[denny]

Given the water quality, the pre-boiling technique would only have minor effect. So I'm less inclined to believe that they would have pre-boiled.

Regarding pre-boiling duration. It should be almost instantaneous upon reaching boil, but the practical required duration is about 15 minutes. That recommendation is well over 100 years old.

I know the spot in town where the Brewers brewery was.  I assume it was municipal water (given the amount of use) versus well water.  Assuming municipal, I wonder if (how) they removed chlorine?  Would they have used campden / known about it?

They probably didn't remove chlorine.  Nobody did back then. 

[Robert]

What they knew and what they did might not match up.  They did have some guidance from UC Davis.  But then they had a primitive, gravity-fed brewhouse in a shed, hand built from 55gal drums and copper tubing.   I expect they were limited not so much by knowledge as by practical ability to apply it.  All their processes must have been bare-bones minimalist.

[Chino Brews]

Hey, I'm the one who did the research on New Albion Ale. I just noticed this thread!

I don't have any information on the water beyond what is posted. But I have a few general thoughts on this:

1) As far as I know, English brewers harden their water much more than American brewers. Maybe Martin can tell us if I'm off-base on that. Given that a lot of the homebrewing and available professional brewing knowledge in 1976 was of English provenance, it wouldn't be surprising to me that they were truly hardening the water to Barley's recollection based on English practices.

2) Someone on reddit was disparaging New Albion as if they must have been bumpkins in terms of knowledge. I was able to respond with a quote from Jack McCauliffe to the effect that running New Albion was like three jobs: (a) studying at the library; (b) manufacturing and maintaining the brewery; and (c) brewing and distributing. I don't have the exact quote at hand. The point is that McCauliffe and Barkley were no rubes, were only 50 mi. away from the library at UC-Davis, and had access to the brains of the brewers at Anchor (not to mention some technical assistance from Coors). I am sure they had their water chemistry sorted out.

3) If anyone is skeptical. it would be easy to brew to a more 'modern' water profile and then dose some beer with gypsum to achieve the purported profile stated by Don Barkley. Or you could pick up the phone and call him.

Cheers,
Chino

[mabrungard]

Yes, indeed. Some English breweries do mineralize their brewing water to levels that Americans rarely do. Some of the brewing schools do recommend high mineralization and at least one brewing water lab recommends mineralization that I have a hard time justifying. So if Jack's training was under a British brewer, it is possible that the water used to brew his beer was well-mineralized. 

[Bob Davis]

A few years ago, BYO Magazine had several articles with reference to this beer:

https://byo.com/article/new-albion/
https://byo.com/recipe/new-albion-brewing-new-albion-ale/

It seems you'll need a subscription.  I don't recall if they go into water adjustment.