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16-07-2018, 07:31
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Rather than relying on interpretations of tasting notes and faulty memories, wouldn’t it be good to know for sure if and how British beer has changed in the past 20 years? Well, there is a way.In the November/December issue of UK brewing industry magazine*The Grist*Keith Thomas provided a technical breakdown of the typical strength, colour and bitterness of British beer styles. It is full of fascinating jewels of information but the most interesting parts are this graph…
https://boakandbailey.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/1996_graph.jpg
… and this table which shows the measured colour (EBC) and bitterness (EBU) of a hundred beers with the numbers prescribed by CAMRA’s style guidelines beneath in brackets:


Style
No. Brands
Colour
Min-Max
Bitterness
Min-Max


Light Mild
5
43
(44)
15-29
(39-47)
23
(21)
15-29
(21-23)


Dark Mild
12
117
(94)
64-223
(39-223)
22
(21)
13-28
(12-28)


Bitter
27
25
(27)
15-66
(16-38)
25
(25)
18-39
(9-48)


Best Bitter
19
28
(27)
13-71
(13-65)
28
(30)
22-43
(16-52)


Strong Bitter
16
33
(33)
16-49
(10-109)
33
(30)
21-37
(20-52)


Porter
6
150
(157)
69-305
(97-249)
30
(36)
21-37
(18-45)


Old Ale
4
64
(95)
48-75
(27-114)
28
(28)
25-31
(18-45)


These offer a fairly precise snapshot of the reality of the situation in 1995-96 and that is somewhat interesting in its own right, but it becomes a lot more so when you discover that Dr Thomas and his colleagues at BrewLab in Sunderland have been checking in on these stats ever since.
They published a detailed report in 2006, sadly locked away behind paywalls (British Food Journal, Vol. 108, in case anyone has access) and have an update in the works. In the meantime, though, they have released a sort of trailer in the form of a press release (https://www.beerguild.co.uk/news/whats-style-new-research-brewlab/), which states (our emphasis)…

[The] features of many styles remained similar to the parameters summarized in 2006.* However, when considered overall some differences are evident.* Average alcohol levels are down by 3% on average.* This did vary by style and was mainly due to old ales being weaker.* More extensive differences are evident in beer colour and bitterness.* While bitterness overall has increased by 5% colour has decreased by 18%.* This is particularly evident in the darker beers – milds, porters and stouts.* In general, it appears that beers are becoming lighter but more bitter….*It was particularly interesting to see that standard beers are retaining their character but also that darker beers appear to be evolving.* The introduction of blond and golden beers has had an impact on the market and possibly influenced changes in other styles.
It also comes with a useful infographic (https://www.brewlab.co.uk/news/brewlab-beer-styles-report-infographic-) (believe it or not such things do exist)*from which we’ve snipped these details:
https://boakandbailey.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/bitterness_chart.jpg https://boakandbailey.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/colour_chart.jpg
There’s lots of interesting stuff to chew on there:


What’s the difference between porter and stout?*Nothing, says history (http://zythophile.co.uk/2009/03/19/so-what-is-the-difference-between-porter-and-stout/). About 15 points in colour and 7 points of bitterness, say these real world observations.
Dark mild has got more bitter since 1995-96… or is it just that the more bitter, characterful examples have proven resilient during the ongoing extinction event?
What’s the difference between old ale and barley wine? Not much, says history (http://zythophile.co.uk/2010/09/14/so-what-is-the-difference-between-barley-wine-and-old-ale/). About 65 points in colour and six or seven points of bitterness, sez this.

Crunching the Numbers on British Beer Styles (https://boakandbailey.com/2018/07/crunching-the-numbers-on-british-beer-styles/) originally posted at Boak & Bailey's Beer Blog (https://boakandbailey.com)


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