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17 April
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Recipe: Samuel Smiths Nut Brown Ale

Samuel Smiths Nut Brown Ale

Samuel Smiths Nut Brown Ale

So we reach our last brew in the Old and Browns series.  So far we have a Theakston Old Peculier (10/10), an  Old Speckled Hen, a Left Over Old Ale (my own take on the Old Ale style using left over ingredients) and finally we get to the Samuel Smiths Nut Brown Ale I have been promising.

I must admit to having a significant bias to Sam Smith’s, at the age of 18 I got a job there. The manager (a rather scary Mancuian) took a liking to me and began to teach me the art of cellaring and before you know it I was handling the oak barrels in the cellar, learning how to tap and spile, prep the beer lines, and take care of these hand crafted brews. It was the time I transitioned from drinking beer at parties to really beginning to appreciate real-ale as an art.

Samuel Smith’s brewery is a classic Yorkshire brewery located in Tadcaster, North Yorkshire. Founded in 1758, it is also Yorkshires oldest.  The family owned brewery was not originally founded by the Smith’s. In 1847, Samuel Smith (a cattle dealer for Leeds) asked his son John to purchase a struggling Tadcaster brewery owned by the Hartley family.  John was joined by his brother William and John left his share of the firm in the custodianship of his other brother, Samuel.  William bought out Samuel’s half and moved the brewery next door where another classic Yorkshire ale, John Smiths Bitter, is still brewed to this day. The Smith family has quite the ale legacy.

In 1886 Samuel’s son Samuel Smith inherited the Old Brewery on Williams death and re-opened the brewery under his own name where it still runs as an independent brewery to this day. The firm is fiercely independent. They own over 200 pubs and refuse to carry any expensive branded drinks, they don’t play music to avoid paying the license fees and pass off the cost savings back to the customers by keeping the ales priced really cheap only increasing in price as the cost of raw materials and tax increases.

The brewery has other notable characteristics. It still uses a yeast strain that dates back t0 1900, it draws water from the same well the brewery was founded over in 1758, and still employs the Yorkshire Squares style of brewing. And for all you Vegans out there all Sam Smiths brews are vegan (with the exception of Old Brewery Bitter).

Now onto the beer.  Nut Brown Ale would have been traditionally called a “mild”. Not a reflection on its strength but because it was not sour as some of the aged strong ales became.  These sour ales were then blended with the newer mild’s in the local pubs to the taste of the custodian. It would be defined today as a “Northern English Brown Ale”, a topic we covered in the overview post on Brown Ales.  A Northern Brown is defined as:

Drier and more hop-oriented than the southern English brown ale, with a nutty character rather than caramel.

Research for this ale was tough. The Old Brewery folks are as tight with information as they are with their money.  I must admit to being a little concerned with replicating this ale. On the US importers website page on Nut Brown Ale it is claimed the nutty flavour is derived from the Yorkshire Squares technique. Something I will not be able to replicate.

The taste we are trying to replicate is described as follows (from the brewer):

Walnut-like color and palate of hazelnuts. Wonderful balance of roasted crystal malt and aromatic hops. Long clean finish.

I got some more stats from BeerAdvocate: 5.00 ABV, creamy mouthfeel with light carbonation.  So the rest we must derive from a process of deduction. We know all Sam Smith’s brews (with the exception of Oatmeal stout and the fruit beers) consist only of malt, water and hops with no adjuncts used. We also know the brewery uses the same strain of yeast in all its beers.

From comparing the recipe given for Old Brewery Pale Ale (OBPA) in an old version of Graham Wheelers “Brew Your Own British Real Ale” (the new version has no Sam Smiths recipes), the OBPA review in the Almanac, and both the Sam Smiths recipes in “Clone Brews” book, it is clear all make use of Fuggles as the flavour hop and East Kent Goldings for the bittering hop.

I also found a reference online to another Graham Wheeler book where he apparently has a recipe for Samuel Smiths Nut Brown Ale. I could not find a list of ingredients but I found the stats listed as 5% ABV, OG 1048, 35 IBU, 36 EBC (~19 SRM). The IBU’s seem a little high to me but I think we can figure the hop load out by referencing some classic Brown Ale recipes. Given the ale is a brown the hop load should be kept low to bring out the malt.

So in compiling this recipe I will follow the other Sam Smith recipes and go with East Kent for bittering and Fuggles for flavour. For yeast I am going to go with Whitbread dry, a popular strain for brewing Northern Brown styles. It has a high attentuation so will finish dry, a requirement for Northern Browns. For malt I will stick with crystal and chocolate malt, a staple in brown ales.  I shall use parameters set in the BJCP Northern English Brown style guide to help construct the recipe. So here goes.

(recipe can be found online @ hopville.com)

Samuel Smiths Nut Brown Ale (BJCP Beer Style: English Brown Ales, category: Northern English Brown)

  • 2.5 Gallon, 60 min boil
  • OG 1048, FG 1012
  • 4.8-5.0% ABV
  • 28 IBU (used the Rager formula)
  • 17° SRM (Light to Medium Brown)
  • Ready to drink in 2+ Months

Base Malt and Fermentables:

  • 2 lb 8 oz Light Dry Malt Extract (60 mins)

Specialty Grains:

  • 3 oz British Crystal 60L
  • 2 oz Chocolate Malt

Hops

  • Bittering Hops – 0.5 oz East Kent Golding (60 mins)
  • Flavour Hop – 0.25 Fuggles (15 mins)

Yeast

  • Wyeast British Ale (1098)

Other Additions

  • 1 tsp Irish Moss (15 mins)
  • 1/4 tsp Yeast Nutrient (10 mins)

Process

  • Please follow the process guidelines outlined in my post here.  You will require all the equipment specified here.
  • Primary Fermentation: 7 days at 65-75°
  • Secondary Fermentation: 1-2 weeks in the same location as the primary
  • Prime and store in the bottle for at least 4 weeks before consuming
  • Peak flavour will be reached after 4 weeks in the bottle
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29 March
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On Tap (Mar 29th 2010)… plus a small recipe I made up

Another week another paycheck. Brews are created and consumed and for some reason our Spring, which appeared to be approaching with a vengeance last week, has retreated to the shadows. We have had snow, rain and freezing temperatures all week.  I did have some fun with the brewing though.

Every so often I get a mix of left over ingredients from my various recipes and throw them together to just see what happens.  In this case I had a bunch of Crystal 80L left that has been sitting around for months from my Greene King clone, some flaked Maize from my Fullers Pride and ESB clones, and a little Black Malt.  I also had various amounts of US Goldings, Northdown, Fuggles and Challenger hops in open bags, all drying out and crying out to be used.  In the fridge I had some old Fullers ESB yeast I had captured from the London Pride clone and definitely getting near the end of its usable life.  So I made up a small yeast starter and poured in the captured yeast to see if it had any life left. Sure enough next morning the yeast was a raging. Luck would have it I also had some liquid malt extract and a couple 1 lb bags of Light DME left over from a couple of recent brews.

Off to Hopville I went, put in the ingredients and viola I have a recipe I chose to call my Left Overs Old Ale.  I chose the BJCP Old Ale style as we are doing Olds right now and it seemed the nearest fit in both strength and bitterness. Check it out on Hopville.  It was fun to brew and most importantly it was free! I did not have to purchase a single ingredient.

I also found time to bottle the Speckled Hen and kick off the NB Petite Saison d’Ete. So despite being a crazy cold wet week and a really busy work week I have managed to wind down this weekend with my favorite of all hobbies, my brews.  So whats On Tap?


Primary

  • Petite Saison d’Ete (1 day (p) ) – This is a first for me. Thought I would try a Belgium classic with this Saison from Northern Brewer. With all the Old Ales in progress with long conditioning times thought it was time for some variety plus something that would be ready to drink quickly or I risk running dry in a month or so.
  • Left Overs Old Ale (2 days(p) ) – See write-up above, it was fun to brew and even caused a blow-out in the fermenter. The OG came in at 1088, just under the required 1090 limit for an Old Ale.

Secondary

  • 115th Dream Imperial IPA ( 2 wks (p) 2 week (s) ) – A rather extreme IPA, high in ABV and a whopping 120 IBUs with over a 1 lb of hops using a technique called Hop Bursting I covered a few weeks back. It came out of the primary a whopping 1015 FG, almost 83% attenuation from the mighty American Ale yeast and checking in at over 10% ABV, now on week 3 of its 6 week rest.
  • Lord Fatbottom Ale (1 mth (p), 3 mths 3 wks (s)) – well into the second half of its 6 months rest.

Bottle/Keg Conditioning

  • Old Speckled Hen clone ( 1 wk (p) 1 wk  (s), 2 days (b) ) – I have had a lot of interest in the outcome of this clone. I can tell you the sample from the secondary was very good indeed. It was bright, crystal clear and the taste seemed close.  We won’t know for sure until the ale is conditioned. I am giving this one 4 weeks in the bottle for sampling.
  • Olde Luddite English Strong Ale (1 wk(p) 3 wks (s), 1 wk (b) ) – A new Old Ale kit from Northern Brewer, thought I would add some Old Ale kits to my current Old’s and Browns series. Came out of the secondary a beautiful deep copper, crystal clear and tasting great. Now in week 2 of a 4 week rest.
  • Theakston Old Peculier Clone (1 wk(p) 3 wks(s) 2 wk (b)) – My first pass at this classic old ale, FG came out in range along with the colour, that is all we can ask. Week 3 of a 6 week rest before a sample to check on performance. Might be tempted to lay this case down for a while

Drinking

  • Twelfth Night Stout (2 wk (p), 2 wks (s), 4 wks (k) ) – A new extract clone recipe of Rogues Shakespeare Stout from Northern Brewer featuring the PacMan Ale yeast strain from Rogue. This one is an ass-kicking 70 IBU stout and is sitting in the keg for its 5th week.  Will be firing up with BeerGas this week and trying some out.
  • Grateful Dead Guy Ale (1 wk (p), 2wks (s), 7 wks 3 days (b)) – Another special edition kit from Northern Brewer featuring the newly released PacMan Ale yeast strain from Wyeast/Rogue Breweries, this one is a Rogue Dead Guy Ale clone. I did a side by side taste test with an actual Rogue Dead Guy Ale, colour and flavour are so close its hard to tell which one was which. Good job NB.
  • Dogfish Head 90 min IPA clone (1 wk (p), 3 wks (s), 4 mths 2 wks (b) ) – Letting them rest again to see what another month in the bottle will bring
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27 March
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Recipe Help Request: Fullers Vintage Ale

I have never tried this before but given the level of difficulty I am having getting any information on Fullers Vintage Ale I am going to try the blogosphere.  I am asking if anyone who reads this blog knows anything about the Fullers Vintage Ale recipe.  It is doubly hard as Fullers apparently never makes the same recipe twice.  I have tried many from various vintages and they do taste similar.  I am rather partial to the 2007 but not fussy.

So this is what we know. It is a smooth ale with an ABV 8.5%. We also know from the almanac that almost all Fullers ales use a combination of Northdown, Challenger and Target hops.  They also use Alexis and Chariot for the base and flaked maize with crystal for special grains.  Graham Wheeler in ““Brew Your Own British Real Ale”” has both his ESB and Pride clones using a tad of black malt though I can find no evidence that it is used in the original.  Finally Fullers uses the same yeast for all its brews.  I have some Wyeast London ESB in the fridge so I am set there.

So that is what I have. As I get some feedback I will begin to structure a recipe and post hopefully some time next week.

Now off to brew.

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26 March
1Comment

Hydes Original Ale

I am having one of those weeks, travel, long work days. Just really crazy.  It has also been the week I have received my largest volume of reader mail.  I do my best to get through them all and try to work on every request so please bear with me if it takes a few days.

I got asked a great question the other day from local MA student who had recently spent time in Manchester Uni, in NE England. He his home now and was really interested in brewing a full-mash version of a local Manachester brew Hydes ESB.  As luck would have it I actually have a copy of a Hydes Original full-mash clone which I passed along.  I checked the clone with the company’s website and confirmed the malt bill and hops used were the same.

Hydes is a Manchester Brewery founded in 1863, one of the few left in the city since Boddingtons was closed by InBev, and its one of the very few family owned independents left.  For those that want to try the brew I have posted it on Hopville.  Be warned it is a full mash version and not my usual extract but I am sure you can figure out how to replace the base 2-row with Light DME.  Full disclosure, I have not tried this brew and cannot attest to its accuracy.  The source of the clone is Graham Wheelers hot of the press new edition of “Brew Your Own British Real Ale”. I had an older revision but the new one has updated processes and recipes and well worth the few bucks to buy. Happy Friday 🙂

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28 February
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Recipe: Old Speckled Hen (version 1)

Old Speckled HenOnline version with calculator can be found here.

Next up in the series on Old Ales and Browns is another classic Old Ale available in both the UK and US, Old Speckled Hen, brewed by Greene King after its acquisition of the Morland Brewery in 2000.  We have already covered the history of Greene King with the Abbot Ale recipe last year but Morland also has an interesting past.

Prior to its acquisition by Greene King, the Morland Brewery was located in Abingdon, now part of Oxfordshire, in the UK and has a history dating back to 1711.  The original brewery was located in the town of West Ilsley started by a local farmer John Morland to brew stouts and porters, the popular ales of the time.  Over the next 150 years the brewery slowly grew, remaining a family business, eventually acquiring 2 small breweries in nearby Abingdon in 1860.  By 1880 Morland had moved its operations from West Ilsley to Abingdon and by 1885 they incorporated as a limited company registered as United Breweries.  From this point on the company grew rapidly, buying out a number of local breweries.  The company went public in 1994 and was acquired by Greene King in 2000.  Throughout its history the company had a reputation for respecting the breweries they acquired, maintaining the original brewery names and brews.  Post Greene King acquisition though only the Morland name survived, the Abingdon brewery did not and all production is now in the Greene King brewery based in Bury St. Edmunds in Suffolk, UK.

The history of Old Speckled is not so old but is definitely one worth noting.  I found this description on wikipedia:

Old Speckled Hen was first brewed by Morlands of Abingdon in 1979. MG cars celebrated the 50th anniversary of their move to Abingdon, from Edmund Road in Cowley. They asked Morland to brew a special commemorative beer for the occasion, for which they would suggest the name and they would design the bottle label. The name chosen was Old Speckled Hen which took its name from a car which was brought to Abingdon, when the factory moved.

The car was called the MG Featherweight Fabric Saloon made from cellulosed fabric stretched over a wooden frame and was black speckled with gold. It became the factory’s demonstration model and general runabout and as it chugged about the factory people would say “There guz the Owd Speckl’d un”.

The original beer label bore the MG colours of cream and brown. The bottle dressing was finished with a green foil capsule, which matched the background colour of the Borough of Abingdon Arms. The beer was an amber colour and was brewed at a gravity of 1050 to denote 50 years (i.e. 1929 – 1979) of production of MG cars in Abingdon.

According the company website the ale is described as:

“Old Speckled Hen” has a full, smooth flavour and is very easy to drink. Its rich amber colour and superb fruity aromas are complemented by a delicious blend of malty tastes.

Toffee and malt combine with bitterness on the back of the tongue to give a balanced sweetness. This is followed by a refreshingly dry finish.

I can attest to the validity of the above notes for the pre-1999 version. In my experience the current export version is not as balanced or as rich and comes across a little dialed down in the flavour department.  Not to worry though as is what this blog is about, trying to recreate the original and sample the ale fresh  as John Morland intended.

The company website gives nothing away around ingredients, colour, or bitterness. It states the ale comes in 2 varieties, a cask version at 4.5% ABV and a bottled version at 5.2%. We will focus on the bottled.  I consulted with the The Real Ale Almanac (5th edition, last published in 1999, so prior to the Greene King acquisition. Important to note considering many experts on this beer claim the recipe was changed) and it confirms the bottle strength is 5.2% ABV, with an OG of 1050 (a given considering the history of the ale), uses Pipkin Pale Malt as a base, Crystal Malt, brewers sugar, Challenger hops for bitterness, Goldings and Challenger for aroma with a range of 30-35 IBUs of bitterness.

Here are the tasting notes from the Almanac:

Nose: Superb Goldings hop aroma (considering using Goldings for a flavour addition at the end of the boil)
Palate: Full hops and fruit in mouth, long dry finish with hops and delicate fruit notes
Comments: Rich coloured and fruit flavoured strong ale with generous hop support.

(my italics) The only hint we have for colour is it is “Rich” and “Amber” (from the company website). My own experience put the colour as a light amber almost a dark golden colour.  Given we have the OG and final ABV, bitterness and fermentables I believe the colour is a variable that will resolve itself. For yeast I will go with Wyeast #1275 Thames Valley Ale, its high attenuation will give the dry finish and both yeast and ale hail from the same location. So lets get busy and input the ingredients into the beer calculus system on hopville.com and balance the quantities in order to create a workable recipe conforming as best we can to the constraints above.

Morland Old Speckled Hen (BJCP Beer StyleStrong Ale, category: Old Ale)

  • 2.5 Gallon, 60 min boil
  • OG 1050, FG 1011
  • 5.2% ABV
  • 35 IBU
  • 10° SRM (Gold to Copper)
  • Ready to drink in 2+ Months

Base Malt and Fermentables:

  • 2 lb 4 oz Light Dry Malt Extract (60 mins)
  • 4 oz Cane Sugar (0 mins)

Specialty Grains:

  • 6 oz Caramel Crystal 60L

Hops

  • Bittering Hops – 0.5 oz Challenger (60 mins)
  • Flavour Hop – 0.125 oz Challenger, 0.125 oz Goldings, East Kent (15 mins)
  • Aroma Hop – 0.5 oz Goldings, East Kent (0 mins)

Yeast

  • Wyeast Thames Valley Ale (1275)

Other Additions

  • 1 tsp Irish Moss (15 mins)
  • 1/4 tsp Yeast Nutrient (10 mins)

Process

  • Please follow the process guidelines outlined in my post here.  You will require all the equipment specified here.
  • Primary Fermentation: 7 days at 65-75°
  • Secondary Fermentation: 2 weeks in the same location as the primary
  • Prime and store in the bottle for at least 4 weeks before consuming
  • Peak flavour will be reached after 4 weeks in the bottle
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13 February
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Why age beer? Or why my Fullers ESB clone now tastes great

As readers are by now painfully aware I had some issues with my Fullers ESB Clone recipe.  My first review of the clone came after only 2 weeks of conditioning in the bottle and only 4 weeks since the brew began. A little early methinks.  Well the review gave  low grade, only 4/10 citing poor clarity, overly malty and sweet and low carbonation.  But this is not the end of the story, a week later we get a slightly happier tone in the On Tap Update under “Drinking” citing better mouthfeel and improved flavour. I seem to remember it had cleared also.  What a difference a week makes.  Well 2 weeks on from the original review during a review for a disappointing Wadworth 6X clone (still is disappointing btw) we get great news, I have upped the rating to a 6/10 as the flavour had now drastically improved over the original.

This brings me to the other night, almost 7 weeks to the day from its bottling date and only 2 bottles remaining.  I crack a bottle, carbonation is perfect, flavour is definitely ESB, a really bright beer that goes down smooth.  I have to rate this an 8/10, its good, really good.  So what have I learned from all this. First up, don’t write a review on ESB’s until at least 6 weeks, let beer condition for longer, it obviously needs it. The ESB clone has showed just how drastically an ale can improve over a 5 week period.

So what does happen to ale as it ages?  First of all it depends on how long and where.  Most beers can last for months in a temperature controlled, dark area.  Once a beer has carbonated (typically 2 weeks), it is best stored at 55ºF in a dark room.  Light is the first enemy of aging as it causes a premature breakdown in the hops leading to a skunky, “off” taste.  Over time the hops will naturally breakdown but constant temperature and lack of light will greatly prolong an ales life.  Temperature is the other big factor with aging, a fluctuating temperature can cause spoiling and rapid aging leading to prematurely off beer.  This can and has happened during hot summer months and is why I am seriously considering converting an old fridge for beer storage this coming year.

So, given we have taken temperature and light into consideration what does happen to the various flavour notes?  Aging essentially is a mellower. Hops will gradually breakdown causing strong hop flavours to blend into the malt profile (important for Imperial IPA’s and Stouts, that need at least 3 months), strong caramel and toasted malts subside into subtle coffee notes, alcohol notes become soft tawny port, and the sweet base malt breakdowns into a more complex blend of flavours. This happened with the Fullers ESB, the “overly malty sweetness” balanced out perfectly with the hops, become more fruity with a hint of citrus.

Some beers really benefit from extended aging, something typically synonymous with wines.  Sweet malty beers with a baseline ABV level of 8% often fare well if stored for prolonged periods of time. Barleywines, Imperials, Old Ales, and Browns are good candidates.  A general rule of thumb, the higher the ABV the longer it will age.

To wrap up, I have changed the Fullers ESB clone recipe from version 1.  I still think the 120L Crystal is too much malt and have opted for the 60L instead which will also lighten the colour a little, something I still believe is required. I have managed to acquire the complete hop mix recommended by the brewers website which appears to be working well for my London Pride clone. I have also learned that White Labs English Ale is actually the Fullers yeast strain. So some major changes, it will need one more run before being declared a success but I do know that next time I will definitely be leaving the finished product in the bottle for at least 6 weeks before I crack open a bottle.

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06 February
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Youngs Special (by request)

Youngs SpecialI got a request via email today regarding a recipe for Youngs Ram Rod and Youngs Special.  Its always great to receive email, it provides encouragement and support.  It just so happens that I have a recipe for Youngs Special researched and ready to go but never got to post it given my desire to get going with the Old Ales.

I just made the recipe public on hopville.

The target for Youngs Special is:

OG 1046
FG 1011
4.7% ABV
32 IBU
13 SRM.

This recipe is really close, especially using the London Ale #1028 from Wyeast.  Unfortunately Wyeast no longer supplies their Special London Ale strain which was sourced at the Youngs brewery.  London Ale #1028 is sourced from Worthington and a great substitute.

The recipe (5 gallons, 3 gallon boil, 20 mins steeping specialty grains) will get the following:

OG 1046
FG 1011
4.7% ABV
32 IBU
11 SRM.

Just a little off on colour. As I replied in my email, this recipe is posted with a disclaimer that I have not personally tested it, something I do with every recipe I have posted so far. Have fun and a great Superbowl. I will be watching the England vs Wales 6 Nations Rugby on Setana (sorry)

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05 February
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Recipe: Theakston Old Peculier (version 1)

Theakston Old PeculierFull recipe and process can be found online here.

So begins our journey looking into some classic British Browns and Olds.  First up, probably my favorite commercial Old Ale, Theakston Old Peculier from Masham in Yorkshire, England.

There is something really satisfying for the homebrewer when brewing an Old Ale recipe.  Unlike the English Pale Ales we have just finished, which tend to more delicate and one mistake in any ingredient is heavily punished, it is really hard to mess up an Old Ale.  What with the copious amounts of dark Jamaican sugar, Golden Syrup, Chocolate Malt and Molasses to compliment the mainstay Pale Malts and English Crystal. You end up with a rich, smooth almost rum like dark ale that will last forever in the cellar if we ever gave it a chance.  So I must say I had a ton of fun with the Theakston recipe and have taken more than a few risks in the quest to faithfully recreate this quintessential Yorkshire Old Ale.

The family owned Theakston Brewery is located in the North of England in Masham, North Yorkshire. A town steeped in brewing history dating back to before William the Conqueror.  The village of Theakston, and the namesake of the family was referenced in the Doomsday Book, created in 1089, and the Theakston coat of arms created in 1587 for Sir Richard Theakston whose descendent, Robert, in 1827 went on to create the first Theakston brewery in a pub called the Black Bull.  In 1875 Roberts son Thomas takes over the brewery building a new one in the process, which is still used today.  The company proceeded to grow buying many local breweries to meet growing demand.  In 1984 the Theakston family joins the wave of independents selling to larger firms and finally decided to sell and the brewing of its flagship products moves away from historical Masham to larger capacity breweries of the acquirer. Now proceeds a story we have become familiar with, bigger company x sells to even bigger company y (in this case Matthew Brown PLC is bought by then North East England brewing giant Scottish and Newcastle, maker of Newcastle Brown, who in turn is taken over by Heineken in 2008).  In 2004, as some previously Theakston owned breweries are closed and brewing operations moved as far north as Newcastle, four Theakston brothers buy back the company, making it an independent family owned brewery and in 2009 announced that brewing would again return to Masham after 35 years, bringing the story full circle.

On to the ale itself.  According the The Real Ale Almanac this is the flavour profile we are trying to recreate:

Dark and vinous old ale bursting with complex fruit flavours. Massive winey bouquet of rich fruit with peppery hop notes.  Toffee and roast malt in the mouth, deep bitter-sweet finish with delicate hops

On to the ingredients.  The brewery website was actually very unforthcoming with ingredients.  All they have posted is the use of Fuggles hops and a ABV of 5.6%. Its a start. The Real Ale Almanac was a little more helpful listing pale malt, crystal, unmalted cereal (torrified wheat) and sugars.  Fuggles and “other” hops, with an IBU of 29, 48 24 SRM colour, and an OG of 1058.

This has to be the toughest challenge we have had yet. Typically by this point we have a complete list of hops and malts  and enough variables in colour, gravity and bitterness to fire up the calculator and get to work.  Instead we have incomplete hop information and no FG.  What is most concerning is the vagueness around “sugars”. In English Pale classification ales sugar is used to bolster ABV with no flavour so its safe to assume cane sugar.  With Old Ales all types of sryups and dark sugars are used, imparting dark rum like richness to the finished brew.  This is going to be tough (but fun).

So time to consult the BJCP classification to see if we can gain any insights into the types of Crystal Malt and sugars used.  Old Ales are listed under the classification of Strong Ales.  Here we see Caramel Crystal Malts, and a sparing use of both Chocolate and Black Malts which is to be expected given the rich dark colour but not too much or risk imparting too much of the roasted smokey flavour. This ale is all richness and fruit.  It is the following sentence in the BJCP guidelines that could help answer our question:

Adjuncts (such as molasses, treacle, invert sugar or dark sugar) are often used, as are starchy adjuncts (maize, flaked barley, wheat) and malt extracts

This helps greatly.  So I then took to the internets and enquired into the sugar mix employed by other homebrewers attempting to recreate this historic ale.  To my surprise I found consistency, the use of Golden Syrup, Molasses and Dark Sugar.  The quantities varied but this should be enough to get us started.

The big question for me remains the yeast. We know we need fruit but at the same time we need a yeast that attenuates fairly well to get from a OG of 1058 to a final ABV of 5.6% (implied FG of approc 75%). It cannot be a dry finishing yeast because of the strong fruit flavours in the tasting notes.  I scoured the yeast strains available to homebrewers and scratched my head.  There are limited Yorkshire yeasts and I could find little to provide the level of fruit and attenuation implied by the data.  Finally I got some inspiration from the Pretty Things Old Ale, inspired by Theakston Old Pecuilier among others, and their use of German and Belgian strains.  So I started digging and hit pay dirt with various Belgian strains. You can have your cake and eat it to providing high attenuation and fruit flavour characteristics.

This just leaves the hops. Not so worried here, as the BJCP guidelines for Old Ale state:

Hop variety is not as important, as the relative balance and aging process negate much of the varietal character

So I am going to stick with Fuggles which will definitely provide the peppery hop notes, and we know the target IBU is 29. The calculator can do the rest.

Next stop is to input the ingredients into the beer calculus system on hopville.com and balance the quantities in order to create a workable recipe conforming as best we can to the constraints above.

Theakston Old Peculier (BJCP Beer StyleStrong Ale, category: Old Ale)

  • 2.5 Gallon, 60 min boil
  • OG 1060, FG 1011
  • 6.3% ABV (slightly stronger but this is the mid-point range for the yeast with the 5.6% on the lower)
  • 29 IBU
  • 48 24° SRM (Dark Brown to Black)
  • Ready to drink in 2+ Months

Base Malt and Fermentables:

  • 1 lb 8 oz Dark Dry Malt Extract (60 mins)
  • 9 oz Light Dry Malt Extract (60 mins)
  • 4 oz Lyles Golden Syrup (15 mins)
  • 2 oz Black Molasses (15 mins)
  • 8 oz Dark Candi Sugar (0 mins)

Specialty Grains:

  • 2 oz Torrified Wheat
  • 8 oz Caramel Crystal 60L
  • 3 oz Chocolate Malt
  • 3 oz Black Malt

Hops

  • Bittering Hops – 0.67 oz Fuggles (60 mins)
  • Flavour Hop – 0.53 oz Fuggles (15 mins)

Yeast

  • White Labs Trappist Ale (WLP500)

Other Additions

  • 1 tsp Irish Moss (15 mins)

Process

  • Please follow the process guidelines outlined in my post here.  You will require all the equipment specified here.
  • Primary Fermentation: 7 days at 65-75°
  • Secondary Fermentation: 2 weeks in the same location as the primary
  • Prime and store in the bottle for at least 4 weeks before consuming
  • Peak flavour will be reached after 4 weeks in the bottle
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22 January
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Recipe: Fullers London Pride (version 1.0)

An online version complete with process can be found hereUPDATE: Recipe turned out great and has been promoted to the permanent recipe section of the site.

Fullers London PrideFor my last version 1.0 Best Bitter/ESB recipe for the near future (before we turn our sites to the Old Ales) I thought we could go out with a bang with one of my favorites (and my dads), Fullers London Pride.  You can find the write-up on the brewery from my recipe post on Fullers ESB.

Fullers London Pride, or just Pride to us Londoners, is the flagship brew from the independent Chiswick Brewery.  It can be found in pubs and liquor stores throughout the US, on many airline hospitality carts, and on tap across the globe.  It is a refreshing, complex, ale with well balanced hops and malt flavours.  Great session brew and a favorite down my old rowing club after an exerting outing on the river.

Written up in the The Real Ale Almanac as an:

Astonishingly complex beer for its gravity, a marvelous melange of malt, hops and fruit.

and in “Brew Your Own British Real Ale” as a:

…fine for drinking on its own or with full flavoured food. A multi-layered delight of malt and hops and a deep intense finish with hop and ripening fruit notes.

On to the ingredients.  Standard practice these days is for the the brewery to be forthcoming with its basic ingredients and Fullers in no exception.  The site proclaims a malty base, complemented with Northdown, Target and Challenger hops.

The Real Ale Almanac confirms the  brewers website and includes the addition of maize, crystal malt and Alexis and Chariot pale base malt, which I confess to know nothing about.  Maize is used in brewing to boost the ABV in the same way as cane sugar.  But unlike cane sugar Maize is not 100% fermentable, containing 20% non-fermentable sugars and therefore will not dry the beer as much as cane sugar leaving some sweetness behind.  The almanac estimates the bitterness at 30 IBU’s, and a OG of 1040.  The website provides two ABV values, 4.1% in the cask and 4.7% in a pasteurized bottle.

The all grain recipe contained in Brew Your Own British Real Ale confirms everything mentioned so far and includes an estimate SRM of 13. I doubt the SRM 13 value, which would be copper colour. The Pride I have been known to buy and from my past was a little lighter, more golden. I am going to strike for an SRM of 10.

I have no idea what Alexis and Chariot pale malt is. I found this excerpt on BYO.com

The Europeans only grow 2-row barley. Examples of European spring barley include Chariot, Alexis, Hana, Ferment, Steffi, Krona and Sissi. Winter varieties, mainly grown in England, include Maris Otter, Halcyon and Pipkin.

so  I guess it is a form of 2-row spring barley.  I then found some threads on a bulletin board stating Alexis malt to be a

Alexis is a lager malt and is the standard variety supplied by Munton’s of Stowmarket, Suffolk.

which I checked and it appears to be true.  Either way we are using extract ultimately making the type of 2-row we use irrelevant.

Next stop is to input the ingredients into the beer calculus system on hopville.com and balance the quantities in order to create a workable recipe conforming to the constraints above.

Fullers London Pride (BJCP Beer StyleSpecial/Best/Premium Bitter, category: English Pale Ale)

  • 2.5 Gallon, 60 min boil
  • OG 1044, FG 1013
  • 4.1% ABV
  • 32 IBU
  • 10° SRM (Gold to Lt Copper)
  • Ready to drink in 6-7 weeks

Base Malt and Fermentables:

  • 1 lb 8 oz Light Dry Malt Extract (60 mins)
  • 7 oz Amber Dry Malt Extract (60 mins)

Specialty Grains:

  • 5 oz Flaked Corn (Maize)
  • 6 oz Caramel Crystal 60L

Hops

  • Bittering Hops – 0.125 oz Target, 0.125 oz Challenger, 0.125 oz Northdown (60 mins)
  • Flavour Hop – 0.125 oz Challenger, 0.125 oz Northdown (15 mins)

Yeast

Other Additions

  • 1 tsp Irish Moss (30 mins)

Process

  • Please follow the process guidelines outlined in my post here.  You will require all the equipment specified here.
  • Primary Fermentation: 5-7 days at 65-75°
  • Secondary Fermentation: 1-2 weeks in the same location as the primary
  • Prime and store in the bottle for at least 2 weeks before consuming
  • Peak flavour will be reached after 4 weeks in the bottle
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08 January
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Recipe: Flowers Original (version 1.0)

Flowers Original AleI have decided not to give this brew my own BritishBrewer name, it is a special ale with a rich history, similar to many of the classic British Ales covered on this blog.  But the recent history around Flowers is becoming more and more common with the growth of mega-breweries, such as InBev, as many local cask brewers are acquired and then shut down to cut costs and reduce the number of brands. I don’t know what a “brand” of ale tastes like but I do know that Flowers is one of the the classic ales which unfortunalely has a very uncertain future under its new owners.

Flowers Brewery opened in 1831 as Flower & Sons on Brewery St in Stratford Upon Avon, home of the British Bard William Shakespeare. In 1954 the brewery was acquired by J.W. Green and changed its name to Flowers Breweries and then shortly after acquired again by the growing Whitbread empire in 1961.  As part of Whitbread’s cost cutting they closed the original brewery in Stratford and moved the operations 45 miles SW to Whitbread’s Cheltenham Brewery (previously known as West Country Brewery Ltd before also being acquired by Whitbread in 1963 and becoming the Flowers Brewery). I wonder the effects the move had on the quality of the original ale given the changes ground water, equipment, and possibly ingredients.

In 2000 Whitbread, along with the large Bass empire, sold all its brewery holdings to the Belgium brewing conglomerate, InterBrew, who consolidated all of its cask brewing operations into the home of Boddingtons Beer at the Strangeways Brewery in Manchester, some 130 miles to the North (founded in 1778 and eventually sold to Whitbread in 1989 by the Boddington family), becoming the only remaining cask brewery in the Interbrew empire.  In 2004 InterBrew merged with another global mega-brewer, the Brazilian AmBev, to become InBev, the largest brewer in the world by volume.  In Sept 2004 InBev announced it was closing Strangeways and brewing for the brands they retained moved to either Glasgow, Scotland or South Wales (except Boddingtons which moved to Hyde Brewery in Manchester).

So now Flowers is an orphaned ale with no home, its heritage a tale driven by corporate cost cutting and shareholder value rather than quality and taste. It is a very popular ale with a strong following, a point not lost on InBev, who recently revived the Flower lineup (Original and IPA) and commissioned Badger Brewery (owned and operated by Dorset independent brewers and pub owners, Hall and Woodhouse, makers of the exceptional Badger ales and Tanglefoot cask ale) to brew both IPA and Original for the UK market.  So for now the ale is safe, it is a classic and maybe its heritage is something we can retain by recreating the recipe for homebrewers for generations to come.

Researching the ale was hard as InBev does not post ingredients or even acknowledge the existence of the Flowers Original on any of its web properties.  I had to rely on a couple of dedicated all-grain homebrewer’s and Roger Protz “The Real Ale Almanac” to piece together the recipe. (ingredients and process can be found here)

The Almanac provides the following tasting notes:

A strong, fruity bitter with some acidity… Fat malt in the mouth with hop edge, dry finish with some hop character with raisin and sultana notes.

The almanac lists the hops as Stryian Goldings and Target, Pale Ale base malt with Crystal and cane sugar. OG 1044.  I found the ABV listed by online retailers as 4.3%. So we should be able to calculate the FG using a brewing calculator.  SRM is up in the air.  The homebrewer’s I found who had tried an all-grain version listed the SRM as 9. This seems a little light to me, the colour reminded me more of a Fullers London Pride, i.e. a burnt gold, giving more of a 13 SRM.  I have decided to use Wyeast Thames Valley yeast for this batch given its proximity to Cheltenham and high attenuation to provide the dry finish. I used the recommendations of 2 online homebrewers for IBU and will use the hops specified in the almanac.

So given this is the least we have ever had to go on here is the recipe. (We will be following the same logic used in the previous recipes tp calculate the specific quantities of DME, hops etc to save on the words)

Flowers Original Bitter (BJCP Beer StyleSpecial/Best/Premium Bitter, category: English Pale Ale)

  • 2.5 Gallon, 60 min boil
  • OG 1043, FG 1010
  • 4.4% ABV
  • 30 IBU
  • 13° SRM (Burnt Gold)
  • Ready to drink in 6-7 weeks

Base Malt and Fermentables:

  • 1 lb 12 oz Light Dry Malt Extract (60 mins)
  • 4 oz Cane Sugar (at the end of the boil)

Specialty Grains:

  • 6 oz Crystal Malt – 120L
  • 4 oz Torrified Wheat

Hops

  • Bittering Hops – 0.25 oz Target, 0.125 oz Styrian Goldings (60 mins)
  • Flavour Hop – 0.125 oz Styrian Goldings (15 mins)
  • Aroma Hops – 0.25 oz Target, 0.125 oz Styrian Goldings (1 min)

Yeast

  • Wyeast Thames Valley Ale (#1275) (Attenuation 77%, Flocculation: Medium Low)

Other Additions

  • 1 tsp Irish Moss (30 mins)
  • Packet of Isinglass Liquid (to help remove any lingering proteins given the low flocculation level of the yeast)

Process

  • Please follow the process guidelines outlined in my post here.  You will require all the equipment specified here.
  • Primary Fermentation: 5-7 days at 65-75°
  • Secondary Fermentation: 1 week in the same location as the primary
  • Prime and store in the bottle for at least 2 weeks before consuming
  • Peak flavour will be reached after 4 weeks in the bottle
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