Friday 19 June 2015

Ind Coope other bottled beers 1950 - 1960

Time to look at the rest of Ind Coope’s bottled beers. Which tell us a little about brewing of the period.

I’ll go through the styles alphabetically because I can’t be arsed to think of anything more clever. Dull old me. Which means we start with Barley Wine. Of which they had two: Arctic Ale and Colne Spring Ale. The former was the descendent of beer really made for Arctic voyages and the other a brand acquired with the purchase of Benskin.

Arctic Ale is pretty strong for the 1950’s, at a little under 8% ABV. But it’s puny compared to its ancestor. These are the vital statistics of the 1875 version, analysed in 1961*:

Present gravity 1053.4º
Original gravity 1126.4º
Alcohol (v/v) 9.65%
Colour (E.B.C.) 156º

Note the massive finishing gravity, which isn’t that much lower than the OG of the 1950’s version. It says much about how British beer had changed since the 19th century.

I was surprised to see that Colne Spring Ale was cheaper, despite being considerably stronger than Arctic Ale. It’s actually not bad value when you consider it has four times the ABV of the weaker Stouts and Brown Ales.

Ind Coope other bottled beers 1950 - 1960
Date Beer Style Price per pint d Acidity OG FG ABV App. Atten-uation colour
1950 Arctic Ale Barley Wine 54 0.05 1079.8 1020.1 7.80 74.81% 18 + 40
1951 Arctic Ale Barley Wine 52.5 0.08 1078.1 1019.1 7.71 75.54%
1952 Arctic Ale Barley Wine 54 0.07 1080.3 1020.2 7.85 74.84% 21 + 40
1953 Arctic Ale Barley Wine 54 0.08 1079 1018 7.98 77.22% 18 + 40
1950 Arctic Ale No. 1 Barley Wine 0.10 1079.9 1020.8 7.72 73.97% 40 + 16
1956 Arctic Barley Wine Barley Wine 54 0.05 1077.1 1019.7 7.49 74.45% 105
1959 Benskins Colne Spring Ale Barley Wine 47 0.10 1092.8 1009.3 11.08 89.98% 80
1950 Allsopp Nut Brown Ale Brown Ale 15 0.04 1029.9 1007.7 2.88 74.25% 7.5 + 40
1955 Double Brown Ale Brown Ale 25 0.04 1047.8 1012.6 4.57 73.64% 45
1950 Nut Brown Ale Brown Ale 0.06 1029 1009.5 2.52 67.24% 40 + 9
1950 Nut Brown Ale Brown Ale 18 0.05 1032.3 1008.6 3.07 73.37% 40 + 9
1951 Nut Brown Ale Brown Ale 18 0.04 1032.6 1007.7 3.23 76.38% 40 + 8
1951 Nut Brown Ale Brown Ale 19 0.05 1031.9 1008.3 3.06 73.98% 17 + 40
1952 Nut Brown Ale Brown Ale 19 0.05 1030.9 1011.7 2.48 62.14% 11 + 40
1954 Nut Brown Ale Brown Ale 19 0.04 1030.7 1009.7 2.72 68.40% 11 + 40
1955 Nut Brown Ale Brown Ale 22 0.04 1033.6 1011.2 2.90 66.67% 105
1956 Nut Brown Ale Brown Ale 20 0.04 1032.2 1012.3 2.57 61.80% 90
1959 "Dry Club" Stout Stout 26 0.02 1038.7 1013.2 3.30 65.89% 240
1950 Allsopp Special Stout Stout 36 0.05 1034.4 1010.4 3.11 69.77% 1 + 40
1951 Allsopp Special Stout Stout 24 0.05 1037.8 1011.9 3.35 68.52%
1953 Allsopp Special Stout Stout 30 0.05 1038.1 1013.4 3.19 64.83% 1 + 11
1959 Allsopp's Sweet Stout Stout 28 1037.8 1015.4 2.89 59.26% 275
1960 Allsopp's Sweet Stout Stout 26 0.04 1037.7 1017.3 2.63 54.11% 300
1960 Nourishing Stout Stout 20 0.04 1031.9 1015 2.18 52.98% 275
1950 Special Stout Stout 0.05 1035.9 1011.7 3.13 67.41% 1 + 14
1950 Special Stout Stout 24 0.05 1038.2 1014.9 3.01 60.99% 1 + 14
1951 Special Stout Stout 24 0.08 1038.3 1013.4 3.22 65.01% 1 + 14
1951 Special Stout Stout 29 0.07 1037.1 1015.3 2.81 58.76% 1 + 16
1952 Special Stout Stout 23 0.05 1037.9 1011.5 3.42 69.66% 1 + 11.5
1956 Special Stout Stout 26 0.04 1038.1 1014.9 2.99 60.89% 250
1956 Sweet Stout (lactose present) Stout 28 0.05 1038.5 1016.5 2.83 57.14% 250
Source:
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/002.

I’ve not much to say about Nut Brown Ale. Other than that they clearly deliberately made it sweeter after 1952 by dropping the level of attenuation. Oh, and they seem to have upped the gravity a bit when tax fell in 1950.

It’s nice to see a Double Brown, a stronger type of Brown Ale that mostly died out in the 1950’s. This one is a bit weaker than Whitbread’s, which was over 1050º and disappeared in 1955. The colour is quite pale (80 is Dark Mild). So more in the direction of Newcastle Brown.

All that’s left are the Stouts. All two of them. Clearly Special Stout was rechristened Sweet Stout in 1956. Looks like they raised the FG by adding lactose at the same time. Leaving a beer you’d need to drink several gallons of to get any kind of buzz. You can see that the gravity of the Stout was also raised a bit in 1950.

Draught beers next time.





* The Brewer, volume 67, 1961, pages 511 - 513.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Love to hear more about the ingredients, brewing methods, etc. of the Colne Spring Ale, if you have them. Curious how they went from 1092 to 1009, got the 80 color, and then sold it significantly cheaper than the 1956 Barley wine.

Ron Pattinson said...

Anonymous,

I wish I knew more about how they brewed it.

Brettanomyces is the answer to the attenuation question.