Saturday 14 October 2017

Let's Brew - 1879 Adnams Tally Ho

I like it when I have a good long run of brewing records from a brewery. Because then you can see how a beer developed over time. Like Tally Ho.

Tally Ho is unusual in being a very early named beer. Very few beers were called anything other than [brewery name] [style of beer]. For example, Bass Pale Ale or Guinness Extra Stout. I’m trying to think of other examples of named beers. Things like Old Tom, I suppose. I think there might have been a few with names like that before 1900.

The first version of Tally Ho I found in Adnams records is a very simple beer. But the brewing record is also a bit light on detail. There’s nothing about boiling or mashing, so that’s just a guess based on later versions. I could be way off. Oh, and there’s no FG, either.

The ingredients aren’t explained in much more detail than the process. Malt, saccharine and hops is as far as the description goes. All in all, there’s a whole lot of guesswork going on. Pale malt is obvious enough for the malt, but what about the sugar? I doubt if it was pure sucrose, though it could have been. In the end I plumped for No. 2 invert.

As for hops, Goldings are a safe bet. It’s on the early side for Fuggles, but they’re also a possibility. They were being grown commercially in the 1870’s.

One thing there is no argument about: the very high percentage of sugar in the grist. A third is about as high as it gets.

Apologies for the vagueness of it all. It will improve as we progress through the years.


1879 Adnams Tally Ho
pale malt 11.00 lb 67.69%
No. 2 invert sugar 5.25 lb 32.31%
Goldings 120 mins 4.00 oz
Goldings 60 mins 4.00 oz
Goldings 30 mins 4.00 oz
OG 1089
FG 1027
ABV 8.20
Apparent attenuation 69.66%
IBU 123
SRM 16
Mash at 150º F
Sparge at 175º F
Boil time 120 minutes
pitching temp 63º F
Yeast WLP025 Southwold

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Since 5.25 lbs is a lot of invert to make, do you have a sense of what kind of granulated sugar might be a possible candidate for what might have been in use? Would it be regular white sugar, or something less refined like Demerara sugar?

Marquis said...

Tally Ho was, until last month, the only beer I have paid £4 per pint for.
Very nice beer too.

Ron Pattinson said...

Anonymous,

white table sugar is very different. Brown sugar or Lyl's Golden Syrup would be better.

J. Karanka said...

Finally had a pint... £2.55 in Spoons'!

Ron Pattinson said...

J. Karanka,

that's a bargain. You bastard.