Friday 1 September 2017

Boddington beers in 1913

I haven’t totally forgotten about the Boddington’s records I harvested this summer. Though I’ll admit that I haven’t been getting through them as quickly as I would have liked.

One thing that puts me off is the handwriting, which is bloody awful. Really, really scrawly. It’s odd how some breweries had employees with terrible handwriting, while at others they were very neat. You can guess which I prefer.

There’s a bit of a gap in the early 20th-century records of Boddington. There are clearly a couple of brewing books missing covering the years 1904 to 192. It would have been nice to have those years because there were a couple of changes to Boddington’s beer range in those years. Not surprising, really, as the five years before WW I were tough ones for brewers. Tax increases (in the form of massively raised licence fees for pubs and breweries) depressed the pub trade, devaluing breweries’ assets.

Here’s a reminder of Boddies’ beers in 1901:

Boddington beers in 1901
Date Beer Style OG FG ABV App. Atten-uation lbs hops/ qtr hops lb/brl boil time (hours) boil time (hours) Pitch temp
3rd Dec X Mild 1045 1010 4.63 77.78% 5.62 1.01 2 60º F
11th Dec XX Mild 1052 1016 4.76 69.23% 5.67 1.20 2.17 2.25 60.25º F
2nd Dec XXX Mild 1059 1018 5.42 69.49% 5.66 1.35 2.25 2.33 60º F
5th Dec XXXX Mild 1068 1022 6.09 67.65% 5.91 1.66 2.33 60.5º F
12th Dec AK Pale Ale 1046 1013 4.37 71.74% 8.00 1.48 2.25 59.5º F
19th Dec IPA IPA 1054 1015 5.16 72.22% 9.71 2.10 2.25 60º F
12th Dec DS Stout 1067.5 1023 5.89 65.93% 5.38 1.56 2.25 60º F
6th Dec S Stout 1051 1015 4.76 70.59% 5.50 1.16 2.25 60º F
17th Dec BB Strong Ale 1086 1030 7.41 65.12% 8.42 2.63 2.75 60º F
Source:
Boddington brewing record held at Manchester Central Library, document number M693/405/125.

Summarising, there were four Mild Ales, two Pale Ales, two Stouts and one Strong Ale. A decade or so later their range was looking quite different.

Boddington beers in 1913
Date Beer Style OG FG ABV App. Atten-uation lbs hops/ qtr hops lb/brl boil time (hours) Pitch temp
30th Jan B Mild 1037 1009 3.70 75.68% 2.56 0.48 2.00 62º F
4th Feb BB Mild 1049 1016 4.37 67.35% 3.08 0.83 2.25 61.5º F
27th Jan XXX Mild 1052 1017 4.63 67.31% 3.61 1.01 2.58 62º F
29th Jan AK Pale Ale 1042 1011 4.10 73.81% 3.21 0.73 2.08 61.5º F
4th Feb PA Pale Ale 1045 1014 4.10 68.89% 3.79 0.96 2.58 62º F
31st Jan IPA IPA 1052 1015 4.89 71.15% 4.38 1.35 2.50 62º F
5th Feb CC Strong Ale 1062 1020 5.56 67.74% 3.53 1.24 2.75 61.5º F
5th Feb Stout Stout 1053 1018 4.63 66.04% 1.96 0.56 2.5 62º F
Source:
Boddington brewing record held at Manchester Central Library, document number M693/405/126.

The biggest change is to the Mild Ales. Only one, XXX, has survived, though with a gravity reduced by seven points. X and XX have been replaced by B and BB, both with lower gravities. The strongest Mild, XXXX, has disappeared.

The strengths of their Pale Ales have also been reduced, leaving a gap between AK and IPA into which a new beer, PA, has been slotted. S and DS are gone, replaced by a beer simply called Stout, with a gravity a little higher than the old S.

CC, a new Strong Ale replacing BB, has a much lower gravity than its predecessor, a full 24 points lower.

The overall trends are clear: fewer beers at lower gravities. And that’s even before WW I has kicked off. More carnage to follow.

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