Thomas Usher's beers in the 1920's

I enjoyed telling you about William Murray's beers so much, I decided to continue with another Edinburgh brewery, Thomas Usher.

True to tradition, I'll work through the styles in alphabetical order.

The good news is: there are Milds! Warms my cockles and all that. What's even better, two different strengths of Mild. Decent gravities, by crap attenuation. The low 1040º's is about right for a standard  Mild in the early 1920's. I'll give you a slight preview of the next instalment. There are no Milds in that. The evidence is mounting that Mild was a rarity in 1930's Scotland.

Now all those Pale Ales. There really are a lot of them. And that's a difference with England. I can't think of an English brewery that made four different Pale Ales in the 1920's. The PA, PA 60/-, PA 70/- and PA 80/- grouped in the middle of the table are taken from a brewing record. They form a neat set, with just about equal gaps between them: 1035º, 1041º, 1048º and 1055º. Knock 10 points off the last three and you've got post-war 60/-, 70/- and 80/-.

Those obviously aren't the wholesale price per hogshead. The tax per hogshead was more. They seem to have got stuck at pre-WW I prices. But what's that 90/- Sparkling Pale Ale about? It looks like it's probably the 60/- PA. Where did that term 90/- come from? It seems to be applied to bottled Pale Ales of 1038-1040º, but doesn't seem based on any former price like the 60/- to 80/-. I've seen labels or analyses of versions from several breweries.

Though the 120/- Strong Pale Ale looks like the 80/- from the brewing record. What was going on? Did they add an extra few bob for marketing reasons?

Usher's seem to be one of the few Scottish breweries that called one of their beers Scotch Ale both internally and in the Scottish market. You'll note that a couple were export versions for Belgium. At 809% 8-9%ABV, they look quite like the beers sold as Scotch Ale in Belgium today. Which I guess shouldn't be a surprise. The level of attenuation is a surprise - more than most of the Pale Ales. I'd have expected the opposite.

Finally the Stouts. Like Murray, they made two of quite different character. First, one of those half-fermented sugar bombs the Scots seem to have loved. I prefer something with more poke myself. The second, Export Stout, looks like a pre-WW I Stout. That's a very decent gravity for the 1920's. From what I can see this second, stronger type of Stout gradually died away in Scotland, just leaving the sweet one.

Next time it'll be Usher's beers in the 1320's. Just joking. 1930's.

Thomas Usher's beers in the 1920's
Year	Beer	Style	package	FG	OG	ABV	App. Atten-uation
1920	Mild Ale 90/-	Mild	draught	1016.5	1048	4.07	65.63%
1920	Mild Ale 80/-	Mild	draught	1013.5	1041	3.56	67.07%
1928	MA	Mild		1015.5	1040	3.24	61.25%
1929	90/- Mild Ale (carbonated)	Mild	bottled	1012	1042.5	3.95	71.76%
1920	PA 54/-	Pale Ale	draught	1010.5	1034	3.04	69.12%
1920	PA 60/-	Pale Ale	draught	1012.9	1040	3.51	67.75%
1920	PA 90/-	Pale Ale	draught	1016	1054	4.93	70.37%
1925	PA 60/-	Pale Ale	bottled	1006	1038	4.17	84.21%
1927	Pale Ale	Pale Ale	bottled	1007.3	1040.3	4.29	81.89%
1928	PA	Pale Ale		1013	1035	2.91	62.86%
1928	PA 60/-	Pale Ale		1013	1041	3.70	68.29%
1928	PA 80/-	Pale Ale		1015	1055	5.29	72.73%
1928	PA 70/-	Pale Ale		1014.5	1048	4.43	69.79%
1928	Pale Ale	Pale Ale	draught	1014	1040.8	3.46	65.69%
1928	Pale Ale	Pale Ale	bottled	1012	1040.5	3.69	70.37%
1928	70/- Ale	Pale Ale	draught	1014.5	1047	4.21	69.15%
1928	90/- Sparkling Pale Ale	Pale Ale	bottled	1009	1038	3.76	76.32%
1929	Pale Ale (carbonated)	Pale Ale	bottled	1012	1040	3.63	70.00%
1929	90/- Sparkling Pale Ale (natural condition)	Pale Ale	bottled	1009	1040.5	4.09	77.78%
1929	120/- Strong Pale Ale (carbonated)	Pale Ale	bottled	1013.3	1051.5	4.96	74.17%
1920	Old Scotch Ale	Scotch Ale	bottled	1026	1080.7	7.11	67.78%
1920	Old Scotch Ale	Scotch Ale	bottled	1008	1078	9.24	89.74%
1920	Old Scotch Ale	Scotch Ale	bottled	1022	1078	7.30	71.79%
1923	Old Scotch Ale (ex Brussels)	Scotch Ale	bottled	1016	1082	8.66	80.49%
1923	Old Scotch Ale (ex Brussels)	Scotch Ale	bottled	1017	1083	8.66	79.52%
1928	Old Scotch Ale	Scotch Ale		1026	1085	7.81	69.41%
1920	Stout	Stout	draught	1020.7	1048	3.52	56.87%
1920	Export Stout	Stout	bottled	1024.4	1067	5.51	63.58%
1928	Stout	Stout		1021.5	1045	3.11	52.22%
1929	Strong Old Scotch Ale (carbonated)	Strong Ale	bottled	1020	1085	8.51	76.47%
Sources:
Thomas Usher brewing record document TU/6/6 held at the Scottish Brewing Archive
Thomas Usher Gravity Book document TU/6/11 held at the Scottish Brewing Archive

The Scotch Brewing Trade in 1898

I love these little reports, glued together from official government figures. I wouldn't call them articles, as there's not really much in the way of original text. Though this one has a little more than usual.

"THE SCOTCH BREWING TRADE.
The gradual extinction of the small brewer in Scotland (writes a London correspondent) appears to have almost ceased. Only three have been absorbed or have disappeared in the past twelve months, and the total number of all kinds brewing for sale is only 139 (when the beer duty was introduced in 1880 there were 216 brewers), although there are 11,335 persons licensed to sell beer in Scotland. The average number to each brewery is therefore 82 licensed houses. It is a little singular that brewing for private purposes is confined to Ballater, Peterhead, and Inverness districts. In no other part of Scotland was a licence obtained for this purpose during the year. The number of this class, by the way, has decreased by one-third in two years. In Glasgow there are ten breweries to 2189 beer sellers. It seems strange that notwithstanding the increased consumption of beer there is not a much greater increase in the quantity of malt and prepared grain used than the returns for the brewing year show. Last year 31,000 quarters were worked up, against 30,000 two years earlier. One explanation is no doubt that in the interval an addition of 90 tons has been made to the quantity of sugar used. In the Edinburgh district, where 34 breweries are at work, while in the same period an additional 14,000 quarters of malt have been added to the consumption of the year, the use of sugar has increased to the extent of 650 tons, which is almost twice as much as was used in the whole of Scotland in the last year of the duty on malt. Then the total was 355 tons, now it is twelve times that quantity. Raw grain is only used in Edinburgh.

In Ireland there has been a slight increase in the number of brewers during the past few years, but the total for that country, 41, is small. In Dublin they number 8 to 1580 retailers of beer, and these eight between them used 530,000 qrs. of malt and 13 cwt. of sugar; this is an increase of 20,000 qr. and 5 cwt. of sugar in two year's. In Belfast and Londonderry the trade has decreased materially, but all other centres show an increase.

In England the homebrewed houses have been bought up in hundreds, and amalgamation has reduced the number of large factories very considerably. Even in London there has been a reduction of 18 per cent. in two years. Altogether 1288 breweries, 102 of which were large, have been shut up since 1896, and the total number in existence is now 7000, against 23,000 when the duty on beer was reimposed. With one exception there has been a reduction in the number of all classes up to that which includes those brewers who pay between £15,000 and £30,000 a year duty; the exception is the class which pays from £6000 to £9000 annually. Until last year Guinness and Bass, with a united output of 3.5 millions of barrels, had a class to themselves, but the amalgamation of three of the largest breweries in London has caused another to be added to the class, and these three manufactured five millions of barrels and paid a duty of over 1.5 millions between them. This is more than one-eighth of the duty paid in the United Kingdom."
Aberdeen Journal - Saturday 20 May 1899, page 7.

When talking of mergers, takeovers and closures in the brewing industry, the 1950's and 1960's come to mind. But something similar happened at the end of the 19th century, albeit on not such a dramatic scale. As you can see, there was a considerable decline in the number of Scottish breweries between 1880 and 1898 - 77 out of 216, or more than a third. With 34 breweries, Edinburgh was home to almost a quarter of the total.

82 pubs per brewery in Scotland. I wonder what the figure is now?

Let's take a look at Glasgow. 31,000 quarters of malt plus 90 tons of sugar, which is another 450 quarters. At about 4 barrels to a quarter, I make that around 125,000 barrels being brewed by Glasgow's 10 breweries. Not a huge amount. Especially when you consider Tennent's was a decent-sized brewery. Some of the other 9 must have been pretty small. Hang on. That's an increase of 90 tons. Bugger. They could have mentioned what that was an increase on.

I don't think the increase in the use of  sugar can be blamed for the small increase in brewing in Glasgow. 90 tons is only enough to brew 1,800 barrels.

Those Edinburgh figures which only give the increase in malt usage aren't very helpful. All I can say is that 14,000 quarters is the equivalent of about 56,000 barrels.

Private brewing had never been as big in Scotland as in England. By the late 19th century it was concentrated in just a few districts of the Highlands. It wouldn't be long before it died out completely.

Let's give Dublin a quick mention. As the average gravity was higher in Ireland, those 530,000 quarters probably represent a bit less than 2 million barrels, about 1,850,000. Obviously a large proportion of that was Guinness, who brewed over 1 million barrels a year.

The big fall in breweries in England - down from 23,000 in 1880 to just 7,000 - is explained by, as the article says, the closure of thousands of homebrew pubs. Many presumably were purchased by other brewers to be part of their tied house estate. The 1890's is when English brewers went on a pub buying spree.

The new London giant was Watney, Combe, Reid. A name that was still knocking around in my youth. The Combe and Reid breweries closed pretty much immediately and production was concentrated in Watney's Stag Brewery, between Victoria Station and Buckingham Palace.

Total beer production was about 35 million standard barrels in 1898*. Meaning the big three - Bass, Guinness and Watney, Combe, Reid - accounted for about 14%. This concentration of output in a few large concerns would only become more extreme in the 20th century.




* Manchester Evening News - Thursday 28 November 1901, page 3.

Electronic Yule Logs

The title says it all: in addition to the gas-powered version, I've also created an electric version.  It has just as few words as the other version, just much less paper.

You may have noticed that there's no title on the cover. It's on the back cover of the paper version. No back cover on this so no title anywhere. You'll just have to remember what it is.

But "Yule Logs" now!

The people have spoken

 
  Despite there still being two days left to vote, the will of the people (or at least the 33 opeople who voted) is clear. They want the three volumes (so far) of my Mega Book Series.

I wonder if anyone owns all three yet? If you don't, this could be your big chance. For the rest of December, all three will be discounted by 20%. Except "Bitter!" which will be discounted by 10%. And "Mild!", where there's 15% off.*


Scotland got quite a few votes. Bit problematic that one. It has so many pages the new revision won't fit in a single volume. I still haven't worked out what to do about that.

Any guesses what image the three covers form when lined up?



* The printed versions.

William Murray's beers in the 1940's and 1950's

Now the end is near and we face the final curtain. Yes, you'll be glad to hear this is the last part of my series on the beers of William Murray.

I'll work through the styles in alphabetical order. It's as good a method as any. So we'll be starrting with Brown Ale. Do you remember me saying, many years ago, what a diverse bunch Brown Ales were? Here's proof. Both are way too strong, even the one at 1037º. In the late 1940's a typical Brown Ale would have been around 1030º.  The stronger one, well, it's got me wondering whether I typed it in wrongly. That's very strong for just about any style in 1950.

There's something else about the Brown Ales worth mentioning: the colour.  Those values, if my conversion is correct, are around 50 EBC. At the dark end of the spectrum for a Brown Ale.

Don't you just love the random use of shilling designations for the Pale Ales. There are 60/-, 70/- and 105/- examples with very similar gravities around 1030º. That's about right for an Ordinary Bitter in the 1940's. The ones from 1940 and 1946 are probably the same beer. The difference in gravity being the effect of WW II.

What really draws my attention, though, are those ones with Export in the name. They look very much like, er, Export. The modern 80/- type thing. I'm becoming convinced that the term, at least the way it's used in style nazi fiction, is a post-war phenomenon.

Those two Stouts are very different in style. The Export Stout looks like a pre-WW I Stout. Perhaps it was genuinely brewed for export. The high degree of attenuation is very unlike most post-war Scottish Stouts. The colour, 350, is pretty much opaque black.

The weak , sweet one looks more typical. Interesting that it has a higher FG than the Export Stout, despite having a much lower OG. 175 is on the pale side for a Stout. Just about enough to be in Stout territory.

Finally the Strong Ales, or as the brewery called them, Heavy Ales. Funny, isn't it, that although Export was being used in the modern sense around 1950, Heavy wasn't. Clearly it's still being used as a synonym for "strong". The gravity is very decent for the immediate post-war period. Many Strong Ales were under 1050º.

Obviously these beers don't necessarily include the whole of Murray's range, but there is one obvious omission: any sort of Mild Ale. The style seems to have been dead as a doornail pretty much by the time WW II rolled around. So a good 50 years before it suffered the same fate in most of England.

William Murray beers in the 1940's and 1950's
Year	Beer	Style	Price	size	package	FG	OG	colour	ABV	App. Atten-uation
1949	Brown Ale	Brown Ale	1/-	pint	bottled	1010	1037.8	18 + 40	3.60	73.54%
1950	Brown Ale	Brown Ale	1/-	half pint	bottled	1013.4	1057.1	11 + 40	5.69	76.53%
1940	Pale Ale	Pale Ale		pint	bottled	1005.75	1036.25		3.97	84.14%
1946	60/- Ale	Pale Ale		pint	bottled	1007	1028.5		2.79	75.44%
1947	105/- Ale	Pale Ale	15d	pint	bottled	1004.5	1032		3.58	85.94%
1947	70/- Ale	Pale Ale	15d	pint	bottled	1006.5	1032.5		3.38	80.00%
1947	Pale Ale	Pale Ale		pint	bottled	1009.5	1031		2.78	69.35%
1949	PA 60/-	Pale Ale		pint	bottled	1006	1030		3.12	80.00%
1949	Pale Ale	Pale Ale		half pint	bottled	1010.5	1029.5		2.45	64.41%
1949	Strong Pale Ale Export	Pale Ale		pint	bottled	1010.5	1038.5		3.63	72.73%
1954	Export Ale	Pale Ale			bottled	1016	1044	23	3.62	63.64%
1955	Export Ale	Pale Ale	1/3d	half pint	bottled	1010.7	1044.5	25	4.39	75.96%
1959	"Wee Murray" Pale Ale	Pale Ale	10d	half pint	bottled	1011.2	1032.7	30	2.69	65.75%
1955	Export Stout	Stout	1/3d	nip	bottled	1015.8	1064.6	350	6.36	75.54%
1959	Extra Sweet Stout	Stout	14d	halfpint	bottled	1018.3	1039.6	175	2.74	53.79%
1947	Heavy Ale	Strong Ale		pint	bottled	1017.25	1066.25		6.38	73.96%
1955	Heavy Ale	Strong Ale	1/3d	nip	bottled	1021	1071.7	105	6.59	70.71%
Sources:
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/002
Thomas Usher Gravity Book document TU/6/11 held at the Scottish Brewing Archive

Hawking carters

I told you I'd be getting back to this subject. Carters illegally selling beer from their carts

Britain's licensing laws have long been arcane and often, frankly, ridiculous. The delivery of alcohol in particular caused the authorities many headaches over the years.

The text below is a report of the proceedings of the licensing authorities in Falkirk. At the time, much bottling wasn't done by the brewery itself, but by third parties. In Falkirk these independent bottlers held public house licences, allowing them to sell all types of alcohol for both on- and off-premises consumption. It's slightly odd that they had such licences, given that they disn't actually have anywhere for on consumption. But which licence would make most sense? The other options were a grocer's licence, I suppose the equivalent of a normal off-licence, and an excise licence, which allowed the wholesaling of liquor.

The local head of the police was in favour of grocer's licences. Let's listen to him argue his case:

"BOTTLERS' LICENCES - REPORT BY THE SUPERINTENDENT OF POLICE.
The Clerk read the following report by Mr Gordon, superintendent of police: - "I have the honour to bring under your notice what appears to me to be a hitherto unnoticed irregularity in the licensing system of this burgh, viz., the granting of public-house certificates to our brewery and bottling establishments. Under the certificates presently held by them, the occupiers of these places could conduct an ordinary, public-house business, by selling porter and ales to all and sundry, to be consumed on the premises, although, to their credit be it said, I never heard of anything of the kind being done, in Falkirk. To have the matter put on a proper and satisfactory footing, I would respectfully suggest that an "off," or "grocer's certificate," be substituted for that of a "public-house certificate." Section 11. of the Public-Houses Acts Amendment (Scotland) Act, 1862, authorises your Honours to make that change if you think fit, and I have thought it proper to write the parties concerned that I am to oppose a renewal of their "public-house certificates." and have asked, them to attend the Licensing Court in their own interests. The only difficulty I have in recommending that a grocer's certificate be granted; is, that it leaves untouched the serious question of the hawking of spirituous liquors by bottlers' carts and grocers' vans, in regard to which, special complaint has been made to me by representative members of the trade. I am not a believer in the application of drastic measures without due warning being given, but I would respectfully suggest - if you think fit to grant grocers' certificates - that it should be made perfectly plain to the respective certificate-holders that if the practice of hawking is to be carried on to the same extent in the future as in the past, the only effective remedy - the withdrawal of all these certificates - will have to be considered. I have just received from the Chief Constable a most serious complaint against a Falkirk bottler openly selling beer to drunken men at Plean on Friday last. The driver of the cart was drunk himself, and after the posse of drunk men were served, he commenced to hawk bottles of beer from door to door. Provost Weir happened to be with the Chief Constable at the time, and witnessed what took place. It appears from inquiries which the Chief Constable has made, a constable had only a very short time before left the village, so that they thought they had the coast clear. I think it my duty to state that my remarks as to hawking have no reference whatever to Mr Aitken, of the Brewery." Continuing, Mr Gordon said he would like to supplement his report by making a few remarks, and giving some information which would prove to them the great need that existed for dealing in some way or other with the extensive hawking which prevailed from bottlers' carts and grocers' vans, and to show that during the past licensing year the police had not been inattentive to their duties in regard to the matter. They had been doing their very best to check the evil, but they had to contend against great difficulties. The people amongst whom the beer was hawked banded themselves together not to give the police any information, and it was only by a side wind that they heard of breaches of the law. Notwithstanding the great difficulty the police had in bringing those case before the Court, they had during the year dealt with eight cases for hawking liquor. Before he mentioned those cases he would say that no one was to suppose that the parties whose names he would read out were greater sinners than others in Falkirk and district, as he did not know of a single bottler or grocer who had a van or vans on the road who had not been in similar trouble at one time or another, either through their men hawking whisky or beer. This question of hawking had indeed assumed considerable dimensions, and it was one of the chief evils they had amongst them at present. Continuing, Mr Gordon referred individually to the eight cases in which proceedings had been taken for hawking liquor.

. . . . .

Mr Gordon (continuing) said he might mention that one of the bottlers (Mr Barr, Falkirk) had dismissed two of his carters when he found out that they were hawking liquor. There were three courses open to their Honours in this matter. They were quite entitled, if they thought fit, to grant the licences at present held by the bottlers, with or without any comment: they could substitute for their present public-house licence a grocer's certificate : or they could take away their licences altogether, and let them obtain an excise licence. The latter method would stop the evil of hawking entirely, as they would not be entitled to sell less than 4.5 gallons to any person, or four gallons in bottles. This was, however, rather a drastic measure to take, considering that so short notice had been given to the bottlers. He therefore thought it was better that they should take the middle course, and substitute a grocer's certificate for the present licence. They ought to keep in mind, how ever, that they were not getting rid of the evil : they were only providing against the bottlers selling for consumption on the premises, which had never been done to his knowledge. He however, would make it very plain to the bottlers that these grocers' certificates were liable to be taken from them, provided that their Honours think that hawking has not ceased, or almost so. There would always be hawking, no matter how strict the regulations, but it would be possible for the bottlers to meet and arrange amongst themselves some line of action . They ought to see that their men were not paid a commisssion on the sale of liquor. It would be an improvement if that commission were withdrawn, and if they were paid a higher commission on the sale of aerated waters. If the carters got a commission on the sale of beer, their bread and butter, as it were, depended on how much they sold, and they had no inducement to keep within the requirements of the law. Then there were wheels within wheels in this business. Those carters undersold the licensed dealers, and carried the liquor under the noses of those who hold licences. The bottlers should arrange on a standard price, under which no man would sell, or he would be called a "black leg" in the trade. When that was done, the chief cause of hawking would be done away with, as no-one would pass the door of a regular spirit dealer when he could get beer at the same price from him as from the carters."
Falkirk Herald - Wednesday 12 April 1899, pages 4 - 5.

The problem, it seems, lay with the way the carters were paid. They were paid a commission on the beer they sold. Hawking it door to door was an obvious way of increasing sales and hence their earnings.

I can't help thinking that the incident where the Superintendent and the Provost was a carter selling beer to drunks had led him to make his proposal. Sucking up to the Provost or genuine concern? Make up your own mind.

Yuletide cheer

Not really. just me pushing another book.

Just back from the pub and, you know, I really fancy a Bowmore to round off the night.

It's my new sort of christmas book. One with a shit christmas pun in its name.

I'd explain that, frankly, crap joke and the contents of the book. If QI weren't on, I weren't so lazy and Andrew wasn't so radged.

Buy it if you feel so inclined.

Thieving schoolboys

I stumbled on this while searching for information on a particularly obscure brewery, Mackie of St. Monance. I thought it might amuse and perhaps inspire some of the more rapidly right-wing amongst you.

"Theft of Ale. —At the Burgh Court of Pittenweem on Saturday — Provost Henderson and Bailie Christie on the bench — five fisher youths, only the first having reached the age of thirteen, to wit, the brothers Robert and George Anderson, Alexander Parker, David Duncan, and Thomas Mather, were charged with theft, in as far as that they stole a dozen bottles of ale from a box left in the recess near the old toll on Wednesday, the 10th inst. It appears that the ale had been so left till the return from St Monance of the Anstruther Brewery cart, when the opportunity had been taken by the schoolboys to pilfer the bottles and secret them in some ruins near Colin Fowler's Close, when an accident discovered the trick to P.C. Reith. The child Mather, being only eight, was not placed at the bar, but he, like the others, confessed his guilt. He was suitably admonished by the Provost, but the others were each fined in 2s 6d, or three days in jail, with a pointed warning that in the event of a second conviction they would get so many strokes with the lash."
Dundee Courier - Friday 26 February 1886, page 3.

The brewery cart seems to have been a particularly Scottish institution. It was used to deliver beer to customers in villages a distance from the brewery.  There seem to have been misuses of the system, with the carters illegally hawking beer while on their rounds. This was forbidden. The ywere only legally allowed to deliver beer that had been previously ordered, not to retail it from their carts. I'll be returning to this soon.

Note that there's nothing about the boys being underage. That because - with regards to the court and the drinking of alcohol - they weren't underage. Twelve year olds were still allowed to drink in the pub un the 1880's. It was a simpler and happier time. Obviously apart from the poverty, disease and squalour.

Three days in jail does seem a little harsh. I wonder if their parents paid the fine or let them get banged up? I guess we'll never know. Still preferable to the lash, I suppose.

What's the difference between Porter and Pils?

I know that Porter is usally darker than Pils, but both have that beery smell and leave a bitter taste in your mouth. Someone said the difference was that Porter had burnt malt and Pils bruised malt. Is that right? It sounds odd to me. Why would you burn malt?

A bloke at the bus stop with a crutch and four carrier bags full of tennis balls said Pils was first brewed by monks. In Tibet, I think it was. Or Germania. Somewhere in Africa. I don't get that. Don't monks swear an oath of illiteracy or something? I thought that meant they couldn't drink.

My barber told me that Porter was named after Cole Porter, the famous Latin-American songwriter. Lambada, that was one of his. He was drinking in a pub in Whitechapel and the landlord joked that, as his name was Cole, he should be drinking black beer. Cole spotted the potential and, pretending to need a wazz, went to Samuel Thrale's brewery next door and paid him to brew a black beer. An instant success, Cole trademarked the name, making so much money he never had to waste his time writing songs again.

Pils, that biker who came and sat next to me at the smelly table by the toilets said, was first brewed by Conrad Pils, another monk who'd been kicked out his monastary in Batavia after having a few too many beers.

He was born Conrad Piss, but they made him change one S into another letter when he became a monk. It was a strict order and they considered double letters the work of the devil. Pils chose an L because it reminded him of Lucifer, the devil he was trying to drive from his mind.

He kept the dregs of his last beer as a souvenir and took it with him to Bahamia, where he was having a winter break in the sun. On a tour of the local brewery he was so hot, he took out his handkerchief to wipe the sweat from his face. The hanky fell from his hand and into the vat of fermenting beer. Being an honest man, he told his hosts and offered to buy the vat of beer.

The brewer accepted the deal and a week later, 10 barrels were delivered to Pils's hotel. He wasn't a big drinker himself, so he invited the other guest to help him finish it off. They loved it and within a few hours it was all gone. "More Pils beer!" they shouted, "More Pils.!" Just as well I changed my name, Pils thought.

Pils made sure to leave dregs in the last barrel and took it back to the brewery. He told them of the reaction to his new "Pils beer", brewed with the brown grot on his hanky. The brewer wanted to throw him out as a lunatic, but, when Pils offered to pay for a test brew from his own pocket, he agreed to make it.

The brewer was amazed when he tasted the beer. "I'll make a fortune out of this. The punters will go crazy." "We'll make a fortune, don't you mean?" Pils said. "I've the dregs now. I don't need you anymore. Pils off."

Pils was desolate, but made one last plea: "Keep the money. I just ask one thing. Call it Pils beer."

And that's how Pils was invented. I think I got that just about right. I could have got a few bits wrong. I was pissed when they explained it to me.

What's the difference between Porter and pils? Turns out one is brewed from coal and the other from piss. You learn something new every day.

Next time. The difference between Stout and Parsnip.

X Ale grists in the 1880's

It's now time to take a look at the grists from the 1880's X Ales. Dead exciting, I know. But try not to get too enthusiastic. There are a few more instalments in this series still to come.

The grists are beginning to get a bit more exciting, but not much. With one exception: Fullers X and XX. Which use amber malt as a base. That could be a tricky one to recreate, distatic amber not being the easiest malt to lay your hands on. That aside, the brown malt in the one Barclay Perkins X Ale is the only malt other than pale malt in the London Milds. The majority are just pale malt and sugar.

Half of the provincial X Ales, those from Tetley and William Younger, have the simplest grist of all: 100% pale malt. The beers from Usher and Hodgson both contain a smidgen of black malt, presumably as colouring. The Usher beer also has some high-dried malt., whatever that means. It's such a vague term - apparently covering everything from slightly darker pale malt through to almost brown malt. I'll leave you to guess which end of the spectrum this malt lies at.

I'd expected the sugar content in London Milds. All but one Barclay Perkins X Ale contain some. In the 15-20% range that you would expect. But where are the adjuncts? Not a single beer has any maize or rice. I'm surprised.

The provincial brewers seem to have been less keen on sugar. Truman's Burton brewery used a little. Only Hodgson used an amount similar to the London brewers. What they did use though was a bit of black malt. A couple of them. I've seen odd examples very small quantities used in X Ales from the first half of the 19th century. It got more common towards the end of the century, but was still by no means universal.

Unfortunately, in many cases the brewing records don't specify the type of sugar. Is it No. 1 invert or No. 3 invert? Or is it something completely different? No idea is the only answer I can give you. I'd need to go rummaging through their purchase records or stock books (if they still exist) to work that out.

Next time it'll be 1900 or so. At least that's the plan. But you know me. My plans are elastic.

London X Ale grists in the 1880's
Date	Year	Brewer	Beer	Style	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	lbs hops/ qtr	hops lb/brl	pale malt	brown malt	amber malt	no. 1 sugar	no. 3 sugar	Other sugar
4th May	1886	Barclay Perkins	X	Mild	1055.0	1010.0	5.96	81.87%	6.42	1.61	81.82%				18.18%
24th Jun	1886	Barclay Perkins	X	Mild	1064.0	1015.0	6.49	76.63%	8.00	1.97	72.57%	27.43%
3rd May	1887	Barclay Perkins	XX	Mild	1078.0	1024.9	7.02	68.04%	16.00	5.85	85.71%			14.29%
19th Oct	1886	Whitbread	X	Mild	1061.2	1015.8	6.01	74.21%	9.11	2.38	91.40%					8.60%
12th Nov	1885	Whitbread	XL	Mild	1071.2	1020.8	6.67	70.82%	8.13	2.48	92.31%			7.69%
19th May	1886	Truman	X Ale	Mild	1052.6				8.0	1.88	86.30%					13.70%
19th May	1886	Truman	X Ale	Mild	1058.7				8.0	2.09	86.30%					13.70%
23rd Apr	1887	Fuller	X	Mild	1054.6	1020.5	4.51	62.44%	6.64	1.63			78.75%			21.25%
23rd Apr	1887	Fuller	XX	Mild	1064.8	1023.3	5.50	64.10%	6.64	1.93			78.75%			21.25%
Sources:
Whitbread brewing records held at the London Metropolitan Archives document numbers LMA/4453/D/01/051 and LMA/4453/D/01/052.
Barclay Perkins brewing record held at the London Metropolitan Archives document number ACC/2305/1/584.
Truman brewing record held at the London Metropolitan Archives document number B/THB/C/166.

Provincial X Ale grists in the 1880's
Date	Year	Brewer	Beer	Style	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	lbs hops/ qtr	hops lb/brl	pale malt	black malt	sugar	high dried malt
11th May	1888	Tetley	X	Mild	1046.0	1016.1	3.96	65.06%	4.31	0.69	100.00%
11th May	1888	Tetley	X1	Mild	1053.7	1016.6	4.91	69.07%	5.31	1.02	100.00%
14th May	1888	Tetley	X2	Mild	1063.2	1016.6	6.16	73.68%	8.40	2.02	100.00%
13th Jun	1888	Tetley	X3	Mild	1071.2	1016.1	7.29	77.43%	12.00	3.57	100.00%
22nd May	1885	William Younger	X	Mild	1048	1009	5.16	81.25%	5.29	0.99	100.00%
24th May	1885	William Younger	XX	Mild	1056	1012	5.82	78.57%	6.19	1.53	100.00%
1st June	1885	William Younger	XXX	Mild	1065	1021	5.82	67.69%	6.67	1.86	100.00%
9th Jan	1885	Thomas Usher	X	Mild	1050	1013	4.89	74.00%	9.00	2.00	94.55%	0.47%		4.98%
18th Jan	1887	Truman (Burton)	A	Mild	1052.1	1012.2	5.28	76.60%	7.19	1.40	95.74%		4.26%
18th Jan	1887	Truman (Burton)	8	Mild	1054.0	1013.9	5.31	74.36%	7.19	1.45	95.74%		4.26%
8th Feb	1887	Truman (Burton)	7	Mild	1061.2	1016.6	5.90	72.85%	5.90	1.46	94.74%		5.26%
19th Jan	1887	Truman (Burton)	6	Mild	1066.5	1019.9	6.16	70.00%	6.64	1.95	89.55%		10.45%
8th Jan	1886	Hodgson	XX	Mild	1063.71				5.23	1.32	81.13%	0.44%	18.44%
Sources:
Tetley brewing record held at the West Yorkshire Archive Service, Leeds document number WYL756/44/ACC1903
William Younger brewing record held at the Scottish Brewing Archive document number WY/6/1/2/31
Thomas Usher brewing record held at the Scottish Brewing Archive document number TU/6/1/1.
Truman brewing record held at the London Metropolitan Archives document number B/THB/BUR/11.
Hodgson brewing record held at the London Metropolitan Archives document number ACC/2305/08/253.

You decide

It's that special time of year. When the nights are long, children greedily expectant and I try to persuade you that my books make the perfect present.

As my contribution to christmas cheer, I'll be slashing* the price of many of my books for the month of December**.

Interactivity is a buzzword nowadays. Words and buzzing are two things I know a little about. (I served 6 months as an apprentice bee in the 1970's and can talk in sentences of more than two words. Yes. I can.) Interactivity. I decided to indulge in a little. By letting you decide which items in my oevre I'll flog cheap this year. What could be fairer than that?

You tell me which books you'd like to see discounted and I'll adjust the prices accordingly***.

You're allowed multiple votes. As they say in Kazakhstan, vote early, vote often!











* As in the sense of "slightly reducing".

** Except for the ones whose price I increase.

*** I'll discount the least popular ones.