Tuesday 16 April 2013

Ansell's beers

A post by Boak and Bailey got me thinking about Ansell's. Especially their Mild. And I've not done a table of analyses of a random brewery for a while. This post has almost written itself.

I drank a fair bit of Ansell's Mild, back in the 1970's. Mostly when we went to visit my Mum's family in Birmingham. Allied were a funny bunch. In the Midlands and North (Tetley and Ansells) their beers were pretty decent. In Yorkshire most of their pubs sold cask Bitter and Mild.

In Birmingham it was a different matter. It was common to find handpulled Mild and keg Bitter in Ansell's pubs. Which always seemed an odd combination, until you realsied that Mild was still wildly popular in Brum.

The city was a virtual duopoly, with almost all the pubs tied to either Ansell's or Mitchell and Butler. I was never that keen on M & B's beers. Their Mild was bland and their Bitter, Brew XI was sweet and dull. So Ansell's Mild was my preferred drink, when in Birmingham. Obviously, once you went west from the city, the choice dramatically improved. Out in the Black Country with Batham's, Simpkiss and Holden, the Milds were good. Very good. But I digress.

On with Ansell's beers. I'll start with the Mild, for obvious reasons. I'm a bit surprised by the gravity of the 1951 and 1960 examples. They're both above the average strength of all beer for those dates, and 3 or 4 degrees above typical Mild gravities.

As you can see, in the 1970's and 1980's there wasn't a big difference between their Bitter and Mild gravities. Just 1.5º. Their bottled Pale Ale had a decent gravity in the 1950's, in the mid 1040's.

The Stouts are possibly the most revealing beers. Why? because they show that English Stout didn't all turn sweet in the 20th century. The lowest level of attenuation is 68%. Even the 1930's Milk Stouts, which you might expect to be sweet, asre over 70% attenuation. Note also the high gravity. That wasn't unusual before WW II. It's only after the war Milk Stout became a punily weak.

Those 1950's Brown Ales look very much like bottled Mild Ales. Or, at most, tweaked versions of Mild Ale. It would have been nice to have some pre-war examples for comparison purposes.

I'd expected to find more analyses from Ansell in the Whitbread Gravity Book. Considering the size and importance of the brewery, there are rather few. But Whitbread never were that strong in the West Midlands. Maybe that explains it. I've noticed there are lots of analyses of breweries they later took over.

Ansell beers 1931 - 1986
Year Beer Style Price size package Acidity FG OG colour ABV App. Atten-uation
1947 MM Ale Ale 1/4d pint bottled 0.06 1007.4 1032.7 42 3.3 77.37%
1952 Nut Brown Ale Brown Ale 8d half bottled 0.05 1005.8 1036.2 2 + 40 4.0 83.98%
1955 Nut Brown Brown Ale 9.5d half bottled 0.05 1004.3 1036 35 4.1 88.06%
1959 Bruno Sweet Brown Ale Brown Ale 11.5d half bottled 0.04 1013.6 1034.4 90 2.7 60.47%
1960 Triple Gold Light Ale Light Ale 11d half bottled 0.02 1008.1 1039.1 24 3.9 79.28%
1935 Ale Mild 6d pint draught 0.06 1009.7 1047 4.9 79.36%
1949 Mild Ale Mild 1/1d pint draught 0.05 1007.4 1035.4 2.5 + 40 3.6 79.10%
1950 Mild Ale Mild 1/1d pint draught 0.04 1005.2 1034.8 40 + 2 3.9 85.06%
1951 Mild Ale Mild 1/3d pint draught 0.07 1005.7 1038.3 45 4.2 85.12%
1960 Mild Ale Mild 13d pint draught 1038
1961 King Pin Mild Mild 19d pint draught 0.04 1006.7 1037.6 45 3.9 82.18%
1962 King Pin Mild Mild 22d pint draught 0.04 1007.4 1035.9 50 3.6 79.39%
1972 Mild Mild 11p pint draught 1010.7 1033.9 3.0 68.44%
1977 Mild Mild pint draught 1035.5
1979 Mild Mild pint draught 1035.5
1981 Mild Mild pint draught 1035.5
1986 Mild Mild pint draught 1035.5
1939 Pale Ale Pale Ale pint draught 0.07 1007.5 1046.4 17.5 5.1 83.84%
1952 Spotlight Pale Ale 10d half bottled 0.07 1006.7 1038.3 19 B 4.1 82.51%
1955 Special Pale Ale Pale Ale 1/1.5d half bottled 0.05 1009 1046.3 18 4.9 80.56%
1959 Pale Ale Pale Ale 13.5d half bottled 0.03 1009.6 1046.1 18 4.6 79.18%
1961 King Pin Bitter Pale Ale 23d pint draught 0.05 1004.4 1044.8 17 5.1 90.18%
1966 Pioneer Bitter Pale Ale 28d pint bottled 0.04 1006.2 1036.6 23 3.8 83.06%
1977 Bitter Pale Ale pint draught 1037
1979 Aston Ale Pale Ale pint draught 1045
1979 Bitter Pale Ale pint draught 1037
1981 Bitter Pale Ale pint draught 1037
1986 Bitter Pale Ale pint draught 1037
1931 Tonic Stout Stout 8d half bottled 0.08 1010.2 1048.3 5.0 78.88%
1932 Tonic Stout Stout pint bottled 0.08 1010.4 1050 5.2 79.20%
1935 Tonic Stout Stout 8d pint bottled 0.07 1011 1050.5 5.1 78.22%
1935 Milk Stout Stout 5.5d half bottled 0.07 1018.1 1060.7 5.5 70.18%
1937 Milk Stout Stout 6d half bottled 0.05 1018.1 1060.8 5.5 70.23%
1944 Strong Stout Stout 1/7d pint bottled 0.11 1015.5 1053.7 1 + ? 5.0 71.14%
1953 New Forest Stout Stout 1/2d half bottled 0.05 1015 1049.3 1 R + 8 B 4.4 69.57%
1954 New Best Stout Stout 1/2d half bottled 0.05 1015.7 1049.7 1 + 9 4.4 68.41%
1959 Newcrest Stout Stout 14d half bottled 1014 1046 190 4.1 69.57%
1961 Tonic Stout Stout 12d pint bottled 0.05 1012.7 1045.1 210 4.0 71.84%
Sources:
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/001
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/002
Daily Mirror July 10th 1972, page 15
Good Beer Guide 1978, 1980, 1982 and 1987.


5 comments:

Bailey said...

I would be very surprised if the Ansell's mild currently on sale at the Yacht in Penzance was anything other than something very like John Smith's bitter, watered down, with a slug of caramel. My Dad enjoyed it when he visited, though -- can't overestimate the nostalgia value of an old brand.

Bryan the BeerViking said...

It's odd, I was drinking in Birmingham in the early 80s and I have little or no memory of seeing mild even on sale - I was a bitter drinker then anyway, so perhaps that's why. Selective memory. Like you though, I preferred Ansell's to M&B, unless I was lucky enough - and it was very rare - to find Springfield bitter on instead of or alongside the dull Brew XI.

Jeff Renner said...

Image, please.

Craig said...

I think you spelled that wrong... It's Amsdell.

Ron Pattinson said...

Bryan,

I also had a soft spot for Springfield. I can remember serving it at Ally Pally one year back in the 1970's. It was in wonderful condition, really nicely carboinated and formed a decent head pured by gravity.