Disher’s ale and Edinburgh United Breweries beers 1928–1933

Edinburgh United Breweries. Pretty much forgotten today. It was set up in the late nineteenth century to absorb several small breweries, among them Bell’s, sometime brewers of “black cork”, and Disher’s, famous for their strong ale.

Bell’s brewery on the Pleasance remained the brewery for the united concern. Here it can be seen in the background. Splendidly, the pub in the foreground is advertising Disher’s Ten Guinea Ale:

Picture courtesy of David Gordon of the Edinburgh shop Now and Then

Here's what the site looks like today. Hooray, the brewery building is still there!

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Now for some numbers. I don’t know for sure what kind of beer the 54/– to 80/– and the 6d and 8d beers were. Most likely Pale Ale, but I am not going to assume. As 210/– is ten guineas, I think we can take it that they were still making Disher’s Ten Guinea Ale up to the end. But look at the gravity of it and how it plummets by almost 20 gravity points in just five years. More happily, Jeffrey’s continued to brew it after they took over EUB in the 1930s and were still making Disher’s Extra Strong Ale at 1.088 in the 1950s.

Gravities of Edinburgh United Breweries beers, 1928–1933
Brewery Beer name Beer type OG Year
EUB 6d ? 1037 1928
EUB Mild ? 1033 1928
EUB 8d ? 1052 1928
EUB 210/– Strong Ale 1103 1928
EUB 210/– Strong Ale 1100 1929
EUB 54/– ? 1031 1929
EUB 80/– 1054 1929
EUB Exp St Stout 1055 1929
EUB 60/– ? 1036 1930
EUB 210/– Strong Ale 1093 1930
EUB 54/– ? 1031 1930
EUB Mild Mild Ale 1032 1930
EUB 210/– Strong Ale 1090 1930
EUB 210/– Strong Ale 1089 1931
EUB 210/– Strong Ale 1085 1932
EUB 54/– ? 1030 1933
EUB 60/– ? 1036 1933
EUB 210/– Strong Ale 1082 1933
EUB 210/– Strong Ale 1090 1933
EUB 60/– ? 1039 1933
EUB 60/– ? 1042 1933

Comments

  1. Most of the ones you have no beer type for I would guess are Pale Ales.

    Where did you get the information from, by the way?

    ReplyDelete
  2. It’s from the SBA but can't remember what the document was. My camera was out of battery so I just jotted down the gravities instead of photographing it. It's not a brewing book but it did give the gravity of the beers.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I've learned from past experience to always have a spare battery with me and the charger.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Loving the accolades Robbie, almost wet myself! Finally made it to WEST the other month when i was in the city. Great pub, great pint. Hope you are well.

    Note-Shameless Blog push
    http://bennachiebrewery.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete

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