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02-12-2012, 10:54
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It's funny, fun, fun time. As I tell my kids when I'm about to make them do something really boring. Yes, I'm back on the tables. Even better, a table of Scottish beers.

My gob was well and truly smacked when I noticed just how many analyses I had of William Murray beers. So many, that I'll have to spread them over multiple posts. I'm not sure why I have quite so many. They weren't the largest of Scottish breweries. Or of Edinburgh brewers. But therein probably lies the key. They were located in Edinburgh and so feature heavily in the William Younger and Thomas Usher Gravity Books.

I'm coming to the conclusion that in the 1920's and 1930's Scottish brewers had moved almost totally away from Mild to Pale Ale. Like Irish brewing, Scottish brewing was out of phase with England in terms of styles. But, while Ireland was 50 years or so behind, Scotland was 30 or 40 ahead. It's a phenomenon that was repeated with Lager. Maybe we should keep our eyes on Scotland to get a preview of the next dominant style.

The gravities are typically Scottish, with most of the Pale Ales in the 1035º to 1040º band. Then with a couple of really strong ones of 1055º plus. The middle ground of the 1040º's, where most English Pale Ales hung around shuffling the change in their pockets, is unoccupied. Most of them look like post-WW II ordinary Bitters.

It wouldn't surprise me, having seen Maclay's brewing records, if that solitary Mild was just a coloured-up Pale Ale. It looks very similar to the 4d Pale Ale.

Once again we can observe the use of Heavy as a synonym for "Strong", rather than as a designator of a specific style. I know I've said it lots of times before. But I'm going to keep repeating it until it sinks in. While I'm about different uses of terms some morons think are etched in stone as specific styles, note also the use of 90/- for a moderate-strength bottled Pale Ale.

I'm disappointed that there's no Milk Stout in this set. It was one of Murray's specialities. Instead there's a sweetish-looking Oatmeal Stout. Even that has a decent attenuation of 64%. that's something else worth mentioning: the relatively high degree of attenuation of Murray's beers. Most are over 70% and some over 80%.

I'll leave you with the table itself.




William Murray beers in the 1920's


Year
Beer
Style
Price
size
package
FG
OG
colour
ABV
App. Atten-uation
Flavour


1923
Mild
Mild

pint
draught
1006
1037

4.03
83.78%



1922
PA
Pale Ale

pint
draught
1005
1037

4.17
86.49%



1923
Carbonated Beer
Pale Ale
4d
half pint
bottled
1011.8
1035.2
27
3.03
66.48%



1924
Pale Ale
Pale Ale
4d
half pint
bottled
1011.1
1036.3
25
3.26
69.42%



1924
Pale Ale
Pale Ale

pint
draught

1037.2






1924
Strong PA
Pale Ale

pint
bottled
1013
1057

5.73
77.19%



1925
Strong Pale Ale
Pale Ale

pint
bottled
1015
1059.5
25
5.79
74.79%



1925
Pale Ale
Pale Ale
4d
half pint
bottled
1010.5
1039.5
25
3.76
73.42%



1925
Strong PA
Pale Ale

pint
bottled
1014
1060

5.99
76.67%



1925
Strong PA
Pale Ale
6d
half pint
bottled
1015
1060

5.86
75.00%



1926
Pale Ale
Pale Ale
4d
half pint
bottled
1010
1035
30
3.24
71.43%



1926
Pale Ale
Pale Ale
4d
half pint
bottled
1008
1034
20
3.37
76.47%



1926
PA
Pale Ale

pint
bottled
1010
1035
20
3.24
71.43%



1927
Pale Ale
Pale Ale

pint
bottled
1007
1039

4.16
82.05%



1927
Pale Ale
Pale Ale
4d
half pint
bottled
1012
1035
25
2.97
65.71%



1928
Pale Ale
Pale Ale
4d
half pint
bottled
1009
1035
25
3.37
74.29%



1929
Pale Ale
Pale Ale

pint
bottled
1009
1038.5

3.83
76.62%



1929
90/-
Pale Ale

pint
bottled
1007.25
1040

4.26
81.88%



1929
4d Pale Ale (carbonated)
Pale Ale
4d
half pint
bottled
1011
1035.5

3.17
69.01%
Mawkish


1929
4d Pale Ale (carbonated)
Pale Ale

pint
bottled
1011
1037

3.37
70.27%
Fair but thin. Not sweet.


1929
Export Strong Pale Ale (carbonated)
Pale Ale

pint
bottled
1013.5
1056

5.53
75.89%



1929
Pale Ale
Pale Ale
4d
half pint
bottled
1008
1035.5
30





1929
Oatmeal Stout
Stout

pint
bottled
1016
1044

3.62
63.64%



1924
Strong Ale
Strong Ale

pint

1011.5
1060.3
25
6.37
80.93%



1925
Heavy Ale
Strong Ale
6d
half pint
bottled
1015
1079

8.40
81.01%



1928
Strong Ale
Strong Ale

pint
bottled
1027
1085
80
7.55
68.24%



1929
Export Strong Ale (carbonated)
Strong Ale

pint
bottled
1013
1057

5.73
77.19%
Sweet & highly hopped.


1929
Heavy Ale (carbonated)
Strong Ale

pint
bottled
1030
1087

7.40
65.52%
Pleasant. Very sweet.


Sources:


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


Thomas Usher Gravity Book document TU/6/11 held at the Scottish Brewing Archive


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



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