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19-12-2012, 08:18
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Sadly I have no details of Usher's beers during the war years so we've jumped over that and gone straight into austerity. Or should that be Austerity? Surely one of the most miserable periods in British history. All of the inconveniences food-wise, without any of fun. At least the bombing had stopped.

Working through the styles alphabetically again because, to be honest, I can't be arsed to think of a new way of doing it. Oh, look at that. They've changed Amber Ale. I can see it's no longer a version of PA 60/-. Clearly it's moved up a grade and is now PA 70/-. I can barely contain my excitement.

Now on to those Pale Ales. They did make up the vast bulk of what Usher brewed. The war has taken its toll on their gravities. And one has gone to the great ullage tank in the sky. It's pretty obvious why IPA disappeared: PA has taken the baseline gravity slot. I've prepared an additional table to demonstrate this and the changes in gravity over the war:





1928
1931
1946
1947
1948
1949


IPA

1032






PA
1035
1034

1029
1028.5
1028


PA 60/-
1041
1040
1031
1032.5
1031.5
1031.5


PA 70/-
1048
1047

1037.5
1037.5
1037.5


PA 80/-
1055
1055
1044.25
1044.5
1044.5
1044.5



Neat eh? It makes it simple to see what the war did to Usher's gravities. It knocked approximately 10 points off them. Which left 80/- not much stronger than 60/- had been in the 1930's.

What else can I see? That Export seems to be becoming the name for 80/-. And that the gravities of 60/-, 70/- and 80/- haven't really changed since 1949. More than 60 years. That's an incredible amount of stability, if you compare it with what happened in the 60 years before 1949.

This has me puzzled still. Why is 70/- sometimes called 105/- and 80/- 120/-? I can see the pattern, but why do it?

No Stouts this time so we'll be ending on Strong Ale. There's something unusual about the Strong Ale/Scotch Ale. The 1948 version is as strong as the one from the 1920's. Something that could be said about virtually no British beer. With a gravity of over 1090ยบ it must have been one of the strongest beers available in Britain.

Almost, but not quite, done with Usher. I've a few more beers from the 1950's and 1960's.





Thomas Usher's beers in the 1940's


Year
Beer
Style
package
FG
OG
colour
ABV
App. Attenuation


1947
Amber Ale
Amber Ale
bottled
1009
1037

3.63
75.68%


1947
Amber Ale
Amber Ale
bottled
1012.5
1038

3.30
67.11%


1946
60/- Ale
Pale Ale
bottled
1008.5
1029.5

2.72
71.19%


1946
60/- Ale
Pale Ale
bottled
1008.5
1031

2.91
72.58%


1946
Export
Pale Ale
bottled
1011.25
1044.25

4.28
74.58%


1947
60/- Ale
Pale Ale
bottled
1006.5
1027.5

2.72
76.36%


1947
Pale Ale
Pale Ale
bottled
1009.5
1029

2.52
67.24%


1947
PA 60/-
Pale Ale
bottled
1011
1031

2.58
64.52%


1947
PA 60/-
Pale Ale
bottled
1011
1031.5

2.65
65.08%


1947
PA 60/-
Pale Ale
bottled
1006
1032.5

3.44
81.54%


1947
70/- Ale
Pale Ale
bottled
1008.5
1036.5

3.63
76.71%


1947
PA 70/-
Pale Ale
draught
1008.5
1037.5

3.77
77.33%


1947
PA 80/-
Pale Ale
bottled
1013
1044.5

4.08
70.79%


1948
PA
Pale Ale
bottled
1011
1028.5

2.26
61.40%


1948
PA 60/-
Pale Ale
bottled
1012.5
1031.5

2.45
60.32%


1948
PA 60/-
Pale Ale
bottled
1008.5
1031.5

2.98
73.02%


1948
105/- Ale
Pale Ale
bottled
1007.5
1037.5

3.90
80.00%


1948
PA 70/-
Pale Ale
bottled
1011.5
1037.5

3.37
69.33%


1948
120/-
Pale Ale
bottled
1011.5
1044

4.22
73.86%


1948
80/- Ale
Pale Ale
bottled
1010.5
1044.5

4.42
76.40%


1948
XP
Pale Ale
bottled
1015
1044.5

3.82
66.29%


1948
120/-
Pale Ale
bottled
1009
1045.5

4.75
80.22%


1949
PA
Pale Ale
bottled
1011.5
1027.5

2.06
58.18%


1949
Pale Ale
Pale Ale
bottled
1008.7
1027.9
32 brown
2.48
68.82%


1949
PA
Pale Ale
bottled
1011
1028

2.19
60.71%


1949
PA 60/-
Pale Ale
bottled
1010.5
1030

2.52
65.00%


1949
PA 60/-
Pale Ale
bottled
1014
1031.5

2.25
55.56%


1949
PA 60/-
Pale Ale
bottled
1011.5
1031.5

2.58
63.49%


1949
PA 70/-
Pale Ale
bottled
1013.5
1036

2.91
62.50%


1949
PA 70/-
Pale Ale
bottled
1008.5
1037.5

3.77
77.33%


1949
Pale Ale
Pale Ale
bottled
1007.6
1038.4
29.5 B
4.00
80.21%


1949
80/- Ale
Pale Ale
bottled
1015
1044.5

3.82
66.29%


1949
PA 80/-
Pale Ale
bottled
1014.5
1044.5

3.88
67.42%


1947
Old Scotch Ale
Scotch Ale
bottled
1020.5
1073.5

6.90
72.11%


1948
Strong Ale
Strong Ale
bottled
1024.5
1090.5

8.63
72.93%


Sources:


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


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






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