Friday 26 March 2010

Burton Beers

I've finally got around to something you'd probably forgotten I'd promised. Matching up the beer descriptions in Andrew Campbell's "The Book Of Beer" with technical details from the Whitbread Gravity Book and period labels.

Well here it is. Part one of many. Where we look at the beers of Bass and Worthington. The latter had joined forces with Bass in 1927, but still operated fairly independently in the 1950's, having their own separate range of beers. This was to change later, with Bass Red Triangle and Worthington White Shield becoming the same beer with different labels.


"Burton Beers
Quality and sustained publicity have combined to make draught Bass Pale Ale the most renowned draught beer in the world.A bitter pale ale of gravity around 1050º, with fine rich colour and aroma, firm and dry in flavour, strong and mildly bitter to the palate. A very similar pale ale is sold naturally matured in bottle with the famous red triangle trade mark which has the distinction of being Numer 1 in the Register of Trade Marks established by the Act of 1875. With a blue triangle it is the same pale ale but fully matured before bottling; rather carbonated, it can be served if desired from the ice.

Bass brew other beers, sold under the diamond label in various colours denoting: Mild Ale, Mild No. 5, Imperial Stout, Amber Ale and another justly famous product Bass No ! Barley Wine, a strong ale that encourages respect wherever it is to be found. Rich, dark, rather sweet, it is a beer of quality, substance and great strength. The malty flavour is very positive and the general smoothness contrasts with the present-day tendency to carbonate."
"The Book Of Beer" by Andrew Campbell, 1956, pages 201-202.

Now let's see what those beers were really Like. Campbell was right about Draught Bass being around 1050º. Of all British beers, those from Burton had remained the closest to pre-WW I gravities. Bass had been 1065º around 1900 and 1055º in the 1930's. Even their Mild was strong, being one of the very few over 1040º in the 1950's.


Bass beers in the 1950's
Year
Beer
Style
Price
size
package
FG
OG
Colour
ABV
attenuation
1950
Mild Ale
Mild
1/3d
pint
draught
1008
1041.4
40.1
4.34
80.68%
1951
Pale Ale
Pale Ale
1/7d
pint
draught
1008.8
1049.9
26 B
5.36
82.36%
1954
Pale Ale
Pale Ale
1/7d
pint
draught
1008.7
1046
20
4.86
81.09%
1956
Pale Ale (Blue Triangle)
Pale Ale
1/5d
halfpint
bottle
1012.4
1051.9
21
5.14
76.11%
1956
Pale Ale (Red Triangle)
Pale Ale
1/5d
halfpint
bottle
1004.1
1053.5
20
6.48
92.34%
1958
No. 1 Barley Wine
Barley Wine
1/9d
nip
bottle
1039.8
1106.8
100
8.71
62.73%
1959
Brown Ale
Brown Ale
1/-
nip
bottle
1015.6
1052.9
105
4.84
70.51%
1959
Pale Ale
Pale Ale
1/4d
halfpint
bottle
1010.7
1050.7
17
5.21
78.90%
Source:
Whitbread Gravity Book

 That's Bass done. On to Worthington. Campbell only describes their most famous product, their bottled IPA. Or White Shield as it's normally known to drinkers. A beer that's still kicking around today. I used to drink a fair bit of it myself, when I lived in London in 1979. The East End wasn't great for draught beer in those days and White Shield was often the safest bet. And mixed with a half pint of Draught Bass it certainly had more poke than your everyday Bitter.

"Of the Worthington brews the most celebrated is their pale ale, sold on draught or in bottle with the familiar red, black and white label of India Pale Ale. Moderately hopped, of good strength, Worthington is a little softer and darker than Bass, a little less carbonated, more subtle in flavouring and thyerefore perhaps the best choice for the dinner table. If the label has a small white shield the beer is bottle matured; it must never be chilled or shaken, and it must be poured with some care, avoiding too much tilting which would let the sediment run into the glass. If there is a asmall green shield it is a fully-fermented, non-deposit beer."
"The Book Of Beer" by Andrew Campbell, 1956, page 202.

 Time to take a more detailed look at the specs of Worthington's beers.


Worthington beers in the 1950's
Year
Beer
Style
Price
size
package
FG
OG
Colour
ABV
attenuation
1950
Dinner Ale
Light Ale
1/4d
pint
bottled
1004.8
1034.6
21 B
3.88
86.13%
1950
Pale Ale
Pale Ale
18d
pint
draught

1047
24


1951
India Pale Ale
IPA
1/4d
halfpint
bottled
1006.1
1054.6
19
6.35
88.83%
1951
Pale Ale
Pale Ale
18d
pint
draught

1046.5
28


1953
India Pale Ale
IPA


bottled
1013.5
1061.1
27B
6.21
77.91%
1955
Special Mild Ale
Mild
1/7d
pint
bottled
1007.9
1036.9
85
3.77
78.59%
1955
Nut Brown Ale
Brown Ale
11d
halfpint
bottled
1008.6
1036
80
3.56
76.11%
1955
Dinner Ale
Light Ale
1/6d
pint
bottled
1007.8
1036.1
20
3.68
78.39%
1955
Imperial Stout (White Shield)
Stout


bottled
1017.3
1078.2
325
7.97
77.88%
1955
India Pale Ale (Green Shield)
IPA


bottled
1009.4
1063.3
18
7.06
85.15%
1955
India Pale Ale (White Shield)
IPA


bottled
1002.9
1063.7
18
8.02
95.45%
1956
XX Stout
Stout
1/2d
halfpint
bottled
1013.8
1036.7
300
2.96
62.40%
1957
PA
Pale Ale
1/9d
pint
bottled
1004.6
1043.5
20
5.08
89.43%
1959
India Pale Ale
IPA
1/4d
halfpint
bottled
1011.5
1051.6
18
5.22
77.71%
Sources:
Whitbread Gravity Book
Truman Gravity Book

I can't see any confirmation of Worthington IPA being darker than Bass Red Triangle. Bottled Bass had a colour between 17 and 21, bottled Worthington between 18 and 27, though there was only one sample higher than 20.

That was so much fun, I think I'll do it all over again tomorrow. For different breweries and beers, obviously.

7 comments:

Gary Gillman said...

One gets a sad feeling reading this because it is evident that many of the key 1800's beer types were still commonly available from the big national brewers. Even amber ale was, an old London style of beer that we read about in 1700's books. True, the hop levels and colours were not in all cases what they were in the 1800's - or gravities - but in some cases they were. I just get a feeling the 1950's beer scene was much closer to the 1850's than today's.

Even visiting England into the 1980's this 1950's era was partly intact, White Shield was commonly available (and still is I know but not in as many pubs), barley wines were in many pubs, mild had suffered by you could find it outside London, and there were plenty of strong ales here and there - and many fine pale ales.

Yet there is still great beer in England and of course the craft breweries have brought back many traditional styles.

Gary

Gary Gillman said...

Ron: something just hit me. English pale ale (bitter beer) in effect has merged with 1800's mild. That is why mild proper has almost disappeared. That is why Jackson could write in the 1970's that many "respected" bitters "have a sweet palate".

Gary

Graham Wheeler said...

Sadder because it shatters any illusion that I may have held about White Shield always being a quality beer. There must have been 30% sugar in it to have a final gravity not much higher than water. That is an awful lot of sugar. Uncharacteristically thin, I would have thought.

You can see a common heritage with White shield and Bass Red Label, even if it was brewed next door. Similarly high levels of sugar and attenuation. Obviously a similar grist.

Anonymous said...

I bet the ultra low final gravities on both the bottle conditioned white shield and bass red triangle were due to the bottle conditioning or some form of wild yeast/bacteria contamination due to bottle conditioning not do to grist.

Ron Pattinson said...

The extremely high attenuation of Burton Pale Ales was nothing new. Analyses of Bass from the 19th century show 80-85% attenuation.

Don't know for sure in the case of Bass, but I assume the grist of their Pale Ale was 15-20% sugar. The pattern of the London breweries is that the Pale Ales had the greatest percentage of sugar, more than Milds or Porters.

I can remember the White Shield of the late 1970's early 1980's and it was a crackimg beer. Whether or not it contained sugar doesn't change that opinion.

Jeff Renner said...

As anonymous suggested, I also suspect that part of the low gravity was from true secondary yeast fermentation, perhaps Brettanomyces claussenii. Claussen said 100 years ago that this species was responsible for the typical flavor of English stock ales.

I do remember reading many years ago that White Shield underwent a true secondary fermentation from a non-Saccharomyces yeast.

Oblivious said...

Jeff Renner i would be surprised if many of those beer where vatted for any lengthy of time


Guinness where the really only one doing it on a mayor scale