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09-11-2013, 08:25
Visit the Shut up about Barclay Perkins site (http://barclayperkins.blogspot.com/2013/11/whitbread-ipa-1945-1954.html)


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Seemingly never-ending series are my speciality. We're not even a quarter of the way into the one on Whitbread's post-WW II beers. Just as well they didn't brew as many different ones as Barclay Perkins or we'd be here until the next millennium.

I know what the reaction of style nazis will be to this beer: "not a proper IPA". But what makes a beer an IPA? Only a tiny percentage of the IPA ever brewed actually made the trip to India, so we can rule that out as a criterion for identifying an authentic IPA. Strong? Hoppy? Not sure they will do either. Before you start calling this a joke of an IPA, consider this: it was first brewed in 1900 so by this time had almost half a century of history behind it. How many modern IPA's have been around as long? That's right - none of them.

Clearly London drinkers weren't confused by the name. They knew what to expect when they ordered an IPA in a Whitbread pub. Are we going top retrospectively call them idiots because our modern idea of an IPA is different? Or accuse Whitbread of fraud for daring to call a session-strength beer IPA? Obviously that would be ridiculous.

But this beer belongs to the same family of beers as Greene King IPA, a beer of which it's regularly said "that's not a real IPA". Why? Because in the hundred or so years Greene King IPA has been around our concept of IPA has changed. More than Greene King IPA itself has, though undoubtedly it will be quite different from its first iteration.



Whitbread IPA 1945 - 1954


Date
Year
Beer
OG
FG
ABV
App. Attenuation
lbs hops/ qtr
hops lb/brl
Pitch temp
length of fermentation (days)
colour
boil time (hours)
boil time (hours)


2nd Oct
1945
IPA
1031.6
1006.0
3.39
81.01%
8.53
1.22
64º
7
20
1.25
1.5


13th Sep
1946
IPA
1029.4
1005.5
3.16
81.29%
8.90
1.09
64º
6
25.5
1.25
1.25


5th Jun
1946
IPA
1031.3
1005.5
3.41
82.43%
8.53
1.13
64º
7
21
1.25
1.25


3rd Jan
1947
IPA
1029.3
1004.0
3.35
86.35%
8.90
1.08
64º
7
19
1.25
1.25


9th Sep
1947
IPA
1033.2
1007.5
3.40
77.41%
9.42
1.29
64º
7
25.5
1.25
1.25


19th Aug
1948
IPA
1032.4
1007.0
3.36
78.40%
9.00
1.22
64º
6
25
1.25
1.75


2nd Mar
1948
Ex IPA
1046.8
1013.0
4.47
72.22%
8.91
1.78
62º
7
23
1.25
1.25


24th Oct
1949
IPA
1032.5
1004.5
3.70
86.15%
9.00
1.17
64º
6
23.5
1.25
1.25


2nd June
1950
IPA
1034.5
1005.5
3.84
84.06%
9.54
1.30
64º
6
24
1.25
1.25


16th May
1950
IPA
1035.5
1006.0
3.90
83.10%
9.29
1.30
64º
7
23
1.25
1.5


10th Jul
1951
IPA
1034.8
1006.0
3.81
82.76%
9.54
1.39
64º
7
22.5
1.25
1


30th Jul
1952
IPA
1034.7
1004.5
4.00
87.03%
9.54
1.35
64º
7
23.5
1.25
1.5


24th Sep
1953
IPA
1034.6
1005.0
3.92
85.55%
9.38
1.33
64º
7
23
1.25
1.25


29th Sep
1954
IPA
1034.5
1006.0
3.77
82.61%
9.74
1.30
64º
7
23
1.25
1.25


Sources:


Whitbread brewing records held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document numbers LMA/4453/D/01/113, LMA/4453/D/01/114, LMA/4453/D/01/115, LMA/4453/D/01/116, LMA/4453/D/01/115, LMA/4453/D/01/117, LMA/4453/D/01/118, LMA/4453/D/01/119, LMA/4453/D/01/120, LMA/4453/D/01/121 and LMA/4453/D/01/122.



http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yp896-wnWrU/UnoQnb2TIHI/AAAAAAAASTQ/yQcsX2kuzn8/s320/Whitbread_IPA_1945_1954.jpg (http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yp896-wnWrU/UnoQnb2TIHI/AAAAAAAASTQ/yQcsX2kuzn8/s1600/Whitbread_IPA_1945_1954.jpg)

So what makes a beer an IPA? It's as impossible to define definitively as the difference between Porter and Stout or what makes a beer Mild Ale. Why? Because the definitions have varied so much over time and place that coming up with a single one that covers every IPA can't be done in any meaningful way. You'd end up with something like this: a pale beer between 1030 and 1080. I think that just about covers every IPA ever brewed (excluding Black IPA). Anything more specific and it would no longer be generally applicable.

Before I go any further I should point out that this was an exclusively bottled beer, as many low-gravity IPA's were. It seems to have evolved as a specific style in the Southeast just after WW I. Very pale, quite hoppy, with a gravity of 1035 - 1045º. Barclay Perkins brewed one, too. The only surviving example I can think of is Harvey's. It seems to have occupied a similar slot to Light Ale in a brewer's range.

Now I've got that off my chest, we can discuss the beer itself. The 1900 version had a gravity of 1057º, a couple of points higher than average OG, but by 1902 had fallen to 1050º, a few points below average. Let me just stress that: this is a beer that was always below average strength. Here's a table just in case that isn't crystal clear:



Year
Whitbread IPA
Average OG


1902
1049.9
1053.47


1914
1049.3
1052.80


1918
1032.4
1039.81


1921
1033
1042.61


1930
1035.9
1042.90


1939
1037.1
1040.93


1945
1031.6
1034.54


Sources:


“The Brewers' Society Statistical Handbook 1988” page 7


Brewers' Almanack 1928, p. 110


Brewers' Almanack 1955, p. 50


Whitbread brewing records held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document numbers LMA/4453/D/01/067, LMA/4453/D/01/079, LMA/4453/D/01/084, LMA/4453/D/01/086, LMA/4453/D/01/096, LMA/4453/D/01/107 and LMA/4453/D/01/113.



One thing you can say of this beer is that it was always intoxicating. Even when the OG dipped just under 1030º, the high degree of attenuation meant that it was still over 3% ABV. 8.5 to 9 lbs of hops per quarter is a pretty decent hopping rate, not much down on the 13 lbs per quarter it got in 1900. Especially when you consider that the hopping rate of Whitbread PA dropped from 11 lbs per quarter in 1900 to just 5.85 lbs in 1945, a reduction of almost 50%.



Whitbread IPA 1945 - 1954


Date
Year
Beer
OG
hops
PA malt
crystal malt
no. 1 sugar
flaked barley


2nd Oct
1945
IPA
1031.6
MK and KT hops
68.27%
8.65%
7.69%
15.38%


13th Sep
1946
IPA
1029.4
EK and MK hops. Hopulon.
82.29%
9.38%
8.33%



5th Jun
1946
IPA
1031.3
MK hops. Hopulon.
67.31%
9.62%
7.69%
15.38%


3rd Jan
1947
IPA
1029.3
MK, EK and Worcester hops. Hopulon.
82.29%
9.38%
8.33%



9th Sep
1947
IPA
1033.2
MK, EK and Worcester hops. Hopulon.
82.69%
9.62%
7.69%



19th Aug
1948
IPA
1032.4
MK and KT hops. Hopulon.
82.69%
9.62%
7.69%



2nd Mar
1948
Ex IPA
1046.8
EK and Worcester hops.
79.26%
2.56%
18.18%



24th Oct
1949
IPA
1032.5
MK and KT hops.
82.69%
9.62%
7.69%



2nd June
1950
IPA
1034.5
Worcester hops.
84.26%
8.33%
7.41%



16th May
1950
IPA
1035.5
MK and Worcester hops.
84.26%
8.33%
7.41%



10th Jul
1951
IPA
1034.8
MK and KT hops.
84.26%
8.33%
7.41%



30th Jul
1952
IPA
1034.7
MK and EK hops.
84.26%
8.33%
7.41%



24th Sep
1953
IPA
1034.6
MK, EK and Worcester hops.
82.08%
6.60%
11.32%



29th Sep
1954
IPA
1034.5
MK and Worcester hops.
94.34%
5.66%




Sources:


Whitbread brewing records held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document numbers LMA/4453/D/01/113, LMA/4453/D/01/114, LMA/4453/D/01/115, LMA/4453/D/01/116, LMA/4453/D/01/115, LMA/4453/D/01/117, LMA/4453/D/01/118, LMA/4453/D/01/119, LMA/4453/D/01/120, LMA/4453/D/01/121 and LMA/4453/D/01/122.



http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7movMzlNFNg/UnoRK_eSsMI/AAAAAAAASTY/z6f5uN-Gjss/s320/Whitbread_IPA_grists_1945_1954.jpg (http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7movMzlNFNg/UnoRK_eSsMI/AAAAAAAASTY/z6f5uN-Gjss/s1600/Whitbread_IPA_grists_1945_1954.jpg)

The recipe was essentially unchanged across this period, except for the early years when they were forced to use flaked barley. After that, it's a simple combination of pale ale malt, crystal malt and No. 1 invert sugar. Apart from the one all-malt brewed in 1954. Don't know why they did that. There a few random beers dotted around Whitbread's brewing logs that are all-malt. I've not managed to note any pattern to them.

The hops, as you should be expecting by now, are all English, mostly from Kent. Oh, and some hopulon in the early years. Still not exactly sure what that is, hop extract or hop substitute.

I suppose I'd best mention that Export IPA. I only spotted it once in the records so it looks like it wasn't brewed very often. You're probably thinking that it's closer to a "proper" IPA than the standard version. But I couldn't possibly comment. It's pretty much a scaled-up version of the IPA, but with more sugar and less crystal malt. The change was probably to keep the colour pale.

You know what I'm going to say now. Lots more of this to come.

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