Drybrough Burns Ale 1936 - 1954

After my general bullshit about Scotch Ale, here's a chance to see what happened to one particular example across WW II.

You could be excused for thinking that I'm war-obsessed. Though I sort of am. Is that wrong for a pacifist? Or totally appropriate? Don't bother answering either of those questions. I'll be destroying my sleep pondering them in bed tonight.

Drybrough is a wonderfully unfashionable brewery. Just the type I like. A typical one-recipe dull Scottish brewery. Then incorporated into the satanic Watney corporation to churn out masses of Keg Heavy. Not a brewery anyone seems to have fond memories of.

Their Burns Ale is a typical Scotch Ale of the post-WW I type. That is, just a super-strong Scottish Pale Ale. All the breweries, except William Younger, whose records I've seen brewed Scotch Ale this way. I think it's fair to assume this was the standard method.

They continued to brew Burns Ale at much its full strength almost all the way through the war.  Not sure exactly when they dropped it, but it seems to have been about when the war ended. Then returned sometime in 1948.

That's typical: the toughest years for UK brewing were the three or four aster the war ended.

Drybrough Burns Ale 1936 - 1954
Date	Year	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	lbs hops/ qtr	hops lb/brl
12th Feb	1936	1084	1030	7.14	64.29%	6.30	2.48
12th Jan	1940	1083	1026	7.54	68.67%	6.03	2.31
8th Nov	1940	1083	1028	7.28	66.27%	5.53	1.86
6th Feb	1941	1081	1028	7.01	65.43%	4.35	2.01
9th Oct	1941	1081	1022	7.81	72.84%	4.90	3.08
29th Oct	1942	1076	1029.5	6.15	61.18%	4.74	1.47
5th Feb	1943	1076	1028.5	6.28	62.50%	4.89	1.55
22nd Jul	1943	1076	1027	6.48	64.47%	4.86	1.59
13th Jul	1944	1076	1025	6.75	67.11%	4.43	1.49
12th Oct	1944	1076	1032	5.82	57.89%	4.20	1.37
23rd Feb	1945	1076	1031.5	5.89	58.55%	4.02	1.26
11th Aug	1948	1070	1031	5.16	55.71%	4.33	1.30
20th Oct	1954	1073	1032.5	5.36	55.48%	4.67	1.40
Sources:
Drybrough brewing records held at the Scottish Brewing Archive, document number D/6/1/1/4 and D/6/1/1/5.

Let's Brew - 1939 Barclay Perkins IPA

Another recipe for the beer-style purists: a Watery English IPA.

It's not an official style yet, but I'm sure it will be soon. I keep pushing it like crazy, and everyone listens to me, don't they?

Maybe not. On with the several obsessions in one go beer.

Just a few months before WW II kicked off, in June 1939, this Barclay’s IPA rolled out of the Park Street Brewery. Well, probably not roll, more clink out. It was an exclusively bottled beer.

IPA (bottling) as it appear on the records, was apparently quite a new beer, only appearing in the early 1930s. A revved up version of the older XLK (bottling), which had an OG of 1039º. The two, obviously, were parti-gyled together.

The recipe for Barclay’s Perkins Pale Ales hadn’t changed much since the mid-1920s. Pale malt, PA malt, flaked maize and invert sugar. Originally No. 2, but sometime after 1936 that changed to No. 3.

The hopping is reasonable, with mostly hops from the most recent season. The third from the 1937 season had been kept in a cold store, so wouldn’t have deteriorated much. Barclay Perkins usually dry-hopped their Pale Ales, except those intended for bottling.

Sad to think this is the precursor to watery post-war Light Ale.

1939 Barclay Perkins IPA
pale malt	7.00 lb	73.61%
flaked maize	1.00 lb	10.52%
No. 3 invert sugar	1.50 lb	15.77%
caramel 1000 SRM	0.01 lb	0.11%
Fuggles 150 mins	0.75 oz
Fuggles 60 mins	0.75 oz
Goldings 30 mins	0.75 oz
OG	1044
FG	1013.5
ABV	4.03
Apparent attenuation	69.32%
IBU	29
SRM	11.5
Mash at	150º F
After underlet	154º F
Sparge at	170º F
Boil time	150 minutes
pitching temp	150º F
Yeast	Wyeast 1099 Whitbread ale

Less Beer Being Drunk

There was always one thing that happened ehwn Britain was engaged in a serious war: the tax on beer was increased. WW II was no exception.

While in 1941 the talk was all about a shortage of beer, a big tax increase in spring 1942 saw worries turn to falling beer consumption.

"LESS BEER BEING DRUNK
Customers Seek Out Cheaper Bars
LESS beer was drunk in many areas last week - the first in which the new Budget prices were in force.

Many people are drinking less and many are drinking mild ale instead higher-gravity beer.

Other customers are still drinking their usual number of pints, but have changed to cheaper bars, to cut the cost.

The proposal by South London licensed victuallers hat there should standard strength draught beers — ale, bitter and burton — sold at standard prices, has not yet reached the stage of serious discussion by the trade.

Publicans agree that confusion exists owing to the variation in prices at different licensed houses and because some brewers have produced stronger beer than others.

Many brewers and licensees think that standard beer would not be popular with customers, because Government beer in the last war was not well received."
The People - Sunday 26 April 1942, page 3.

I was confuseed initially by the bit about cheaper bars, thinking that it meant cheaper pubs. What it really means is punters swapping the lounge bar for the public bar. Not changing pubs, but the room inside the same pub. I always drank in the public bar, myself. No point throwing away 2p per pint just to have a carpet on the floor.

The tax increase in 1942 was pretty steep: from 165s per standard barrel (36 gallons at 1055º) to 240s 7.5d. That's not far short of a 50% increase. Understandably, it had a big impact on the retail price of beer. For example, a typical Mild of 1030-1032º increased in price from 8d per pint to 10d. That's an overnight increase of 25%. No wonder some drinkers either cut down or economised in some other way.

In peacetime such a big increase would have considerably reduced beer consumption. But high wartime wages and the absence of much to spend money on, demand for beer remained strong. As is demonstrated by the fact that beer consumption continued to increase.

UK beer production 1938 - 1945 (bulk barrels)
year	bulk barrels
1938	24,339,360
1939	25,691,217
1940	24,925,704
1941	28,170,582
1942	29,584,656
1943	29,811,321
1944	31,380,684
1945	31,990,334
Source:
Brewers' Almanack 1955, page 62.

Those figues are for the year ending March 31st, so the period covered by thee tax increase is in the 1943 entry. There is an increase in beer output, but a very small one, only around 227,000 barrels.

In WW I, there were standard strengths and prices towards the end of the war when price controls were introduced. Price controls that basically fixed beer strengths for the whole interwar period.

Draught Scotch Ale before WW II

More about Scotch Ale. Such a fascinating subject.

In the 20th century, Scotch Ale came to mean a strong, dark beer. Though the definition of “strong” varied over time.

Though they bore the same name, they had little connection with the Edinburgh Ales of the 19th century. These were strong, but universally pale in colour. The paler the better, in fact, according to sources of the time.

Scotch Ale didn’t only come in bottled form. There were also draught versions, usually of the weaker type. Younger’s No. 3, mostly. This was always reasonably common on draught, also in later port-WW II incarnations. The first five beers in the table are obviously No. 3. The last is another William Younger beer, No.1.

I wondering about the purity of these samples. Looks like they’ve been tampered with to me. No. 3 was brewed at 1055º. 1048º in particular seems too low.

No. 3 was an important beer for William Younger, as they had outlets in London. No. 3 filled the space usually occupied by draught Burton Ale. In terms of gravity and ABV it was roughly similar, but there was a big difference in the hopping rate. Barclay Perkins KK, for example, had almost double the hops of No. 3.

It’s quite a surprise to see something as strong as Younger’s No. 1 on draught in the 1930s. Usually the only time something that strong appeared on draught was in the form of an Old Ale in the winter months.

Draught Scotch Ale before WW II
Year	Brewer	Beer	Price per pint	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation
1932	Younger, Wm.	Scotch Ale	9	1051	1011.8	5.10	76.86%
1932	Younger, Wm.	Scotch Ale	9	1048	1010.2	4.92	78.75%
1932	Younger, Wm.	Scotch Ale	9	1050	1012.6	4.86	74.80%
1933	Younger, Wm.	XXX	9	1051	1010.7	5.25	79.02%
1934	Younger, Wm.	Strong Ale	10	1056	1012	5.73	78.57%
1936	Younger, Wm.	Strong Ale	16	1081.8	1026.7	7.16	67.36%
Sources:
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/002.

There's still time

to buy some of my books. Though you'd best hurry if you want to have them by Christmas.

I've been a busy boy this year, with three new books:

First my seasonal treat of photos of brewing records. Obviously not a treat for someone not interested in brewing records.And refreshingly free of words. Other than the index. What a lazy git I am. Buy the book.

Next is my history of UK brewing in WW I. With all my usual fun stuff: words, numbers and a stupid number of homebrew recipes.

 Buy this wonderful book.

The other history book covers British brewing after WW II. Possibly the greyest period in Britain's history. I'm selling this well, aren't I? Loads of homebrew recipes in this one, too.

http://www.lulu.com/content/paperback-book/austerity/23181344

Let's Brew! is sort of an expansion pack for my Home Brewer's Guide to Vintage Beer. Including stuff - like North American and Lager recipes - that there wasn't room for in the original book.

http://www.lulu.com/shop/ronald-pattinson/lets-brew/paperback/product-23289812.html

So much crap has been written about Scottish beer, I just had to write the definitive history of Scottish beer over the last 150 years. All new material, other than some of the recipes, of which there are almost 400.

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

Let's Brew Wednesday - 1939 Drybrough 54/-

Another eve of WW II beer. This time from Scotland.

During WW I, Drybrough’s range of beers was drastically pruned. Initially to several Pale Ales, a couple of Stouts and a Strong Ale. By the end of the 1930s, just four Pale Ales and a Strong Ale remained. All parti-gyled in various combinations.

Though most weren’t brewed in very great quantities. 54/-, the weakest of the Pale Ales, accounted for less than 10% of Drybrough’s output. Despite being their second most popular beer.

The recipe looks more complicated than it really is. Several of the ingredients are only present in tiny quantities. It’s really just pale malt, flaked maize and sugar. I suppose there is more to the sugar, which was 1.5 cwt Fison, 3 cwt Avona, 3 cwt invert. I’ve interpreted all that as No. 2 invert.

There were three types of hops, All English and all from the 1938 harvest. That’s all I know about them. I’ve made the not very daring guess of a combination of Fuggles and Goldings. Feel free to play around with the varieties if that suits you.

What does the 54/- mean? Nothing other than the relative strength. I wondered if  it might be the tax per barrel, but it isn't that. The numbers don't work out, no matter how you calculate it.

1939 Drybrough 54/-
pale malt	5.75 lb	80.14%
enzymic malt	0.125 lb	1.74%
black malt	0.06 lb	0.84%
flaked maize	0.50 lb	6.97%
malt extract	0.07 lb	0.98%
No. 2 invert sugar	0.67 lb	9.34%
Fuggles 135 mins	0.50 oz
Fuggles 90 mins	0.50 oz
Goldings 30 mins	0.33 oz
Goldings dry hops	0.25 oz
OG	1032
FG	1010
ABV	2.91
Apparent attenuation	68.75%
IBU	19
SRM	7.5
Mash at	154º F
Sparge at	170º F
Boil time	145 minutes
pitching temp	60º F
Yeast	WLP028 Edinburgh Ale

A Bitter blow

More bad news for drinkers. Well, Bitter drinkers. Seems like it was business as usual if your tipple was Mild.

Because brewers faced a cut in the materials to brew from:

"BITTER BLOW FOR BEER LOVERS
BREWERS have been set bitter problem, and they are returning a mild answer.

By agreement between the Ministry of Food and the brewers there has been a cut of 10 per cent. in the raw materials for brewing.

No further official interference is expected, but as the Government wants to see the maximum output of beer achieved by the brewers, much of that beer must be of the weaker, or mild, variety.

So less bitter beer is to be brewed, and no strong ale at all.

The past year has been the worst in history for the production malting barley.

Problems for the brewer have been increased by the calling up of the technical staff, while the demand for beer has increased, There is grave anxiety as to whether sufficient barley can malted. This means that immediate Government action is necessary there is not to be a shortage of beer in 1942."
Daily Herald - Wednesday 24 December 1941, page 3.

No Strong Ale to be brewed at all? Nightmare.

But was there really a 10% reduction in the use of brewing materials in 1942? Luckily, I have the numbers to hand:

Brewing materials 1938 - 1946 (cwt)
year	malt	unmalted corn	rice, maize, etc	sugar	total malt & adjuncts	hops	bulk barrels
1938	9,378,888	14,194	688,086	1,894,773	11,975,941	277,846	24,339,360
1939	9,884,803	9,910	734,771	1,986,478	12,615,962	285,715	25,691,217
1940	9,857,838	7,912	363,588	1,532,776	11,762,114	265,512	24,925,704
1941	10,988,413	11,897	246,757	1,397,642	12,644,709	251,354	28,170,582
1942	10,918,102	52,646	382,207	1,411,422	12,764,377	223,007	29,584,656
1943	10,287,322	40,592	1,238,183	1,400,573	12,966,670	231,589	29,811,321
1944	10,621,168	143,183	1,241,121	1,458,647	13,464,119	243,900	31,380,684
1945	10,435,212	245,751	1,332,032	1,784,064	13,797,059	244,822	31,990,334
1946	9,976,998	137,750	1,132,748	1,790,021	13,037,517	226,197	31,066,950
Sources:
Brewers' Almanack 1955, page 62.

The short answer is no. Slightly more materials in total were used in 1942 than in 1941. The amounnt of beer produced increased, too. There was a slight fall in the amount of malt used, but this was more than offset by an increase in other materials. There was also a modest increase in the quantity of beer produced. Which you'll note was almost 20% higher than in peacetime.

The total materials used and the quantity of beer brewed continued to increase until the end of the war, when both fell.

Bottled Worthington beers after WW II

More numbers today. Why? Because I have them lying around and may as well do something with them.

It's a random set of Worthington bottled beers. Mostly, they're typical beers from the period, things like Brown Ale and Light Ale. Though the gravities of those two in the 1940s and 1950s is quite high for the styles. Most were barely opver 1030º.

Less typical are a cou0ple of the Stouts. It specifically mentions in the Whitbread Gravity Book that the Export Stout was naturally conditioned. Which definitely wasn't standard practice.I suspect that the Imperial Stout was also bottle-conditioned as it was sold under the White Shield brand.

It's surprising how much the OG of E varied in the 1960s. I wonder why that was? Probably it was being brewed at different breweries. It was one of Bass Charrington's main brands, after all. There's also quite a variation in colour, from 19 to 27. That's enough to notice.

Bottled Worthington beers after WW II
Year	Beer	Style	Price per pint	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	colour
1955	Nut Brown Ale	Brown Ale	22	1036	1008.6	3.56	76.11%	80
1967	Nut Brown Ale	Brown Ale	32	1033.2	1011.3	2.83	65.96%	125
1946	Dinner Ale	Light Ale	15	1037.1	1006.7	3.95	81.94%	20
1947	Dinner Ale	Light Ale	15	1033.8	1007.1	3.47	78.99%	19
1947	Dinner Ale	Light Ale	15	1035.6	1005.1	3.97	85.67%	19.5
1947	Dinner Ale	Light Ale	21	1038.4	1008.1	3.94	78.91%	20.5
1948	Dinner Ale	Light Ale	16	1037.8	1009.4	3.68	75.13%	19.5
1948	Dinner Ale	Light Ale	17	1035.7	1006.1	3.85	82.91%	20.5
1950	Dinner Ale	Light Ale	16	1034.6	1004.8	3.88	86.13%	21
1955	Dinner Ale	Light Ale	18	1036.1	1007.8	3.68	78.39%	20
1967	Light Ale	Light Ale	16	1031	1006.5	3.18	79.03%	25
1967	M	Mild	20	1033.5	1004.1	3.83	87.76%	23
1955	Special Mild Ale	Mild	19	1036.9	1007.9	3.77	78.59%	85
1967	BB	Pale Ale	21	1036.6	1005.6	4.04	84.70%	19.5
1961	Cannister	Pale Ale	26	1043.7	1005.3	5.01	87.87%	19
1961	E	Pale Ale	24	1040.7	1003.5	4.86	91.40%	20
1966	E	Pale Ale	26	1037.9	1007.6	3.94	79.95%	27
1966	E	Pale Ale	28	1037.8	1006.8	4.03	82.01%	21
1967	E	Pale Ale	28	1038	1007.8	3.92	79.47%	23
1967	E	Pale Ale	25	1041.3	1008.7	4.24	78.93%	19.5
1967	E	Pale Ale	26	1041.4	1007.2	4.45	82.61%	21
1957	PA	Pale Ale	21	1043.5	1004.6	5.08	89.43%	20
1948	Export Stout	Stout		1064.3	1019.4	5.83	69.83%
1955	Imperial Stout	Stout		1078.2	1017.3	7.97	77.88%	325
1953	XX Stout	Stout	24	1040	1012	3.63	70.00%	275
1956	XX Stout	Stout	28	1036.7	1013.8	2.96	62.40%	300
Sources:
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/002.

Bottled Scotch Ale before WW II

The First World War had a cleansing effect on Scottish beer, especially amongst the stronger Ales, which were transformed in character.

Before WW I, Scotch Ale mostly consisted of the top-end Shilling Ales. Things like 100/-, 120/-, 140/- and 160/-. These were characterised by a low degree of attenuation and a low level of hopping. Usually, except at William Younger, they were parti-gyled with weaker Shilling Ales. Younger brewed almost exclusively single-gyle.

In the interwar period, most breweries in Scotland heavily rationalised their beer ranges. Shilling Ales mostly disappeared and breweries constructed most of their beers from a Pale Ale parti-gyle. Including Strong Ales, which were just the strongest of the bunch. Much the same way as Golden Pride is the strongest beer from Fullers Pale Ale parti-gyle.

William Younger ploughed a different furrow. Before WW I, they had two parallel ranges of Strong Ales, 120/-, 140/- and 160/- was one, the other the Burton-inspired No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3. Only the latter survived the war, in the form of No. 1 and No. 3.

They were usually labelled Scotch Ale in England and Strong Ale North of the border. A typically OG was 1080-1090º, though there were stronger examples. The strongest were about as strong as beer could get and had pre-WW I type gravities.

William Younger, who always were a bit different from other Scottish breweries, had two different strength Strong Ales. No. 1 had a similar profile to those from rival breweries. But it also had a weaker version, No. 3, which was also available on draught. In London, it filled the draught Burton Ale slot. Both No. 1 and No. 3 were brewed single-gyle.

Despite being dark in colour, there was no coloured malt in any of these beers. The colour all came from caramel added post-fermentation.

Bottled Scotch Ale before WW II
Year	Brewer	Beer	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation
1933	Ballingall	Strong Dundee Ale	1083.5	1023	7.89	72.46%
1933	Fowler	Strong Ale	1108	1034	9.68	68.52%
1934	Jeffrey	No. 1 Strong Ale	1059.5	1016.5	5.59	72.27%
1933	McEwan	Strong Ale	1084.5	1027	7.48	68.05%
1933	Usher	Old Scotch Ale	1096	1022	9.72	77.08%
1935	Younger, Wm.	No. 3 Strong Ale	1053.5	1010	5.67	81.31%
1932	Younger, Wm.	No. 1 Strong Ale	1080	1026.5	6.95	66.88%
1933	Younger, Wm.	No. 1 Strong Ale	1082	1023	7.69	71.95%
Source:
Thomas Usher Gravity Book held at the Scottish Brewing Archive, document TU/6/11.

Let's Brew - 1939 Boddington XX

The biggest seller at Boddington on the outbreak of war was their XX Mild Ale. Not much of a surprise there, as Mild was the most popular style, especially amongst the working class, which made up the bulk of Boddington’s customers.

Boddington only had the one Mild, the others having died in WW I. XX was, in terms of strength, exactly the same in 1939 as it had been in 1920. Which, to be honest, was on the weak side. In the early 1920s, 1042º was a typical strength for standard Mild. That had slipped a little by the end of the 1930s, but something like 1037º was typical.

The grist is quite complicated, with small amounts of lots of different things. Even more complicated than my recipe. There was a small amount of enzymic malt – about 0.125 lbs for this size recipe. I’ve just bumped up the pale malt a little. I’ve specified flaked wheat, but I’ve really no idea what form it was in. The log just says wheat, so it could have been malted.

There were two types of sugar, something simply called “invert” and another listed as fl. I’ve interpreted it all as No. 3 invert.

The hopping is quite heavy for a Mild of such a modest gravity. The hops were Oregon (1937 Cold Store), Styrian (1937 Cold Store), English (1937, 1937 Cold Store, 1938).

1939 Boddington XX
pale malt	4.75 lb	62.46%
crystal malt 60 L	0.67 lb	8.81%
flaked maize	1.00 lb	13.15%
flaked wheat	0.25 lb	3.29%
malt extract	0.125 lb	1.64%
No. 3 invert sugar	0.75 lb	9.86%
caramel 1000 SRM	0.06 lb	0.79%
Cluster 120 mins	0.50 oz
Styrian Goldings 90 mins	0.75 oz
Fuggles 30 mins	0.75 oz
OG	1034
FG	1007
ABV	3.57
Apparent attenuation	79.41%
IBU	33
SRM	14
Mash at	150º F
Sparge at	162º F
Boil time	120 minutes
pitching temp	62º F
Yeast	Wyeast 1318 London ale III (Boddingtons)