London Mild before WW II

As before WW I, London tended to have stronger examples than more rural districts. The difference after WW I, was that the price was around the same for a beer of the same strength whether you were in London or the provinces.

While London brewers often had three Milds of different strengths: Ale at 1028-1030º retailing for 4d per pint, standard Mild at 1034-38º for 5d per pint and Best Mild at 1042-1044º for 6d per pint.

By far the most common of the three types was 5d Mild. The cheaper Ale was mostly brewed in tiny quantities. For example, in 1938 Whitbread brewed 4,237 barrels of LA, their 4d Mild and 216,200 barrels of X Ale, a 5d beer.

Not every London brewer produced all three classes of Mild. Whitbread, for example, only had a 4d and 5d version. While Fullers brewed a 5d and a 6d Mild, but no 4d. It probably depended on the types of pub a brewery owned.

In general, London Milds were quite dark – in the 80-90º L range. But there were still plenty of semi-dark examples. Barclay Perkins X and XX were both around 45º L as brewed, but there were also versions of both that were coloured up with caramel at racking time to the darker 80-90º L shade.

These are some examples of London Milds in the cheapest price class:

London 4d Mild Ale before WW II
Year	Brewer	Beer	Price per pint (d)	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	colour
1939	Barclay Perkins	A	4	1030.8	1007.5	3.08	75.65%
1935	Charrington	Ale	4	1031.5
1935	Mann Crossman	Brandon's LA	4	1031	1004.4	3.46	85.81%
1935	Meux	Ale	4	1028.3
1935	Truman	Ale	4	1030.0
1935	Watney	Ale	4	1031.5
1938	Whitbread	LA	4	1028.3	1008.0	2.69	71.73%	80
	Average		4	1030.2	1006.6	3.08	77.73%	80.0
Sources:
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/001.
Whitbread brewing record held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/01/105.
Barclay Perkins brewing record held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number ACC/2305/01/623.
Truman Gravity Book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number B/THB/C/252.

These are some Ordinary Milds:

London 5d Mild Ale before WW II
Year	Brewer	Beer	Price per pint (d)	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	colour
1938	Barclay Perkins	X	5	1037.8	1011.9	3.35	68.52%
1938	Charrington	X	5	1037.8	1011.9	3.35	68.52%
1937	Courage	X	5	1035.3	1007.9	3.56	77.62%
1938	Fullers	X	5	1032.3	1006.6	3.40	79.43%
1938	Ind Coope	X	5	1036.1
1938	Mann Crossman	X (5d)	5	1035	1010.3	3.20	70.57%
1937	Meux	X	5	1036.7	1009.7	3.50	73.57%
1938	Taylor Walker	X	5	1034.2	1012.9	2.75	62.28%
1938	Truman	X	5	1037.1	1009.9	3.53	73.32%	90
1938	Watney	X	5	1036.6	1012.6	3.10	65.57%	105
1938	Wenlock	X	5	1038.8
1937	Whitbread	X	5	1038.6
	Average		5	1036.4	1010.4	3.30	71.04%	97.5
Sources:
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/001.
Fullers brewing record held at the brewery
Truman Gravity Book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number B/THB/C/252.

And finally Best Milds:

London 6d Mild Ale before WW II
Year	Brewer	Beer	Price per pint (d)	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	colour
1938	Barclay Perkins	XX	6	1042.5
1937	Courage	MC	6	1039.3	1011.1	3.74	71.83%
1938	Fullers	XX	6	1042.5	1009.4	4.37	77.82%
1938	Mann Crossman	X (6d)	6	1040.7	1008.8	4.15	78.38%	90
1937	Taylor Walker	X	6	1042.6	1012.8	3.86	69.95%
	Average		6	1041.5	1010.5	4.03	74.50%	90.0
Sources:
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/001.
Courage brewing record held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number ACC/2305/08/263.
Fullers brewing record held at the brewery
Truman Gravity Book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number B/THB/C/252.

War starts to bite

One of the most unexpectedly fascinating documents in the Barclay Perkins archive at the London Metropolitan Archives contains master copies of the circular letters sent out to their tenants.

Mostly because it covers the war period, when all sorts of strange things were happening. Admittedly, a lot of the letters are requesting, with various levels of implied and unimplied threats, to return empty bottles and crates. Or telling tenants they won't be able to get as much beer as they would like.

But this one documents the death of three of Barclay Perkins beers. Casualties of war.

They did have a ridiculously large draught beer range - 11 in total, of which five were Milds. So it's not surprising that there was some trimming. The reason given "restricted plant" doesn't ring true. Especially as all three discontinued beers were parti-gyled with ones which continued to be brewed.

I suspect the real reasaon for dropping PA was that it was too strong at 1053º to be viable as a product when brewing restrictions were starting to kick in. As they already had a weaker Bitter, XLK, it made more sense just to concentrate on that.

As for the Milds, my guess would be that the discontinued brands weren't great sellers and the brewery reckoned they weren't worth the trouble.

Going up to 12

Why do Japanese TV remotes go up to 12? One of the many mysteries of Japan.

Drybrough PI 60/- 1914 - 1920

Trying to pick apart IPA and Pale Ale in Scotland is even trickier than in London. Judging by the brew house names, some brewers considered all their Pale Ales IPAs. And William Younger, confusingly, while not calling any of their beers IPA in the brew house, did market some of its beers as such.

That’s just a warning to not take as gospel that the following beers are IPAs. They might have been. Or maybe not. The distinction was probably lost on most drinkers, anyway.

PI 60/- was Drybrough’s strongest Pale Ale/IPA at the start of the war. Though it’s weaker than a top-class London Pale Ale would have been.

In the first couple of years of the war, it didn’t change a great deal, losing just four gravity points. It was dropped in 1917, probably in April. This was the time when gravity restrictions kicked in. Unlike some breweries, which slashed gravities but kept the name of the strongest beer, Drybrough discontinued the strongest.

Drybrough PI 60/- 1914 - 1920
Date	Year	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	lbs hops/ qtr	hops lb/brl
31st Dec	1914	1054	1018	4.76	66.67%	5.07	1.12
12th Jan	1915	1053	1018	4.63	66.04%	6.01	1.29
7th Jan	1916	1053	1017	4.76	67.92%	5.02	1.10
28th Jul	1916	1050	1015	4.63	70.00%	3.95	0.85
16th Jan	1917	1048	1016	4.23	66.67%	3.95	0.80
13th Feb	1917	1044	1017	3.57	61.36%	4.04	0.74
10th Jul	1919	1036	1009	3.57	75.00%	4.93	0.73
15th Oct	1919	1039	1012	3.57	69.23%	4.34	0.83
29th Jul	1920	1039	1012	3.57	69.23%	5.20	0.86
Sources:
Drybrough brewing record held at the Scottish Brewing Archive, document number D/6/1/1/3.

It reappears in the records in the middle of 1919, with its gravity even further reduced. Its gravity then stabilised just under 1040º for the rest of the 1920’s. However, in 1920 they introduced a new beer, PI 80/- with an OG of 1054º - exactly the same as PI 60/- had been before the war. Confusing, isn’t it?

Drybrough PI 60/- 1914 - 1920
					invert sugar
Date	Year	OG	pale malt	flaked maize	no. 1	no. 2	no. 3	caramel	malt extract	dxt	BSC
31st Dec	1914	1054	81.91%	8.19%	4.10%	5.46%				0.34%
12th Jan	1915	1053	82.66%	8.55%	3.80%	4.75%				0.24%
7th Jan	1916	1053	81.47%	8.81%	3.67%	5.87%		0.18%
28th Jul	1916	1050	85.87%	4.40%	3.67%	5.87%		0.18%
16th Jan	1917	1048	80.61%	9.21%	3.84%	6.14%		0.19%
13th Feb	1917	1044	80.50%	10.06%	3.35%	5.87%		0.21%
10th Jul	1919	1036	91.18%	0.00%			8.82%
15th Oct	1919	1039	78.83%	4.38%			6.57%	10.22%
29th Jul	1920	1039	70.45%	19.43%				1.62%	1.21%		7.29%
Sources:
Drybrough brewing record held at the Scottish Brewing Archive, document number D/6/1/1/3.

Like the gravity, there’s not much change in the early war years. It’s not the most fascinating of recipes, just pale malt, flaked maize and some sugar. With all the changes being in the type of sugar used. Though we don’t see that in action as PI 60/- had already been discontinued by the time the restrictions on sugar use began in 1917.

This is another exccerpt from my book on the Great War, Armistice!.

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Let's Brew - 1944 Drybrough 54/-

I wonder why I publish some recipes. Other than for academic reasons, who would be interested in such a piss-weak beer as 54/-?.

But I soldier on. Feeling it my duty to relay the full horror of wartime brewing. Though it’s obviously a quiet afternoon on Mablethorpe beach compared to what was happening elsewhere. On a walk close to my work just now, I noticed memorials to Jews who were deported to concentration camps and murdered exactly around when this beer was being brewed. Watery beer wasn’t the worst that could happen in 1944.

The war has taken 54/- from being pretty weak to effectively a drink for the kiddies. (Not mine. They’re over 18 and demand adult-strength beer.) The writing was on the wall for 54/-.

Like some of the weaker English Milds, falls in gravity amongst its stronger siblings were going to drop it off the bottom of the brewable gravity ranges. Remember that 1027º was the lowest a beer could go and still make economic sense, due to the way the tax system worked. If one of the beers above you in the strength hierarchy dropped to around that level, you were fucked.

The recipe is typical, sorry, identical to Drybrough’s other beers of the time. For any comments about ingredients, etc., consult the 60/- recipe that I published a few days ago.

1944 Drybrough 54/-
pale malt	5.00 lb	80.32%
enzymic malt	0.125 lb	2.01%
chocolate malt	0.04 lb	0.64%
flaked barley	0.50 lb	8.03%
malt extract	0.06 lb	0.96%
No. 2 invert sugar	0.50 lb	8.03%
Fuggles 135 mins	0.25 oz
Fuggles 90 mins	0.25 oz
Goldings 30 mins	0.25 oz
Goldings dry hops	0.25 oz
OG	1028
FG	1010
ABV	2.38
Apparent attenuation	64.29%
IBU	11
SRM	6
Mash at	148º F
Sparge at	165º F
Boil time	145 minutes
pitching temp	60º F
Yeast	WLP028 Edinburgh Ale

Carling Black Label arrives in the UK

My concession to summer - a post about Lager. Not done one for ages.

Canadian Eddie Taylor’s acquisition of a British brewing empire began with he let the Hope & Anchor Brewery in Sheffield brew Carling Black Label under licence in 1952 . Initially, it had a very reasonable gravity of 1042º.

When sales were disappointing, mostly due to the small tied estate of Hope & Anchor, Taylor began buying breweries and their pubs. The United Breweries group he put together eventually merged with Charrington and later Bass to become Bass Charrington, the largest brewing enterprise in Britain. Carling was chosen as the group’s main Lager, a decision that catapulted it to become the leading Lager brand. A position it still holds today.

It wasn’t good news for Tennent’s, whom Taylor bought in 1963. Tennent’s had been a national Lager brand before the war, but it was pushed into the background by the selection of Carling Black Label as Bass Charrington’s flagship Lager.

Another victim of the merger was Charrington’s Pilsner Lager, which was first brewed in the 1950’s. That disappeared completely.

British Lagers in the 1950's
Year	Brewer	Beer	package	FG	OG	colour	ABV	App. Atten-uation
1950	Barclay Perkins	Lager	bottled	1008	1036.1	11 B	3.65	77.84%
1950	Barclay Perkins	Lager	bottled	1008	1036.1	11 B	3.65	77.84%
1950	Red Tower	Lager	bottled	1008.2	1035.8	13 B	3.58	77.09%
1950	Alloa Brewery	Light Lager	bottled	1009.1	1043.4	7 B	4.46	79.03%
1950	Alloa Brewery	Graham's Golden Lager	bottled	1010.6	1040.6	9 B	3.89	73.89%
1952	Carlings (Brewed in Sheffield)	Black Label Lager Beer	bottled	1009.9	1042.3	10 B	4.21	76.60%
1952	Alloa Brewery	Graham's Golden Lager	bottled	1014.3	1039.2	15 B	3.22	63.52%
1954	Steel Coulson	Lager Beer	bottled	1004.3	1032	11	3.6	86.56%
1955	Tennent	Lager	bottled	1007.7	1036.1	9	3.69	78.67%
1956	Flowers	Lager	bottled	1014	1040.4	9	3.41	65.35%
1956	Flowers	Lager	bottled	1014	1045.3	9	4.05	69.09%
1956	Red Tower	Red Tower Pilsner Lager	bottled	1005.9	1031.2	10	3.29	81.09%
1957	Barclay Perkins	Pilsner Lager	bottled	1006.3	1035	9	3.73	82.00%
1957	Flowers	Lager	bottled	1017.9	1045	9	3.5	60.22%
1957	Flowers	Flowers Lager	bottled	1017.5	1050	14	4.2	65.00%
1957	Graham's	Pilsener Lager	bottled	1007.2	1035.6	9	3.69	79.78%
1957	Graham's Golden Lager	Pilsner Lager	bottled	1007.3	1030.4	11	3	75.99%
1957	Charrington	Pilsner Lager	can	1006.2	1035.5	4.5	3.81	82.54%
1957	Charrington	Pilsner Lager	can	1005.8	1036	5	3.93	83.89%
1957	Barclay Perkins	Pilsner Lager	bottled	1006.1	1034.3	6.5	3.67	82.22%
1957	McEwan & Younger	"MY" Export Lager	bottled	1006.3	1033.6	13	3.55	81.25%
1957	McEwan & Younger	"MY" Export Lager	bottled	1007.3	1035.2	13	3.62	79.26%
1957	McEwan & Younger	"MY" Export Lager	bottled	1010.9	1033.8	13	2.96	67.75%
1957	Tennent	Lager Beer	bottled	1008.6	1040.6	11	4.16	78.82%
1958	McEwan & Younger	MY Export Lager	can	1010.5	1034.3	9	2.97	69.39%
1959	Carling (brewed in Sheffield)	Black Label Lager	bottled	1004.4	1036.5	80	4.18	87.95%
1959	Lees	Lager			1037
1959	Lees	Lager			1037
Sources:
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/002
Lees brewing records

Like this? Then you'll love the book it comes from, Lager! (UK):

Malt in WW I

Though malting was always performed in the UK, before the war barley was imported from every corner of the globe. The most important sources were California, Chile and the Middle East.

Brewers, especially those using a large proportion of adjuncts, liked malt made from Californian six-row barley because of its high diastatic power. In a typical grist, between a quarter and a third of the pale malt was made from foreign six-row barley, the rest being UK 2-row.

Most beers were brewed from a pale malt base with no coloured malts at all. The only exceptions to this were Porter and Stout, which could contain brown, black and Amber malt, and Mild Ale, which often contained crystal malt. The use of crystal malt in Pale Ales was pretty much unknown before WW I.

Supplies of foreign barley gradually dried up during the war, forcing brewers to use all malt from UK barley. Fortunately, as the availability of adjuncts was also reduced, this didn’t have as much impact as it might have.

I’ve seen wild claims that the roasting of malt was forbidden during WW I. This is totally untrue. Not only were there no restrictions on roasting in the Food Control Manual, brewers continued to use brown malt, black malt and roasted barley right through the war years.

There was a big increase in the price of mat during the war. Not surprising, really, given that it was in short supply.

When war broke out, pale malt cost around 40s. a quarter. By 1920, it was around triple that price. What’s also fascinating is that the specialist types of pale malt – PA malt, SA malt (Strong Ale) malt and mild malt all disappeared for a while towards the end of the war. It looks like maltsters were trimming their range of products just as brewers did.

Price of malt used by Barclay Perkins 1914 - 1917 (in shillings per quarter)
	1914		1915		1916			1917
	Mar	Oct	Jun	Oct	Jan	Apr	Oct	Jan	Apr
English pale malt	41.67	39.5	40.1	51.8	61	63.2	63.67	70.5	79
English PA malt	42	42.5	42	41.5	67	67	70	79	83.25
American pale malt	39	38.67	41.88	42.38	50	52.67	61.63	64	64
Indian pale malt	35.5			50	53.5		67.25	67.38
Spanish pale malt					53.5		59.5	69	75.5
English mild malt	39	40	41	41	60	60	60	60	60
English SA malt	42.5	43	43	43	67			90
Crystal malt	31	31.5	32.5	46	46	46		58
Amber malt	37.5	38.5	39.75	44	48	48	70	70	67
Brown malt				30					63
Roasted malt
Source:
Barclay Perkins brewing records held at the London Metropolitan Archives.

Price of malt used by Barclay Perkins 1917 - 1920 (in shillings per quarter)
	1917	1918			1919			1920
	Oct	Jan	Apr	Oct	Jan	Apr	Oct	Jan	Apr
English pale malt	81	85.5	89.3	91.83	95.25	97.4	93.65	90.25	127
English PA malt	84.25	89						132	132
American pale malt	64	64	80.75	101.2	108	108	99.5	92	117.5
English mild malt									132
English SA malt								132	132
Crystal malt		75	85	86	89	89	87.5	85.5	125.5
Amber malt	67	86	89	95	98	98	96	94	132
Brown malt	60	60	62	66	68	68	87.5
Roasted malt				80	84	84	84
Source:
Barclay Perkins brewing records held at the London Metropolitan Archives

In February 1917 the government enacted a total ban on the malting of barley and the selling of malt. Which must have had huge financial impact on the industry.

After the war’s end, brewers were delighted to have Californian barley again to malt and again used a mixture of UK two-row and US six-row pale malt in their grists.

Presumably in attempt to compensate for the drop in gravity, crystal malt occasionally started to feature in Pale Ale grists. Though this was the exception rather than the rule.


The above is once again taken from my book on WW I, Armistice!

 Buy this wonderful book.