Clearing up

The Manual of British and Foreign Brewing Companies 1946

I was putting back some of the books I've used for "Keg!" back in their place on the bookshelf. The one I have downstairs.

The others crowd in Andrew's bed. His fault for briefly moving out. I turned his room into my library. For the first time ever my books are arranged in some sort of order. First by language. Then by type, sort of. And size, that's important for fitting them on the shelves. One problem: my access is limited to the hours that Andrew is awake. So (he happens to have just got up and it's 15:05) about 15:00 to 06:00.

That's one reason I have the books I'm most likely to reference downstairs. All the statistic-filled ones like the Brewer's Almanack.

While I was putting back a couple of books I'd used for "Keg!", I noticed these:

The Manual of British and Foreign Brewing Companies 1946 and  
Brewery Manual 1953-54. 

(Both books have an advert on the back cover for Dixon's Enzymic malt.)

Brewery Manual 1953-54

Have I ever used these? I can't remember. Don't tell Dolores, but, I have, in the past, bought quite a lot of books that I didn't necessarily expect to use straight away. A library of stuff that might come in handy. It usually does. Sometime. Most of it.

I hope I remembered to consult them when I wrote "Austerity!", my look at beer in postwar Britain. Full of the relentless detail my readers should expect by now. Lots of recipes, too. "It's dead good." Andrew said after I bribed him with a bottle of rum.

The image to the left drew my attention. Not for the Dixon's. But the Vinegar Malt. Never heard of that before. At least, not that I can remember. I am getting on. And my decadent lifestyle  is bound to catch up with me.

Anyone have any idea what vinegar malt might be? Other than the obvious that it was meant for malt vinegar. And is it still made?