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22-09-2011, 08:15
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I'm going a little Alloa crazy. I'm unearthing lots of stuff about Britain's forgotten brewing centre. It seems a shame not to share it.

We've been around the brewery with Barnard. Now it's time to take a look at some of George Younger's beers. And what better place to start than at the beginning. At least the beginning of the analyses I possess.Which is 1906.

It's a funny one, that 1906 analysis. The date could be wrong. The question mark next to it implies it's just a guess. It comes from a piece of paper slipped inside a brewing log. Not a Scottish brewing log, but William J. Younger's personal notebook from his time at Evershed's Burton brewery in the 1890's. This is it:


http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-OL1SGfnBHac/TnMT58edKVI/AAAAAAAAIJw/Bc0pDNEFkI4/s640/Evershed_log_Scottish_gravities.JPG (http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-OL1SGfnBHac/TnMT58edKVI/AAAAAAAAIJw/Bc0pDNEFkI4/s1600/Evershed_log_Scottish_gravities.JPG)

I've just noticed Knox in there. That's another Alloa brewery. Oddly enough, the only one of which much survives.And the only one still connected to the drinks trade, it being owned by Diageo. But I digress.

On with the beers. They're a funny set. The high proportion of Pale Ales could just be the result of the specific areas of interest of those doing the analyses. The Whitbread Gravity Book is full of Milk Stout analyses, presumably because they were keeping a close eye on beers competing with their Mackeson brand. The overwhelming majority of the beers listed are standard strength Pale Ales, with gravities between 1035º and 1048º.

Barnard commented that George Younger was famous for two styles of beer: Pale Ale and strong Alloa Ale. There are certainly plenty of the former, but surpringly few of the latter. Which is a a bit odd, as I've plenty from other breweries. Most have gravities of 1065º and 1085º. These are the beers that, while described by the breweries themsleves as Strong Ale were sold in England as Scotch Ale. It's hard to read too much into these two samples. The last, from 1939, is very weak at just 1047º for the Strong Ale.

It's harder to find exact English equivalents for Scottish Strong Ales. The closest are the KKK or KKKK brewed in London, or beers like Bass No. 1 Ale from Burton.

I've two analyses of a Mild. They don't tell me much. At 1035º and 6d a pint, the one from 1922 is very much in line with London Milds of the same period. That there is only two analyses speaks volumes about the popularity of Mild in Scotland.

Seeing Table Beer in the 20th century is a surprise. London brewers had given up on it in the middle of the 19th century. It seems to have hung around much longer in Scotland. No idea why.

Malt Wine. I've classified those as Barley Wine, which seems fair enough. The ones listed below certainly have the right sort of strength. Though I wouldn't like to define what the difference is between Malt Wine and Strong Ale in this context. Just what the brewer decided to put on the label, I suspect.

And finally . . . the Stouts. Again, not many samples to work on. The later two look very typical of the way Stout developped in Scotland. Becoming very sweet and, because of the very low degree of attenuation, not very alcoholic. Here's a funny thing. One style that never gets mentioned in people's fantasies about Scottish beer styles is Stout. Yet sweet, underattenuated Stout is one of the most distinctively Scottish of all styles. I suppose it doesn't fit in with romantic notions of kilted Scots drying their malt over peat fires up in the Highlands.




George Younger beers 1906 - 1939


Year
Beer
Style
Price
size
package
Acidity
FG
OG
colour
ABV
App. Attenuation


1906
60/- PA
Pale Ale

pint
draught


1056.2
8




1922
Black Beer
Black Beer

pint
bottled

1004
1011

0.90
63.64%


1922
carbonated
??

pint
bottled

1008.5
1027
36
2.39
68.52%


1922
Mild
Mild
6d
pint
draught

1005.9
1034.5
95
3.73
83.04%


1923
Malt Wine
Barley Wine

pint
bottled

1016
1078

8.12
79.49%


1923
carbonated
Pale Ale

pint
bottled

1007.3
1033.8
33
3.44
78.47%


1923
No. 1 Pale Ale
Pale Ale

pint
bottled

1008.2
1040.9
31
4.26
80.07%


1923
Malt Wine
Barley Wine

pint
bottled

1023.9
1083.4
69
7.76
71.34%


1924
Alloa Pale Ale
Pale Ale


bottled


1039.7





1924
Sparkling TB
Table Beer

pint
bottled

1004
1027.5
40
3.05
85.45%


1926
PA
Pale Ale

pint
bottled

1009
1033
30
3.11
72.73%


1928
No. 1 Alloa Pale Ale
Pale Ale

pint
bottled

1008
1043.5
no. 9 (standard colour)
4.62
81.61%


1929
XXX Stout
Stout

pint
bottled

1012
1047.5

4.61
74.74%


1929
90/- PA
Pale Ale

pint
bottled

1009
1039

3.90
76.92%


1929
PA
Pale Ale

pint
bottled

1002
1035

4.31
94.29%


1929
PA 60/-
Pale Ale

pint
bottled

1008
1037

3.77
78.38%


1929
Sparkling Pale Ale (carbonated)
Pale Ale

pint
bottled

1004
1033.3
Between 7 - 8. Same as our Newcastle Pale.
3.80
87.85%


1929
Sparkling Pale Ale (carbonated)
Pale Ale

pint
bottled

1007
1034
Between 7 - 8. Same as our Newcastle Pale.
3.51
79.41%


1929
Sparkling Pale Ale (carbonated)
Pale Ale

pint
bottled

1008
1035.5
Between 8 - 9. Shade paler than our standard
3.57
77.46%


1929
Heavy Export Ale (carbonated)
Pale Ale

pint
bottled

1013
1049
Between 11 – 12
4.67
73.47%


1929
Strong Ale (carbonated)
Strong Ale

pint
bottled

1018.5
1066.5
Between 13 - 14
6.24
72.18%


1929
Sparkling Pale Ale (carbonated)
Pale Ale

pint
bottled

1007.8
1038
Between 7 - 8.
3.93
79.61%


1929
Sparkling Malt Wine (carbonated)
Barley Wine

pint
bottled

1013
1076
No. 14.
8.27
82.89%


1929
No. 1 Alloa Pale Ale (carbonated)
Pale Ale

pint
bottled

1011
1044.8
No. 9.
4.38
75.42%


1930
Pale Ale
Pale Ale

pint
bottled

1011.5
1040

3.69
71.25%


1930
Pale Ale
Pale Ale

pint
bottled

1010
1039
50
3.76
74.36%


1931
Milk Stout
Stout

pint
bottled

1020
1044

3.09
54.55%


1932
Heavy Export Ale
Pale Ale

pint
bottled

1011
1048

4.81
77.08%


1933
Lemon shandy
Shandy

pint
bottled

1006
1014

1.03
57.14%


1933
Heavy Export
Pale Ale

pint
bottled

1012
1048

4.68
75.00%


1933
Sparkling Pale Ale
Pale Ale

pint
bottled

1005.5
1035

3.84
84.29%


1933
Sparkling Table Beer
Pale Ale

pint
bottled

1007.5
1021

1.74
64.29%


1934
Pale Ale
Pale Ale

pint
draught

1012
1038

3.36
68.42%


1935
Pale Ale
Pale Ale
8d
pint
bottled

1009.4
1041

4.10
77.07%


1936
90/- Pale Ale
Pale Ale

pint
bottled

1004
1036
7 – 8
4.17
88.89%


1937
Cream Double Stout
Stout

pint
bottled

1025.5
1045.5

2.56
43.96%


1937
Pale Ale
Pale Ale
5d
pint
bottled

1007.3
1032.3
13 – 14
3.24
77.52%


1937
Pale Ale
Pale Ale
6d
pint
bottled

1011
1039
13 – 14
3.63
71.79%


1939
60/- Ale
Pale Ale

pint
bottled

1007.8
1037.5

3.87
79.33%


1939
Light Ale
Mild
6d
pint
draught
0.06
1005.8
1033.6
40 + 1
3.61
82.74%


1939
Strong Ale
Strong Ale
10d
pint
draught
0.08
1005.2
1047.4
40 + 16
5.52
89.03%


Sources:


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


Whitbread Gravity Book document LMA/4453/D/02/001 held at the London Metropolitan Archives


Document WY/6/1/1/14 of the William Younger archive held at the Scottish Brewing Archive.



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