Rather belatedly, I've booked a hotel in London for 18th September. And I've borrowed Mikey's mega-pixel, mega-sharp camera. I reckon I should get at least 4 hours in the archive.
Here's my problem: what should I go for? I wouldn't mind checking the Barclay Perkins Porter/Stout logs for 1885. Or the Whitbread and Truman's Ale logs. It's hard to know where to start.
Anyone out there? I thought not. Should you have any preferences for which filthy books I consult, respond with a vote. These are your choices:
- Barclay Perkins Porter 1880-1920
- Whitbread Ales 1900 - 1930
- Truman's Porter/Stout 1910-1940
- Barclay Perkins Ales 1945 - 1955
Any other suggestions will be taken into consideration. (As long as they relate to Truman's , Whitbread or Barclay Perkins records.) And probably ignored.
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2 hours ago
6 comments:
Just go an epic all dayer, covering all the best pubs in London and all the breweries in one day. Or maybe do the monopoly pub crawl. That's what I'd do.
I think you might need more than 4 hours to record the best of London. Mind you I once seemed to spend a week in Fishguard one afternoon, it appeared to be shut.
Well, I'll be getting my hands dirty until 17:00 or so. I'm staying South of the river which means I really should drop by the Anchor Tavern, if only to take photos.
Hey, Ron, I'm in there myself tomorrow, researching The Dove at Hmmersmith - hope to see you!
Ron,
I'll place a vote for the 1885 Barclay Perkins porter/stout logs. It'd make a nice addition to your table of B-P porter/stout in the 19th century tables. Do you know if 1885 is before the rise of the use of adjuncts? If they are all malt beers, the info is more interesting to me. I'd also be interested in the WW2 era Barclay Perkins info. I found your WW1 era analysis very interesting, especially considering the prevailing wisdom that the war rather than taxes drove mild gravities down. I'd be interested in what happened around WW2.
Though being the hopeless geek I am, I'll be interested in whatever you come across.
cheers,
Kevin
Kevin, I've been having trouble finding the Barclay Perkins Porter and Stout logs for the period 1868 - 1926. They kept separate logs for Porter and Ale and they aren't all that clearly calogued.
1885 is in the adjucnt period. After the Free Mash Tun Act of 1880 brewers were basically allowed to use anything they wanted. Certainly after that time the Barclay Perkins Ales have a considerable proportion of maize and suger.
I have information about WW II for Barclay Perkins that I collected on my last visit. I just haven't got around to processing it yet. I do remember that a high percentage of brews were KK - something like 50% in some years. This time I had a look at Whitbread Ale logs for WW II and Whitbread Porter and Ale logs for WW I. I was surprised low high the gravity of Porter stayed: from around 1048 in 1914-16, to a nadir of 1036 in 1918 and then back up to 1038 in 1919. It fell more after WW I - in the 1930's it was just 1029.
I have to compare tax rates and gravities sometime. Tax does seem to be the driving factor, though war brought with it higher taxation and shortages of raw materials.
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