History of the Week

Alcohol History Links Feb 10 - 17
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A Letter from Isaac Bobbin

Investigating brewing terms found in a letter dated on 1720. 

"Just bask in that passage for a moment. It’s (i) a contemporary that British beer was prepared for transport to warmer climates and (ii) among a few other techniques, the intentional deadening a beer followed by bottling was a technique used for export. Burton was, after all, brewed for export. As was Taunton for Jamaica’s plantations. The British simply shipped beer everywhere. IPA was not unique. Was there a beer brewed for Hong Kong that we’ve also forgotten about?"
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Vatting an Ale

An old technique used to quickly sour ales.

"​First, he distinguishes true vatting from the later method, which was to ferment beers at high temperature and rouse them (to permit air to enter the fermenting wort). These practices had the result of producing acidic beers in a relatively short time, perfect for blending, but they lacked the “ethereal” taste of beers stored a year or two as ales and stouts used to be stored. "
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Egyptian Love for Drink

Weekly translation from the good folks at Brewing Classical.
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Mackeson Stout

Brewing up a sweet stout from the 1960's.

"Associated with old codgers sat in the corner of the pub with a half, Mackeson became as fashionable as the Bay City Rollers. Along with Brown Ale and Light Ale, Sweet Stout was a bottled beer that suddenly fell from favour. So much so that it’s hard to imagine now the enormous quantities of it that were sold."
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Thunder Bay Brewing History

A brief review of the history of the brewing industry at Thunder Bay, Ontario.