Birmingham anyone?

Our final trip of the summer is scheduled next week. Four days in Birmingham. I've not been for years.

My mum was from Birmingham and I went there countless times on family visits as a child. Theer was plenty of family to visit. My mum wass one of twelve children. Mostly, this was before I was of drinking age. When I was old enough to drink, my cousin's husband usually drove us out into the countryside southwest of Birmingham. Chaddesley Corbett, where there's a fine Batham's pub, was a favourite destination.

I rarely drank in Birmingham itself. To be honest, it wasn't very inspiring. Alternate M & B and Ansell's houses and almost nothing else. Even Davenports, which was brewed in the city, was virtually impossible to find. I'd mostly opt for Ansell's. Their Mild wasn't bad, better than M & B's. It wasn't unusual to find handpumped Mild and keg Bitter in Ansell's pubs. Now there's something you wouldn't see today.

That ponderous and overly personal preamble is leading up top a question. Which pubs shouldn't I miss in Birmingham? Preferably ones that are central. 

That reminds me. I must see what archives there are around Birmingham.

The Undrinkables

It's Ton Overmars's annual holiday. Two weeks when I wean myself from St. Bernardus, Abt and Prior. Time for cellar bingo.

I'm sure it's the same for you. Beer mysteriously piles up in your house. Ones you want to share. Or mature. Or are just too damn rare to drink. Or you fear are way past not only their best, but the managing to force down your neck because you've bloody paid for it state. Things you never quite bring yourself to drink. The Undrinkables. Until August kicks its boot through the front door.

My supplies of St Bernardus interrupted, I've no option but to work my way through the Undrinkables. This is the special occasion I'd been waiting for: nothing else to drink.

I like Stout. That's what my collection/remainders tell me. "You like Stout, Mr. Pattinson." They're surprisingly formal for bottled beers. There are - sorry were - literally quite a few of them. Some really nice strong Stouts, mostly from De Molen.

Tsarina Esra was chewy and leathery in a light-hearted sort of way. But three-year old Hell & Verdoemnis was best. Liquid black chocolate laced with rum. Scrantastic. Even Dolores liked it. She hates Imperial Stouts. I should know. I've made her taste enough of them.

Hang on. I swore I'd never do them again. Beer reviews. Erase that last paragraph from your minds.

This is the official version: I drank some dark beers that were over 8% ABV. These five cryptic runes adorned their containers:

S  t   O  u  T

What could they mean? A spell or curse perhaps. We may never know for sure.

Only a few days before Ton dispenses Abt once more. How many Undrinkables will be undrunk?

A milestone and a millstone

I've reached another milestone. After just two and a half years I've extracted all the data from volume one of the Whitbread Gravity Book. My ridiculously large spreadsheet of beer details* has grown even more ridiculously large. But I've noticed a slight problem.

The spreadsheet covers around 200 years: 1804 to 2005. The 19th century details come mostly from brewing records with a few from chemical magazines. I've the most information for the years 1920 to 1960, courtesy of the Whitbread and Truman Gravity Books. There are a few odd entries for the later 1960's and odd analyss from newspaper articles of the 1970's. After that, the Good Beer Guide is my main source.

And that's where the gaping hole emerges. Because the Good Beer Guide doesn't cover all beer. Just cask beer and the odd bottle-conditioned beer. There's a whole world of British beer that suddenly slips from view. I can tell you next to nothing about Brown Ale after 1965. I don't have any data.

While I know all about the cask beers from a mayfly micro of the mid 1980's, British bottled Stouts of the same period are a total blank. It's frustrating. The Good Beer Guide lets me track changes in strength of cask beers because it was published annually. Each edition is a little time capsule of the beers as they were in a specific year.

I'm working my way around to a request. An appeal. Does anyone know of another source of British beer gravities of the last 40 years? Especially of bottled and keg beers. Without them, I can only see half of the picture.

It's weird that the 1980's should be more problematic than the 1920's.



* It hits 20,000 entries later this week.

Scottish IPA again

Serendipity. Sounds like the chorus of a Disney song. It came to my aid again this week.

Wandering in an idle daze through the web, I stubbed my toe on this pavement: Historical Extreme Beers. It's a powerpoint of presentation given by Mitch Steele of Stone to an American homebrewers' conference. "What's so interesting about that, Ron?" One of the images. An image that's cracked some of William Younger's beer codes.

Let's take a peek.

XP is India Pale Ale. Brilliant! It pops up in Younger's brewing records all over the place. I knew it was some sort of Pale Ale, but hadn't realised it was marketed as India Pale Ale. Dead handy to know.

The other descriptions are just as useful. X, XX and XXX were Mild Ales as I'd suspected. Hadn't known XXXX was Stock Ale, though. Then there are the beers called Edinburgh Ale. The numbered Ales. Combined with the Edinburgh Mild Ales they form a range of beers very similar to the Burton Ales of Bass.

Let's compare the two:

Bass beers in 1879
Beer	style	price/barrel	OG
India Pale Ale	IPA	60	1060
No. 1	Burton Ale	84	1110
No. 2	Burton Ale	72	1090
No. 3	Burton Ale	60	1085
No. 3a	Burton Ale (Old Ale)	66	1085
No. 3b	Burton Ale (Bottling)	66	1075
No. 4	Burton Mild Ale	54	1070
No. 5	Burton Mild Ale	48	1065
No. 6	Burton Mild Ale	42	1060
Source:
Bass price list

William Younger beers in 1883
Beer	style	price/barrel	OG
XP	IPA	54	1054
XXP	Export IPA	60	1060
No. 1	Edinburgh Ale	84	1101
No. 2	Edinburgh Ale	72	1086
No. 3	Edinburgh Ale	60	1074
XXXX	Edinburgh Stock Ale	60	1079
XXX	Edinburgh Mild Ale	54	1066
XX	Edinburgh Mild Ale	50	1057
X	Edinburgh Mild Ale	42	1047
Source:
William Younger brewing records held at the Scottish Brewing Archive
William Younger price list

You have to admit that they're very similar. The numbered Ales have exactly the same price and the gravities aren't much different either. I know I keep banging on about this, but the evidence continues to pile up that Burton Ale and Edinburgh Ale were pretty much the same thing.

The similarities don't stop with the Ales. Younger's Export IPA also bears an uncanny resemblance to Bass's IPA.

I've rambled off my path again. Before I step off a cliff, let's get back on track. Scottish IPA. That's what I'm meant to be talking about.

Now I've looked at the price list again, I'm uncertain as to the description of XXP. I first assumed it was Export India Pale Ale. But the way that "do." is placed, it could also be Export Pale Ale. Ignoring that doubt, here's a table of Younger's IPAs:

William Younger IPAs
Date	Year	Beer	Style	OG	FG	ABV	App. Attenuation	lbs hops/ qtr	hops lb/brl	boil time (hours)	boil time (hours)	Pitch temp	dry hops (oz / barrel)
6th Oct	1851	XP	IPA	1058	1020	5.03	65.52%	15.00	6.67	1.25
9th Oct	1851	XXP	IPA	1072	1018	7.14	75.00%	24.00	8.18	1.25
	1858	XP	IPA	1054	1014	5.29	74.07%	14.80	4.40	1.66	2.5
	1858	XXP	IPA	1059	1016	5.69	72.88%	21.05	5.00	1.75	2
	1868	XP	IPA	1051	1013	5.03	74.51%	12.22	3.40	2	2.25
	1868	XXP	IPA	1055	1014	5.42	74.55%	11.67	3.29	2	2.25
2nd June	1879	XP	IPA	1052	1016	4.76	69.23%	11.74	2.73	1.75	2.25	59.5º	10.67
29th May	1885	XP	IPA	1054	1013	5.42	75.93%	11.50	2.84	2	2.5	59º	9.28
22nd Oct	1879	XXP	IPA	1058	1014	5.82	75.86%	9.19	2.41	2.5	2.5	58º	7.49
24th Oct	1879	XP	IPA	1051	1014	4.89	72.55%	7.94	1.86	2.5	2.5	60º	6.62
30th Oct	1879	XXP	IPA	1058	1016	5.56	72.41%	8.65	2.56	2.5	2.5	60º	6.78
10th Nov	1879	XP	IPA	1051	1012	5.16	76.47%	8.00	1.90	2.5	2.5	60º	13.46
11th Nov	1879	XXP	IPA	1058	1015	5.69	74.14%	9.44	2.62	2.5	2.5	60º	7.02
16th Sept	1880	XP	IPA	1052	1013	5.16	75.00%	9.68	2.13	2.5	2.5	59º	9.42
20th Sept	1880	XXP	IPA	1060	1019	5.42	68.33%	10.56	2.81	2.25	2.25	59º	5.45
7th Dec	1880	XXP	IPA	1059.5	1018	5.49	69.75%	12.90	2.99	2.25	2.25	59º	11.70
9th Dec	1880	XP	IPA	1052	1012	5.29	76.92%	11.11	2.34	2.25	2.25	60º	11.13
11th Apr	1881	XP	IPA	1053	1015	5.03	71.70%	10.00	3.04	2.25	2.5	59º	11.14
15th Apr	1881	XXP	IPA	1060	1012	6.35	80.00%	17.14	3.89	2.33	2.67	58.5º	16.06
3rd May	1881	XP	IPA	1054	1014	5.29	74.07%	9.23	3.06	2.25	2.75	59º	0.00
29th Aug	1881	XP	IPA	1053	1018	4.63	66.04%	7.69	2.30	2.33	2.67	59º	11.40
Source:
William Younger Brewing records held at the Scottish Brewing Archive

I can't discuss Scottish beer without mentioning hopping. The IPA's of the 1850's above, with 4 to 8 pounds of hops per barrel could not be described as lightly hopped. The hopping rate falls in the later examples, but the half pound to a pound of dry hops per barrel would have made them pretty hoppy nonetheless.

I've included the boil times and  pitching temperature so you can see that neither were they fermented cold nor boiled for ages. Because these things can never be said too often. I realise it's like the old lady piddling in the sea. But I have to do something.

It seems to be turning into IPA week. Purely accidental, I assure you.

AK mistakes revealed

I'm back from a brief holiday in Newark. Making this an approriate time to reveal the mistakes in that description of Snake River's AK Session.

To remind you, here's the quote:

"AK Session is traditional English mild ale. Mild refers to its low hopping rate. Mild is an ale intended to be consumed in quantity, thus the name “session”. AK is thought to stand for “Ale Kyte”, Flemish for “small ale”. This is a tawny colored brew that was a favorite among the farmers and laborers of the West Midlands. The alcohol content is 3.9% abv. This beer is a collaboration between Chris Erickson and Cory Buenning."

The first is pretty obvious: AK is a type of Pale Ale, not Mild. Bloody McMullens, by badging their AK as a Mild for a while they've led many to believe AK = Light Mild. An error repeated in David Sutula's Mild Ale book. It's another example of people not understanding what "mild" meant in the 19th century. As you can see from the table below, in no case is AK described as Mild Ale. The closest is "mild bitter Ale", where mild is clearly referring to the fact that it's unaged. "Bitter" or "Pale Ale" appear in the vast majority of the descriptions.

AK's
Brewery	Place	year	beer	price per barrel (shillings)	price per gallon (pence)
Ind Coope	Romford	1871	AK	36	12
Daniell & Co., Donyland Brewery	Colchester	1884	AK	36	12
Bedford Brewery	Bedford	1870	AK (a mild bitter Ale, very celebrated)	36	12
Hodson & Baverstock, Sun Brewery	Godalming	18??	AK (Pale for Families)	36	12
John Bird	Westerfield, Suff.	1883	AK Ale	36	12
Shakespeare Brewery	Cambridge	1889	AK Ale
Langton & Sons	Thorpe End, Leics		AK Ale
George Stibbs, Steam Brwry	Cheltenham	1871	AK Bitter	42	14
John Murton	Croydon	1867	AK Bitter Ale	36	12
Battersea Park Brewery (S.G. Mason & Co.)	London	1869	AK Bitter Ale	38	12.67
Hodges and Ritchie, College Brewery	Brighton	1884	AK Bitter Ale	42	14
Walcot Brewery	Bath	1884	AK Bitter Ale	36	12
Goodwin Bros.	Newark	1885	AK Bitter Ale	36	12
Charrington Nicholl & Co	Colchester	1885	AK Bitter Ale	36	12
Roger's	Bristol	1889	AK Bitter Ale	36	12
Rogers' Ales	Bristol	1890	AK Bitter Ale	36	12
Arnol, Perret & Co	Wickwar, Gloucs	1895	AK Bitter Ale	36	12
Henry Collett	Chippenham	1870/90	AK Bitter Ale
Adey and White	St. Albans	1884	AK Bitter Beer	36	12
Eltham Brewery	Eltham	1874	AK Bitter Dinner Ale	36	12
Thomas Gundry	Redhill, Surrey	1878	AK Family Ale	42	14
Flower & Sons	Stratford-on-Avon	1890	AK Family Ale	30	10d
Northampton Brewery	Northampton	1880	AK Family Pale Ale, a sparkling and agreeable Tonic	36	12
Major Lucas & Co	Northampton	1893	AK Light Amber Ale	36	12
Major Lucas	Northampton	1893	AK Light Amber Ale	36	12
Waltham Bros.	London	1898	AK Light Biitter Ale	36	12
Reffell's Brewery	Bexley, Kent	1888	AK Light Bitter	36	12
Ind Coope	Romford	1890	AK Light Bitter	42	14
Epping Brewery	Epping	1898	AK Light Bitter	36	12
A.E. Druce & Sons, Hans Town Brewery	Chelsea	1855	AK Light Bitter Ale	34	11.33
E. Greene & Son	Bury St Edmonds	1887	AK Light Bitter Ale
Fuller, Smith & Turner	Chiswick	1893	AK Light Bitter Ale	36	12
Humby & Baillie	Stafford	1896	AK Light Dinner Ale	36	12
Godsell & Sons	Stroud, Gloucs	1902	AK Light Dinner Ale	36	12
Byles & Co	Henley	1876	AK Light Pale Ale	36	12
James Hole & co.	Newark	1890	AK Luncheon Ale
Leney	Wateringbury	1884	AK Pale Ale	42	14
Daniell & Son	Colchester	1894	AK Pale Ale	36	12
Wordsley Brewery	Stourbridge	1897	AK similar to above but lighter	36	12
Waltham Abbey Brewery	Waltham Abbey	1882	AK Stock Bitter Ale	36	12
Sources:
19th-century price lists

I've already explained what's wrong about the second sentence: Mild doesn't mean lightly hopped. It means unaged.

There are no real errors in sentence three. But session is a very modern was of describing low-gravity beers. And I've most often seen it associated with Bitter, i.e. Session Bitter.

"AK is thought to stand for “Ale Kyte”, Flemish for “small ale”." Good bit of garbling there. I think they mean "ankel koyt" (though there are many different spellings of koyt: keyte, keut, kuyte). This is Martyn Cornell's theory of the derivation of AK. It doesn't mean small ale, but single Koyt. The standard form of Koyt as opposed to double Koyt. Personally, I don't believe this theory for a minute. There's a couple of hundred years gap between Flemish brewers settling in England an the name AK appearing. But that's another argument

"a tawny colored brew". I'm not sure what colour they mean with that description. But it sounds darker than the pale colour of AK.

"a favorite among the farmers and laborers of the West Midlands" Er, no. AK was mostly brewed in the South. As the map below shows. I can only see three that could possible be describes as West Midlands: Stafford, Stourbridges and Stratford. I think they're getting confused with Dark Mild, which still retains some popularity around Birmingham.

View AK distribution in a larger map

Note that Newark is the most northerly outpost of AK.

I'll make no comment about the ABV. It seems about right for a Light Bitter.

Give yourself a pat on the back if you spotted them all.

Let's Brew Wednesday - Fullers 1914 AK

You know my feelings about AK. Obsessive doesn't do them justice. Fanatical is too mild. All-consuming? No still doesn't go far enough.

Personal reminiscences and a bit of name dropping. I'll be weaving those into today's trousers. Hope I don't end up with my arse hanging out of them.

The hot summer of 1975. I was so disappointed when the bastards at the dole office found me a job. Until I found out it was in a brewery. Even though they didn't brew any cask beer. How many kegs did I fill with AK that summer? A lot. Definitely a lot more than with IPA. AK was the brewery's biggest seller. Just as it had been when it said Hole's rather than Courage above the gate.

I must have drunk Courage AK at some point. The stuff was ubiquitous. Courage owned all but five (four Home Ales, one Watney) of the 30-odd pubs in Newark. But I can't remember it at all.Was it hoppy? Malty? Sweet? No idea, I'm afraid. I can remember Barnsley Bitter. That was a lovely drop, dry and scorchingly bitter, in the steady persistent way of a good British Pale Ale.

Finding the truth about AK was one of the pushes that propelled me through the archive doors. Yet it wasn't in an archive that I first caught a glimpse of one through the trees. It was sitting in John Keeling's office the first time I dropped by Fuller's. He had one of their old brewing logs on his table. 1910 or thereabouts. John is an easy man to listen to. Full of stories and facts. But something pulled my attention away from his words like a freight train loco. Idly flicking through the log I saw the magic letters appear: AK. It's a moment I'll never forget.

Fuller's AK is a special beer to me for that reason. I'm delighted that we're able to present you with it today. Enjoy it.





Time for Kristen to do his thang . . . . . . . . .

Fullers - 1914 - AK
General info:
What a wonderful little AK. Nearly equal OG:BU ration made with simple pale malts, maize and a bunch of sugar. Such an easy drinking little number that this one will definitely be one of my house beers from now on. Very sessiony but not really a session beer with the alcoholski!
Beer Specifics			Recipe by percentages
Gravity (OG)	1.045		47.5% English pale malt			0% 0
Gravity (FG)	1.009		16.3% Continental pale malt			0% 0
ABV	4.78%		16.3% American 6-row			0% 0
Apparent attenuation	79.61%		5.9% Flaked Maize			5.9% Invert No1
Real attenuation	65.22%		0% 0			7.9% Invert No2
IBU	41		0% 0			00
SRM	5
EBC	9.1		Mash	95min@149°F		1.04qt/lb
				95min@65°C		2.17L/kg
Caramel to add	0srm
			Boil	1.5 hours
	Homebrew @ 70%				Craft @ 90%
Grist	5gal		19L		20bbl		20hl
English pale malt	4.04	lb	1.837	kg	389.17	lb	150.36	kg
Continental pale malt	1.39	lb	0.632	kg	133.78	lb	51.69	kg
American 6-row	1.39	lb	0.632	kg	133.78	lb	51.69	kg
Flaked Maize	0.50	lb	0.230	kg	48.65	lb	18.80	kg
Invert No1	0.50	lb	0.230	kg	48.65	lb	18.80	kg
Invert No2	0.67	lb	0.306	kg	64.86	lb	25.06	kg
					818.88
Hops
Cluster 7% 105min (31bu)	1.02	oz	28.9	g	126.58	oz	3.058	kg
Fuggle 5.5% 60min (6bu)	0.29	oz	8.1	g	35.62	oz	0.861	kg
Styrian Goldings 5.25% 20min (4bu)	0.30	oz	8.5	g	37.32	oz	0.902	kg
Goldings 4.5% dry hop	0.27	oz	7.6	g	33.41	oz	0.807	kg
Fermentation	67°F /19.4°C
Yeast	Nottingham
	1968 London ESB Ale Yeast  - WLP002 English Ale Yeast
Tasting Notes:
Pomme and squishy fruit, biscuits and lady fingers, grainy. Spicy and hoppy. Loads of husk and grain. Long bitter biscuity with a touch of honey on the end.

Kristen’s Version:

Ingredients
Grist–Three malts, some maize and two sugars. Easy peasy. I really like Maris Otter hear, especially the last two years one with the ‘honeyed’ character. Any continental pale malt will do just fine but I really like the character of the Belgian stuff. The American 6-row really shines here as it brings out a lot of the husk and grain and complexity of this beer. The inverts are pretty much at a great proportion. Any less No2 you lose the hints of fruit and more would make them stand out too much. I tried Golden Syrup for the No1 and there was too much toffee character for my taste.

Hops–Lots of different hops here. American, Belgian and English. The Cluster really add a strong bitter that last long through the finish. The combo of StyrianGoldings and EKG really do a very nice job of being spicy and fruity. The little bit of hops on the end really come through well. You can swap out the beginning hops for really any ones but the end I think you need to stick with the Goldings combo.


Yeast – The Fullers yeast really works the best. If in a pinch, the Nottingham does a pretty good job also.