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I'm continuing my North American theme with a look at Labatt's beers from the 1893-1894 brewing season.

The range is a little bigger than at Vassar. Sort of. For, though superficially Vassar only had to products, Single and Double Ale, that broke down into multiple subtypes. Labatt only brewed four beers. Three, really, as there was just a single brew of ES.

Which table to start with? Let's begin with how much of each type they brewed:


Labbatt beers 1893 - 1894
barrels %
Brown Stout 2,165.5 9.10%
ES 160 0.67%
EIP 17,613 74.00%
Pale 3,863 16.23%
total 23,801.5
Source:
Labatt brewing records.

You can see that their IPA was easily the top seller, accounting for almost 75% of what they brewed. Followed by Pale. I'm not 100% sure what Pale was. It could have been marketed as a Pale Ale, but it could also have been an Ale, that is a Mild Ale. I'd have to see some adverts from the period to be sure.

On to the next table. Of the beers themselves. It contains averages of all the beers brewed in that season. Except for ES, because there was only one brew of that:


Labbatt beers 1893 - 1894
Beer Style OG FG ABV App. Atten-uation lbs hops/ qtr hops lb/brl boil time (hours) boil time (hours) Pitch temp max. fermen-tation temp length of fermen-tation (days)
BS Stout 1066.4 1015.7 6.70 76.34% 7.30 1.79 2 2.70 58.2 72.8 10.4
Pale Pale Ale 1049.4 1012.0 4.95 75.67% 7.88 1.49 2 2.68 59.4 67.1 10.2
EIP IPA 1055.2 1012.2 5.69 77.83% 8.38 1.82 2 2.61 58.2 70.0 10.4
ES Stock Ale 1063.7 1009.7 7.15 84.78% 8.93 2.41 2 2.67 58 72 19.0
Source:
Labatt brewing records.


At first I thought ES probably stodd for Extra Stout. Then I noticed that the recipe contained no patent malt like the Brown Stout did. So my new best guess is Extra Stock. I could be wrong (I have been in the past). Though I have found a label for a Labatt beer called Extra Stock Ale.

An obvious differnce with the Vassar beers is the degree of attenuation. Much, much higher. And averaging around the 75% found in most modern beers.

I'll be getting into a more detailed comparison with British beers later, but the gravities look a little lower than in London. And the IPA has a level of hopping more in line with a London mild Ale tha a Burton Pale Ale. The hopping is only a half pound more per quarter than for Pale, which is increasingly looking like a Mild Ale to me.

Little points like that aside, that range looks remarkably similar to a British brewery's. IPA, Stout, Mild Ale and Stock Ale. Not a Lager or Cream Ale in sight.


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