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18-04-2012, 19:00
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I seem to remember promising you details of some McLennan & Urquhart beers. Well here they are. Sorry about the delay. I was distracted by Pattison's.


http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uJwAxNle8CQ/T4P7tc9mY0I/AAAAAAAAI3w/vD_UqkxV_2k/s320/Aitchison_Dalkeith_Stout.JPG (http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uJwAxNle8CQ/T4P7tc9mY0I/AAAAAAAAI3w/vD_UqkxV_2k/s1600/Aitchison_Dalkeith_Stout.JPG)
Not that I have very many McLennan & Urquhart beers. Just eight. Most of them Pale Ales.

Let's start at the beginning, it the 1920's. I've no idea what that Old Fashioned Ale was in terms of style. It could be a strong Pale Ale. But that's just a guess. It's a similar strength to the top-level Pale Ales brewed in London. How about seeing those London Pale Ales in table form? You'll find it after the McLennan & Urquhart table.

Courage, Charrington, Watney and Barclay Perkins all brewed Pale Ales with gravities over 1050º. Though none has as high attenuation as the Old Fashioned Ale. And they were all a good deal paler. 30 Lovibond is about the darkest London Pale Ales got. Most were somewhere in the 1920's.

Moving on to the PA and Dalkeith Ale, it's hard to find an equivalent London beer, except for Whitbread IPA* and Watney Pale Ale. Both bottled beers. And that could explain the why the McLennan & Urquhart beers have lower gravities. They were bottled beers, too. Quite often in the interwar years bottled versions were weaker than draught ones. That was certainlythe case at Barclay Perkins, where their Ordinary Bitter, XLK, was 1046º draught, but only 1038º bottled.

Almost forgot, I've a description of the flavour of Dalkeith Ale: "Pleasant. Slight after bitter. Nose & taste of fresh hops." That's interesting, because most of the Pale Ales in the Younger Gravity Book aren't described as being bitter or hoppy.

Next 1930 Dalkeith Stout. That's a typical looking Scottish Sweet Stout. Low attenuation, low ABV. It's not the most extreme I've seen. Some have attenuation lower than 50%. I won't bother comparing it with London beers, because London brewers didn't make anything like it.

Those two 1930's Pale Ales are an odd pair. The Export looks very much like a London Ordinary Bitter, such as Barclay Perkins XLK. It also isn't that far away from a modern Scottish Export.

Dalkeith Special Pale Ale is "special' in a peculiar way: it's especially weak. I struggled to find London Pale Ales as weak. In fact Truman's Sparkling Pale Ale was the only one I could find. That's why I've included examples from provincial English breweries. I could find a few under 1030º that came from England, but the vast majority were Scottish.

Finally it's the turn of the two post-war beers. The Pale Ale is typical of austerity-era Ordinary Bitters. Just a shade over 1030º. Gravities would creep up later in the 1950's and reach around 1037º. Though some breweries did continue to brew Pale Ales at 1030º or so. The Stout is, well, a bog-standard Scottish Sweet Stout, with a high FG and not much alcohol.

All in all, a very Scottish selection of beers. Not really so surprising, given the brewery’s location.




McLennan & Urquhart beers 1922 – 1954


Year
Beer
Style
Acidity
FG
OG
colour
ABV
App. Attenuation


1922
Old fashioned Ale
??


1010
1056
40
6.01
82.14%


1926
PA
Pale Ale


1008
1040
40
4.16
80.00%


1929
Dalkeith Ale (carbonated)
Pale Ale


1015
1041
No. 11 Same as our dark.
3.36
63.41%


1930
Dalkeith Stout
Stout


1019.5
1040.5


2.70
51.85%


1932
Export
Pale Ale


1011
1049


4.94
77.55%


1932
Dalkeith Special Pale Ale
Pale Ale


1011.5
1025


1.74
54.00%


1947
Ale
Pale Ale


1012.5
1030.5


2.32
59.02%


1954
Dalkeith Stout
Stout
0.06
1019.7
1037.1
450
2.23
46.90%


Sources:


Younger, Wm. & Co Gravity Book document WY/6/1/1/19 held at the Scottish Brewing Archive


Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/002


Thomas Usher Gravity Book document TU/6/11



Here are the London Pale Ales:




London Pale Ales 1925 – 1927


Year
Brewer
Beer
Style
Price
size
package
FG
OG
colour
ABV
App. Attenuation


1925
Barclay Perkins
PA
Pale Ale


pint
draught
1012
1053.1
30
5.35
77.40%


1925
Barclay Perkins
XLK
Pale Ale


pint
draught
1011
1046
24
4.55
76.09%


1925
Barclay Perkins
XLK
Pale Ale




bottled
1007.5
1038.2
16
4.06
80.37%


1926
Watney
Pale Ale
Pale Ale
8d
pint
draught


1053.7








1927
Watney
Watney Pale Ale
Pale Ale



bottled
1010.1
1041.9


4.13
75.89%


1926
Whitbread
PA
Pale Ale



1013.5
1046.2
23
4.33
70.78%


1926
Whitbread
IPA
IPA



1009.0
1036.9
22
3.69
75.63%


1926
Courage
Pale Ale
Pale Ale
8d
pint
draught


1052.2








1926
Charrington
Pale Ale
Pale Ale
8d
pint
draught


1057.9








1926
Charrington
Pale Ale
Pale Ale
7d
pint
draught


1045.9








1926
Truman
Pale Ale
Pale Ale
7d
pint
draught


1049.7








Sources:


Barclay Perkins brewing record held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number ACC/2305/01/612


Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/001


Whitbread brewing record held at the london Metropolitan Archives document number LMA/4453/D/01/091


Truman Gravity Book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number B/THB/C/252



And here the English Light Pale Ales:




English Light Pale Ales 1933


Year
Brewer
Beer
Style
Price
size
package
Acidity
FG
OG
colour
ABV
App. Attenuation


1933
Truman
Sparkling Pale Ale
Pale Ale
6d
pint
bottled
0.04
1004.6
1029

3.17
84.14%


1933
Morgans Brewery
Light Bitter
Pale Ale
6d
pint
bottled
0.05
1008.2
1029

2.69
71.72%


1933
Simonds
Dinner Ale
Pale Ale

pint
bottled
0.05
1004.8
1030

3.28
84.00%


1933
Fremlin
Dinner Ale
Pale Ale

pint
bottled
0.05
1004.9
1031

3.39
84.19%


1933
Fordhams
Light Bitter Ale
Pale Ale
7d
pint
bottled
0.04
1008
1029

2.72
72.41%


1933
Beer & Rigden
Kent's Best Pale Ale
Pale Ale

pint
bottled
0.04
1006.4
1028
25.5
2.80
77.14%


Source:


Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/001




* Someone ought to have told them that it's tantamount to fraud calling a beer below 1040º as IPA.https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5445569787371915337-6189852546008198682?l=barclayperkins.blogspot.com


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