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29-10-2011, 08:15
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To break up those slabs of text from old books, there's something lighter today. Almost fluffy.


http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-dHcED-QZ7Fk/TqflBOuorcI/AAAAAAAAIPw/XVavFKYGN_k/s320/Calders_Milk_Stout_1957.jpg (http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-dHcED-QZ7Fk/TqflBOuorcI/AAAAAAAAIPw/XVavFKYGN_k/s1600/Calders_Milk_Stout_1957.jpg)
I promised you a look at James Calder's beers and here they are. Though, if you've been paying attention, you'll realise that none were brewed at Calder's Shore Brewery. That closed in 1921 and Calder's products were produced at Arrol's Alloa Brewery. Until 1951, when they moved to Jeffrey in Edinburgh.

The most surprising beer in the table below is the first: a Stout from 1922. Why is it unusual? Because of the attenuation, almost 80%. Scots loved their Stouts sweet and this one is surprisingly dry. You can see that later they did brew more Scottish-looking Stouts with low attenuation.

Brown Ale was one trend that did hit Scotland around the same time as England. I'm surprised that the OG of Calder's only fell five points between 1938 and 1950. Around double that woukld have been more typical. In the 1950's, most Brown Ales clawed their way above 1030. The name - Nut Brown Ale - signifies nothing in particular. It's a stock phrase that appears in several poems and songs. A bit like "oinomata ponta" ("wine-dark sea") in Homer.

Here's one:


THE PLAYERS' SONG.

The nut-brown ale, the nut-brown ale,
Puts downe all drinke when it is stale,
The toast, the nutmeg, and the ginger,
Will make the sighing man a singer.

Ale gives a buffet in the head,
But ginger under proppes the brayne;
When ale would strike a strong man dead,
Then nutmegge tempers it againe,
The nut-brown ale, the nut-brown ale,
Puts downe all drinke when it is stale.

"Festive songs, principally of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, Volume 23" by William Sandys, 1848, pages 81 - 82.
And here's another:


'When the chill sciroco blows,
And winter tells a heavy tale ;
When pies, and daws, and rooks and crows,
Do sit and curse the frost and snows ;
Then give me ale,
Old brown ale,
Nut brown ale,
Stout brown ale,

O give me stout brown ale -
Ale that the plowman's health up keeps,
And equals it to tyrant thrones ;
That wipes the eye that ever weeps,
And lulls in sweet and dainty sleeps.:
Th' o'er wearied bones
Old brown ale, &c.

From the comic opera "Robin Hood" by Robin Mcnally, 1783, page 31.
Do a search in Google Books and you'll find loads of works in which the phrase was used.

Considering that's what made their name, there are very few Pale Ales. Though that could be because of the source of the data. All analyses from 1950 on come from the Whitbread Gravity Book. With a big brand of Milk Stout (Mackeson), Whitbread were keen to see what its rivals were up to. They were also fascinated with Brown Ale.

See how the one 60/- is a Pale Ale. That's what 60/- was before WW II. I'd love to know how and when (and why, come to think of it) it became a type of Dark Mild.

Here's the table.




James Calder beers 1922 - 1961


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


1922
Stout
Stout

pint
draught

1011
1052.99

5.47
79.24%


1922
Ale?
Ale?

pint
draught

1010.8
1052.34
70
5.41
79.29%


1928
Pale Ale
Pale Ale

pint
bottled

1008
1037

3.77
78.38%


1937
Milk Stout
Stout

pint
bottled

1022.3
1055.75

4.32
60.09%


1938
Nut Brown Ale
Brown Ale

pint
bottled
0.06
1013.4
1039.4
10 + 40
3.36
65.99%


1939
60/- Ale
Pale Ale

pint
bottled

1007.8
1036.75
11 – 12
3.77
78.91%


1939
Milk Stout
Stout
5d
half pint
bottled

1021
1052.5

4.06
60.00%


1940
Pale Ale
Pale Ale

pint
bottled

1005
1035.5

3.97
85.92%


1941
Pale Ale
Pale Ale

pint
bottled

1009
1038.5

3.83
76.62%


1948
Stout
Stout

pint
bottled

1015
1039.5

3.16
62.03%


1948
Scotch Strong Ale
Scotch Ale

pint
bottled

1019
1065.5

6.04
70.99%


1948
Export Ale
Pale Ale

pint
bottled

1015
1045.5

3.95
67.03%


1949
Beer
Pale Ale

pint
bottled

1006.5
1029

2.92
77.59%


1949
Stout
Stout

pint
bottled

1013
1038.5

3.30
66.23%


1950
Nut Brown Ale
Brown Ale
1/-
half pint
bottled
0.06
1011.4
1034.3
40 + 8
2.96
66.76%


1950
Pale Ale
Pale Ale


bottled
0.05
1014.2
1054.7
21.5 B
5.26
74.04%


1950
Milk Stout
Stout


bottled
0.07
1029.7
1069.3
1 + 14 B
5.10
57.14%


1954
Scotch Stout
Stout
1/2d
half pint
bottled
0.04
1015.9
1040.9
1 + 14
3.23
61.12%


1959
Scotch Stout
Stout
14d
halfpint
bottled

1021.5
1042.2
300
2.66
49.05%


1961
Export Ale
Pale Ale
15d
half pint
bottled
0.05
1009.9
1044.1
23
4.27
77.55%


1961
Stout (no lactose)
Stout
16d
half pint
bottled
0.06
1019.8
1041.3
250
2.69
52.06%




Sources:


Younger, Wm. & Co Gravity Book document WY/6/1/1/19 held at the Scottish Brewing Archive


Thomas Usher Gravity Book document TU/6/11


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


Whitbread Gravity Book document LMA/4453/D/02/002 held at the London Metropolitan Archives


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