BeerHistoryBloke: VARIATIONS ON A THEME ; OSBOURNE PALE ALE VARIANTS 1884

How Do All ,

Some time ago , I began to re examine the W B Mew, Langton & Co brewing records photos set ;

Kindly sent by Jeff Secchiari of The Brewery History Society , Cheers Jeff 🍻.

To excise a drawn out fable , I began to be unhappy with my analysis .

In particular the gross disparity in I B U bandwith in the Osbourne Pale Ales and ,

The Grist Proportions of the Porters and Stouts * .

In consequence of this rather irritating conclusion , I started my analysis afresh ;

Reasoning that a successfull commercial brewery capable of producing up to 200 Barrels

Of a beer such as Osbourne Pale Ale would , In the interest of product consistency and ,

Repeat sales have ensured a reasonable degree of homogenisation in re `Perceived Bitterness `,

And , Hop Charge Points ( Relative to Gravity @ Charge and , Wort Length IN COPPER )

across All ( sic ) brewings of O P A as recorded in the surviving brewing books from Mew`s

Newport brewery **.

The table below shows the reformed analysis of the O P A brews selected for investigation ;

With the * in table referring to the AVERAGE Original Gravity ;

As a number of the brewings contain eg 138.5 Barrels in FV 1 @ 23.6 Lbs / Brl and

up to 3 - 4 Other Wort Lengths IN F V 1 ; Eg : FV 2 : 48.5 Wort Barrels @ 20.8 Lbs ,

FV 3 : 42 Wort Barrels @ 23.6 Lbs , + X Barrels of other Worts = Average Original Gravity / * .

Today`s outpouring of beery knowledge continues my analysis of the Osbourne Pale Ales

Of W B Mew, Langton & Co by , Looking at the variations in the table set out below ,

I hope you all enjoy the information . Next in the analysis stakes are the ` Guinea Ales`

As brewed at Newport 1884 - 1891 .

The 3 Surviving Brewing Books from the Newport Brewery of W B Mew , Langton & Co

Are cared for by the team at The Isle of Wight Records Office , Cat Ref : ML 44

* This relates to the Extract Poundage of 1 Quarter of Black Malt @ an Av of 50 Lbs / Qtr

** I believe the Mew family operated another brewery on the Isle of Wight ,

Any technical details or , even brewing records would be welcomed ,

Please get in touch or comment below if you`re able to assist .

This Table , Analysis Etc C Edd Mather 2026

W B Mew , Langton & Co`s Maltings ;
Photo from the Brewery History Society Webpage on the Company

EXPORT OSBOURNE PALE ALES 1885 – 1890
Gyle	Date	Original	I B U	A B V
203	27 / 2 / 1885	1.064 *	86	7.3 %
		1.070	88	8.2 %
		1.056.75	84	6.3 %
110	10 / 3 / 1885	1.064.5	95	8.4 %
86	28 / 1 / 1886	1.065.25	82	7.5 %
5	7 / 10 / 1886	1.064	84	7.3 %
72	11 / 1 / 1887	1.066.25	78	7.5 %
123	28 / 3 / 1887	1.064.5	86	7.3 %
16	25 / 10 / 1889	1.064	82	7.2 %
80	14 / 2 / 1890	1.064.5	90	7.3 %
STOCK OSBOURNE PALE ALES 1884 – 1891
30	12 / 11 / 1884	1.064.25	102	7.4 %
98	20 / 2 / 1885	1.064	102	7.3 %
75	12 / 1 / 1886	1.065.25	96	7.5 %
43	10 / 10 / 1890	1.064.5	100	7.4 %
76	13 / 2 / 1891	1.065.25	100	7.5 %
RUNNING OSBOURNE PALE ALES 1885
134	16 / 4 / 1885	1.062	64	7.2 %
139	27 / 4 / 1885	1.061.5 *	66	7.1 %
		1.062	64	7.2 %
		1.061.25	66	7.1 %
147	7 / 5 / 1885	1.061 *	60	7.1 %
		1.061.25	60	7.1 %
		1.060.5	58	7.0 %
BOTTLING OSBOURNE PALE ALES 1884 - 1886
53	19 / 12 / 1884	1.059.75	80	6.8 %
63	3 / 1 / 1885	1.064.5	80	7.4 %
85	16 / 7 / 1886	1.066.5 *	80	8.3 %
		1.070	84	8.2 %
		1.062.75	84	7.8 %
BOTTLING EXPORT OSBOURNE PALE ALE
101	18 / 2 / 1886	1.063	84	7.3 %
SPECIAL OSBOURNE PALE ALE
226	5 / 2 / 1889	1.065.5 *	96	7.5 %
		1.066.75	94	7.7 %
		1.065.75	94	7.6 %
No 1 OSBOURNE PALE ALE
126	26 / 5 / 1886	1.078	100	9.0 %

Cheers All 🍻 ,

Edd

BeerHistoryBloke