Provincial bottled Pale Ale on the eve of WW II

Bottled Pale Ales came in a wide variety of strengths, from as weak as 1030º to as high as 1056º. The prices charged varied accordingly. In most cases, you got what you paid for. Though the size of the container mattered. Beer sold in half pints worked out slightly more expensive per pint. While that sold in quarts was slightly cheaper.

Provincial bottled Pale Ale under 6.5d per pint
Year	Brewer	Beer	Price per pint (d)	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation
1936	Beer & Rigden	Pale Ale	5.5	1030.6	1004.2	3.43	86.27%
1938	Shepherd Neame	Pale Ale	5.5	1031.4	1005.1	3.42	83.76%
1935	Wethered	Family Pale Ale	5.5	1031	1006	3.25	80.65%
1934	Tollemache	Light Bitter	5.75	1041	1006.3	4.52	84.63%
1937	Georges	Bitter Ale	6	1035.4	1007.3	3.65	79.38%
1936	Hey	White Rose Table Ale	6	1034	1005.5	3.71	83.82%
1936	Hope Brewery	Sun Bright Pale Ale	6	1044.7	1008.4	4.73	81.21%
1935	Steward & Patteson	Bitter Ale	6	1030	1003.7	3.42	87.67%
1936	Tamplin	Pale Ale	6	1031.7	1002.8	3.77	91.17%
1935	Anglo Bavarian	Pale Ale	6.375	1047	1015.3	4.10	67.45%
1935	Northampton Brewery	Pale Ale		1032	1008.2	3.08	74.37%
1936	Vaux	Pale Ale		1033	1006.5	3.44	80.30%
	Average		5.86	1035.2	1006.6	3.71	81.72%
Sources:
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/001.
Thomas Usher Gravity Book held at the Scottish Brewing Archive document TU/6/11,

Most examples are, as you would expect, in the low 1030ºs. The exception being the Hope Brewery beer. That could be because it was packaged in a can. There’s a good chance that it wasn’t a full pint in size. The Tollemache Light Bitter is slightly cheaper than you’d expect because it came in a quart bottle.

The rate of attenuation is extremely high, with the exception of a couple of examples, notably the Anglo Bavarian one. The high attenuation means that, despite there being some low-gravity examples, all come in at well over 3% ABV.

The next price class up, approximately 7d per pint, is much the same as 6d draught beers, in terms of strength. Though the Walmer Ale is a real outlier at just under 1030º. Most of the other examples are somewhere around 1040º.

Provincial bottled Pale Ale under 6.5d to 7.5d per pint
Year	Brewer	Beer	Price per pint (d)	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation
1934	Eldridge Pope	Crystal Ale	7	1037	1007.3	3.86	80.27%
1938	Fremlin	Elephant Ale	7	1042.5	1013.1	3.81	69.18%
1938	Green	Lutonian Pale Ale	7	1035	1005	3.91	85.71%
1938	Lovibond	Yeoman Ale	7	1043.9	1005.4	5.03	87.70%
1935	Mitchell & Butler	Cape Ale	7	1040	1008.3	4.12	79.25%
1938	Simonds	SB Ale	7	1036.4	1006.1	3.94	83.24%
1938	Thompson & Sons	Walmer Ale	7	1029.8	1004	3.36	86.58%
1934	Woodhead	Special Pale Ale	7	1033.5	1008.4	3.25	74.93%
1935	Mitchell & Butler	All Bright Ale	7.5	1046	1008.6	4.87	81.30%
1934	John Smith	Star Bright Ale		1038.6	1009.7	3.75	74.87%
1937	Magee Marshall	Crown Ale		1037.5	1007	3.97	81.33%
1938	Melbourne	Gold Cup		1040.8	1008.2	4.24	79.90%
1938	Unwin	Pale Ale		1039	1005.7	4.34	85.38%
1934	Vaux	Pale Ale		1040.5	1007.5	4.29	81.48%
	Average		7.06	1038.6	1007.5	4.05	80.80%
Sources:
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/001.
Thomas Usher Gravity Book held at the Scottish Brewing Archive document TU/6/11,

The rate of attenuation is almost, but not quite, as high as in the weaker class. There’s just a single beer under 70%, Fremlin Elephant Ale.

The last table is proof that Pale Ales in the strongest were brewed in the province. Though the same ceiling – around 1055º – applied as elsewhere.

Provincial bottled Pale Ale above 7.5d per pint
Year	Brewer	Beer	Price per pint (d)	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation
1938	Eldridge Pope	Crystal Ale	8	1036.7	1005.9	4.01	83.92%
1936	Hey	Golden Cup Ale	8	1047	1012.9	4.42	72.55%
1936	Hey	White Rose Ale No. 5	8	1045	1013.6	4.07	69.78%
1936	John Smith	No. 5 Special	8	1041	1012.7	3.66	69.02%
1935	Steward & Patteson	Pale Ale	8	1046	1007.8	4.98	83.04%
1934	Strong	Golden Ale	8	1044	1014	3.88	68.18%
1936	Tetley	Yorkshire Ale	8.5	1051	1012.7	4.98	75.10%
1936	Flower	Pale Ale	9	1053	1014	5.07	73.58%
1935	Morgans	Pale Ale	9	1048	1018	3.87	62.50%
1935	Mitchell & Butler	Export Pale Ale	11	1053	1008.4	5.83	84.15%
1936	Felinfoel	Pale Ale		1051	1014.7	4.71	71.18%
1934	Fremlin	Bitter Ale		1049	1001.3	6.27	97.35%
1937	Fremlin	Gold Top English Stock Bbitter		1046.8	1003.2	5.71	93.16%
1936	John Smith	Magnet Pale Ale		1056	1014.2	5.44	74.64%
1934	John Smith	Pale Ale		1050.3	1011.9	4.99	76.34%
	Average		8.55	1047.9	1011.0	4.79	76.97%
Sources:
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/001.

The rate of attenuation doesn’t average out quite as high as in the other classes, but there is the most highly attenuated of all: Fremlin Bitter Ale. With a finishing gravity of just 1001.3, it must have been bone dry. The label states "almost sugar free" which is certainly true.

I suspect that this is the ancestor of Whitbread’s Stock Bitter bottled beer of the 1970s. Not so strange, as Whitbread did take over Fremlin

Truman Burton Pale Ale grists in 1939

The grists of Truman’s Pale Ales aren’t the most exciting in the world. Pretty dull really. And, as they were parti-gyled, they’re identical for all three.

The malt percentage, 87.5% is quite high for a pre-war beer. Around 75% was more usual. Though these were classy products, so that might be expected. At just 4.5% the amount of sugar is very low. Pre-WW I, top-class Pale Ales often contained surprisingly large quantities of sugar. It was there for a reason: to keep the body and colour of the beer as light as possible.

Which makes the presence of high-dried malt a bit strange. As this was a darker kilned malt. Truman used it in all their Burton-brewed beers, though the percentage is higher in their darker beers, such as Mild Ales.

I’ve no idea what the sugar was, other than some form on invert. My guess would be No. 1 invert, but it could also be No. 2 invert. They were the types usually employed when brewing Pale Ales.

The hops were all English, from the 1937 and 1938 harvests. Most likely quite classy ones, like East Kent Goldings. But as the brewing logs don’t record any details other than the grower, that’s impossible to know for certain.

Truman Burton Pale Ale grists in 1939
Date	Beer	OG	pale malt	high dried malt	flaked maize	invert sugar
28th Apr	Pale2	1047.4	74.34%	13.27%	7.96%	4.42%
1st May	Pale1	1053.5	74.34%	13.27%	7.96%	4.42%
28th Apr	Pale1 B	1053.5	74.34%	13.27%	7.96%	4.42%
Source:
Truman brewing record held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number B/THB/C/339.

Stop or not?

Want me to continue?


Then buy a book.


http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/andrewsblag

It'll tell me I'm not wasting my time.


Which is what Dolores says.


Prove her wrong.

Let's Brew - 1864 Lovibond X

Lovibond was a smaller London brewery. Which may explain why their X Ale looks shockingly weak for a Mild from the capital. In the 1860s, the X Ale from large London breweries was around 1060º.

It’s a very simple recipe: 9 quarters of pale malt, 1 quarter of while malt, American and Kent hops. But that’s typical for the middle of the 19th century. There’s really not a great deal else I can say about the recipe.

There’s one obvious big difference with the other London brewers’ records I’ve looked at: Lovibond don’t seem to have underlet during mashing. In England – but especially in London – it was usual to start with an infusion mash, then add a smaller amount of hotter water via the underlet after 60 to 90 minutes. This raised the temperature of the goods, effectively forming a step mash. Lovibond seem to have gone with a single infusion and then a sparge.

The other defining feature of Lovibond X is it’s very low gravity – just 1041º. This is exceptionally weak for an X Ale in the 1860s, especially one brewed in London. But on closer inspection, I noticed that Lovibond brewed very little X Ale. Usually, you would expect it to be one of their most popular beers. But it isn’t. They brewed more XX than any other X Ale. And XX was in the 1060º’s.

The hops were a combination of American yearlings – in this case, as this beer was brewed in October, than would mean from the 1867 harvest – Kent yearlings and new Kent hops.

1864 Lovibond X
mild malt	9.25 lb	100.00%
Cluster 120 mins	0.75 oz
Goldings 90 mins	0.75 oz
Goldings 30 mins	0.75 oz
OG	1041
FG	1014.5
ABV	3.51
Apparent attenuation	64.63%
IBU	37
SRM	5
Mash at	146º F
Sparge at	165º F
Boil time	120 minutes
pitching temp	58º F
Yeast	Wyeast 1099 Whitbread Ale

This is one of the dozens of recipes in my book Mild! plus. Which is avaiable in both paperback:

and hardback formats:

Mild musings

It's getting closer and closer to Mild month. Time for some more stuff about the world's best style of beer.

Back when I started boozing in the early 1970s, Mild was very much a mainstream style. It even outsold Lager. But not for long.

The reality was quite different, because the availability of Mild was very patchy. In some parts of the North and Midlands, Mild made up 30-50% of draught beer sales. But in other areas - London, Scotland, Sheffield, the Northeast - Mild was already quite rare. Mild-free areas began to spread and, by the time I left the UK in the mid-1980s, Mild was hemmed into a few enclaves.

Currently Mild accounts for less than 1% of beer sales. You can't get much more marginal than that. As you can see from the table, there was a steadydecline in Mild's market share from 1971 to 1991.  There was also a similar decline in other top-fermenting styles - basically Bitter and Stout - over the same period. And a mirri-image rise in Lager sales.

It's hard to see Mild ever making a comeback as a mainstream style. But you never know. Who would have predicted thereturn of Milk Stout? I certainly wouldn't.

What's likely to happen with UK beer styles in the future? It's difficult to say. But one trend is already noticeable: the rise of Lager seems to have ended. Its market share has been pretty much constant at around 74% for the last ten years. My guess is that we're about to see Lager go into decline.

When styles start to decline, it can happen surprsingly quickly. It always kicks off the same way: young drinkers don't adopt it. Then a style begins to be associated with old men. And no-one wants to drink what grandad's drinking.

Lager sales really took off in the late 1970s. The young drinkers who adoped it back then are now around 60. How long before Lager becomes associated with old blokes?

UK beer sales by type 1971 - 2016
Year	Bitter and Stout	Mild	Lager
1971	72.4	17.7	9.9
1972	72.4	15.9	11.7
1973	70.9	14.2	14.9
1974	69.8	13.8	16.4
1975	67	13.3	19.7
1976	63.9	12.6	23.5
1977	62.8	12.7	24.5
1978	61.1	12	26.9
1979	59.4	11.5	29.1
1980	58	11.3	30.7
1981	57.8	11.2	32.0
1982	59	8	33.0
1983	56.8	7.3	35.9
1984	54.2	6.9	38.9
1985	52.7	6.4	40.9
1986	50.7	5.9	43.4
1987	48.1	5.3	46.6
1988	46.3	4.9	48.8
1989	45.2	4.5	50.3
1990	44.5	4.1	51.4
1991	44.9	4	51.1
2016	25.6	0.3	73.7
Sources:
“The Brewers' Society Statistical Handbook 1978” page 10.
“The Brewers' Society Statistical Handbook 1988” page 17.
“The Brewers' Society Statistical Handbook 1990” page 17.
Statistical Handbook of the British Beer & Pub Association 2003, p. 21.
Statistical Handbook of the British Beer & Pub Association 2005, p. 17.
“The Brewers' Society Statistical Handbook 2011” page 17.
BBPA Statistical Handbook 2017, page 15.

Burton-brewed Pale Ale on the eve of WW II

The spiritual home of Pale Ale was a law until itself. Not weird, given its reputation for the style. Here beers close in strength to classic 19th-century versions continued to be brewed. Though draught versions didn’t drift above 1055º. Blame those pesky WW I price controls for the gravity cap on draught beers.

The stronger examples in the table, those with an OG around 1055º could also be classed as IPA.

Though just as elsewhere, Burton-brewed Pale Ales came in a variety of strengths. Ones in the Burton classic style were typical 8d per pint beers, with gravities around 1055º. The bottled versions were the same strength and were some of the most widely available beers. As with Guinness, they were often sold in other breweries’ tied houses. Which might explain the high price. Beers of that strength wouldn’t usually cost more than 10d per pint.

At the Burton plant of London brewer Truman, three Pale Ales were brewed. Or maybe just two, really. Because Pale 1 and Pale 1 B (the B standing for “Bottling”) look identical.

Pale 1 is clearly an 8d per pint beer and Pale 2 a 7d per pint beer. To confuse matters, Truman also brewed a 6d Pale Ale, XLK, in their Brick Lane brewery.

Pale 2 was brewed in a slightly weird way. It was parti-gyled with Pale 1 at a gravity 1044.9º. It was then blended post-fermentation with some Pale 1 to raise the effective gravity to 1047.4º. Truman started doing weird stuff like this towards the end of WW I. Blending their parti-gyles both pre- and post-fermentation.

The hopping is surprisingly modest for Burton. At under 7 lbs per quarter (336 lbs) of malt, the rate is lower than Barclay Perkins X Ale (7 lbs per quarter) and Whitbread X Ale (7.75 lbs).

Burton Pale Ale 1932 - 1937
Year	Brewer	Beer	Price per pint (d)	package	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation
1932	Bass	Pale Ale		draught	1054.7	1012	5.56	78.06%
1933	Bass	Pale Ale	13.5	bottled	1055.8	1012.2	5.68	78.14%
1935	Bass	Pale Ale	7	bottled	1037	1007.8	3.79	78.92%
1933	Worthington	Pale Ale	14	bottled	1055.4	1011.6	5.71	79.06%
1936	Worthington	Pale Ale	7	draught	1046.9
1937	Worthington	Pale Ale	8	draught	1054.3
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.

Truman Burton Pale Ales in 1939
Date	Beer	Style	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	lbs hops/ qtr	hops lb/brl
28th Apr	Pale2	Pale Ale	1047.4	1009.7	4.98	79.53%	6.75	1.22
1st May	Pale1	Pale Ale	1053.5	1013.3	5.31	75.13%	6.75	1.37
28th Apr	Pale1 B	Pale Ale	1053.5	1013.6	5.28	74.61%	6.75	1.37
Source:
Truman brewing record held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number B/THB/C/339.

Let's Brew Wednesday - 1910 Fuller’s X

A stronger, 5% ABV Mild. Loaded with lots of lovely sugar. Yum! From before WW I messed up Mild forever.

The recipe is slightly more complicated than it appears, as the pale malt was an eclectic mix of 50% English, 25% Californian and 25 % Australian. Using grain from all over the world – though it was always malted in the UK – was typical of English beers before WW I.

The sugar is about a 50-50 split between No. 3 invert and something called – think, the handwriting is hard to read – Trintose. Or possibly Tintose. I’ve assumed it’s another dark sugar and have just increased the amount of No. 3.

The hops were Oregon from the 1907 harvest, Mid-Kent from 1909 and East Kent from 1908. I’ve interpreted the latter two as Fuggles and Goldings, respectively.

1910 Fullers X Ale
pale malt	8.00 lb	73.94%
flaked maize	2.00 lb	18.48%
No. 3 invert sugar	0.75 lb	6.93%
caramel 1000 SRM	0.07 lb	0.65%
Cluster 120 mins	0.25 oz
Fuggles 120 mins	1.00 oz
Goldings 30 mins	1.00 oz
OG	1053
FG	1014.5
ABV	5.09
Apparent attenuation	72.64%
IBU	29
SRM	17
Mash at	149º F
After underlet	153º F
Sparge at	168º F
Boil time	120 minutes
pitching temp	59º F
Yeast	Wyeast 1968 London ESB

This is one of the dozens of recipes in my book Mild! plus. Which is avaiable in both paperback:

 

and hardback formats:

Tacky Merchandise

Sorry, classy meomorabilia.

Just a reminder:

Berlin Vollbier Hell Coffee Mug
by Kilderkin

Magdeburg Dunkler Bock Coffee Mug
by Kilderkin

A lovely one from the town where I was married:

Eisenach Hell Coffee Mug
by Kilderkin

And one for a beer style specific to East Germany:

Pretsch Doppel Caramell Coffee Mug
by Kilderkin

Donhauser Malzbier Coffee Mug
by Kilderkin

Cool, eh?

There's also this groovy bag:

Barclays Russian Stout Tote Bag
by Kilderkin

And how could I could forget my own favourite mug?

Colditzer Schwarze Sau mug
by Kilderkin

Every mug purchased buys Andrew 3 cans of Lager. The nice stuff. (But only when it's on special offer.)

Obadiah Poundage launch

Continuing my dreams coming true series. next week I'll be drinking, sorry, presenting, my latest long-term collaboration.

You might not have realised that I'm producing a series of beers with Goose Island. Because six years in, and we're only just ready with beer number two. My grandkids will be in college by the time we hit double figures.

I don't care, The whole point has been brewing aged beers. Ones that require a little patience. Something I have little of in my normal life. But when it comes to beer . . . I'm more mellow.

Though when I finally get to taste that 1840s Porter, brewed from the right malt - even the right barley variety - then aged and blended the right way, excitement may get the better of me. As I think: you're such a jammy twat, Ronald. Then chug down a pint, obviously.

This is a little about the project. Please excuse my waffling and waving.




Come and share my joy.

Monday 29th April
Goose Island Tap Room,
1800 West Fulton St.,
Chicago
Doors 6:30pm, event 7:00-9:00pm

I'll have books for sale at the event.


Bring cash. I'll need it to buy vodka to take back for the kids.