More wartime pub fun

Even as late as 1944, pubs were still struggling to obtain sufficient supplies of beer. Quite naturally, pubs were reluctant to open if they had nothing to sell.

Heating and lighting weren't free, with both coal and electricity being expensive. Not to mention wages for staff. The licensing authorities didn't always agree. Some threatening to remove licences on the grounds of redundancy, arguing if pubs which didn't open the full hours were surplus to requirements.

"PUBLIC HOUSE HOURS
TRADE’S REPLY TO CRITICS
Captain A. J. Dyer, at meeting of the Licensed Victuallers Central Protection Society of London, to-day answered complaints about the closing of public houses during permitted hours owing to shortage of supplies. 

It was right to assume, he said, that the tenants would certainly keep their houses open if they thought that there was any business to done. 

It was surprising that the very people who had complained in the past if a public house was open two or three minutes after time were those who now railed if the houses were not open all the hours permitted. 

While a licensee could not demand to see young people’s identity cards he could ask for them to be produced, and if they would not show the cards the implications would be that they were not 18 and should therefore be refused alcohol. 

He had seen the Chancellor of the Exchequer on the subject of reducing liquor taxation. They were paying License Duty to sell commodities which they were unable to obtain to pass on to the public. Members of the Trade could feel satisfied that they had in no small way contributed to maintaining the morale of the British people. 

The Chief Constable of Oxford, Mr. C. R. Pox, reported to Oxford Licensing Sessions to-day that, owing to shortage of supplies, arrangement was made for public-houses to remain open for two hours in the morning and two hours at night, instead of the usual hours. 

Commenting on those licensees said not to be playing the game, the chairman, Mr. D. M. Rose, said that if this continued the magistrates would take drastic action."
Birmingham Mail - Wednesday 09 February 1944, page 4.

The bit about ID cards and underage drinking seems a bit random. The war was one of the few times most people in the UK had photo ID. When I was a teenager, there was no document that they could have asked to see to prove my age. Just as well, or I may have struggles to ever buy a pint. Odd that landlords couldn't demand to see ID. Pretty sure that they can now.

Underage drinking wasn't very common before WW II. But with full youth employment and high wages, teenagers had more disposable income than during peacetime and this seems to have encouraged youths to enter pubs.

As this young man did:

"Under Age In Public House
A charge of purchasing beer for himself in a public house being at the time under 18 years of age, was preferred at Maesteg Police Court on Monday against David E. Rees, 5 Grove Street, Nantyffyllon. 

P.C. Harding stated that at 9.50 p.m., February 25th he entered the "Farmers' Arms," Maesteg, where he saw the defendant in the singing room with a pint measure containing beer in front of him. Witness asked him to produce his identity card which he did and which revealed that he was only 17 years and 4 month, old. The licensee's' daughter then came up to them and asked the defendant why he told her he was 18.5 and he replied "I told you I was over 18." It was stated to he the defendant's first offence and he was ordered to pay costs, no conviction being recorded.
Glamorgan Gazette - Friday 24 March 1944, page 4.

I've never heard of a "singing room" before. Sounds like fun. 4 shillings costs and no conviction is really just a slap on the wrist.

The Farmers' Arms no longer exists, sadly. Unless it's changed it's name.

Let's Brew - 1924 Barclay Perkins KKK

A very appropriate recipe for this time of year, as KKK - and later KKKK - was effectively Barclay's Christmas beer.

I’m shocked that Barclay Perkins brewed their stronger Burton Ale, KKK, after WW II. Though it was a fairly modest batch of 118 barrels, brewed on their small kit. Even more surprisingly, it’s only 5º weaker than pre-war.

The recipe is very similar to that of KK, but with one big difference – there’s no flaked maize. Pale and SA malt form the base again. As usual, I’ve substituted mild malt for the latter. Rather than BS like KK, KKK uses plain old No.2 invert.

All the hops were Goldings: Mid-Kent from the 1922 and 1923 harvests and East Kent from 1932, all cold stored. The dry hops were also 1923 cold-stored East Kents. There were also rather a lot of hops, as it used the pre-war rate of 14 lbs per quarter (336 lbs) of malt.

There’s no indication in the brewing record as to whether KKK was aged. But, this was brewed in August. Not exactly the month you’d imagine drinking a beer this strong. My guess is that this was a winter seasonal. Probably the precursor of KKKK, which appeared later in the 1920s.

1924 Barclay Perkins KKK
pale malt	4.00 lb	23.02%
mild malt	10.50 lb	60.43%
crystal malt 60 L	1.00 lb	5.76%
No. 2 invert sugar	1.75 lb	10.07%
caramel 1000 SRM	0.125 lb	0.72%
Goldings 135 mins	3.25 oz
Goldings 60 mins	3.25 oz
Goldings 30 mins	3.25 oz
Goldings dry hops	1.00 oz
OG	1082
FG	1028
ABV	7.14
Apparent attenuation	65.85%
IBU	106
SRM	20
Mash at	150º F
Sparge at	164º F
Boil time	135 minutes
pitching temp	58º F
Yeast	Wyeast 1099 Whitbread Ale

This recipe is in my two new books, Strong! vols. 1 & 2 and Strong! vol.2.

 

 

 

Drinkalongathon 2020 - port and WW II

 18:50

A Channel 5 programme about Christmas in WW II. "Why do they show war films in Britain at Christmas?" Dolores asked me. "No idea", was best response I could come up with. On reflection, it is weird.

The wait is over. The lemon. What to do with it? Cut it carefully in half, squeeze into a half-pint glass and fill up with gin. Don't knock it back in one. It's a sipping drink.

Drinkalongathon 2020 - me and my whisky

 17:51

Just me, a nice slug of Laphroig and my desk. A moment for silent reflection. And raising my spirits in a very literal way.  Ooh, that's nice. All burny and iodoney. How I like my whisky. In a just world, I could to afford to drink it every week of the year, rather than just at Christmas.

You can see a few of my see a few of my essential writing tools in the picture - how many can you identify?

Now, what to do with that last boiled egg? Execute execution. Or was that executive execution? Something with lots of exes in. A bit like a 19th-century brewing record. This whisky is really warming me up. 

Shat to do with that lemon revealed next. Dead exciting, isn't it?

Drinkalongathon 2020 - turkey and some red wine of other

 

17:04

Bit late with the turkey. But, what the hell, it bought me time for a quick whisky. No-one threw up or choked, so I'd call that meal a success. 

The wine was something red from Puglia. Very fruity. Just like my after-dinner farts.

Really tempted by another Laphroig. It is Christmas, after all.

How did  manoeuvre no. 21 go? Amazing, isn't it? Who knew what excitement could be found in just 7 pieces of string and 2 boiled eggs?

I'll let you know what to do with the other egg next time.

Drinkalongathon 2020 - garden and Laphroig

 

25:58

 Getting in a quick whisky while I'm boiling the potatoes to mush. Brilliant. No need to mash them. All that pointless physical effort saved.

The garden looks a bit dull. Just like my senses, after that rather stiff Laphroig.

String alert! I told you it was coming. Execute string manoeuvre no. 21. I repeat, Execute string manoeuvre no. 21, now!

Have to make the gravy now. Back after some turkey scoffing.

Drinkalongathon 2020 - goat cheese pastries and pink wine

 

15:34

It's tricky combining drinking, cooking and blogging. Not sure I'm doing them all justice. Especially the drinking.  As a caring sort of bloke, I'm concentrating most on the cooking.

The turkey is out of the oven, the spuds and carrot boiling to death. Just need to knock up the gravy and I'm done.

I call it pink wine because it's genuinely called Pink & Juicy. Pretty generic stuff. It's a shame to wast good wine on the kids. They'll drink any old shit we give them. This stuff tastes sort of winey. In a very non-specific way.

Drinkalongathon 2020 - Laphroig and James Martin

 14:35

Not that I'm really watching James Martin. As the turkey requires fairly regular fiddling. But the smokiness of the Laphroig accompanies James Martin burning stuff almost perfectly, adding extra texture to the images. As I've started late and slow, I've poured myself a big one. Should get me in the mood for turkey.

I hope you have your string at the ready. And your eggs. They'll be essential very soon.

The kids have got up. Pretty early for Andrew, nowadays.

 

Drinkalongathon 2020 - more fino sherry and a bacon sandwich

 

13:51 

A very slow start this year.  Only two sherries in and it's almost 2 PM. Fino goes dead well with bacon - dry and slightly salty. While the bacon is crispy golden black, just how I like it. And dead salty. 

My sandwich is a bit multicultural - English bacon, extra old Gouda. Yum.

It's feeling like its getting close to Islay time. Have your string at the ready, too. You'll be needing it soon.

Drinkalongathon 2020 - fino sherry and Al Murry

12:37

Bit of a late start this year. I've been busy doing some turkey fiddling. Not even had any breakfast yet.

I'm watching Al Murray's Why Does Everyone Hate the English? Which seems very appropriate, given international events. 

The fino is going down very nicely. Didn't even need to put it into the fridge, given the wonderful underfloor cooling we have in the winter.

William Younger DBS Btlg sugar and hops 1939 - 1944

As there’s not much going on, sugar-wise, I’ve lumped in the hops.

Caramel and lactose, that’s it. With the lactose disappearing in late 1942. Not sure that was really the case. As all the labels I see from around this tine are Milk Stout. It could be that, like Whitbread, they’d started adding it at racking time. On the other hand, it does appear in the brewing records from 1949. Perhaps they just couldn’t source it during the latter stages of the war.

Interesting that, despite being a bottled beer, Younger’s Stout was dry-hopped. Until 1944, that is. At the start of the war, Younger dry-hipped almost every beer, even their Milds. Then they began reducing of beers to get this treatment. The Milds, in late 1941. Abd, in October 1943, most of the Pale Ales. I’m guessing they were saving most of their hops for the copper.

Younger wasn’t very imaginative when it came to hops. Mostly just Kent all the way. Between the wars, they had regularly employed American hops described as “Pacific”, which could mean one of several regions on the West Coast of North America, including British Columbia. OP21 was a new hop variety introduced during the war. Also known as Brewer’s Friend.

With the war making hop imports impossible, no shock that Younger went to 100% Kent.

William Younger DBS Btlg sugar and hops 1939 - 1944
Date	Year	OG	caramel	lactose	dry hops (oz / barrel)	hops
14th Nov	1939	1066	4.12%	6.19%	3.05	Kent (1937, 1938)
11th Oct	1940	1061	2.08%	4.17%	2.78	Kent (1938, 1939)
27th Aug	1941	1060	2.06%	2.06%	2.82	Kent (1940)
4th Mar	1942	1056	2.20%	2.20%	2.83	Kent (1940)
31st Mar	1942	1053	2.27%	2.27%	2.75	Kent (1940)
5th May	1942	1051	2.27%	2.27%	2.71	Kent (1941)
27th Jan	1943	1053	2.25%		2.77	Kent (1941)
2nd Nov	1943	1053	2.25%		2.81	Kent (1942), OP21 (1942)
9th Nov	1943	1053	2.25%		2.73	Kent (1942), OP21 (1942)
18th May	1944	1051	2.25%		0.00	Kent (1943)
Source:
William Younger brewing records held at the Scottish Brewing Archive, document numbers WY/6/1/2/76, WY/6/1/2/77, WY/6/1/2/78, WY/6/1/2/7 and WY/6/1/2/81.

 

 

Get your string ready!

Because it's almost time for the annual Drinkalongathon. Where you can match my Christmas Day drinking. Should you have no regard for your liver.

As usual, a few items are required. Due to the strange times we live in, the list is somewhat shorter this year.

1 bottle of Laphroig (or other Islay whisky)
1 crate of St. Bernardus Abt
3 boiled eggs
1 bottle of sherry
1 bottle of port
half a lemon
another crate of St. Bernardus Abt (just to be on the safe side)
2 jars of pickled onions
7 pieces of string (extra string to make up for the absence of some other items)
1 copy of A Clockwork Orange
6 cans Gulpener Gladiator (or another super-strong Lager)
1 Chimay glass
1 portrait of Erich Honecker, preferably unframed and slightly damaged
1 small bag of pistachio nuts
250 gm streaky bacon
1 litre vodka (for the kids, if you have any)
1 litre gin (for your partner, if you have one)

Get yourself ready for the big day!

 

Let's Brew Wednesday - 1869 Barclay Perkins KKKK

As we're getting close to the holiday season, here's a typical Krimble beer: a super-strong Stock Ale.

Biggest boy in the Stock Ale club was the might KKKK. Not a beer for the fainthearted. And not one you’d drink half a dozen pints of.

Though you wouldn’t have chance to drink it for much longer, as it was dropped in 1871. It did make a comeback in the 1920s, when it was a winter seasonal special. Its gravity of 1079º was pretty strong for a draught beer in the interwar period.

Very little of the original KKKK was ever brewed. 1869 was the peak year, with just 1,062 barrels brewed out of a total Ale production of 104,384 barrels.

Nothing very exciting about the grist, again. Though there are, at least, two types of base malt, one from Hertfordshire and one from Sussex. The hops were all from the most recent harvest and were a combination of East Kents and Mid-Kents.

Complete insanity is the only way I can describe the hopping rate. Just shy of 10 lbs per barrel. An insanely large amount, likely to clog the copper just with the pure vegetal mass.

1869 Barclay Perkins KKKK
Mild malt	24.25 lb	100.00%
Goldings 90 min	7.00 oz
Goldings 60 min	7.00 oz
Goldings 30 min	7.00 oz
Goldings dry hops	1.50 oz
OG	1107
FG	1025
ABV	10.85
Apparent attenuation	76.64%
IBU	181
SRM	9
Mash at	156º F
Sparge at	190º F
Boil time	90 minutes
pitching temp	58º F
Yeast	Wyeast 1099 Whitbread Ale

This recipe is in my two new books, Strong! vols. 1 & 2 and Strong! vol.2.

William Younger DBS Btlg adjuncts 1939 - 1944

No surprise that there’s far more variation in the adjuncts employed. As this was an area where the government decided what brewers were allowed to use. Based on which ingredients were available.

Pre-war, it had been grits all the way for William Younger. The biggest shock is that they were still finding some as late as March 1942. Brewers using flaked barley needed to find alternatives already in 1940. Not sure why there should still have been supplies of grits a couple of years later unless Younger had stockpiled them, anticipating the outbreak of war.

This being a Stout, there was one other adjunct in peacetime: roast barley. Though it was used in combination with black malt pre-war. Something which was very unusual in the UK, Brewers normally used either one of the other, not both. The percentage of roast barley increased during the warm, presumably to compensate for the dropping of black malt and a reduction in the amount of caramel.

Mostly, Younger’s adjunct usage follows the standard path, but with a few deviations. With the first maize replacement being flaked rice, followed by unmalted barley. But while most brewers went for flaked, Younger preferred, at least initially, ground barley. The government was OK with this as it used even less energy to produce than flakes.

After the mandated weirdness of flaked rye and flaked oats, by late 1943 Younger had settles in the standard late-war and immediate post-war adjunct: flaked barley.

William Younger DBS Btlg adjuncts 1939 - 1944
Date	Year	OG	grits	flaked rice	roast barley	flaked barley	ground barley	flaked rye	flaked oat
14th Nov	1939	1066	37.11%		3.09%
11th Oct	1940	1061	12.50%	21.88%	6.25%
27th Aug	1941	1060	12.37%	18.56%	9.28%
4th Mar	1942	1056	13.19%		9.89%		13.19%
31st Mar	1942	1053			10.23%		13.64%
5th May	1942	1051	14.29%		10.71%		14.29%
27th Jan	1943	1053			10.11%			13.48%
2nd Nov	1943	1053			10.11%	10.11%			10.11%
9th Nov	1943	1053			10.11%	20.22%
18th May	1944	1051			10.11%	20.22%
Source:
William Younger brewing records held at the Scottish Brewing Archive, document numbers WY/6/1/2/76, WY/6/1/2/77, WY/6/1/2/78, WY/6/1/2/7 and WY/6/1/2/81.

 

 

William Younger DBS Btlg malts 1939 - 1944

Let’s take a look at the ingredients, beginning with the malts.

Most iterations contained just three malts: pale, crystal and something described simply as “M”. I’m pretty sure it’s not mild malt, as the quantities are too small. My best guess would be melanoidin malt, or something similar.

The first beer in the table contains both black malt and roast barley. While later versions used exclusively the latter. It’s one of the few times I’ve come across roast barley in Scottish brewing record. Despite it supposedly being the main source of colour in Scottish beers. It wasn’t. That honour went to caramel.

Adjuncts next time. There are rather more of those.

William Younger DBS Btlg malts 1939 - 1944
Date	Year	OG	pale malt	black malt	crystal malt	M malt
14th Nov	1939	1066	43.30%	3.09%	3.09%
11th Oct	1940	1061	46.88%		3.13%	3.13%
27th Aug	1941	1060	46.39%		6.19%	3.09%
4th Mar	1942	1056	49.45%		6.59%	3.30%
31st Mar	1942	1053	61.36%		6.82%	3.41%
5th May	1942	1051	50.00%		7.14%	3.57%
27th Jan	1943	1053	64.04%		6.74%	3.37%
2nd Nov	1943	1053	57.30%		6.74%	3.37%
9th Nov	1943	1053	57.30%		6.74%	3.37%
18th May	1944	1051	57.30%			10.11%
Source:
William Younger brewing records held at the Scottish Brewing Archive, document numbers WY/6/1/2/76, WY/6/1/2/77, WY/6/1/2/78, WY/6/1/2/7 and WY/6/1/2/81.

 

Scottish Stout during WW II

If my information for pre-war Scottish Stout was limited, for the war itself it’s nigh on non-existent. With the one exception of William Younger, for whom I have data aplenty.

I have analyses from just two breweries, and all are from 1939.

Not sure that tells us much. I’ll move quickly on to William Younger.

Over the course of the war, DBS suffered multiple cuts to its gravity. Between 1939 and 1944 its OG fell from 1066º to 1051º - a reduction of almost 25%.

The surprise is in the hopping. In 1939, it was 6 lbs per quarter (336 lbs) of malt. Which for Scotland was pretty high.

During the war, brewers were told to reduce their hopping rate various times. Having become totally dependent on domestically-grown hops, once the size of the harvest was known, brewers were told how many they could use in the coming year as a percentage of their pre-war use.

It’s unusual to see a hopping rate almost unchanged in by 1943. Having looked at the situation with other Younger beers, this wasn’t the case across the board. The reduction in other styles is greater. Even though Younger, who was hopping at a rate below 1 lb per standard barrel, were exempt from the cuts.

Don’t pay too much attention to the FGs in the table. Younger’s brewing records only list the cleansing gravity, not the racking gravity. The real FG would have been several degrees lower.

Scottish Stout during WW II
Year	Brewer	Beer	Price per pint (d)	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation
1939	Calder Alloa	Milk Stout	10	1052.5	1021	4.06	60.00%
1939	Younger, Wm.	Milk Stout (Monk Export Brand)		1065.8	1023.9	5.42	63.68%
1939	Younger, Wm.	Milk Stout	12	1065.5	1019	6.04	70.99%
Sources:
Thomas Usher Gravity Book held at the Scottish Brewing Archive, document number TU/6/11.
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/001.

 

William Younger DBS Btlg  1939 - 1944
Date	Year	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	lbs hops/ qtr	hops lb/brl
14th Nov	1939	1066	1023	5.69	65.15%	6.06	1.59
11th Oct	1940	1061	1024	4.89	60.66%	6.06	1.45
27th Aug	1941	1060	1022.5	4.96	62.50%	5.45	1.32
4th Mar	1942	1056	1021.5	4.56	61.61%	5.48	1.25
31st Mar	1942	1053	1019	4.50	64.15%	5.48	1.22
5th May	1942	1051	1018	4.37	64.71%	5.50	1.17
27th Jan	1943	1053	1019	4.50	64.15%	5.83	1.26
2nd Nov	1943	1053	1017	4.76	67.92%	5.83	1.28
9th Nov	1943	1053	1019	4.50	64.15%	5.83	1.25
18th May	1944	1051	1021	3.97	58.82%	5.83	1.22
Source:
William Younger brewing records held at the Scottish Brewing Archive, document numbers WY/6/1/2/76, WY/6/1/2/77, WY/6/1/2/78, WY/6/1/2/7 and WY/6/1/2/81.

 

 

Let's Brew - 1964 Elgood Stout

The Stouts from regional breweries are an odd lot. Lots of them have the winning combination of very low OG and high FG.

Pretty sure what you get is a beer that’s watery and sweet at the same time. This falls into that category. Though it isn’t as insanely under-attenuated as some Scottish Sweet Stouts. The weakest as were under 2% ABV.

A simple recipe, where black malt does the heavy lifting for the stout character. While the base is a mix of pale and mild malt. While a lot of the colour derives from a big slug of caramel.

I wonder who drank Stouts like this? Grannies are what comes to my mind. But is that just because when I saw people drinking this type of stuff in the 1970s, they’d been drinking it for decades? Sweet Stout was trendy once. There wouldn’t be so many examples, otherwise.

1964 Elgood Stout
mild malt	2.00 lb	28.25%
pale malt	3.50 lb	49.44%
black malt	0.33 lb	4.66%
No. 3 invert sugar	0.50 lb	7.06%
caramel 1000 SRM	0.75 lb	10.59%
Fuggles 95 mins	0.75 oz
Fuggles 30 mins	0.50 oz
OG	1030
FG	1013
ABV	2.25
Apparent attenuation	56.67%
IBU	19
SRM	44
Mash at	150º F
Sparge at	168º F
Boil time	95 minutes
pitching temp	60º F
Yeast	WLP025 Southwold

This recipe appears in my book about UK beer after WW II. You can buy it here:

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