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Here’s the top of the range Shilling Ale from William Younger, so you can compare and contrast it with their No. 1 Ale.

Obviously, this being 19th-century Scotland, the recipe isn’t very complicated. Just pale malt and a load of hops. Strange how they used so many hops, despite them not growing in Scotland. (That’s irony, by the way.) It’s not quite as heavily hopped as No. 1. But it’s still stuffed with hops.

The biggest differences I can see with No. 1 is the degree of attenuation (lower) and the dry hopping rate (much lower). It’s not a massive difference. Then again, I struggle to understand why Younger brewed more than 20 different beers, many that look extremely similar to each other. They’ve easily the largest beer range of any brewery that I’ve studied. And not just part-gyled from the same worts. Most of Younger’s beers were brewed single gyle.

The combination of heavy hopping and high FG must have resulted in a thick, bittersweet beer. I did brew one of the weaker Shilling Ales recently. It turned out really, really nice. I brewed it SMaSH: just pale malt and lots of Goldings. It had the wonderfully hoppiness that you get from huge quantities of Goldings.

Shilling Ales were meant to be drunk young. Which makes sense, as they are really a form of Mild Ale. Which means the FG in the log must have been pretty close to the FG when the beer hit drinkers’ lips.


1879 William Younger 160/-
pale malt 25.25 lb 100.00%
Cluster 90 min 3.50 oz
Cluster 60 min 3.50 oz
Cluster 30 min 1.75 oz
Goldings 30 min 1.75 oz
Goldings dry hops 0.18 oz
OG 1109
FG 1049.5
ABV 7.87
Apparent attenuation 54.59%
IBU 132
SRM 8
Mash at 158º F
Sparge at 161º F
Boil time 90 minutes
pitching temp 55º F
Yeast WLP028 Edinburgh Ale


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