Shut up about Barclay Perkins - AK mistakes revealed
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I'm back from a brief holiday in Newark. Making this an approriate time to reveal the mistakes in that description of Snake River's AK Session.
To remind you, here's the quote:
"AK Session is traditional English mild ale. Mild refers to its low hopping rate. Mild is an ale intended to be consumed in quantity, thus the name “session”. AK is thought to stand for “Ale Kyte”, Flemish for “small ale”. This is a tawny colored brew that was a favorite among the farmers and laborers of the West Midlands. The alcohol content is 3.9% abv. This beer is a collaboration between Chris Erickson and Cory Buenning."
The first is pretty obvious: AK is a type of Pale Ale, not Mild. Bloody McMullens, by badging their AK as a Mild for a while they've led many to believe AK = Light Mild. An error repeated in David Sutula's Mild Ale book. It's another example of people not understanding what "mild" meant in the 19th century. As you can see from the table below, in no case is AK described as Mild Ale. The closest is "mild bitter Ale", where mild is clearly referring to the fact that it's unaged. "Bitter" or "Pale Ale" appear in the vast majority of the descriptions.
AK's |
Brewery |
Place |
year |
beer |
price per barrel (shillings) |
price per gallon (pence) |
Ind Coope |
Romford |
1871 |
AK |
36 |
12 |
Daniell & Co., Donyland Brewery |
Colchester |
1884 |
AK |
36 |
12 |
Bedford Brewery |
Bedford |
1870 |
AK (a mild bitter Ale, very celebrated) |
36 |
12 |
Hodson & Baverstock, Sun Brewery |
Godalming |
18?? |
AK (Pale for Families) |
36 |
12 |
John Bird |
Westerfield, Suff. |
1883 |
AK Ale |
36 |
12 |
Shakespeare Brewery |
Cambridge |
1889 |
AK Ale |
|
|
Langton & Sons |
Thorpe End, Leics |
|
AK Ale |
|
|
George Stibbs, Steam Brwry |
Cheltenham |
1871 |
AK Bitter |
42 |
14 |
John Murton |
Croydon |
1867 |
AK Bitter Ale |
36 |
12 |
Battersea Park Brewery (S.G. Mason & Co.) |
London |
1869 |
AK Bitter Ale |
38 |
12.67 |
Hodges and Ritchie, College Brewery |
Brighton |
1884 |
AK Bitter Ale |
42 |
14 |
Walcot Brewery |
Bath |
1884 |
AK Bitter Ale |
36 |
12 |
Goodwin Bros. |
Newark |
1885 |
AK Bitter Ale |
36 |
12 |
Charrington Nicholl & Co |
Colchester |
1885 |
AK Bitter Ale |
36 |
12 |
Roger's |
Bristol |
1889 |
AK Bitter Ale |
36 |
12 |
Rogers' Ales |
Bristol |
1890 |
AK Bitter Ale |
36 |
12 |
Arnol, Perret & Co |
Wickwar, Gloucs |
1895 |
AK Bitter Ale |
36 |
12 |
Henry Collett |
Chippenham |
1870/90 |
AK Bitter Ale |
|
|
Adey and White |
St. Albans |
1884 |
AK Bitter Beer |
36 |
12 |
Eltham Brewery |
Eltham |
1874 |
AK Bitter Dinner Ale |
36 |
12 |
Thomas Gundry |
Redhill, Surrey |
1878 |
AK Family Ale |
42 |
14 |
Flower & Sons |
Stratford-on-Avon |
1890 |
AK Family Ale |
30 |
10d |
Northampton Brewery |
Northampton |
1880 |
AK Family Pale Ale, a sparkling and agreeable Tonic |
36 |
12 |
Major Lucas & Co |
Northampton |
1893 |
AK Light Amber Ale |
36 |
12 |
Major Lucas |
Northampton |
1893 |
AK Light Amber Ale |
36 |
12 |
Waltham Bros. |
London |
1898 |
AK Light Biitter Ale |
36 |
12 |
Reffell's Brewery |
Bexley, Kent |
1888 |
AK Light Bitter |
36 |
12 |
Ind Coope |
Romford |
1890 |
AK Light Bitter |
42 |
14 |
Epping Brewery |
Epping |
1898 |
AK Light Bitter |
36 |
12 |
A.E. Druce & Sons, Hans Town Brewery |
Chelsea |
1855 |
AK Light Bitter Ale |
34 |
11.33 |
E. Greene & Son |
Bury St Edmonds |
1887 |
AK Light Bitter Ale |
|
|
Fuller, Smith & Turner |
Chiswick |
1893 |
AK Light Bitter Ale |
36 |
12 |
Humby & Baillie |
Stafford |
1896 |
AK Light Dinner Ale |
36 |
12 |
Godsell & Sons |
Stroud, Gloucs |
1902 |
AK Light Dinner Ale |
36 |
12 |
Byles & Co |
Henley |
1876 |
AK Light Pale Ale |
36 |
12 |
James Hole & co. |
Newark |
1890 |
AK Luncheon Ale |
|
|
Leney |
Wateringbury |
1884 |
AK Pale Ale |
42 |
14 |
Daniell & Son |
Colchester |
1894 |
AK Pale Ale |
36 |
12 |
Wordsley Brewery |
Stourbridge |
1897 |
AK similar to above but lighter |
36 |
12 |
Waltham Abbey Brewery |
Waltham Abbey |
1882 |
AK Stock Bitter Ale |
36 |
12 |
Sources: |
19th-century price lists |
I've already explained what's wrong about the second sentence: Mild doesn't mean lightly hopped. It means unaged.
There are no real errors in sentence three. But session is a very modern was of describing low-gravity beers. And I've most often seen it associated with Bitter, i.e. Session Bitter.
"AK is thought to stand for “Ale Kyte”, Flemish for “small ale”." Good bit of garbling there. I think they mean "ankel koyt" (though there are many different spellings of koyt: keyte, keut, kuyte). This is Martyn Cornell's theory of the derivation of AK. It doesn't mean small ale, but single Koyt. The standard form of Koyt as opposed to double Koyt. Personally, I don't believe this theory for a minute. There's a couple of hundred years gap between Flemish brewers settling in England an the name AK appearing. But that's another argument
"a tawny colored brew". I'm not sure what colour they mean with that description. But it sounds darker than the pale colour of AK.
"a favorite among the farmers and laborers of the West Midlands" Er, no. AK was mostly brewed in the South. As the map below shows. I can only see three that could possible be describes as West Midlands: Stafford, Stourbridges and Stratford. I think they're getting confused with Dark Mild, which still retains some popularity around Birmingham.
View AK distribution in a larger map
Note that Newark is the most northerly outpost of AK.
I'll make no comment about the ABV. It seems about right for a Light Bitter.
Give yourself a pat on the back if you spotted them all.https://blogger.googleusercontent.co...s.blogspot.com
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