My next US tour

I've not even finished writing up my last US trip and I'm getting ready for the next. Such a busy year.

The main purpose of the trip is to give a talk at the AHA Conferrence in Grand Rapids, but I'm slipping in a few more events. May as well while I'm travelling all that way.



Sunday 8th June home brewer's event
12:00 -
Toronto Brewing Co.
3701 Chesswood Drive,
Unit 115,
Toronto, Ontario M3J2P6   
http://www.torontobrewing.ca/               
https://www.facebook.com/events/233005603563445/


Tuesday 10th June Chicago event
18:00 - 21:00
Moxee Kitchen & Madmouse Brewery,
724 W Maxwell St,
Chicago, Illinois 60607
http://www.moxeerestaurant.com/
https://www.facebook.com/events/618211321602781/


Wednesday 11th June Grand Rapids event
19:00 - 21:00
Perrin Brewing Company
5910 Comstock Park Dr NW
Comstock Park, MI 49321
(616) 551-1957
http://perrinbrewing.com/
http://sicilianosmkt.blogspot.nl/2014/05/new-beer-friday-ron-pattinson-edition.html


I'll be signing (and trying to flog) my amazing new book at all three events:

The Home Brewer's Guide to Vintage Beer.

Come along and have a chat, even if I can't persuade you to part with any cash.

Sale of Shares in the City of London Brewery Company

More on the City of London Brewery, another ancient London business.

First a little potted history. Founded before 1431, bought by Calvert & Co in 1730, under which name it traded until 1860, when it became a limited company called the City of London Brewery Co.* In 1926 it was bought and closed by Hoare & Co.**

Despite having been converted into a public company, the Calvert family were still involved with the brewery:

"The late Mr. Nicholson Calvert—At the funeral of Mr. Nicholson Calvert (late secretary of the City of London Brewery Company, Limited, and formerly a partner in the firm of Calvert and Co.). which recently took place, we are informed that a touching and characteristic tribute was paid to the memory of the deceased gentleman. The whole of the staff of the counting-house, and all the men who could possibly be spared from their duties. spontaneously followed the hearse, and as the procession moved through a dense crowd of spectators in Thames-street, much feeling was displayed. The funeral took place at Furneaux Pelham, in Hertfordshire, the remains of the lamented deceased being buried in the old family vault."
Brewers' Guardian, Volume 3, 1873, page 45.

The death of Nicholson Calvert was a rare chance to get hold of shares in City of London Brewery. As you can see, there was plenty of interest in buying them. Not surprising given the size of the dividends that had been paid in the preceding decade:

"Sale of Shares and Stock in the City of London Brewery Company — The shares and stock in this brewery, advertised in The Brewers’ Guardian of the 15th inst., were offered for sale at public auction at the London Tavern, on Tuesday last by Mr. Malcolm Searle, under the Chancery suit, Philips v. Calvert and others. The sale was very well attended, and on mounting the rostrum, Mr. Searle stated that he had the honour of offering for sale £4,042 worth of valuable shares and brewery stock in possession and reversion, the property of the late Nicholson Calvert, Esq., some time secretary of the City of London Brewery Company, Limited. The first sum he had to offer consisted of 1,542 ordinary stock fully paid up, with the accruing dividend thereon, an in referring to the particulars of the sale they would find that the dividends hitherto paid had been as follows:— For the year ending December 31st, 1860, 6 per cent.; 1861, 6.25 per cent.; 1862, 7.5 per cent.; 1863, 9 per cent. ; 1864, 9.5 per cent.; 1865, 10 per cent.; 1866, 8.5 per cent.; 1867, 8 per cent. ; 1868, 10 per cent. ; 1869, 10 per cent. ; 1870, 11.5 per cent. ; 1871, 12.5 per cent. ; and for last year, 10.5 per cent.; giving an average of £9 3s. 5d. per cent., but if they based their calculations on the last three years, which was the usual custom, they would find they were paying a dividend of something like 11.5 per cent. He need not add that the high estimation in which this brewery was held was so well known, that it was most difficult to procure shares in the concern save under such circumstances as those which had called them together that day. The solicitors under the estate were in attendance ready to offer any explanation, and he would now at once proceed to the sale. Lot 1 consisted of £250 worth of ordinary stock fully paid up, and the biddings started at £310, and it was finally knocked down to Messrs. Lound & Stransom, of Chancery Lane, at £355. Lots 2, 3, 4. and 5, were precisely similar ; lot 2 sold also at £355 to Col. Western, but bidding became more spirited after that, and the following sums were realised :—Lot 3, £360, Jas. Bunce, Church-street, Camberwell ; lot 4, same price, Henry Savage, Loughboro-road; lot 5 started at £355, and ran up to £375. at which price it was knocked down to Mr. Lound, the purchaser of the first lot 3; lot 6, a similar lot of £142 stock, fetched £215, being bought by Mr. G. Bolton ; lot 7, £150 stock (similar), went to the same purchaser at £235 ; and lot 8, a preference share of £25 (£20 paid up), went to Mr. Jas. Bunce at £40 ; lots 9 to 13 embraced £2,500 ordinary stock, fully paid up in reversion, subject to the life interest of a lady in the 67th year of her age, and to an equal fifth part of an annuity of £50 during the life of a gentleman, now 70 years of age. The whole of these failed to reach the reserve price fixed by the Court of Chancery, and therefore were not sold ; but we understand the auctioneer will be ready to enter into private negotiations for their sale.
"The Brewers' Guardian, vol. 3", 1873, page 234.

1860 was very early for a brewery to have become a limited company. Even the very large London brewers mostly only took that step in the 1880's and 1890's, usually being run as partnerships. The motivation for taking that step was mostly to raise capital to buy pubs. Something that was very important when new licences became almost impossible to acquire and breweries were keen to retain outlets for their beer.

Here are those dividends in handy table form:

Year	% dividend
1860	6
1861	6.25
1862	7.5
1863	9
1864	9.5
1865	10
1866	8.5
1867	8
1868	10
1869	10
1870	11.5
1871	12.5
1872	10.5
Average	9.17

They do indeed look very healthy and generally on the increase. No wonder they were snapped up.


* "A Century of British Brewers Plus" by Norman Barber, 2005, page 81.
** "The Red Lion" by Victoria Hutchings, 2013, page 112.

Brewing at Stone

Given how little time I spent in San Diego - just three days, really - it's no surprise that I crammed things in.

First, it's disclosure time. Stone and ChuckAlek paid my travel expenses and for most of the food and beer I consumed whilst in the US. For which I'm very grateful.

The two breweries are at about exactly opposite ends of the industry. Stone has two 120-barrel brewhouses, ChuckAlek a 1-barrel system; Stone started in 1996, ChuckAlek last year. That they are working together on a project says much about the camaraderie of the San Diego scene.

ChuckAlek have a series of one-off Porters and Stouts called, er, Archive Series. There's a new one each month. The recipes are interpretations (in varying degrees of strictness) of ones in Porter! and the Home Brewer's Guide to Vintage Beer. (Sorry, couldn't resist some tarting.)

Grant from ChuckAlek picks me up at 9 am. We're off to brew. A reasonably (but not stupidly) early start. Just as well. I only arrived at 5 pm yesterday, after a refreshing 16-hour journey. It's a wonder I know which month it is. I'm feeling quite chipper, oddly.

We're brewing at Stone Liberty Station, a brewpub in San Diego itself (the main brewery is in Escondido) which opened exactly 12 months ago. It's housed in a former US Navy training complex to the West of the city centre. With its cloisters, there's an oddly monastic look.

When we arrive the restaurant is empty, save for an army of staff, getting it ready for the lunchtime siege. The place is huge. Not quite on the scale of Munich's Hofbräuhaus, but not far off. The main room seats over 400 and there are several smaller ones, plus a big courtyard garden. That's one of the reasons we have trouble finding our way into the brewhouse: the place is just so damn big. They even have a courtyard with two bocce pitches.

Kris (Ketcham, the man in charge of brewing at Liberty Station) is already looking hot when we peer inquiringly through the window. He, literally, points us in the right direction. We have to go outside and around the back. He's already started the preparatory work.

I'm glad I checked the weather forecast before leaving Amsterdam. Usually, it's a pleasant low 20's celcius in San Diego in May. But an unseasonably early appearance of the Santa Ana winds has bumped the temperature up into the high 30's. Way too hot for me.  Really low humidity is the only consolation.

The Santa Ana is to blame for the wild fires which have spring up around the city. Once again I'm glad to live in rain-soaked Holland.

Grant grinds the malt. I'm relieved not to be asked to hunk the sacks about. Sweaty work. It's English malt - from Crisps. Though the sacks of coloured malt also bear the name French and Jupps.

"That's very appropriate," I mention, "they used to supply London brewers with black and brown malt. It's quite possible that the original contained malt from the same source." I'm full of useless crap like this."I'm pretty sure they were the last maltsters to make brown malt the scary way."

"Why did they stop?"

"Too many fires."

I realise I've forgotten to tell you what we're brewing. It's one of my favourite beers. For educational purposes. To bludgeon an historical point into a bloody mess. That much more Porter went to India than IPA. Barclay Perkins East India Porter from 1867.

Grant's intern Kaleb turns up to help. I get to play, too - some paddling in the mash tun. The easy bit at the start, when it isn't too thick. It's quite a hands-on brewery. One of the reasons Kris was glad to transfer here from the main brewery.

It reminds me of something. My last foray into brewing at Colonial Williamsburg. I got to do some paddling there, too. Despite a couple of centuries of technological advances, brewing's core remains constant.

Once we've finished mashing in (at 153.9 F), Kris fetches us a blueberry and basil Kölsch straight from the filter. Slightly strange. It's a nightmare beer for Kris. Blueberry seeds clog his equipment.

"It's not very Kölsch convention compliant." I suggest. It's taken as the joke it is.

A worried Mitch Steele, head of brewing at Stone, turns up later than planned. He'd been stuck at the brewery until late, wild fires closing off his route home. Not that he's able to give us his full attention. A fire is within two miles of the main brewery. Every minute or so an email about the situation in Escondido bleeps into his phone.

We try an English IPA from ChuckAlek, which Grant has brought in a growler. Pretty good stuff. I wish I could remember which hops are in it*. I'm not taking notes, you see.

Mitch is bombarded with emails as the fire races towards the brewery. I'm surprised he can concentrate at all.

In the grant, the wort looks as black as tar and nearly as viscous. Even in a thin tube, it's pretty much opaque. Brilliant. It tastes great: like oversugared espresso, but more fun. I'm sure I'll love it. If I get to taste it. That's one of the downsides of cooperating on beers in distant lands. I don't always get to try the finished product.

When the wort is safely warming in the kettle, we go for lunch. Ribs and fish taco for starters, lobster roll for my main. Very nice. Not that you needed to know that.

Mitch continues to nervously check his emails. The fire is within a quarter mile of the brewery, he tells us. His relative calm impresses me. Worry trousers me would have struggled to follow the conversation. Or speak coherently. Hell, I struggle to speak coherently at the best of times. Or listen properly, my family would say. Bit of an attention deficit on my side.

Mitch gets a phone call: police have ordered the evacuation of the brewery. His meal finished, he hurries off.

This what had been happening around the brewery:



The sequence ends when the brewery was evacuated.

I'll leave you with those frightening images. Next time I'll be doing my hop thing before roasting at gas mark nine for two hours in the garden.




* Grant tells me the beer is called Trading Co. EIPA and the hops are Admiral, a newish British variety.



Stone Liberty Station
2816 Historic Decatur Rd #116‎,
San Diego, CA 92106
http://www.stonelibertys


ChuckAlek Independent Brewers
2330 Main St, Suite C
Ramona, CA 92065
http://www.chuckalek.com/

Apologies for the lack of photos of the brewhouse. I somehow forgot to take any.

Courage Strong Ales 1920 - 1928 (part two)

It really is the final instalment this time. The last post was getting a bit long so I've split it into two parts.

It's the grists we'll be looking at. As XXX and KKK were parti-gyled together, there's not much point looking at the grists separately. Except for one item: primings.

The logs give full details of the primings used, broken out for each beer in the parti-gyle. Logical enough, since as the primings were added after primary fermentation, when the beers were separate.  Courage primed all their beers except one: KKK. Occasionally they primed it a little, but in general not. Was that because they were leaving it to age a little? Primings are generally used to bring a beer into condition quickly.

There's an awful lot of crystal malt - almost 18% of the grist in one case - in some examples. Coupled with relatively modest hopping, it must have resulted in quite sweet finished beers. Pale is the only other malt used, apart from a tiny amount of black malt in a couple of early examples.

The sugar content, on the other hand, is quite low, never topping 14%. It's in the form of No. 3 invert, which is exactly what you would expect in dark beers like these. The vast majority of the colour would have come from this and the caramel.

Finding some flaked maize is no surprise. Most brewers used it from what I've seen in brewing records. Whitbread is the only notable exception, using only malt and sugar in their grists.

The hops used are interesting. A mix of West Coast US hops and English hops, in every case. Again, pretty typical practice for the time. The fascinating bit is the occasional use of Saaz, a hop which seems to have been held in quite high regard by British brewers.

There. We're finally done. Have to think of something else to bore you with now.

Courage Strong Ale grists 1920 - 1928
Year	Beer	OG	pale malt	black malt	crystal malt	no. 3 sugar	caramel	flaked maize	primings	hops
1920	SA	1054.6	83.59%	2.34%		13.54%	0.52%			Californian, Saaz and English.
1921	SA	1053.5	64.73%		17.40%	8.35%		6.26%	3.25%	Californian and English
1921	SA	1053.5	64.38%		17.60%	8.87%	0.57%	6.44%	2.15%	Californian, Saaz and English.
1922	XXX	1054.3	64.45%		17.65%	8.18%	1.02%	6.14%	2.56%	Californian and English
1923	XXX	1053.5	65.15%		17.95%	8.32%	0.52%	6.24%	1.82%	Pacific and English
1926	XXX	1053.5	64.34%		12.87%	11.80%	1.47%	8.85%	0.67%	Oregon and English
1927	XXX	1053.5	62.78%		12.56%	11.66%	1.57%	10.76%	0.67%	Oregon and English
1928	XXX	1053.5	62.61%		12.29%	11.52%	1.79%	9.99%	1.79%	Oregon, British Columbian and English
1922	KKK	1073.4	84.18%	1.90%		13.92%				Pacific and English.
1923	KKK	1073.4	84.18%	1.90%		13.92%				Pacific and English
1926	KKK	1073.4	64.69%		12.94%	11.86%	1.48%	8.89%	0.13%	Oregon and English
1926	KKK	1073.4	64.86%		12.97%	11.89%	1.35%	8.92%		Oregon and English
1927	KKK	1073.4	63.25%		12.65%	11.75%	1.51%	10.84%		Oregon and English
1928	KKK	1073.4	64.07%		13.17%	11.58%	1.60%	9.58%		Oregon and English
Source:
Courage brewing records held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document numbers ACC/2305/08/251, ACC/2305/08/253, ACC/2305/08/255 and ACC/2305/08/256.

Back in the EU

Just back from a (ludicrously) short trip to lovely San Diego.

Had a great time and was very impressed by the hospitality of ChuckAlek and Stone. I'll be not just bending your ear, but twisting it right off about those two and the many other breweries I visted in my few hours in town.

I was there mostly to push my book. Drink beer, eat food, chat with people, look in awe at shiny brewery bits as well, obviously.

I took plenty of snaps. Only some of which are all blurred up because I got the lens dirty. There are only 4 or 5 hundred that I'll be sharing with you.

Three dozen posts from just three three days. In greater detail than ever before,I'll be counting my trip minute-by-minute, with details of every beer I drank, every olive I scoffed with several photos to confirm it. I think it will turn out one of my most popular travel series yet.

Oh, yes. And buy my book:

The Home Brewer's Guide to Vintage Beer.

Rice in German beer (again)

I know. Obsessing about rice in German beer is weird. I just can't help myself.

There are other things I should be up to. Like researching Dutch Lager styles. I'm supposed to be giving a talk on that soon. Or German sour beers. Another topic I'll soon be lecturing about. So far I've only piled up Dutch brewery histories on the floor behind me. I spent a big chunk of yesterday hunting for  a Heineken history, only to find it within reach of where I sit. That's the main drawback of my way of sorting my books. The just-remembering-where-it-is method.

But I digress. I'm supposed to be telling you aboout rice in German beer, amongst other things. Spinning a tale around a table of dull statistics from a hundred year old chemistry magazine. (Jahresbericht über die Leistungen der chemischen Technologie, if you're interested.)

I guess first I'd best explain what the statistics are for: the Brausteuergebied. What was that? The part of the German Empire with a unified beer tax regime. It literally means Beer Tax Area. It's easier to explain what it wasn't, rather than what it was. Everywhere except Bavaria, Baben, Württemberg and Alsace-Lorraine. Most of the country, really, but missing the major brewing areas in the South.

Right, what to tell you first? One of the most obvious is the rise of Lager. While the output of top-fermenting beer was flat, the production of bottom-fermenting beer more than tripled. The result was that the chare of top-fermenting beer more than halved from 36% to 16%. It was a trend that continued in the 20th century.

Use of taxable raw materials and beer production in the Brausteuergebied
tax year 1 April - 31st March	use of taxable brewing materials
	grain		malt substitutes				quantity of beer brewed				in 1 hl of beer
	total	ground barley malt	total	rice	all types of sugar	all types of syrup	top fermenting	bottom fermenting	top fermenting	bottom fermenting	grain and rice	malt substitutes
	hk	hk	hk	hk	hk	hk	hl	hl	%	%	k	k
1882	4,469,280	4,328,286	22,611	3,755	13,591	1598	7,901,207	14,211,973	36	64	20.23	0.09
1887	5,503,903	5,354,779	43,312	9,684	25,434	2358	8,503,919	18,971,927	31	69	20.07	0.12
1892	6,330,765	6,168,393	87,164	50,767	28,649	2129	7,664,889	25,498,919	23	77	19.24	0.11
1883	6,553,787	6,356,370	91,535	51,074	27,468	1641	7,522,307	26,854,999	22	78	19.15	0.12
1894	6,435,636	6,246,062	109,090	67,805	27,922	1651	7,111,305	26,856,048	21	79	19.15	0.12
1896	7,029,267	6,824,308	119,382	75,782	28,551	1757	7,884,114	29,841,501	21	79	18.83	0.12
1896	7,118,439	6,914,923	121,055	75,957	29,576	1558	7,544,730	30,803,611	20	80	18.76	0.12
1897	7,590,880	7,380,322	142,067	98,669	31,732	1474	7,777,049	33,654,123	19	81	18.55	0.12
1898	7,644,366	7,444,983	157,596	102,254	36,720	1606	7,566,770	34,698,630	18	82	18.33	0.13
1899	7,810,734	7,619,275	157,663	98,090	42,123	1515	7,280,851	35,925,271	17	83	18.30	0.14
1900	8,007,273	7,811,851	149,809	89,573	42,112	2009	7,428,980	37,300,826	17	83	18.10	0.13
1901	7,964,681	7,782,839	149,620	87,371	42,571	3013	7,322,999	37,712,996	16	84	17.88	0.14
Note:
The taxed export beers of Bremen are not included
Source:
Jahresbericht über die Leistungen der chemischen Technologie, 1903 page 446.

On a side note, you can see how barley was pretty much the only grain used. Which is interesting, as many of the old North German top-fermenting styles contained wheat. They were clearly being brewed in tiny quantities.

Rice was by quite a long way the most popular adjunct, though in comparison with barley malt, not a great deal was used. I'm surprised at how little sugar was used. It's such handy stuff. It would be great to have figures for how much sugar is used in German brewing today. I can't remember ever seeing statistics for that. The Deutsche Brauerbund probably isn't keen on advertising the fact German brewers use sugar. Even though they always have. (The Reinheitsgebot allows sugar in top-fermenting beers.)

Just for fun, I've calculated the average OG of the beers. I've based it on 80 brewers pound per quarter of malt. A hectokilo, the unit used in the table, is just about exactly two hundredweight, or two-thirds of a quarter. You can see that it looks much like modern German beer, strength-wise:

year	average OG
1882	1049.1
1887	1048.7
1892	1046.4
1883	1047.4
1894	1046.4
1896	1045.3
1896	1045.1
1897	1044.5
1898	1044.0
1899	1044.0
1900	1043.5
1901	1043.0

Was gravity really falling or were they just getting more from the malt? I'd suspect the latter, but could be wrong.

Charrington buys Hoare

It was a sad day when Charrington finally clinched the deal to buy Hoare's Red Lion brewery. Because it meant the end of the road for not just London's oldest brewery but London's oldest business of any kind.

Hoare's had already been around for more than two centuries when it was a moderately successful Porter brewery in the 18th century. It probably dated back to at least 1492, when a Flemish brewer called John Merchant was granted a licence to export beer by Henry VII*.

Walter Hoare, the last family member on the board, wrote to a fellow director:

"I think that you will agree that to most of us it is a tragedy to know that the oldest business in London must shortly be closed down"

One of the conditions of Charrington's offer was that  all brewing be concentrated at their Anchor Brewery in Mile End**. It was a logical enough decision. Their site was much less hemmed in than the Red Lion brewery, which had no realistic prospect of expanding its premises.

For Charrington it was an opportunity to greatly expand their business. Especially as Hoare controlled slightly more pubs than they did, 1,061 to 909***.

Charrington's offer seems pretty reasonable, consisting of a combination of cash and shares in Charrington.

"BIG BREWERY DEAL
CITY OFFICE of "The Yorkshire Post," 1 and 2 Great Winchester Street, London, E.C.2.
Wednesday Evening.
For some time past there have been confident rumours of an amalgamation scheme in which Hoare and Co., the well-known London brewery undertaking, was stated to be concerned. It is now announced that Charrington and Co.. the Mile-End brewers, have made an offer for the £1 shares of Hoare and Co. The Charrington offer, a condition of which is that holders of at least 90 per cent, of the shares of Hoare and Co. shall accept, is—(a) a sum of £1 10s. per share in cash, (b) three fully-paid Charrington 4 per Cent. Cumulative Preference shares for every five Hoare shares, and (c) two fully-paid Charrington £1 Ordinary shares for every five Hoare shares. In other words, a Hoare shareholder would, under the offer now being made, receive, for every five shares held, £7 10s. in cash, three Charrington. 4 per cent: Preference shares, and two Charrington Ordinary shares. As the existing Charrington Ordinary capital is privately held there is no market quotation for these shares, but, if the scheme goes through, permission to deal in them on  the Stock Exchange will be sought in due course. Generally speaking, the market approved the terms of the offer and Hoare shares receded only about 1s., to 53s.

Finance of the Offer
In order to carry through the deal with Hoare and Co., and Charrington Co. will increase its capital by the creation of 1,169,438 4 per Cent. Cumulative Preference £1 shares and 838,875 Ordinary shares, while the existing shares of both classes, at present of £10 denomination will be split into £1 shares. If the amalgamation goes through, the Charrington share capital will consist of £2,594,438 in 4 per Cent. Preference shares and £2,933,313 in £1 Ordinary shares or a total of £4,933,313. The Charrington loan capital is at present £957,443 in 3.5 per Cent. Debenture stock. It is proposed that the company should increase its borrowing powers to £6,000,000 and that the cash required to complete the deal with Hoare be provided by a new issue of Debenture stock on due course. Considerable economies are expected from the fusion and the Hoare directors, who are interested in more than one-half of the issued capital of their company, recommend the scheme for acceptance.

In respect of 1931, Charrington and Co. paid a dividend of 12 per cent. on the Ordinary shares, against 16 per cent, for each the preceding three years. Their 1932 accounts are not yet available. The last accounts of Hoare and Co. were made up to April 18 1932, and in respect of that year the dividend was cut down from 21 to 17 per cent. Or account of the current period the interim dividend was reduced in January last from 7 to 5 per cent."
The Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer - Thursday 23 March 1933, page 13.

Of course it was a gamble on Charrington's part. With the creation of new shares they increased the company's share capital by just over £2 million. And they needed to borrow sufficient cash to pay for Hoare's shares. At £1.50 a pop, that's just over £3 million. Plus the directors would be giving up some control, assuming that the privately-held Ordinary Shares were split amongst them and their families.

All that in the middle of the Great Depression and a time when beer consumption in Britain had slumped to its lowest level since the end of WW I.

* "The Red Lion Brewery" by Victoria Hutchings, 2013, page 11.
** "The Red Lion Brewery" by Victoria Hutchings, 2013, page 118.
*** "The Red Lion Brewery" by Victoria Hutchings, 2013, page 118.

Ale brewing in the USA and Canada in 1907 (part four)

As promised, this time we're going to look at the Wittemann process in detail.

It was named after the firm which produced the equipment, the Wittemann Company. I was surprised to discover that they're still making CO2 recovery systems. Though they are no longer an independent company, having been bought by the Danish firm Union Engineering A/S on 1st April 2013. Oddly, their website states the process was first developed in 1912, five years after this article was written.

This is a brief description of how the system worked:

"No doubt, most of the gentlemen here are familiar with what is known as the Wittemann process. There is nothing particularly novel in the process itself, but it is for the special plant and appliances for carrying out the system of gas collection and reabsorption by the beer that the firm lay claim to, and I believe they are perfectly justified in their contention, from what I have seen of the plant.

When in New York I called on Mr. Wittemann, who gave me an introduction to the proprietors of a large ale brewery where their plant could be seen in full work.

As Mr. Wittemann explained, there are numerous ways of adapting or using their plant to suit the requirements of the respective users. Therefore, I shall just explain the working of this plant as I saw it in this particular brewery."
Journal of the Institute of Brewing, Volume 13, Issue 4, July-August 1907, page 363.

And here's the detail of what they did at this particular Ale brewery:

"They pitched their worts in open vats, just in the same way as we do. In about 36-48 hours after pitching, or when the fermentation has got a good hold and is giving off gas freely, a portion of the wort is run off to a closed-in vat (of which they had several). They only ran enough into these closed-in vats that was required to give them enough CO2 for carbonating purposes.

These vats were filled almost full, and were fitted with a 0.75-inch vent pipe on the top, through which the remaining air was expelled as the gas collected in the space at the top of the vat. The vent pipe was left open until the brewer considered what was the right time to start pumping the gas off. This he determined by the aroma or smell of the escaping gas.

The brewer assured me that the time when the gas was collected from the fermentations was the all-important part of the whole business.

When the right moment had arrived the vent pipe was closed and pumping commenced, and continued for 12-18 hours as the ease may be, when they would go on with another vat, and so on, until they had as much as required, or that the steel storage tanks were full.

It is at this pumping stage that the special plant manufactured by the Wittemann Company plays an important part.

The gas during pumping and compression is kept as cool as possible, so as not to destroy any of the natural aroma or ethers contained in the CO2, and to facilitate that the storage cylinders are large, and the pressure not allowed to exceed 200 lb. to the square inch.

The beer, after having the gas collected from it, is run along with the other fermenting beer to dropping vessels to finish."
Journal of the Institute of Brewing, Volume 13, Issue 4, July-August 1907, pages 363 - 364.

Is that clear? Most of the beer still underwent an open fermentation and only a small amount went into the special Wittemann vessels. It's interesting that they wanted to retain more than just the pure CO2. Did they really retain the natural aroma?

Even more fascinating is that this brewery was using the dropping system. It seems to have been reasonably common in North America. I'm quite surprised by that. I wonder if any breweries had union sets?

The advantage of the system was the time it took to ferment beer was much shorter:

"The fermentations at this brewery were far quicker than the others, for in six days from pitching the beer was run direct from the fermenting vats to a quick chilling machine, and afterwards through the special type of saturator or carbonator, when it was saturated with its own natural CO2 and finally filtered brilliant and racked or bottled as required.

Broadly speaking, in eight days from pitching, the beer was on the market.

There was no storage in cold cellars. This fact alone means a great saving in the locking up of capital, also in capital outlay for the building and equipment and the maintaining of large cold storage cellars. But still, in my opinion, that was at the expense of the quality of the product."
Journal of the Institute of Brewing, Volume 13, Issue 4, July-August 1907, page 364.

Being able to sell beer just eight days after pitching is impressive. That's about the same time as it takes to produce Mild. But here's the most important question: how did the beer taste?

"The process is very quick, and moderate storage would probably have given a better beer.

The beer did not impress me. When sampled it had a very new, soft, soapy taste, but a very nice and pleasant aroma, the latter due, no doubt, to the fact that it had been carbonated with natural CO2. There was a marked difference between the draught and the bottled beer. Although it was the same beer in cask and bottle, the draught ale was by far the better of the two. The inferior flavour of the bottled beer I put down to the effects of pasteurising, although I had not noticed such a marked difference in the other brewers' bottled beer which had gone through the process of pasteurising.

I may say here that it is the rule to pasteurise the bottle goods at all the breweries, either ale or lager, both in Canada and the States. Although it enhances the keeping properties, it certainly deteriorates the flavour."
Journal of the Institute of Brewing, Volume 13, Issue 4, July-August 1907, page 364.

The answer: not that great. Especially after being pasteurised. You can tell the author wasn't a fan of pasteurisation. I think the methods they used in the early days of the process "cooked" the beer more and were more injurious to its flavour than those of today. Still not a huge fan of it myself.

That difference between bottled and draught beer - the former pasteurised, the latter not - was true all through the 20th century, and is still the case with American industrial breweries. Though there have been odd examples of unpasteurised bottled beer, such as Miller Genuine Draft.

Lion Brewery Pale Ale quality 1922 - 1925

Back to my interminable series on London beer quality in the 1920's

Let's kick off with a random newspaper article:

"FRIGHTFUL MURDER IN MISTAKE BY A MEDICAL STUDENT.
On Saturday morning, shortly after three o'clock, a determined murder was committed in the Belvedere-road, near to the foot of Hungerford Bridge, on the Surrey side of the water. It appears from the information at present obtainable that a man named George Merritt, a stoker, was on his way to his work to attend to the fires at the Lion Brewery. Just before he came to the gates he was stopped by a man who presented a pistol at him, and at once fired it. He managed to turn his head from the assassin, and the shot missed him. He at once began to run, and call for assistance, when a second shot was fired after him, which also missed. Whilst still running a third shot was fired after him, winch struck him in the neck. The assassin then came up to him, and, attacking him with a dagger, stabbed him several times. The reports of the pistol attracted the attention of the neighbourhood, and as the assassin was running away he was met at the top of Tenison-street by a policeman, who stopped him. He was taken back to the place from where the reports proceeded, and the unfortunate man was then found weltering in his blood. The assassin then said, when the light of the policeman's lantern was turned on his victim, "Why, that is not the man I wanted," The wounded man expired almost immediately, and the assassin was taken into custody.

From inquiries made it is stated that the assassin is an American by birth, respectably connected, well to do, and studying the medical profession. He came over to this country from New York about seven weeks ago, and at his lodgings conducted himself in every way as a gentleman. It is rumoured as a cause for the commission of the crime that he had lately been induced to visit some of the houses of ill-fame with which Tenison-street abounds, and in which many robberies of gentlemen are said to be committed ; and that a short time ago he himself was the victim of robbery in which a man for whom he was lying in wait took a prominent part. Instead of meeting and killing this man, as he intended, he met and killed the unfortunate victim, who was quietly proceeding to his work, and leaves a widow and six children to mourn his loss.

Lion Brewery and Tenison Street in 1896

Another account says:-

It would appear that last Christmas a man of gentlemanly appearance, and of fair complexion, presented himself at the door of No. 41, Tenison-street, York-road, Lambeth, and said that he wanted apartments. When asked who he was, he said that he was an American doctor, and that he had just come from America, via Liverpool. In manners, money, and address, he seemed, it is stated, a gentleman. He took the apartments he required, and he used to reside in them three days a week; the other days and nights he was absent from home. Whenever he went out he always carried with him a bowie-knife, a six chambered revolver, and a box of surgical instruments. For the last three days he has been in the habit of calling at the Lion Brewery, Belvedere-road, Lambeth, and asking whether a man named Pollington was employed there, and at what time he came to work. The inquirer's conduct was so curious, that it was deemed advisable to ascertain his name, and it was then discovered that it was W. C. Minar. On Saturday morning, at a quarter-past two o'clock, a policeman saw him standing in the doorway of the King's Head Tavern, Tenison-street. The constable passed on, and in a short time he heard three shots fired, and upon turning round he saw Minar coining towards him with a revolver in his hand, and he asked him whether he had shot any one, and added, "Is it a woman?" Minar replied, "No, I am not such a coward as to shoot a woman ; but I am afraid that I have shot the wrong man." He was at once arrested and taken to the Tower-street police station. When the police went to the spot from whence they heard the shots proceed they discovered, lying dead upon the stones outside the King s Head, the body of George Merritt, aged 36 years, a stoker, employed at the Lion Brewery Company. He had received a wound on the right temple caused by a bullet, and another wound right through the gullet. The latter wound was caused by a bullet which had gone right through the neck. The third bullet fired had broken off a piece of the stone of the public-house wall."
London Standard - Monday 19 February 1872, page 6.

The King's Head Tavern must be the building marked P.H. at the northern end of Tenison street. You can see how close it was to the brewery.

You'd have thought would be it for Minar. It was a pretty open and shut case of murder, with the gallows waiting.

This is a report of the trial:

"At the Kingston Assizes yesterday, William Chester Minor, an American surgeon, was indicted for the wilful murder of George Merritt. The deceased, it will be remembered, was employed at the Lion Brewery, Lambeth, and on going to his work at about two o'clock on the morning of the 14th of February was shot dead by the prisoner, to whom, however, he was an utter stranger. Witnesses from Connecticut were examined to prove that the prisoner had had sunstroke, and was subject to insane delusions. The jury acquitted him on the ground of insanity, and he was ordered to be detained during her Majesty's pleasure."
London Standard - Friday 05 April 1872, page 4.

The jammy git. He got off for being crazy. Though I'm not sure being locked up in a Victorian nut house was better than being hanged.

Right, on with Lion's Pale Ale. You can see that it's of the Ordinary Bitter type, with a typical gravity in the mid-1040's. To recap, Lion's Mild was ninth of eleven with a score of 0. Their Burton was eighth of fourteen with a score of 0.78. Pretty middle of the road.

Lion Brewery Pale Ale quality 1922 - 1925
Year	Beer	FG	OG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	Appearance	Flavour	score	Price
1922	PA	1011	1046.5	4.61	76.34%	bright	good	2	8d
1922	PA	1009.9	1046.9	4.81	78.89%	bright	fair	1	8d
1922	PA	1011.7	1047.7	4.68	75.47%	bright	good	2	8d
1922	PA	1010.8	1046.8	4.68	76.92%	hazy	fair	1	8d
1923	PA	1010.8	1046.3	4.61	76.67%	not bright	hard	-1	8d
1923	PA	1011.2	1045.7	4.48	75.49%	bright	rank bitter	-3	8d
1923	PA	1011.2	1046.7	4.61	76.02%	hazy	gone off	-3	8d
1923	PA	1010.4	1044.4	4.42	76.58%	brilliant	v fair	2	8d
1923	PA	1010	1046.5	4.75	78.49%	fairly bright	sour	-3	8d
1925	PA	1009.6	1047.1	4.88	79.62%	fairly bright	v fair	2	7d
Average		1010.7	1046.5	4.65	77.05%			0.00
Source:
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/001

What a mixed bag that lot of samples are. Five of ten clear, which is about par for the course. Six of ten got a positive score for flavour. Which isn't too bad, but because three of the negative scores were -3, the average score was just 0. Don't know what to make of that. Did they just have some really incompetent landlords? Or maybe some of their pubs didn't sell much Bitter.

My advice: be very careful which of their pubs you drink in.