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05-04-2015, 09:40
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Still can’t be arsed to take on draught Mild. Too much like hard work. So I’ve gone for a relatively easy option: IPA.

Though I know IPA is quite popular in some quarters. Also a thing known as English-style IPA, which has little in common with many of the beers we’ll see.

Talking of styles, I’ve split this bunch into three groups. Not a totally arbitrary exercise this time. I’ve chosen as a dividing line the spot where there was a big gap in gravities: 1036.6 to 1043.1; 1053.5 to 1058.7. Leaving us with weak IPAs: 1030 to 1036.6; mid-strength IPAs: 1043.1 to 1053.5; and strong IPAs: 1058.7 to 1063.7. It seems like they form these groups quite naturally.

You can see how much fun this is going to be. Because two of the three groups are totally unlike the “official” English IPA, which has a gravity range of 1050 to 1075. What’s particularly amusing are the Bass examples. The fit the guidelines pretty well, but were marketed as Pale Ale, not IPA.

It’s clear that IPA was a vague term, that meant different things to different brewers. The range of gravities is enormous, from 1030 to 1063.7. Do they form a single style? Are some of them mislabelled? Did anyone back in the 1950’s give a toss about any of that? I think not.

To anyone who says: “That isn’t an IPA. It’s a Bitter or a Pale Ale.” My reply is, don’t you think it’s a bit arrogant to impose your definition of IPA on a brewer in the past? And drinkers. If they were happy to call it IPA, who are we to call them deluded?

I knew this was a good topic. Lots of opportunity for ranting. Not done much of that of late. Mellowed or worn out? You decide.

Call me a traditionalist, but let’s start with the weakest first. The least IPA-ey, you could say.



Bottled weak IPA in the 1950's


Year
Brewer
Beer
Price per pint (d)
Acidity
OG
FG
ABV
App. Attenua- tion
colour


1958
Bernard
IPA (Bottling)


1030
1010
2.59
66.67%



1955
Wm. Younger
IPA
19
0.04
1030.2
1006.9
3.02
77.15%
22


1956
Barclay Perkins
IPA
20
0.04
1030.5
1007.3
3.01
76.07%
19


1958
Bernard
IPA
25
0.04
1030.6
1008.9
2.71
70.92%
50


1954
Barclay Perkins
IPA
19
0.05
1031.2
1007.5
3.07
75.96%
19


1959
Usher
IPA
20
0.03
1032.3
1008.4
2.99
73.99%
18


1955
Vaux & Co
IPA
18
0.05
1032.9
1008.2
3.20
75.08%
30


1959
Greene King
IPA
20
0.04
1033.3
1010
3.02
69.97%
25


1956
Whitbread
PA
22
0.05
1033.5
1005.8
3.60
82.69%
20


1954
Whitbread
Pale Ale
21
0.05
1034
1005.2
3.75
84.71%
22


1955
Whitbread
Pale Ale
22

1034.5






1959
Whitbread
Pale Ale
24

1034.7
1007.8
3.49
77.52%
18


1959
Whitbread
Pale Ale
24
0.04
1034.7
1008.4
3.41
75.79%
19


1956
Hope & Anchor Brewery, Sheffield
IPA
24
0.04
1036.6
1008
3.71
78.14%
18



Average

21.4
0.04
1032.8
1007.9
3.20
75.74%
23.3


Sources:


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


T & J Bernard's brewing records held at the Scottish Brewing Archive




You’ve probably spotted something there: the Whitbread beer is called Pale Ale. But in their brewing records it’s called IPA. Up until 1958, when the name changes to WPA. So you can ignore the 1959 examples if you like. But it was the same beer.

What’s weird is that the analyses come from the Whitbread Gravity Book. And they called it a Pale Ale, even though they must have been able to read the label of the beer they were sampling. The answer probably is that they didn’t really differentiate between Pale Ale, IPA, Bitter and Light Ale. They were all flavours of Pale Ale for them.

You can see the eccentric relationship between Scottish brewing and colour. Edinburgh brewery Bernard’s IPA is way darker than any of the others.

The football is on so I don’t want to waste much time. You can read can’t you? Average attenuation, quite pale colour, not that strong.

Mid-strength:



Bottled mid-strength IPA in the 1950's


Year
Brewer
Beer
Price per pint (d)
Acidity
OG
FG
ABV
App. Attenua- tion
colour


1955
Hansons
IPA
22
0.04
1043.1
1007.8
4.60
81.90%
19


1955
Eldridge Pope
IPA
29
0.05
1044.1
1012.8
4.06
70.98%
20


1955
Flowers
IPA
28
0.05
1045.9
1009.7
4.71
78.87%
25


1957
McEwan
Export IPA
32.5
0.05
1046.4
1010.7
4.64
76.94%
22


1954
McEwan
India Pale Ale

0.05
1048.6
1008.2
5.27
83.13%
24


1954
Courage
John Courage IPA
28
0.05
1050.4
1011.2
5.10
77.78%
20


1959
Courage
IPA
32
0.05
1050.7
1010.8
5.19
78.70%
23


1959
Bass
Pale Ale
32
0.02
1050.7
1010.7
5.21
78.90%
17


1959
Worthington
India Pale Ale
32
0.02
1051.6
1011.5
5.22
77.71%
18


1956
Bass
Pale Ale (Blue Triangle)
34
0.04
1051.9
1012.4
5.14
76.11%
21


1956
Bass
Pale Ale (Red Triangle)
34
0.05
1053.5
1004.1
6.48
92.34%
20



Average

29.1
0.04
1048.8
1010.0
5.06
79.39%
20.8


Sources:


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



Now I’m getting less certain of my classifications. Just noticed that the top four are versions of the Bass/Worthington strong IPA’s. They clearly dropped the gravities in the second half of the Sixties.

Odd that this set is paler than the last. But let’s keep moving along . . .

The strong set:



Bottled strong IPA in the 1950's


Year
Brewer
Beer
Price
Acidity
OG
FG
ABV
App. Attenua- tion
colour


1953
Bass
Blue Label PA
24
0.08
1058.7
1013.8
5.85
76.49%
18.5


1953
Bass
Pale Ale (Blue Triangle purchased in Belgium)

0.04
1060.8
1010.5
6.58
82.73%
21


1953
Worthington
India Pale Ale

0.04
1061.1
1013.5
6.21
77.91%
27


1955
Bass
Pale Ale (Red Triangle)

0.04
1063.2
1009.6
7.02
84.81%
19


1955
Worthington
India Pale Ale (Green Shield)

0.05
1063.3
1009.4
7.06
85.15%
18


1955
Bass
Pale Ale (Blue Triangle)

0.07
1063.5
1003.1
7.96
95.12%
19


1955
Worthington
India Pale Ale (White Shield)

0.05
1063.7
1002.9
8.02
95.45%
18



Average

24.0
0.05
1062.0
1009.0
6.96
85.38%
20.1


Sources:


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



This is really a single beer. Blue Triangle was the pasteurised version of bottled-conditioned Red Triangle. And Green Shield was the processed version of White Shield. Just differently packaged and processed versions of one beer.

This lot is way the most highly attenuated. As you would expect of genuine Burton Pale Ales. Also the palest. Ponder on that while I watch the footy.

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