronger Brown Ales had pretty much disappeared by 1960.

That's one of the reasons I was so keen to get Pretty Things to brew Double Brown. It looked an interesting beer, unlike any contemporary beer, and I wanted to try it. I wasn't far wrong. It was a lovely beer, especially in cask format.

The first two examples in the table below look like this stronger type of Brown Ale. They certainly have too high an OG to be a slightly modified Mild.

The gravity, unsurprisingly, plummets after 1931 (Snowden's emergency Budget, remember) and by 1933 it looks very much like the classic post-war Brown Ale: a gravity in the low 1030's and an ABV of around 3%.

I'm slightly confused by the draught Brown Ale. For starters, the style was usually exclusively in bottled format. Second, what makes it different from Dark Mild? It has about the same gravity as Hoare's X Ale. Was is really a different beer? As all their brewing records are gone, we will probably never know.

Hoare Brown Ale 1927 - 1933
Year	Beer	Price	size	package	Acidity	FG	OG	ABV	App. Atten-uation
1927	Brown Ale	7d	half	bottled			1050.6
1929	Brown Ale	8d	pint	bottled		1012.8	1046	4.31	72.17%
1930	Nut Brown Ale	7d	pint	bottled		1011.2	1036	3.21	68.89%
1931	Nut Brown Ale		pint	bottled			1033
1931	Nut Brown Ale	9d	pint	bottled		1010.4	1030	2.53	65.33%
1931	Toby Brown Ale	9d	pint	bottled		1009.8	1034.9	3.25	71.92%
1931	Brown Ale	8d	pint	draught	0.07	1007.9	1037.6	3.86	78.99%
1932	Brown Ale	9d	pint	bottled	0.05	1010.8	1034	3.00	68.24%
1933	Golden Brown Ale	8d	pint	bottled	0.05	1007.2	1030	2.96	76.00%
1933	Nut Brown Ale	8d	pint	bottled	0.05	1009.4	1032	2.93	70.63%
Sources:
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/001
Truman Gravity Book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number B/THB/C/252

Next time we'll look at X Ale, that staple of the public bar. And a beer these Brown Ales were probably often mixed with.