Shut up about Barclay Perkins - Draught Scottish 60/- Pale Ale 1949 - 1959

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One of the big difference between Scottish beer and English beer i the immediate post-WW II period was that sytyles were much more formalised.

While English Bitters tended to be all over the shop in terms of OG, from 1028º to 1050º, there was a more rigid system of names and strength North of the border. In England, Best Bitter was a very vague term and really didn't tell you a whole lot about a beer's strength. If the brewery brewed an Ordinary Bitter, too, then at least you could assume the Best Bitter was stronger. But there were plenty of beers called Best Bitter that were only 1036º or so.

Not so in Scotland. If you ordered a Light (or 60/-) you knew you were going to get a beer of around 3% ABV. Though what colour it was depended on where you were drinking it. Light was, irinically enough, often coloured to be dark brown. But not always.

I always assumed 60/- was just the Scottish version of Dark Mild. Whereas it's really just a weak Pale Ale. Lightly hopped, and dark, it did a pretty good job of impersonating Dark Mild. And did indded fill Mild's slot on the bar. Genuine Mild, however, was pretty well stone dead in Scotland after WW II. William Younger is the only brewery I've come across who brewed one. Presumably because they had tioed houses in England.

70/- next.

Draught Scottish 60/- Pale Ale 1949 - 1959
Year	Brewer	Beer	Price per pint (d)	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	colour
1949	Aitken	60/-	15	1030.5	1007	3.05	77.05%
1958	Bernard	No. 3		1031	1010	2.72	67.74%
1949	Campbell, Hope & King	90/-		1031.5	1006	3.31	80.95%
1948	Fowler	54/- Ale		1028	1007	2.72	75.00%
1949	Mackay	90/-		1031	1004	3.51	87.10%
1951	Maclay	PA 6d		1031	1012	2.51	61.29%
1953	Steel Coulson	P. 60/-	14	1030
1947	Usher	PA 60/-		1029.5	1010.5	2.45	64.41%
1959	Wm. Younger	XXP Bitter	22	1030.4	1005.7	3.21	81.25%	21
	Average			1030.3	1007.8	2.94	74.35%
Sources:
Thomas Usher Gravity Book held at the Scottish Brewing Archive, document number TU/6/11.
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.
Maclay brewing record held at the Scottish Brewing Archive, document number M/6/1/1/28
document from the Steel Coulson archive held at the Scottish Brewing Archives

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