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Before 1850, Pale Ale was mostly brewed by specialist brewers, either in Burton or in Scotland. After the middle of the century, the style went mainstream.

The biggest boost to the style was given by the introduction of Light Pale Ales around 1850. The original Pale Ales were all brewed as Stock Ales, being aged for 6 to 12 months before sale, always in trade casks rather than vats. The new running versions were aged for no more than a few weeks and were much lower in gravity. While a typical Stock Pale Ale had an OG around 1060-1065º, AK, a common name for a Light Pale Ale, was in the range 1045º-1050º.

Provincial Pale Ales follow a similar pattern to those from London: a weaker one at about 1045º and a stronger one around 1060º. The exceptions being the two Manchester breweries, Boddington and Lees, whose strongest version was only around 1055º. Truman, unsurprisingly, as they were in Burton, had the strongest Pale Ale.

There a big variation in the hopping rates between different breweries: only around 3 lbs per quarter at Boddington to over 12 lbs at Tetley. Though generally the hopping rates are a little lower than in London.

Scottish hopping rates, at 4.5 lbs to 7.5 lbs per quarter, aren’t very different from provincial English breweries, but are lower than in London. What does stand out is how weak some versions were. One is even below 1030º, a gravity unknown in England. Even the strongest only has a gravity of 1056º. Odd, given that Scotland was once famous for brewing very strong beer.

The lower gravities were general.


London Pale Ale before WW I
Year Brewer Beer OG FG ABV App. Atten-uation lbs hops/ qtr hops lb/brl
1911 Barclay Perkins PA 1060.0 1014.5 6.02 75.83% 6.00 2.97
1914 Barclay Perkins XLK (trade) 1049.9 1012.2 4.99 75.58% 7.51 1.52
1914 Barclay Perkins XLK (bottling) 1045.0 1009.4 4.71 79.07% 7.51 1.35
1914 Whitbread FA 1047.1 1013.0 4.51 72.39% 10.97 2.22
1914 Whitbread IPA 1049.3 1013.0 4.80 73.63% 11.96 2.53
1914 Whitbread 2PA 1053.0 1016.0 4.89 69.81% 8.94 2.05
1914 Whitbread PA 1060.2 1021.0 5.18 65.11% 8.94 2.33
1914 Fuller AK 1044.3 1009.1 4.65 79.38% 7.33 1.34
1914 Fuller PA 1054.2 1012.2 5.56 77.52% 8.1374 1.98
Sources:
Whitbread brewing record held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/01/079.
Barclay Perkins brewing record held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number ACC/2305/1/602 and ACC/2305/1/603.
Fullers brewing record held at the brewery.


Provincial Pale Ale before WW I
Year Brewer Beer OG FG ABV App. Atten-uation lbs hops/ qtr hops lb/brl
1914 Adnams BLB 1044.0 1007.0 4.89 84.09% 7.00 1.34
1904 Tetley PA 1059.3 1007.8 6.82 86.92% 12.55 2.94
1914 Boddington AK 1044.0 1013.0 4.10 70.45% 2.92 0.57
1914 Boddington PA 1046.0 1014.0 4.23 69.57% 3.33 0.97
1914 Boddington IP 1053.0 1016.0 4.89 69.81% 4.00 1.35
1911 Lees B 1054.0 1015.0 5.16 72.22% 7.30 1.61
1915 Truman (Burton) P1 1063.7 1020.5 5.72 67.83% 9.71 2.48
1914 Truman (Burton) P2 1056.8 1009.4 6.27 83.41% 8.79 2.01
1914 Truman (Burton) P3 1049.9 1008.3 5.50 83.33% 8.79 1.77
1910 Warwicks LBB 1042.7 1012.5 3.99 70.78% 3.68 0.62
1910 Warwicks XXX B 1049.9 1015.5 4.54 68.89% 6.58 1.31
1910 Warwicks BB 1052.6 1015.8 4.87 70.00% 6.58 1.38
1910 Warwicks IPA 1058.4 1018.3 5.31 68.72% 7.40 1.76
Sources:
Adnams brewing record Book 2 held at the brewery.
Boddington brewing record held at Manchester Central Library, document number M693/405/126.
Lees brewing record held at the brewery.
Tetley's brewing record held at the West Yorkshire Archives, document number WYL756/51/ACC1903.
Truman's brewing record held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number B/THB/C/329.
Warwicks & Richardsons brewing record held at the Nottinghamshire Archives, document number DD/NM/8/4/1.


The above is an excerpt from my book on brewing in WW I. Buy this wonderful book.







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