Boring Drybrough

Not that they’re unique in that. Most Scottish breweries had dull product ranges. Just two recipes, one for Pale Ales and Strong Ale, another for Stout. Drybrough didn’t even brew a Stout.

Back in 1934, they only brewed four beers: three Pale Ales, 54/-, 60/- and 80/-; and Burns Ale, a Strong Ale. Though 85% of what they brewed was 60/-. I don’t think I’ve ever come across a brewery where one beer dominated quite that much.

Though having done a quick newspaper search, I’m wondering whether it was all sold as 60/-. Because I’ve found adverts from the 1950’s for something called Nourishing Stout. But there’s no Stout in the brewing records. So they must have been using some sort of primings to transform one of their Pale Ales into Stout.

Just checked something else. My mega table of beer analyses. And guess what I found? Drybrough Nourishing Stout from the 1930’s. Two examples. One with an OG of 1033, the other 1031. Meaning there’s only one beer they could have been fiddling with: 54/-. All the others had a higher OG.

Their grists are fairly typical of the mid-20th century: pale malt, flaked maize and sugar. With a tiny hint of black malt and enzymic malt. The same recipe for all the Pale Ales, 54/-, 60/- and 80/-. While the sugar is slightly different for Burns. The hops were all English for most beers, though later it was always a mix of Oregon and English.

I wouldn’t like to guess what colour any of these beers were. I know from the monthly ingredients summaries that they used caramel, though it doesn’t appear in any of the logs. Like most Scottish brewers, I suspect they coloured their beers to several different shades.

All the beers listed below were brewed with another Edinburgh brewer, Bernard's, yeast. Using yeast from another brewery was pretty common in Edinburgh. It makes me wonder whether the breweries really had their own proprietary strains, given how often they swapped yeast with each other.

I’m going to leave you with some tables. First, one showing the predominance of 60/-:

Drybrough output January 1934
	OG	bulk barrels	bulk gallons	%
54/-	1029	123.36	4,441	10.93%
60/-	1035	958.56	34,508	84.96%
80/-	1049	25.39	914	2.25%
Burns	1080	4.53	163	0.40%
primings	1140	16.36	589	1.45%
total		1,128.19
Source:
Drybrough brewing record held at the Scottish Brewin Archive, document number D/6/1/1/4

Using that, I was able to calculate the average OG of all they brewed: 1036.4. Which is well below the average for the UK in 1934, which was 1040.99*.

Now the full details of the beers:

Drybrough beers in 1934
Beer	Style	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	lbs hops/ qtr	hops lb/brl	boil time (hours)	Pitch temp	max. fermen-tation temp	length of fermen-tation (days)
54/-	Pale Ale	1029.0	1012.0	2.25	58.62%	4.91	0.58	2	60º	65º	5
60/-	Pale Ale	1035.0	1013.0	2.91	62.86%	5.26	0.75	2	62.5º	67.5º	6
80/-	Pale Ale	1049.0	1015.0	4.50	69.39%	5.26	1.06	2	62.5º	68.5º	7
Burns	Strong Ale	1084.0	1033.0	6.75	60.71%	5.99	2.49	3.5	57.5º	67º	7
Source:
Drybrough brewing record held at the Scottish Brewin Archive, document number D/6/1/1/4

Drybrough grists in 1934
Beer	Style	OG	pale malt	black malt	enzymic malt	flaked maize	Fison	Avona	Invert	Candy sugar	malt extract	hops
54/-	Pale Ale	1029.0	72.02%	0.80%	1.80%	14.40%	2.06%	5.49%	2.74%		0.69%	English
60/-	Pale Ale	1035.0	72.18%	0.39%	1.91%	15.31%	2.19%	4.37%	2.92%		0.73%	English
80/-	Pale Ale	1049.0	72.18%	0.39%	1.91%	15.31%	2.19%	4.37%	2.92%		0.73%	English
Burns	Strong Ale	1084.0	74.55%	1.45%		12.85%		6.86%		3.43%	0.86%	Oregon and English
Source:
Drybrough brewing record held at the Scottish Brewin Archive, document number D/6/1/1/4

* Brewers' Almanack 1955, p. 50.

Mr. Offiler’s special friends

We’re back at Offilers. Looking at F H Offiler's unusual relationship with some of his tenants.

Running Offilers, it seems,  did have some perks:

“I soon realised, by direct observation and received hints and nudges, that the development of the chain of small hotels coincided with F H Offiler's acquisition of lady friends, past and present, who were installed to run them; it occurred to me that it was a neat way of combining business with pleasure. I must say such a situation was not uncommon in the brewery trade, but I had never before found it so extensive and open. It was common knowledge in the trade and was accepted as a means of promotion within the brewery. With some degree of regret, it might be said, we had to bring this novel way of running a brewery estate to a speedy end. On the positive side, the acquisition by H C Ofiller of large houses standing in their own grounds, and their conversion into licensed premises, around the fringes of Derby, was fortuitously good forward planning, as relentless urban expansion made them prosper.”
"The Brewing Industry 1950 - 1990", by Anthony Avis, 1997, page 80.

Who would have thought it? Brewery owners buying hotels for their mistresses. Though it sounds like it worked out well for the brewery as well as Mr. Offiler.

If this sort of thing wasn’t uncommon, it makes me wonder when it died out. Or if it still continues today amongst smaller breweries that retain a tied estate.

I think I’ve found an example of a hotel built for one of Mr. Offiler’s special friends.

“LICENCE TRANSFER GRANTED
New Inn To Be Built at Wirksworth
An application for the removal of the licence of the William IV Inn, The Dale, Wirksworth, to premises to be erected off Derby Road, near the Recreation Ground, was heard by Wirksworth Justices at the Annual Licensing Sessions on Tuesday. The application was made by the licensee, Mrs. Mabel Mary Brewell.

Mr. F. W. Barnett, who appeared for Mrs Brewell and the owners. Messrs Offilers Brewery Co., said that the new premises would be known as King's Field Hotel, and would be erected at the corner of Derby Road and Millers Lane. The house in The Dale was an old-established one, and Mrs. Brewell had been there for twelve years. The local Council intended to use Derby Road as a residential area, and in due course most of The Dale, where there had been serious complaints regarding nuisances from various quarries, would be moved to the Derby Road area. Considerable development had already taken place in the neighbourhood, and around the cricket ground the Town Planning Authority had scheduled a further area for residential purposes to accommodate up to 300 houses in the next ten years.

William John Farmer, architect, gave details of the plans, and stated that specially built large picture windows were incorporated in the public rooms to allow customers to see the very pleasant views. The nearest licensed premises were the Wheatsheaf Hotel, which was over 800 yards away, and there were 630 houses within half-a-mile radius.

In reply to the Chairman (Mr. K D. Wheatcroft), Mr. Farmer said that if the plans went through automatically, the building would be completed within twelve months. Mr. Walter Haynes opposed the application on behalf of the Wirksworth and District Free Church Federal Council. He handed in a signed statement from the Council to the effect that the Free Churches wished to register a vigorous protest against the proposed transfer of the licence of a redundant public house to a site adjoining the new housing estate. There were nine public houses — apart from the William IV — within 200 or 300 yards of the Town Hall, and the Wheatsheaf Inn was within several hundred yards of the new housing site, so that there were ample facilities to meet all requirements. Such a transfer would tend to impair rather than enhance the dignity of the Derby Road housing estate.

There was no other opposition, and the Bench granted the transfer, the Chairman intimating that they hoped the new house would be built as quickly as possible.”
Belper News - Friday 11 February 1955, page 16.

Trading in an existing licence was often the only way a brewery could get a new licence. Sometimes they had to surrender more than one. It made sense for a brewery, especially if they had a large concentration of small pubs in one location. This case  was slightly different. They were moving the licence from another part of the same town. Presumably because there were a lot of pubs nearby and the population was about to be moved.

Typical that some religious nutters objected. They’re always at the front of the queue when it comes to stopping people having fun.

I’ll leave you with some of Offilers’ beers:

Offilers beers 1950 - 1961
Year	Beer	Style	Price	size	package	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	colour
1950	Mild Ale	Mild	1/1d	pint	draught	1031.2	1004.7	3.45	84.94%	40 + 8
1953	Nourishing Stout	Stout	1/3d	half	bottled	1037.7	1017.3	2.63	54.11%	1 + 14
1955	Nut Brown	Brown Ale	9.5d	half	bottled	1034.6	1010.1	3.17	70.81%	75
1959	Nourishing Stout	Stout	14d	half	bottled	1035.9	1015	2.69	58.22%	275
1961	Derby Strong	Strong Ale	17d	half	bottled	1045.4	1013.6	3.98	70.04%	75
Source:
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/002.

Random Dutch (beers part twenty-six)

The weekend is going well. Got loads of writing done yesterday and a had a nice long kip.

Back with more Dutch beer sketches. We've been running a bit short of dosh before I get paid next week. Good news for Dolores, as I've been working my way through the beer pile behind me. Which is where I found Honey Blonde.

Two Sisters really is run by two sisters. Fairly young ones, if the photos on their website are to be believed. The beer is brewed at De Fontein in Stein.

The Sisters Honey Blonde 7.9% ABV
Another pale golden job. Smells a bit perfumy. Does actually taste of hyoney, which is dead unusual in a honey beer. I'm not really getting the star anise. A slightly discordant buitterness at the end, like an unexpected car horn when you're halfway across a zebra crossing. It's another drinker.

I'm getting much more dilligent with label collection. No piles of bottles awaiting label removal on the floor. It's turning into a show home here. I keep telling Dolores that, but she just makes a funny snorting noise.

Now another spring seasonal, from one of the largest new Dutch breweries, Jopen.

Jopen Lentebier 7% ABV (€1.60 for 30 cl.)
A cloiudy yellow color. The aroma reminds me of elderflowers for some reason. There some malt sweetness way in the background, but this is mostly about hops. Quite bitter ones. Which makes it very different from the other spring beers, which were far sweeter. It says US hops, but I don'r get any of the usual citrus shit.

Just been thinking. I'm a lucky git. I got:

school milk
nit nurse
grammar school
free University
decent dole
cheap housing in London (squat)
retraining course
a job with a fully-licensed bar
meeting Dolores
moving to the US
freedom of movement in the EU
affordable Amsterdam house prices
decent dole
living close to Ton Overmars
decent dole
not dying . . . yet

Feeling a bit sorry for the kids. None of those apply for them*. On the upside, things were great for me.

They need to harden up. I endured the horrors of just two monochrome TV channels, regular power cuts, potato shortages, inflation, the threat of nuclear apocalypse and Anne Diamond. What's the worst in their lives?






* Except for living close to Ton Overmars.



The Sisters Brewery
Stationsweg 57
3621LK Breukelen
Tel: +31 (6) 81234221
http://thesistersbrewery.com

Historic Williamsburg day two

I meet Paul and Jamie at eight for breakfast. Martyn Cornell joins us.

Yesterday my breakfast arrived pretty sharpish. But it’s more crowded today. We have a bit of a wait. Other than Martyn, who’s just having  muffin. While I insist on a full set of fried stuff when on holiday. We’re not finished until after the first presentation has started. Which isn’t great.

It was a shame we miss the start of Travis Rupp’s presentation about brewing in ancient Greece. But at least our bellies are filled with grease. It’s a topic I know bugger all about. I knew they had a word for beer, but I’d always thought of the ancient Greeks as wine drinkers. I mean, Homer doesn’t go on about the ale-dark sea, does he?

Stan Hieronymus is up next. With look at indigenous beer and whether there is such a thing in the US. I think you can argue both ways. On the one hand, American styles are clearly derived from a couple of European brewing traditions. On the other, there are beers unlike anything brewed anywhere else. Things like Swankey and Steam Beer.

After a quick coffee, Karen Fortmann of White Labs analyses the family tree of yeast. It’s at times like these when I realise how narrow my beer knowledge is. That’s what it is, beer knowledge. I know bugger all about hops, yeast or even malting. And, being realistic, I’m never going to be an expert in those subjects.

We break for lunch at noon and a bunch of us head over to DoG Street Pub again. But it’s already crowded with conference guests. So we try next door at Trellis instead. We’re quite a large group, but just about manage to squeeze in.

It’s not a beer specialist place by any means. But they still have 7 decent draught beers, including the Vienna Lager from Devil’s Backbone, which is a cracking beer. Though I go for something IPA-ey instead. And a sarnie.

We continues after lunch with a talk from Fredrik Ruis from The Netherlands about the history of brewing with hops. He has some fascinating maps showing where evidence of  hops was found in archaeological sites. It’s a surprise to me that a lot of the early finds were along the Baltic and North Sea coasts.

He has an interesting new theory about the nature of gruit. That it wasn’t just a blend of herbs but also contained some sort of concentrated wort syrup. I’m not totally convinced, but it isn’t something I’ve investigated at any depth.

Next I’m up. Doing my narrating bit for Andrea Stanley of Valley Malt and John Mallett of Bells. Frank Clark, the conference organiser, gives me a funny look as I edge my way towards the podium. I guess they haven’t told him I’m taking part as well.

The talk, called Maltster-piece Theatre, is really a play. Andrea and John, both in costume, play two female brewers and maltsters, one from England and one from the American colonies. A very clever piece, it uses quotes from original sources and mixes historical fact with humour. It’s a big hit.

Frank tells me later that he thought I’d gone crazy and had forgotten that my talk is tomorrow.

The day ends with former Guinness man Ed Bourke talking about the history of brewing in Ireland. Obviously, with a fair emphasis on Guinness. He makes some interesting points about the colour of Guinness in the late 18th century. They must have been getting some colour from something other than malt. He speculates that it could have been from charred barrels.

Looking at the grist, he has a point. A Stout grist for 1796 is 30% brown malt, 70% pale. That’s not going to yield a very dark wort. Where were they getting colour from? I can’t see how charred barrels will do the job. The beer wouldn’t be long enough in trade casks to pick up much colour. And for long storage Porter was in huge vats, where little beer was in contact with wood.

My bet would be either some sort of burnt sugar, liquorice, or a combination of the two. Ed did remark that Dublin brewers used ingredients which weren’t allowed. It would be interesting to see how long they boiled, too. They could have been darkening the wort through a long boil.

There’s a beer and food pairing thing back in my hotel. With just enough food for me not to bother with dinner. Then there’s one of the most exciting part of the weekend:  the old beer tasting.

It came about like this. Chris Bowen, Martyn Cornell and I reminisced in the weeks before the conference about the Arctic Ale tasting at Martyn’s a couple of years ago. Someone suggested we bring along old beers to the conference for a tasting. And so we did. Others. Too.

We all tipped down to Paul and Jamie’s room, bringing along our precious old booze. I brought 20-year-old Liefman’s Goudenband and Cantillon Rosé de Gamrinus and Hertog Jan Grande Prestige of a similar vintage. And a 1930’s Truman No. 1 Barley Wine. Chris had some John Smiths nips from the 1950’s, including the Coronation Ale I’ve written about. Martyn had Whitbread Celebration Ale and other goodies.

It’s amazing how many people you can cram into a hotel room when there’s special beer on offer. About half the conference attendees were there. What a fun time.

A quick Michters Rye closes the day. It’s a big one tomorrow. Day, I mean. When I do my talking thing. Can’t wait.








DoG Street Pub
401 W Duke of Gloucester St,
Williamsburg, VA 23185.
http://www.dogstreetpub.com/


The Trellis Bar and Grill  
403 W Duke of Gloucester St,
Williamsburg, VA 23185.
Tel: +1 757-229-8610
http://www.thetrellis.com/

Random Dutch (beers part twenty-five)

Blame the Dutch brewing industry for being too dynamic. If there weren't so many new beers I wouldn't have anything to review sketch.

It's been another productive Saturday. I finished the first draught of an article. Just a bit of polishing left. Andrew has put together a customer database for me. I've harvested some analyses of North American Lagers. And it isn't even one o' clock.

I deserve a beer. Time to try the new ones from supermarket Deen. Three beers under the Veluwse Schavuyt brand, brewed at De Vlijt in Apeldoorn.

Veluwse Schavuyt Amber 6.5% ABV
It's a lovely colour. A deep reddish copper. It smells like beer. Pretty useless description, eh? Bacon, I can definitely pick that up. Though it's probably from the bacon Dolores is frying in the kitchen. Tastes like a boiled sweet that's had most of the flavour sucked out of it. But not quite all. It's OK, I suppose. I prefer a little more something.

What does Dolores think? "Mmm. Very buttery. Nice."

Thumbs up from Dolores then.

Veluwse Schavuyt IPA 6.5% ABV
Paler and not crystal clear. Restrained grapefruit and mango aroma. Not so much fruit salad in the mouth, just a tongue-clinging bitterness.  It literally leaves a bitter taste in the mouth. Dolores is going to love this one.

"Do you want to try another one from them?"

Dolores takes a big mouthful.

"It's OK. I prefer the other one."

"It's an IPA. I thought you'd hate it."

"It has that horrible grapefruit taste, but it's OK."

I've just remembered. I need to finish off next Wednesday's recipe.

Veluwse Schavuyt Tripel 7.5% ABV
I was going to say it looks exactly the same colour as the IPA. But their website is another with reasonable details. And it lists identical colours for the two. Spicy. Quite dry. ANd spicy again. Bum. Not coming up with much.

"Dolores"

"Mm. That's quite nice as well. I like the first and the third best."

Everyone and his budgie is making an IPA here now. Leading to some odd-looking product ranges. De Vlijt is a good example:

De Vlijt Beers 2016
Beer	Style	OG Plato	ABV	Bitterness EBU	Fermentation	Colour EBC
Veluwse Schavuyt Amber	Amber	14.7º	6.50%	17	top	24
Veluwse Schavuyt Witbier	Witbier	11.9º	5%	18	top	7
Veluwse Schavuyt Blond	Blond	13.3º	5.60%	17	top	13
Veluwse Schavuyt IPA	IPA	13.9º	6.50%	40	top	17
Veluwse Schavuyt Tripel	Tripel	16.8º	7.50%	39	top	17
Veluwse Schavuyt Herfstbock	Bok	14.7º	6.50%	30	top	52
Source:
De Vlijt website http://www.veluwseschavuyt.nl

A mix of Belgain and Dutch styles with an IPA thrown in for fun.

A woman asked in Ton Overmars today "Do you have any of the blue St. Bernardus?"

I'd just stripped every bottle off the shelf. Luckily they had another crate out the back.




Got the recipe done. It's meant to be in one of my book projects. One so far from done. Barely started.




De Vlijt
Vlijtseweg 114/130,
Apeldoorn.
Tel: 06-144 39 518
http://www.veluwseschavuyt.nl

Historic Williamsburg day one

I’ve arranged to meet Paul and Jamie after breakfast in my hotel.

I scour the lobby, but can’t spot them. Then I hear a female voice say: “Ron!”. It’s Andrea Stanley, my favourite maltster, and her family. The full set this time, not just her and husband Christian. It’s good to see them again. Especially I’m supposed to be participating in Andrea’s talk.

Paul and Jamie appear with Brian Hunt, brewer at Moonlight, who they’d bumped into at their hotel over a particularly disgusting breakfast. They hadn’t met before but seem to be getting along fine. I get a feeling the day is going to continue in this vein.

There are a few things on today’s schedule. Like registering for the conference. And a technical rehearsal in the auditorium. I’m no too concerned, having spoken there before.

I pick up the bumph at registration and bump into Craig, another one of the crew from Washington. It’s getting close to lunchtime, so we wander over to DoG Street Pub with a few others. Though we’ve managed to lose Paul and Jamie. I’m sure they’ll feed themselves somewhere.

The name DoG Street Pub has nothing to do with our canine friends. It comes from the name of the street it’s on: Duke of Gloucester. We can’t get a table, so we sit at the bar. Which is a good place to admire all the taps. I’m soon wrapping my chops around something IPA-ey. Just what I needed. It’s the first beer of the day.

It bills itself as an unpretentious gastropub. Which I guess isn’t far from the mark. It’s light and airy inside, with high ceilings and a long bar running almost the length of the building. I’ve been here before. I had a couple of resolve-strengthening whiskies here before the last time I spoke.

I troll back to the auditorium for my technical rehearsal. It doesn’t take long. It’s basically just a question of copying my powerpoint and making sure it works. I slip back to DoG Street for a couple more beers. There’s almost an hour before the first event of the weekend, a beer tasting at Chownings Tavern Garden.

DoG Street Pub just outside Colonial Williamsburg proper, in a commercial area on its western edge. While Chownings is a part of Colonial Williamsburg, being a reconstruction of a 1760’s tavern. A pretty suitable place to try some recreations of 18th-century beers.

As you know, historical recreations are my thing. I stand eagerly at the bar waiting to be served. But I must have accidentally put on my invisibility cloak. The barman serves customers to my right and left while looking through me. Those serves he wanders off to do something else behind the bar. It takes a frustratingly long time to get a Stitch (a type of strong Brown Ale) in my hand.

Everyone and his dog is at the tasting. It’s hard to know who to talk to. Not leaving me much time for any actual beer tasting.

Once the tasting is over, we hurry back to the auditorium for Randy Mosher’s keynote address. He’s a confident and fluent presenter, but has a few timing issues. Not so much of a problem today as he’s the only speaker.

The reception that follows gives me a chance to catch up with Stan Hieronymus, Martyn Cornell, Chris Bowen and Mitch Steele. It’s not often you’ll see those three in one room. I’m certainly not going to pass on the opportunity.

I’ve one more appointment. In the hotel bar, with Andrea and John Mallett, her presenting partner. We’re running through their talk, which is in the form of a play. I’m the narrator. It goes pretty well. Especially after Andrea fetches some whiskies. Everything goes better with whisky

I don’t stay up late. Tomorrow is another busy day.





DoG Street Pub
401 W Duke of Gloucester St,
Williamsburg, VA 23185.
http://www.dogstreetpub.com/



Josiah Chowning's Tavern
109 E Duke of Gloucester St,
Williamsburg, VA 23185.
Tel: +1 757-229-2141

Let's Brew Wednesday - 1909 Barclay Perkins KK

Do you know the era I’d most like to travel back to? For beer sampling purposes. Just before WW I. Variety and lots of strong beers.

By the Edwardian age, London-brewed Burton was turning to the dark side. Not the foggiest idea why. Before 1880, they were 100% pale malt. After the Free Mash Tun Act they start to change. More choice of ingredients. And though sugar had been legal since 1847, brewers hadn’t used it much. When they did start using it, they acquired far more control over the colour of their beer.

This is the little brother of the unacceptably-named KKK. Which was much the same, but 15 gravity points stronger. By this time Barclay Perkins had dropped KKKK and brewed only two Burton Ales.

The grist is typical of the period 1880 – 1914. Pale and crystal malt, maize and sugar. A Pale Ale grist would have been much the same, just without crystal malt. 10% and 10-15% sugar was pretty standard.

For once the hop additions aren’t a guess. Barclay Perkin occasionally listed them. One of the odd features of brewing logs is that foreign hop varieties are usually named, while only the region or grower is given for UK hops. In this case, EK or East Kent and MK Mid Kent. I’ve interpreted that as Goldings for EK, Fuggles for MK.

It looks a cracking beer. Plenty of hops, but plenty of body, too. Hang on. Wasn’t this, or something similar, the recipe for Pretty Things KK? I believe it was.

1909 Barclay Perkins KK
pale malt	10.75 lb	72.27%
crystal malt	0.50 lb	3.36%
flaked maize	1.50 lb	10.08%
caramel	0.125 lb	0.84%
No. 3 invert sugar	2.00 lb	13.45%
Fuggles 90 mins	3.00 oz
Hallertau 60 mins	3.00 oz
Goldings 60 mins	3.00 oz
Goldings dry hops	1.25 oz
OG	1073
FG	1021.1
ABV	6.87
Apparent attenuation	71.10%
IBU	112
SRM	38
Mash at	153º F
Sparge at	170º F
Boil time	90 minutes
pitching temp	60º F
Yeast	Wyeast 1099 Whitbread Ale

An opportunity

It's sad Pretty Things are no more. I liked both Dann and Martha and their beers.

I particularly liked this recipe of mine they brewed:

I've also lost my long-term US commercial partner. Which is an opportunity for someone out there.

What I'm looking for is a brewery prepared to make four to six historic recipes a year.

Get in touch if you're interested.

A lazy day in DC

Not exactly Washington, really, as Paul and Jamie live in Maryland. But it’s in the DC metropolitan area.

They’ve already left for work when I drag my lazy arse out of bed. Thankfully without the vomiting and diarrhoea I had last time I stayed here. Not a pleasant experience, especially as I had to give a talk that day. Paul and Jamie didn’t poison me, I must point out. Golden Coral was to blame.

Jamie has left coffee and the keys. And explained yesterday how the code for the door works. Meaning I’m not trapped in the house all day. Jamie mentioned a breakfast place in the small strip mall down the road. I trundle down to the quaintly-named Donut King for the usual fry up. I do like a fried breakfast when on my hols.

I notice a couple of people walk by outside with bottles of whisky in their hands. Then I realise they’re also wearing green. It’s St. Patrick’s day. And that there’s a liquor store close by. I’ve been wondering how I’ll spend the afternoon.

Montgomery County Liquor Store is pretty big. A reasonable enough beer selection. I get a four-pack of some barrel-aged rye thing. Which will go nicely with the bottle of Michter's Rye Whiskey.

The afternoon drifts past in a medley of documentary channels and a slow whiskey warming. I haven’t relaxed as much in months. I realise I’m less stressed than before the trip. Then I was worrying about schedules and getting my Williamsburg talk finished. Now all that’s done, I’ve nothing to worry about. I’m not concerned about giving the talk. That’s the fun bit.

It’s quite a long drive down to Williamsburg. It’s after eleven when I check in to my hotel. Paul and Jamie are in another hotel this evening.

Bags dumped I try my luck at the bar. People are still sitting there with drinks, but they’ve stopped serving. Oh well. Guess I’ll have to make do with a final Michter’s.

I expect a busy day tomorrow. Be meeting lots of people, I’m sure.





Donut King
3727 University Blvd W,
Kensington, MD 20895.


Montgomery County Liquor Store
3733 University Blvd W,
Kensington, MD 20895.

Offilers of Derby

You know what time it is? Time for more from Anthony Avis.

His book really is a diamond mine of gems about brewery owners. They seem to have been a very odd bunch. I wonder if that was something peculiar to the brewing trade or if other long-established industries were similar? Hard to tell, as I don’t know of a similar book about other trades.

The topic is another takeover by CUB, this time Offilers of Derby. Another old brewery inherited by feckless heirs:

“OFFILERS BREWERS AMBROSE STREET, DERBY
The brewery had been established as Vine Brewery in 1876 by George Offiler and the company, set up in 1892, was still controlled by members of the Offiler family when I first knew it in the early 1960s. The board consisted of two Offilers and a couple of others. It was run by two cousins, H C Offiler, who was chairman and managing director; and F H Offiler, who looked after production and the tied estate, with a particular interest in setting up small hotels with residential and catering facilities in and around Derby. It was one of the sleepiest brewery companies I had so far experienced, even in an era of comatose management. The two of them did not seem to bother what happened, so long as they could draw a reasonable income and pursue their own private interests.”
"The Brewing Industry 1950 - 1990", by Anthony Avis, 1997, pages 79 - 80.

You’ll learn later what prompted F H Offiler’s interest in hotels and what his private interests were. Treating a brewery as a handy source of income while not really guiding or developing the business is a common theme.

They didn’t even seem very interested in brewing beer:

“They were sufficiently indifferent to their prosperity as to contemplate giving up brewing and buying their beer in from a neighbour. Both Bass and Ind Coope & Allsopp had protective shareholdings, and were content to leave it alone. Offilers had about 250 public houses in and around Derby and spread out to the south; their beer was pleasant. They did not like Ind Coope, which had had the temerity to buy Pountain's brewery in Derby ten years earlier, when H C Offiler had thought it was his fish to catch. So he made an approach to Bass, which thought the purchase tag was too high; and as they say, one thing led to another beyond their initial intentions; and soon they were talking to Derek Palmar, when he was a director of Philip Hill, Higginson, Erlanger, City merchant bankers. They found they were receiving advice to sell out to CUB; by coincidence, he, er, happened to be its financial adviser too. Within a very short space of time an offer had been made, and Offilers were swept into CUB. Within two years they had been closed down - which was not quite what the Offilers had in mind; but this was 1965.”
"The Brewing Industry 1950 - 1990", by Anthony Avis, 1997, page 80.

250 pubs was a decent tied estate. There used to be dozens of breweries that size in England, but many disappeared during the takeover fever of the 1950’s and 1960’s. What happened shows the danger of arousing the interest of a big brewery. Though that Derek Palmar was working for both Offiler’s and CUB does rather seem a conflict of interest. I’m sure he did very nicely out of it.
As you can see below, Offilers was a profitable business:

“OFFILERS' REPORT
Brewery profit of £82,474
A NET  profit of £82,474 for the year ended September 30 will be reported by the directors of Offiler's Brewery Ltd. Derby, at the 61st annual meeting of the company to be held the Midland Hotel, Derby, on January 8.

To the net profit there has to be added the unappropriated balance brought forward from 1949 amounting to £137,290, making a total of £219,764.

DIVIDENDS
Out of this the directors have declared dividends on the "A", ' B" and "C" Preference stocks amounting, after deduction of income tax, to £4,620, and an interim dividend of ten per cent. actual, amounting, after deduction of income tax, to £13,200, on Ordinary stock.

From the available balance of £201,944 the directors recommend the transfer of £35,000 to general reserve, and the payment of a final dividend of 15 per cent, actual, free income tax, on the Ordinary stock, amounting to £19,800, the unappropriated balance to be carried forward is £147,144.

Mr. F. R. Offiler, one of the directors, retires by rotation and offers himself for re-election.”
Derby Daily Telegraph - Saturday 16 December 1950, page 6.

The brewery seems to have been drifting rudderless:

“As usual, I had been sent over to their brewery to organise their integration into CYB and found the set up there fascinating. It was feudal, dormant, and without energy, sense of purpose, or direction. It was difficult to get figures or lists, or worthwhile information; not because there was obstruction, but the data, in modern jargon, was not assembled. I did the necessary tour of the properties in order to write a terrier, and it was interesting to gather up the information.”
"The Brewing Industry 1950 - 1990", by Anthony Avis, 1997, page 80.

Not the most go-ahead sort of place, then.

Random Dutch (beers part twenty-four)

It's Sunday now. Been quite a productive weekend. Done lots of writing. Plus less glamourous stuff like filling in expense reports.

The Sunday joint is in the oven. Leaving a little time to try more random Dutch beers. Starting with another from Brand. Another of their modern style beers.

Brand Saison 6.5% ABV
Pale yellow in colour. Pretty much the exact shade of healthy wee. Bit of hop and fruit in the aroma. Then cloves again in the mouth with a vague hoppiness somewhere. It tastes like a more watery version of their Lentbock. Which is odd, given they're the same strength. Not a fan of this one.

Have to rush to finish it. As I need some Abt for the gravy. Need to crack open a bottle of that sharpish.

Almost forgot. Here's the technical spec, courtesy of the Brand website:

OG Plato	12.5º
ABV	6.50%
Bitterness EBU	19
Fermentation	top
Colour EBC	8

You'll have to excuse me if I dance around in my chair for the next one. Got Propellerheads pumping through the headphones. Hard to sit still.

It's another Saison. Craft Beer, as it reasuringly says under the nudey lady's left leg.

The Sisters Worker Saison 9.4% ABV (€3.05 for 33 cl.)
WTF? A Saison over 9%? When I were a lad, they were half that. Not that I'm complaining. I'm in a bit of a post-prandial dip and the extra whoomph should help. Short term. Then it'll help knock me out. Double win! It tastes like - forgive me my style Nazi sins - like a Triple. But what does a Saison taste like? Always seemed very vague to me. More a loose concept than anything more concrete.

Concrete reminds me of something. Setting concrete. The feeling you get in your stomach when you know puking is inevitable. Just a question of when.

Seems a good place to stop.

Bottled beer in the 1950’s – Bright Bottled Beers (part thirteen)

How exciting. The beer is finally about to be filled into bottles. But not quite yet.

Though it usually didn’t go directly to the filler. There was one final tank for it to sit in.

“After filtration the beer passes to the filling machines, either direct or via a bright beer tank. In some cases a small ballast tank is used between filter and filler; this serves to give a margin of safety for interruptions in either process and compensates for any lack of synchronization. Some filters have an arrangement for recirculation of the beer should there be a stoppage in the filler.”
"Brewing Theory and Practice" by E. J. Jeffery, 1956, page 344.

Makes sense. If the filter and filler weren’t running at the same pace, you’d have problems without some sort of intermediate storage.

As with everything else in the brewery, the filler required thorough cleaning:

“If sterile filtering is relied upon to give beer which will have an adequate shelf life, then the filter and all plant subsequent to it will need very careful sterilization. The mains between filter and filler and the filler itself need very thorough sterilization with a flow of hot liquor (180º or higher) for 15-20 minutes. This can be passed through filter and mains to the filler. If the filler is suitable for steam sterilization it should be steamed thoroughly for 15-20 minutes, but not all fillers can be steamed and in such cases hot liquor has to suffice. In between bottling the mains should be thoroughly cleaned from sludge and deposit, and whenever there is a long interval, such as over the week end, it is an extra safeguard to fill mains and filler with a solution of an antiseptic such as one of the quaternary ammonium compounds, which are very effective.”
"Brewing Theory and Practice" by E. J. Jeffery, 1956, pages 344 - 345.

Sterile filtering saved you the trouble of pasteurisation. The downside was that everything after the filter needed to be sterile. Not just clean, but sterile. Any trace of bacteria could cause havoc with the beer in the bottle.

But at least you could run scalding water through the filler. Bright beer tanks were trickier:

“The bright beer tank presents a rather more difficult problem for sterilization. Some tanks are so constructed and positioned that they can be steamed out to a sterilizing temperature, but in the majority of cases tins is not possible either by reason of their construction or because an excessive amount of steam would be necessary to raise the temperature of a vessel in a cold room, and if the tank is not separately heat-insulated the temperature of the cold room might be affected. ”
"Brewing Theory and Practice" by E. J. Jeffery, 1956, page 345.

Sadly, it wasn’t usually that simple, seeing as bright beer tanks were mostly in cooled rooms. In which case only the chemical option was left:

“Therefore most bright beer tanks have to be chemically sterilized either by filling them or spraying them with a solution made of hypochlorite or quaternary antiseptic. Special attention should be paid to the cleanliness of all tanks to be used as bright beer tanks (unless the beer is to be subsequently pasteurized), particularly with respect to deposits around internal fittings, paying particular attention to the rubber washers on the fittings and to the manhole rubber. The latter should be replaced if it becomes cracked or porous and should be removed each time after use and given an antiseptic soak. Where internal fittings have not been dismantled for a long time it is a wise plan to strip them completely, clean up any sludge or deposit, and renew the rubber washers. Special vessels should be kept for bright beer, never being used for unfiltered beer. Finally, the rinse water used after cold sterilization should be free from infection; sometimes this may need to be chlorinated at not exceeding 0.5 p.p.m., although many bottlers would object to the use of chlorinated water for this purpose, on the grounds that it might flavour the beer.”
"Brewing Theory and Practice" by E. J. Jeffery, 1956, page 345.

Blimey that sounds fiddly. And all you need would be for one employee to sneeze on one of the bits and you could be buggered. With some many different bits to worry about, and the need for sterile rinsing water, there are loads of places it could go wrong. And you’d only need one to infect every bottle.

I had been thinking sterile filtering was a good idea. Don’t think I’d try it in a brewery of mine. Not that I’ll ever have one. I’m far too lazy and broke for that.

As I said above, loads more to come. Next, special instructions for filtering Stout.

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Brand beers in 2016

Hi there. Another cheap post, courtesy of some other crap I was doing today.

It's still Saturday. But a bit further through the afternoon. And after the Lentebok tasting earlier, I'm three Boks in. Though they were only 30cl bottles. While the Abt I followed them with was a full 33cl. At the same time staring at a bottle of New Glarus Milk Stout that really should get drunk. It's a present from an American friend.

The day is going well. I loaded up at Ton Overmars earlier. Found the blogposts I needed. Started the article. Soaked off some labels. Scanned labels. And went outside to look at the garden with Dolores. In particular, the woodruff she's growing. Which she'll use to make Meibowle*.

This is going great. More irrelevant personal trivia filling the screen. I was going to say that it beats tracking and trapping numbers. But I did a bit of that today, too. Scraping data from Brand's website. Which handily lists some useful technical information. For number fetishists like me.

There. I've said it out loud. Me and numbers have a complicated relationship. But a loving one. From my side. Not sure about those bastard numbers. Never totally trusted them. Always likely to make you look like a fool.

Interesting days for Dutch beer. I hear the non-Pils part of the market has hugely increased its market share.  I wish I had figures, but I'm in lazy-arse bash out the posts mode. There's plenty of circumstantial evidence. Like the number of breweries. The beers you see on supermarket shelves. And what some of the older breweries are making:

Brand beers in 2016
Beer	Style	OG Plato	ABV	Bitterness EBU	Fermentation	Colour EBC
Oud Bruin	Oud Bruin	8.2º	3.50%	16	bottom	105
Pilsener	Pils	11-12º	5.00%	25	bottom	7
Weizen	Hefeweizen	12º	5.10%	12	top	12
UP	Pils	12-13º	5.50%	36	bottom	7
Lentebock	Heller Bock	16º	6.50%	24	top	15
Imperator	Heller Bock	16º	6.50%	27	bottom	30
IPA	IPA	16.3º	7.00%	45	top	19
Dubbelbock	Dubbelbock	18º	7.50%	27	bottom	65
Sylvester		17.5º	7.50%	26	top	50
Zwaar Blond		18.4º	8.50%	36	top	12
Saison	Saison	12.5º	6.50%	19	top	8
Source:
Brand website http://www.brand.nl

An idiosyncratic bunch. There can't be many breweries with a Dutch-style Oud Bruin, Dubbelbock, IPA and Saison in their range.

One thing that really struck me is the vagueness of the Pils OG's. Most are quite precise. Odd that. Really shocked that more are top- than bottom-fermented.

I would expand more on Brand's beers. But we need to saw the top off the neighbours' conifers. Be quite a surprise for them when they come back from their long weekend.

First bin liners.




* A punch made of woodruff-infused white wine and sparkling wine.

Definition of a public bar

This is one for Boak & Bailey. The simple definition of a public bar in 1950.

"But the laugh of the day came when Mr. Eric Hallas, outside manager for Offiler's Brewery, Ltd., was asked to define a public bar. His technical explanation obviously still left the justices slightly puzzled, so the Clerk (Mr. H. Wilfrid Skinner) helped out.

"Is it not the difference between spittoons and no spittoons?" he asked.

"Exactly," agreed Mr. Hallas."
Derby Daily Telegraph - Friday 23 June 1950, page 4.

I wonder when that changed? I can't ever remember seeing a spittoon in a pub. And I always used to hang around in the public bar.

Albany to DC

The day starts with the traditional plate full of fried things. Washed down with coffee.

I check out and Craig picks me up. He drives me to the train station and we say our goodbyes. Albany has been fun.

I’ve a little time before my train and take the opportunity to stock up on supplies for the journey. I had been planning just getting water. Until I notice that they’re selling beer. I buy a couple of bottles which are placed in classy brown paper bag. Adds to the atmosphere, I find.

Noticing that the train is crowded, I walk right to the front, past the buffet car. Where there’s a little more room. I whip out my flip flop and start tucking into Fresh Meat. That’ll make the journey go quicker. And the Laphroaig. Nothing shortens a journey like whisky.

The train service isn’t that bad. We rollock along at a reasonable pace, about the same as a Dutch Intercity. The seats are wide, the legroom generous and there’s free wifi. Could be a lot worse.

I’ve an hour or so between trains at Penn Station. I can’t be arsed to drag my bags outside so plop down at the bar closest to the platform, TGI Friday. I’ve been here before. Last time I was waiting for a train here. It’s not great, but does have a couple of decent beers. And whisky. But it isn’t cheap.

The train to Washington is even more crowded than the last. But I find some space and settle in for some more TV. The scenery isn’t quite as distracting as the Hudson Valley. Rust Belt is the phrase that comes to mind. Quite literally. The side of the railway is dotted with crumbling factories.

Paul and Jamie were supposed to be picking me up from the station in DC. But the metro has been closed down today for emergency repairs. Instead we’re meeting in Right Proper, a new production brewery. I grab a cab and head over that way.

Right Proper is run by Nathan Zeender, who greets me on arrival. We’ve met before. Paul and Jamie rock up a little later and Nathan gives us a spin around the Brewhouse. It has all the usual shiny things. But also a rather attractive row of wooden foeders.

We have a couple of beers then head off for some food. Italian-style food, just down the road. It’s quite nice, but I’m starting to tire.

Back at Paul and Jamie’s we have a whisky slumber chaser before climbing the stairs to bed.

Tomorrow is going to be a rare quiet day. Hanging around Paul and Jamie’s while they go to work. I’m quite looking forward to it.





TGI Friday

Right Proper Brewing Company
920 Girard St NE,
Washington, DC 20017.
Tel: +1 202-526-5904
http://www.rightproperbrewing.com/