Gatsby1923
New Member
I have had a strange obsession in the last few months of brewing... Tributes to lost regional beers and researching larger regional breweries that died in the 1970's. Of course one of the most famous examples is Ballantine but I grew up in Holyoke, MA so our large regional brewery was Hampden Brewing Company (In it's last gasps of life Hampden-Harvard Breweries and then contract brewing for Piels, another regional beer.)
Most recipes are lost for these beers and people who drank them are now in their 70's and 80's. I'd wager that they were not "bad" beers but working class inexpensive beers with unique nuances.
What would be period appropriate ingredients for these beers? I tend to use Fuggles and UK Golding quiet often in the beers, as well as basic 2 row and 6 row base malts. As for Adjuncts I know Hampden was using sugar and rice in their "Mild Ale" in the 1950's. While I know many UK brewers have used sugar in their ales for a very long time, i didn't think that rice would have been used as an adjunct that early on.
So any advice for "Period" brewing ingredients? (Bellow are some fun Hampden Ale Images)
[/url]s-l500 by David Matuszek, on Flickr[/IMG]
Hampden__Who_Wan_514a31ec0fd79 by David Matuszek, on Flickr
4802137916_07dd0651bf by David Matuszek, on Flickr
Most recipes are lost for these beers and people who drank them are now in their 70's and 80's. I'd wager that they were not "bad" beers but working class inexpensive beers with unique nuances.
What would be period appropriate ingredients for these beers? I tend to use Fuggles and UK Golding quiet often in the beers, as well as basic 2 row and 6 row base malts. As for Adjuncts I know Hampden was using sugar and rice in their "Mild Ale" in the 1950's. While I know many UK brewers have used sugar in their ales for a very long time, i didn't think that rice would have been used as an adjunct that early on.
So any advice for "Period" brewing ingredients? (Bellow are some fun Hampden Ale Images)
Hampden__Who_Wan_514a31ec0fd79 by David Matuszek, on Flickr
4802137916_07dd0651bf by David Matuszek, on Flickr
