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At first I thought that Adnams only brewed one Pale Ale, BLB. Now I realise that they did have a second one called PA. They just didn’t brew it very often.

At 1060º, it’s a proper, full-strength Pale Ale. Much stronger than their standard Pale Ale, BLB, which was in the mid-1040º’s.

The grist is even simpler than BLB’s, as there’s no flaked maize, just pale malt and No. 2 invert sugar. To make things slightly more exciting, the pale malt is about half rom English, half from Californian barley.

The hops were a combination of Worcester, Sussex and Kent from the 1914 crop and Oregon from the 1913 harvest. I’ve reduced the hop quantities a little, since the original was brewed in September 1915. But it still works out to 62 calculated IBUs. If it takes your fancy, you could replace some or all of the Fuggles with Goldings.

It wouldn’t surprise me if PA was still being brewed as a Stock Ale, that is aged before sale. Three to six months would be about a minimum ageing period, but a full twelve months is quite possible.


1915 Adnams PA
pale malt 11.50 lb 86.79%
No. 2 invert sugar 1.75 lb 13.21%
Cluster 120 mins 1.50 oz
Fuggles 60 mins 1.50 oz
Fuggles 30 mins 1.50 oz
Fuggles dry hops 2.00 oz
OG 1060
FG 1014
ABV 6.09
Apparent attenuation 76.67%
IBU 62
SRM 9
Mash at 155º F
Sparge at 170º F
Boil time 120 minutes
pitching temp 59º F
Yeast WLP025 Southwold


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