Heineken grists in 1928 - 1929

As promised, here are the Heineken grists. Not that they are particularly exciting.

Lots of pilsner malt, a bit of caramel malt and a touch of kleur mout (coloured malt). I assume that the last is something similar to black malt. I'm quite surprised to see that there was none in the Bok, just a fairly heavy dose of caramel malt.

I'll be honest, the sugar bit is a total guess. I'm not even sure that it's sugar. In the brewing record it's described as "R. s.". From the context, I'm pretty sure that it isn't a malt. The first thought was that it was some sort of unmalted adjunct. But I couldn't think of any grain type that starts with the letter S. I'm assuming that the R stands for "rauw", the Dutch word for raw. I could be totally wrong. If you have any better ideas, let me know.

Not much else to say, really. So I'll just fuck off.

Heineken grists in 1928 - 1929
Year	Beer	Style	pilsner malt	kleur mout	caramel malt	raw sugar
1928	Li	Licht Lagerbier	80.00%			20.00%
1928	Do	Donker Lagerbier	78.00%	1.00%	1.00%	20.00%
1929	P	Pils	82.76%			17.24%
1928	Bayerische	Münchener	92.31%	4.81%	2.88%
1928	Bok	Bok	90.00%		10.00%
Source:
Heineken brewing record held at the Amsterdamse Stadsarchief, document number 834-1753.

 

Heineken beers in 1928 - 1929

It's not just the Carlsberg records I've not done much with. The same is also true for the Heineken ones I have. 

I hadn't even bothered to troll down to the Amsterdam city archives to photograph every volume. As it turns out, that was probably for the best. You can request that the archive digitises documents and I've been working my way through them (you can only request 5 documents per month).

If you're into the sort of time-robbing, mind-bending research that I do, you can find the digitised records here:

https://archief.amsterdam/inventarissen/details/834/path/3.2.4.2.2.6

 Much better quality than my crappy photos. Enjoy.

Why haven't I looked at them more? Because it's hard work. And I'm a very lazy person.They're trickier to interpret than UK records, for various reasons. Also, as with Carlsberg, they weren't relevant to anything I was working on. Now I'm bashing out a talk on continental Lager between the wars, they've become very relevant.

You may have noticed that I've gone all metric, rather than my usual imperial measures. It's not a statement or anything, just me taking the line of least resistance. The brewing records are metric and it's much simpler to leave them as such. Especially as it makes the maths simpler.

These beers are from Heineken's Rotterdam brewery, which closed several decades ago. The offices are still there and I used to often walk past them on my way into town when I lived in Rotterdam, shithole that it is.

The range is fairly modest: two pale Lagers, two dark Lagers and a Bock. The latter being a seasonal beer. 

When I first started looking at this era of Heineken beers I was surprised to see that they had both a pale and a dark Lager at Schankbier strength, 9º Plato. They weren't the most popular beers in Heineken's portfolio, but combined they did account for more than a quarter of the brewery's output.

Heineken Rotterdam production by type in 1929
type	no. of brews	size of brew (HL)	total amount	% of total
Licht	95	440	41,800	14.46%
Donker	48	770	36,960	12.79%
Bayerisch	41	295	12,095	4.19%
Pils	491	395	193,945	67.11%
Bok	21	200	4,200	1.45%
total	696		289,000
Source:
Heineken brewing record held at the Amsterdam Stadsarchief, document number 834-1754.

The pale version had the highest hopping rate in terms of hops per 100 kg of malt, even more than the Pils. While the two strongest dark beers, Bayeriche and Bok, have the lowest rate. Not such a shock, that. 

None of the beers is particularly heavily hopped by UK standards. Though the rates are broadly similar to those of Carlsberg. In my usual measurement, lbs per quarter (336 lbs) of malt they range between 2.4 lbs and 4.5 lbs. Which is similar to Scottish rates.

Note that the Pils has, compared to Carlsberg Pilsener, much more like the gravity you would expect - a little over 12º Plato.

The rate of attenuation is very similar for all five beers, with, unexpectedly, Bok having the highest, at 76%

Heineken beers in 1928 - 1929
Year	Beer	Style	OG Plato	FG Plato	ABV	App. Atten-uation	kg hops/ 100 kg	hops kg/hl	colour
1928	Li	Licht Lagerbier	9.0	2.4	3.50	74.03%	1.50	0.11	4
1928	Do	Donker Lagerbier	9.2	2.6	3.50	72.48%	1.20	0.14	11
1929	P	Pils	12.2	3.5	4.70	72.29%	1.33	0.21	5
1928	Bayerische	Münchener	12.5	3.6	4.80	72.20%	0.96	0.17	17
1928	Bok	Bok	17.4	4.4	7.20	75.97%	0.80	0.20
Source:
Heineken brewing record held at the Amsterdamse Stadsarchief, document number 834-1753.

We'll be looking at the grists next time.

Let's Brew - 1920 Fullers AK

WW I had a lasting impact on Fullers AK. Its gravity dropped from 1044º in 1914 to a nadir of 1026º in 1918 and 1919. After the war, it recovered a little, but remained 13.5º lower in 1920.

It was still being brewed in quite large quantities: this batch was 100 barrels. In a three-way parti-gyle with PA and XK that totaled 261 barrels. This was probably as a result of lingering restrictions on gravity. That wouldn’t last. By 1925 it was being brewed in batches of fewer than ten barrels.

The recipe, however, remained very similar to that of before the war. A fairly simple combination of pale malt, flaked maize, glucose and invert sugar. In many ways, a classic AK grist. A straightforward, light, easy-drinking beer was the objective and a recipe like this was a good way to achieve that goal.

Half of the hops were from Alsace, from the 1917 and 1919 harvests. Which meant they had been grown in the German Empire. As brewing had come to pretty much a total stop in Germany in the later war years, they wouldn’t have had much use for the hops. The remainder were some undated Oregons, which I assume were very old, and English hops from the 1916 season.

1920 Fullers AK
pale malt	5.25 lb	77.66%
flaked maize	1.00 lb	14.79%
No. 2 invert sugar	0.25 lb	3.70%
glucose	0.25 lb	3.70%
caramel 1000 SRM	0.01 lb	0.15%
Cluster 90 min	0.25 oz
Strisselspalt 90 min	0.50 oz
Strisselspalt 60 min	0.75 oz
Goldings 30 min	0.75 oz
Goldings dry hops	0.25 oz
OG	1030.5
FG	1007.5
ABV	3.04
Apparent attenuation	75.41%
IBU	31
SRM	5
Mash at	147º F
After underlet	156º F
Sparge at	168º F
Boil time	90 minutes
pitching temp	62º F
Yeast	WLP002 English Ale

Ny Carlsberg grists in 1928-1929

As promised, here are Carlsberg's grists from the 1920s. Which turn out to be more interesting than you might expect.

No shock that the Pilsners were mostly brewed from pilsner malt. Along with some maize. It is a surprise, however, to de "Farve malt" in the two weaker ones. It means "colour malt" and, based on its usage in Porter, seems to be something like black malt. Obviously, it's purpose is to darken the colour a little.

Moving on to the dark Lagers, we hit the first major problem in interpretation. What exactly was lager malt? I'm inclined to go for something like pale Munich malt. It can't just be another name for pilsner malt as the two types are kept very distinct in the records. The small quantity of caramel malt wouldn't account for the seemingly much darker colour.

Note that none of the dark beers contained maize.

The there's the next tricky ingredient: something called "Kulör" in the logs. 18 and 25 litres, respectively for 424 hl of Lager and 377 hl of Export. Clearly it's some sort of liquid caramel, but how dark was it? I could only guess.

Biggest surprise is that the Porter had 20% brown malt. That's so old school. Even in the UK almost no-one used it any more in Stout, except in London.

Ny Carlsberg grists in 1928-1929
Year	Beer	Style	Pilsner malt	Lager malt	caramel malt	brown malt	Farve malt	maize
1929	Ny Pilsner	Pilsner	84.24%				0.70%	15.06%
1928	Pilsner	Pilsner	79.74%				0.16%	20.10%
1928	Lagerol I	Lager		98.08%	1.92%
1929	Gammel Carlsberg Exp	Export		97.94%	2.06%
1928	Exp. Pilsner	Pilsner	70.00%					30.00%
1928	Porter	Porter	70.61%			21.41%	7.99%
Source: Carlsberg brewing record held at the brewery, document number Serie 000000299 000056839.

Ny Carlsberg beers in 1928-1929

I've been too diligent in collecting brewing records. That's how I excuse myself for the mountain of unprocessed ones. Including a hillock of Carlsberg logs. Our perhaps I'm just a lazy git? I'll let you decide.

Ever since I built up a backlog, I give priority to transcribing records which are relevant to a current project. That ruled out anything that wasn't in the time slot 1938 to 1948. After a lifetime and a half of toil, I finally finished off William Younger. I suspect most of it a waste of time. Dead handy for my birthday recipe thing, though. Lots and lots of different dates.

Wandering a bit off the path there. It was years back (May 2015, according to the photos) when I visited the Carlsberg archives. I photographed 20 brewing books from Ny Carlsberg, spanning 1867 to 1934. Quite a lot of stuff. Which would take years to fully process.

There's a good reason I'm looking at them now.  I'm writing a talk on interwar European Lager. Carlsberg is a great example. Getting to use my research here as well makes it a win-win. For me, at any rate. Probably depends on how number-obsessed you are.

One word of warning: the FGs are a guess. I've a couple of analyses of Carlsberg's beers from around this time and they're around 75% apparent, so that's what I've gone with here. It could have been lower for the two dark beers and the porter.

As far as I can make out, Carlsberg brewed six different beers: three Pilsners, a Lagerbier, an Export and a Porter. Not a massive range. If these were German beers, I'd call the middle two Dunkles Lagerbier and Dunkles Export.

The standard Pilsner, which was by far the most-brewed of Carlsberg's range, is weaker than you would expect: under 11º Plato. Checking back through older logs, I saw that it was 12.9º in 1895, 12.6º in 1901, but only 10.9º in 1910. It wasn't WW I, as I suspected, that pushed the gravity down. 

Export Pilsner is simply the same strength as the 1895 standard Pilsner. Looks like Carlsberg lowered the strength of the beer domestically and kept on brewing the old version for export.

Ny Pilsner (New Pilsner) looks like it's fitting into some sort of price class:

"The beers with less than 2.25 per cent alcohol show an even greater increase. The new Pilsener for instance increasing from Kr. 7.5 to 24.25 ore per bottle (about 0.75d. to 2.5d.) and from Kr. 16 to Kr. 60 per hectolitre in cask (or 26s. 3d. to 98s. 6d. per barrel)."
Journal of the Institute of Brewing, Volume 27, Issue 1, January 1921, pages 26 - 27.

This confirms that Ny Pilsner was a tax category:

Average Original Gravities of Danish Beers 1914 - 1920
Year ending September 30th	1915	1916	1917	1916	1919	1920
Lager beer	1052	1051	1048	1045
Pilsener beer	1044	1044	1041.5	1032	1038	1038
Stout, tax class I	1076	1076	1072
Stout, tax class II	1068	1068	1065	1058	1055	1056
Munich beer	1056	1056	1055
Export beer	1052	1050	1049.5
New Pilsener, tax class II	1032	1032	1032	1030	1031	1031
Source: Journal of the Institute of Brewing, Volume 27, Issue 1, January 1921, page 27.

You may have noticed the eccentric colour scale used by Carlsberg. The higher the number, the paler the colour. How mad is that?

Lagerol and Export are both dark, but how dark? I'd guess 12-15 SRM. When we get to the recipe next time, I'll explain exactly why I'm guessing that.

By far the most heavily hopped of the beers, in terms of hops per 100 kg of malt, is Ny Pilsner. Probably to cover up how watery it was. Amongst the other beers, Export Pilsner is a little heavier on the hops. As the strongest beer by quite a way, it's no surprise that Porter has by far the most hops per hectolitre.

In general, the darker beers were boiled longer, the exception being Export Pilsner.

Ny Carlsberg beers in 1928-1929
Year	Beer	Style	OG Plato	FG Plato	ABV	App. Attenua-tion	kg hops/ 100 kg	hops kg/hl	boil time (hours)	colour
1929	Ny Pilsner	Pilsner	6.5	1.6	2.56	75.87%	2.63	0.19	1.75	19
1928	Pilsner	Pilsner	10.6	2.6	4.27	76.24%	1.26	0.18	1.75	19
1928	Lagerol I	Lager	10.6	2.6	4.27	76.24%	1.25	0.18	2	5.5
1929	Gammel Carlsberg Exp	Export	12.8	3.2	5.18	75.94%	1.28	0.21	2	5
1928	Exp. Pilsner	Pilsner	12.9	3.2	5.24	76.13%	1.58	0.28	2.25	20
1928	Porter	Porter	18.9	4.7	7.89	76.48%	1.41	0.41	2.5
Source:
Carlsberg brewing record held at the brewery, document number Serie 000000299 000056839.

 

Let's Brew Wedneday - 1939 Fullers AK

Weakest of Fullers Pale Ales was my old favourite obsession, AK. Yes, a Pale Ale, not an effing Light Mild. The trouble McMullen have caused me by their inexplicable decision to dub their AK a Mild. There’s a large body of US home brewers who now take that as gospel.

Obviously, AK was part of a parti-gyle which included XK and PA, its two stronger siblings. This particular parti-gyle consisted of just 3.25 barrels of AK, along with 136 barrels of XK and 166 barrels of PA. Clearly AK wasn’t a major brand for fullers.

Back before WW I it had been, with Fullers turning out 300-odd barrels at a time. But the war wasn’t kind, reducing AK’s OG to the low 1030ºs. Which may account for its poor sales. Bitters that weak weren’t very common in London. The batches are so small, there could only have been a handful of pubs taking the beer.

The recipe, inevitably, is identical to XK and PA. Despite its low gravity, AK still comes out to a very reasonable 35 (calculated) IBUs.

1939 Fullers AK
pale malt	6.25 lb	81.86%
flaked maize	1.00 lb	13.10%
No. 2 invert sugar	0.25 lb	3.27%
glucose	0.125 lb	1.64%
caramel 1000 SRM	0.01 lb	0.13%
Fuggles 90 min	1.25 oz
Goldings 30 min	1.25 oz
Goldings dry hops	0.25 oz
OG	1033.5
FG	1006.5
ABV	3.57
Apparent attenuation	80.60%
IBU	35
SRM	5
Mash at	145º F
After underlet	147º F
Sparge at	168º F
Boil time	90 minutes
pitching temp	61º F
Yeast	WLP002 English Ale

Beers exhibited in 1879

I'm returning to that article on the Brewing Exhibition of 1879. Because, in addition to foreign Lagers, some local beers were also described.

Though first, fitting in nicely with current trends, some non-alcoholic drinks.

"Messrs. Cantrell & Cochrane, through their London agents. Messrs. Findlater, Mackie, Todd & Co., exhibited a large variety of their carefully-prepared mineral waters. The Aromatic Ginger ale made by this firm is an agreeable beverage, and far in advance of the many non-intoxicating drinks now offered to the public."
The Brewers' Guardian, October 14th 1879, page 340.

Now on with beers.

"Messrs. BEER & Co., of Canterbury, sent specimens of light dinner ale and India pale ale. Some very fine old Imperial Ale brewed by this firm was deservedly praised by all who tasted it.

Messrs. GORDON & Co., brewers, of Caledonian-road and Peckham, had in our opinion the best assortment of beers in the Exhibition; their extensive stand contained numbers of casks piled up one above the other, and representing some dozen different kinds of beer brewed by this firm. Their XX at 1s. a gallon is a splendid glass of beer, and so is their KKK or India pale ale at 1s. 4d. a gallon; but as a marvel of cheapness combined with quality, we commend their K or Tonic Bitter Ale at 10d. a gallon. This last-named fulfils all the requirements of those who have raised a cry for a cheaper and lighter beer."
The Brewers' Guardian, October 14th 1879, page 340.

Beer & Co. I've heard of. Hang on, no I haven't I was thinking of Beer & Rigden, also of Canterbury. This is a totally unrelated brewery, which seems to have fizzled out in the 1890s.


Gordon & Co. are nicely messing up my interpretation of alphabet soup. KKK as IPA? Not sure I've seen that one before. At least they seem to have been consistent, using a single K for their weakest Pale Ale.

"Messrs. Herbert Wright & Co., of Dover, contributed samples of their productions. This firm has previously exhibited at London, in 1873, Philadelphia in 1876, and Paris last year, and on every occasion has been awarded a medal. Their light bitter and extra stout were remarkably good, but the finest beer was a cask of splendid old XXXX, which we unhesitatingly pronounce as the best in the Exhibition.

Messrs. Santer & Collingwood, of Caledonian Road, sent some capital samples of ale and porter.

Messrs. T. P. Griffin & Co., of Philpot Lane, who we believe are not brewers, exhibited samples of sparkling pale ale, which was in beautiful condition, and specially adapted for use in hot climates, where it comes in competition with the products of Germany and America.

Messrs. Jones, Lloyd & Co., of Mold, sent a cask of their light Welsh mild ale. This was a clean drinking beet, with an agreeable flavour of both malt and hops, and one of the best samples in the Hall.

Messrs. Pryor & Co., of Hatfield, exhibited some excellent samples of pale ale, stout, porter, &c."
The Brewers' Guardian, October 14th 1879, page 341.

None of the brewers mentioned were exactly big names. It seems they had declined to attend:

"many well-known firms, who from various reasons have taken no part in this year’s show, have signified their intention of bring represented at the next one."
The Brewers' Guardian, October 14th 1879, page 340.

You'll note that there are quite a number of Light Bitters. These were very much on the up in the 1870s. And, considering it was the most popular type of beer, there are very few mentions of Mild Ale. Just one XX and one Welsh Mild Ale. 

The beers exhibited I think tells us something about what brewers wanted to push. So mostly lighter Pale Ales and strong beers like Old Ale or Stout. Very little marketing effort seems to have been put into Mild Ale.

That Sparkling Pale Ale from Griffin & Co. sounds like one of the UK beers which appeared when Lager beer started turning up in Far Eastern markets. They didn't fare particularly well, and Lager eventually pushed out Pale Ale entirely. 

It's amazingly rare to find any sort of discussion of a brewer's products, even in a trade magazine. Making the above vignettes, however brief, of particular interest.

Formby's brewing families (part two)

Now it's time to look at the Rimmers. Of whom there were loads living in and around Formby.

But we're going to kick off with Richard Tyrer. He was married twice and weirdly both his wives were called Alice. His second wife, who was a widow, was born Alice Rimmer. It's all very confusing. And you'll never guess what Richard Tyrer's mother's maiden name was - Blundell.

Getting back to the Rimmers, Thomas Rimmer was running the Royal Hotel in 1871 and was described as a common brewer. But here's something that threw a spammer in the works. His father John Rimmer was also living at the Royal Hotel and was also described as a brewer. Hang on. The John Rimmer who owned the Old Brewery died in 1866. So the John Rimmer who was a trustee after wasn't Richard Tyrer's son-in-law. Who the fuck was he then? And why was he a trustee and then owner of the brewery? This is so confusing. Was he a relative of Alice Tyrer? He could have been her brother.

It looks like Thomas Rimmer served an apprenticeship with his grandfather at the Old Brewery and then moved on to brew at the Royal Hotel sometime between 1861 and 1871. While his father, John Rimmer, went from fisherman to farmer to brewer between 1851 and 1871. Did he sell up his farm and buy the pub and brewery for his son? It's quite possible that Thomas Rimmer was already brewing at the Royal Hotel when the brewery-owning John Rimmer dies in 1866. My head is starting to melt.

There's another alternative to one of Alice Tyrer's relatives. As Richard Tyrer's sister, Catherine, was married to a man called John Rimmer. Oh, it can't be him, as he was still alive in 1881, when he's swapped from being a farmer to an Innkeeper. With an address on Massam Lane. Meaning he must have been the licensee of the Freshfield Hotel. Obviously, he also had a son called John.

We haven't even got to the John Rimmer who was a licensee of the Royal Hotel in 1911. He doesn't seem to have been directly related to Thomas Rimmer. This John Rimmer had yet another fucking John Rimmer as his father. Who was another farmer.

It seems like half the population of Formby was called Rimmer and every family had one or two John Rimmers. Fucking nightmare.

Garlic-flavoured Lager

British brewers - and many British drinkers, too - weren't impressed by the first Lagers they came across, comparing them unfavourably to British beers.

A common complaint was that they tasted of garlic. A flavour supposedly produced by the beer and the pitch lining of the cask containing it. But that wasn't the only aspect of foreign Lager which was found lacking. This is a report of an exhibition of the drinks trade held at the Agricultural Hall in London.

"The various exhibits of beers, wines and spirits, were arranged in a separate portion of the Hall, to which a charge for admission of sixpence each person was made. These so-called tasting stalls were in several instances elaborately and artistically fitted up, and their different occupiers competed with each other in their eagerness in offering samples to the throngs who continually passed by. In this department there were exhibits of both English and German beer; one exhibitor of American lager was entered in the catalogue, but we failed to find his stand. We have no desire to speak disrespectfully of German beer, but the samples offered to the public were such as we feel sure will never replace home-brewed beer in this country; the thinness on the palate, the absence of all flavour of malt extract, the artificial aeration, the peculiar taste described by most of the public as resembling garlic or onions, are all characteristics which, however agreeable to the German taste, will take a long time to be acclimatised here; when such beers are offered at prices ranging from 2s. to 3s. per gallon, we think English brewers have not much to fear from competition from that quarter, at all events so far as our home trade is concerned."
The Brewers' Guardian, October 14th 1879, page 340.

Not just garlicy, also thin and lacking malt character. Fizzed up artificially, too. It's all sounding rather like CAMRA's criticism of Lager.

Well, German Lagers might not have replaced British Ales, but home-brewed ones have. It did take a while, mind. More than 100 years after this article was written. Two to three shillings a gallon was incredibly expensive. A Mild Ale of around 5% ABV - probably amount the same strength as Lager of the day - cost a mere shilling. Even an expensive beer like Bass Pale Ale only cost one shilling and eightpence a gallon. I've never seen a British beer that cost as much as three shillings.

The author then went on to critique the Lagers of some specific exhibitors.

"Messrs. H. HURTER & Co., 1t, Adam-street, Strand, also showed some “Tivoli” beer brewed by the Tivoli Brewery Company of Berlin. This was drawn from the usual aerating apparatus, and when in the glass was bright and sparkling to the eye, and, to those who like this description of beer, pleasant to the palate.

Messrs. Fred. Jacob & Co., 79 1/2 Gracechurch-street, came next with samples of so-called Pilsener Beer in cask and bottle. Its name would imply that it came from the famous brewery at Pilsen, in Bohemia, but we believe it was really brewed by a firm at Bremen, in North Germany. This beer was excessively pale in colour and thin to the palate, with the characteristic flavour of all German beers. We liked its appearance better than its taste.

Mr. F. Gardner, 17, Devonshire Square, is agent for Bardili's Stuttgart lager beer, and exhibited samples in both cask and bottle. Although the usual characteristics, we considered this was the best sample of German beer at the Exhibition, and at the prices quoted, viz. 4s. per dozen for reputed pints, may command a trade amongst those who have a liking for foreign beer."
The Brewers' Guardian, October 14th 1879, pages 340 - 341.

Plenty of faint praise there. For example, "to those who like this description of beer, pleasant to the palate", "We liked its appearance better than its taste." and "may command a trade amongst those who have a liking for foreign beer". Thwe author clearly wasn't a fan of Lager.
 

Let's Brew - 1911 Russell AK

The version of AK brewed by Russell was a bit weaker than its rivals, being only just over 1040º. An extremely light gravity for a Pale Ale of any description before WW I. It would be interesting to know if it sold for less than the standard AK price of 36 shillings for a 36-gallon barrel.

There’s nothing unusual about the recipe, which is simply pale malt, flaked maize and invert sugar. Rather a lot of the last, making up not far short of 20% of the grist. The pale malt was split 50-50 between English and foreign barley. 

A tiny amount of a second type of sugar was employed, something described as “Kendall”. The quantity is so small – a mere 12 lbs – that it could only be some sort of caramel.

Two types of hops were flung into the copper, both from the same grower, the only difference being their age. A third were from the 1908 harvest, the other two-thirds from 1910.

1911 Russell AK
pale malt	6.50 lb	76.47%
flaked maize	0.50 lb	5.88%
No. 1 invert sugar	1.50 lb	17.65%
Fuggles 105 mins	1.25 oz
Fuggles 30 mins	1.00 oz
Goldings dry hops	0.50 oz
OG	1041.5
FG	1010
ABV	4.17
Apparent attenuation	75.90%
IBU	28
SRM	6
Mash at	150º F
Sparge at	168º F
Boil time	105 minutes
pitching temp	59º F
Yeast	Wyeast 1469 West Yorkshire Ale Timothy Taylor

 

Formby's brewing families

I'm finally done with Formby's two breweries. I could dig even deeper, but I've already spent a totally unreasonable amount of time on. Just as well I'm unemployed. 

It all kicked off with a little initial search, which revealed the following.

Richard Tyrer, owner of the Formby Brewery died in December 1864, aged 76. One of the trustees handling Tyrer's estate was a man called John Rimmer. in 1866, the brewery was up for auction following the death of John Rimmer, the owner. Over at the other brewer, Reciprocity, its owner, who died in 1903 was called Thomas. Were John and Thomas father and son? And why didn't Thomas inherit the brewery?

When I started investigating John Rimmer I couldn't find anyone who fitted the bill. There were several knocking around in Formby and the one who seemed the best fit had as occupation fisherman. Why would he be a trustee and why did he end up owning the brewery? Simple: John Rimmer was married to Richard Tyrer's eldest daughter, Margaret. A couple of years before Richard Tyrer died, who should be living at the Old Brewery with him but someone called Thomas Rimmer, described as both grandson and maltster. It seemed more and more odd that Thomas Rimmer didn't inherit the brewery.

Instead, a man named Edward Dickinson who ended up owning the brewery. I'm not sure he bought it at the auction. He did own it shortly afterwards, in 1871. He must have got hold of it either at the auction or shortly afterwards. On his death, sometime between 1881 and 1891, the brewery passed on to his two sons Thomas and William, and the company branded T & WR Dickinson. It was still called that when it closed in 1949.

This prompted some new questions, how did Edward Dickinson gain ownership of the brewery? Was he just a random bloke who wanted to get into brewing? Well, no.

It turns out Edward Dickinson was married to John Rimmer's daughter, another Margaret. Making Thomas Rimmer the uncle of Thomas and William Dickinson and brother-in-law of Edward Dickinson. The Rimmers are a nightmare to research. There are hordes of them. And it doesn't help that different families kept on giving their children the same names. And they're intermarried with everyone. As we'll see.

Where to start? Rimmers or Dickinsons? I think I'll continue on with the Dickinsons.

In 1861 Edward Dickinson was running the Railway Hotel - later to be a pub tied to the Old Brewery - along with his wife Margaret. Just to confuse matters, they had a lodger named John Rimmer. But not the one we're interested in. I told you there were loads of these Rimmers in Formby.

Ten years earlier Edward, then aged 19, was working on the farm of his father, Thomas. The addess is given as Cross House. I assumed that was the name of the farm house. Until I found this.

"The demolition of the old houses adjoining the Blundell Arms Hotel removes one of the ancient landmarks of Formby. Those old whitewashed buildings have stood there for a time beyond which the memory of the oldest inhabitant runs not to the contrary. They formerly represented the chief inn or hostelry of the place, being opposite the cross on Cross Green, and as the highroad from Liverpool to Formby, which was a place of note and resort before Southport had "a local habitation and a name." The inn was named the Cross House, and is best remembered by ancient cronies of Formby as the house and brewery of Mr. Thomas Dickinson, father of the late Mrs. Mary Neale, of the Lifeboat Inn, and grandfather of Mr. Wm. and the Misses Dickinson, of the Railway Hotel. The low beer-cellar, looking very much like an Esquimaux, but with its covering of whitewash (for it has lately been used as a cottager's larder) and the remains of the old Brewery buildings have formed the objects of some interest during the present week, whilst the houses have been undergoing the process of demolition by workmen in the employ of Messrs. Formby Bros. The houses were the property of Messrs. Thoroughgood, brewers, and owners of the Blundell Arms, the name given to the new hostel now occupied by Mr. Bolton, when it wan built to supersede the old structure. The old houses have been used us cottages for some time up to two years ago. The workmen have a few odd coins among the debris, including a copper halfpenny of George III, dated 1806 and a Macclesfield token, bearing date towards the close of the previous century, that is 1700."
Formby Times - Saturday 25 June 1904, page 6.

OS map from 1891

Not only was the Cross House a pub, not a farmhouse, it had once had a brewery attached. You can see 5 houses attached to the Weld Blundell Arms, which must be the ones being demolished and which had once been the Cross House. And some other buildings behind the pub which must be the remnants of the brewery. Thomas Dickinson wasn't just a farmer, he was a publican, too. And possibly a brewer. No wonder his son got into the pub trade. And bought a brewery.Or that his daughter got into the pub trade, too.

Note, too, that there's a Dickenson's Bridge. As the Dickensons sometimes spelled their name that way, there could be a connection.

I think that's enough for today. More Dickinson and Rimmer fun soon.