Today continuing with his description of 1950's beer types. First Burton and other strong, dark Ales:
"In winter months a still stronger type of dark beer is available which goes under the name of 'Burton' or 'old'. Prices will range from one shilling and sevenpence to one shilling an elevenpence a pint Burtons vary in flavour, some are quite strongly hopped, others retain the bitter-sweet flavour of mild beer. Gravities range from 1040º to 1050º.
Over 1050º beers may have the same dark colour as milds and Burtons, and as they are mostly rather sweet they could be grouped in the same family, but their strength and other qualities merit separate consideration.
"The Book Of Beer" by Andrew Campbell, 1956, pages 84-85.
He describes Burton as a winter seasonal beer. That's a change from 40 years previously, when it was a year-round brew. I suppose that was the first step on the path to obscurity, being available only part of the year. Which is how Burton still clings on today, in the form of Young's Winter Warmer. At most breweries the code used for Burton was KK.
The stronger dark beers referred to will be things like KKK and KKKK. Barclay Perkins brewed a KKKK for the Christmas period. In the 1930's, it had a gravity of around 1080º.
Here are some examples of such beers:
Strong Ales in the mid 1950's
| ||||||||||
Year
|
Brewer
|
Beer
|
Price
|
size
|
package
|
FG
|
OG
|
Colour
|
ABV
|
Atten-uation
|
1954
|
Barclay Perkins
|
KK
|
21d
|
pint
|
draught
|
1011.1
|
1043
|
19 + 40
|
4.14
|
74.19%
|
1954
|
Charrington
|
KK
|
1/7d
|
pint
|
draught
|
1010.7
|
1048.1
|
21 + 40
|
4.86
|
77.75%
|
1951
|
Charrington
|
1/8d
|
pint
|
draught
|
1012.1
|
1046.3
|
21 + 40
|
4.44
|
73.87%
| |
1954
|
Courage
|
XXX
|
1/8d
|
pint
|
draught
|
1013.8
|
1046.2
|
31 + 40
|
4.20
|
70.13%
|
1951
|
Double
|
2/-
|
pint
|
draught
|
1013.9
|
1054.3
|
17 + 40
|
5.25
|
74.40%
| |
1951
|
Mann Crossman
|
1/7d
|
pint
|
draught
|
1007.6
|
1041.5
|
24 + 40
|
4.41
|
81.69%
| |
1954
|
Mann Crossman
|
Dragon Ale
|
2/-
|
pint
|
draught
|
1019.1
|
1051.2
|
25 + 40
|
4.15
|
62.70%
|
1954
|
Meux
|
Treble Gold
|
1/8d
|
pint
|
draught
|
1006.5
|
1042.2
|
23
|
4.65
|
84.60%
|
1955
|
Heavy Ale
|
1/3d
|
nip
|
bottled
|
1021
|
1071.7
|
105
|
6.59
|
70.71%
| |
1955
|
Norman & Pring [
|
Nap Ale
|
1/-
|
half
|
bottled
|
1011.8
|
1037.7
|
33
|
3.35
|
68.70%
|
1954
|
Truman
|
SA
|
22d
|
pint
|
draught
|
1009.3
|
1049.1
|
17 + 40
|
5.19
|
81.06%
|
1954
|
Watney
|
KKKK
|
2/-
|
pint
|
draught
|
1013.5
|
1055.2
|
23 + 40
|
5.42
|
75.54%
|
1954
|
Whitbread
|
KKKK
|
1/11d
|
pint
|
draught
|
1011.9
|
1051.2
|
15 + 40
|
5.11
|
76.76%
|
1955
|
Young & Co
|
Celebration Ale
|
1/-
|
nip
|
bottled
|
1015.8
|
1076.2
|
7.91
|
79.27%
| |
Source:
Whitbread Gravity Book
|
Next come Brown Ales:
"Between mild beers and stouts lie many types of brown ale, finished and filtered milds specially brewed for bottling. Brown ales again are sweet in flavour, but less full and creamy than stouts. Brown ales will probably be non-deposit beers to pour clear and sparkling, but stouts will often be left to work after bottling. 'Home-brewed' is a title often given to brown ales, and will be met especially in the West Country. An average gravity for brown ale is about 1033º, which is a little above the weakest milds. Stouts range from this figure upwards. Price is a good guide to gravity, for if the price of the stout should be a fraction above that of a brown ale then it may be taken that the stout is a fraction stronger. The gravity of a pale ale and a brown ale may be the same if the price is the same, but the odds are that the pale ale will be a little lower."
"The Book Of Beer" by Andrew Campbell, 1956, page 85.
This is a bit more contentious. He calls Brown Ale nothing more than bottled Mild. I believe he was right in many cases, but there were still plenty of stronger Brown Ales that were quite different from Mild. And, of course, a beer like Newcastle Brown is a very different beast from ordinary Mild.
Just to show you what I mean, here's a variety of Brown Ales of the period:
Brown Ales in the mid 1950's
| |||||||||
Year
|
Brewer
|
Beer
|
Price
|
size
|
FG
|
OG
|
Colour
|
ABV
|
Atten-uation
|
1956
|
Aitchison & Co
|
Gold Seal Brown Ale
|
10.5d
|
half pint
|
1013.9
|
1041.6
|
50
|
3.58
|
66.59%
|
1955
|
Alnwick Brewery Co
|
Brown Ale
|
1/1d
|
half pint
|
1020.6
|
1062.5
|
110
|
5.43
|
67.04%
|
1955
|
Brown Ale
|
1/1d
|
half pint
|
1008.4
|
1033.3
|
80
|
3.23
|
74.77%
| |
1955
|
Ansell,
|
Nut Brown
|
9.5d
|
half pint
|
1004.3
|
1036
|
35
|
4.13
|
88.06%
|
1953
|
Beasley
|
Coronation Ale
|
1/2d
|
half pint
|
1008.6
|
1043.1
|
21 + 40
|
4.49
|
80.05%
|
1952
|
Nut Brown Ale
|
8d
|
half pint
|
1005.8
|
1031.4
|
13 + 40
|
3.33
|
81.53%
| |
1952
|
Brickwoods
|
Brown Brew
|
9d
|
half pint
|
1008.9
|
1032.2
|
10 + 40
|
3.02
|
72.36%
|
1956
|
Bullard & Sons [
|
Brown Ale
|
1/-
|
half pint
|
1004.4
|
1039.6
|
85
|
4.59
|
88.89%
|
1952
|
Cobb & Co
|
Brown Ale
|
1/6d
|
pint
|
1007.5
|
1034.3
|
10 + 40
|
3.48
|
78.13%
|
1956
|
Cobbold & Co,
|
Cobnut Brown Ale
|
11.5d
|
half pint
|
1011.8
|
1035.7
|
75
|
3.09
|
66.95%
|
1955
|
Darley, Thorne
|
Barley Brown
|
1/1d
|
half pint
|
1012.3
|
1040.1
|
250
|
3.60
|
69.33%
|
1953
|
Duttons Brewery
|
Nut Brown Ale
|
9d
|
half pint
|
1006.1
|
1031
|
3 + 40
|
3.23
|
80.32%
|
1955
|
Everards
|
11d
|
half pint
|
1006.6
|
1033.1
|
75
|
3.44
|
80.06%
| |
1956
|
Felinfoel
|
John Brown Ale
|
11d
|
half pint
|
1010.5
|
1037.7
|
120
|
3.52
|
72.15%
|
1955
|
Flowers
|
Poacher Ale
|
11d
|
half pint
|
1014.2
|
1034.9
|
115
|
2.67
|
59.31%
|
1956
|
Georges & Co,
|
Brown Ale
|
1/-
|
half pint
|
1010.8
|
1035.2
|
90
|
3.16
|
69.32%
|
1954
|
Gibbs Mew & Co. Ltd.
|
Moonraker Brown Ale
|
8d
|
half pint
|
1009.5
|
1034.8
|
135
|
3.28
|
72.70%
|
1956
|
Greene King
|
Harvest Brown Ale
|
11d
|
half pint
|
1013.9
|
1035.2
|
105
|
2.75
|
60.51%
|
1952
|
Greenhall Whitley
|
Wilderspool Brown Ale
|
10d
|
half pint
|
1008.5
|
1038.7
|
10 + 40
|
3.92
|
78.04%
|
1952
|
Brown Jack Ale
|
9d
|
half pint
|
1005.8
|
1029.5
|
16 + 40
|
3.08
|
80.34%
| |
1952
|
Hey & Son [Bradford]
|
White Rose Ale
|
1/8d
|
pint
|
1007.9
|
1040.7
|
5 + 40
|
4.27
|
80.59%
|
1952
|
J Bernard Ltd
|
Double Brown Ale
|
1/3d
|
half pint
|
1009.9
|
1047.5
|
40 + 0.5
|
4.89
|
79.16%
|
1956
|
Double Dolphin Ale
|
1/2d
|
half pint
|
1013.8
|
1043.6
|
100
|
3.86
|
68.35%
| |
1952
|
McMullen, Hertford
|
Nut Brown Ale
|
9d
|
half pint
|
1012.6
|
1035.5
|
17 + 40
|
2.96
|
64.51%
|
1952
|
McMullen, Hertford
|
Olde Time Ale
|
1/3d
|
nip
|
1015
|
1060.6
|
16 + 40
|
5.94
|
75.25%
|
1955
|
Mitchell & Butler,
|
Sam Brown
|
11.5d
|
half pint
|
1011.2
|
1036.9
|
85
|
3.33
|
69.65%
|
1952
|
Morgans Brewery Ltd [
|
Brown Ale
|
11d
|
half pint
|
1005.2
|
1034.7
|
8 + 40
|
3.84
|
85.01%
|
1952
|
Brown Ale
|
1/1d
|
half pint
|
1009.9
|
1052
|
1.5 + 40
|
5.49
|
80.96%
| |
1954
|
Brown Ale
|
1/1d
|
half pint
|
1010
|
1048.9
|
51
|
5.06
|
79.55%
| |
1952
|
Brown Ale
|
1/6d
|
pint
|
1013
|
1038
|
31 + 40
|
3.23
|
65.79%
| |
1955
|
Northern Clubs Federation
|
High Level Brown Ale
|
1/1d
|
half pint
|
1016.5
|
1053.6
|
75
|
4.81
|
69.22%
|
1955
|
Offilers
|
Nut Brown
|
9.5d
|
half pint
|
1010.1
|
1034.6
|
75
|
3.17
|
70.81%
|
1952
|
Peter Walker Ltd
|
Brown Peter Ale
|
10d
|
half pint
|
1006.7
|
1038.6
|
1 + 40
|
4.15
|
82.64%
|
1952
|
Double Brown Ale
|
9d
|
half pint
|
1008.3
|
1035.3
|
4.5 + 40
|
3.50
|
76.49%
| |
1955
|
Ruddle
|
Nut Brown Ale
|
9.5d
|
half pint
|
1008.2
|
1033.1
|
95
|
3.23
|
75.23%
|
1955
|
Samuel Smith Tadcaster
|
Taddy Nut Brown
|
10d
|
half pint
|
1010.5
|
1035.2
|
100
|
3.20
|
70.17%
|
1955
|
Samuel Webster
|
Sam Brown Ale
|
9.5d
|
half pint
|
1013
|
1035.7
|
95
|
2.93
|
63.59%
|
1952
|
Shipstone
|
Nut Brown Ale
|
1/3d
|
pint
|
1006.7
|
1033.3
|
5.5 + 40
|
3.45
|
79.88%
|
1952
|
Simonds
|
Berry Brown Ale
|
9.5d
|
half pint
|
1005.5
|
1032
|
5 + 40
|
3.44
|
82.81%
|
1952
|
St. Anne's Well Brewery [
|
Brown Ale
|
9.5d
|
half pint
|
1005.1
|
1034.1
|
15 + 40
|
3.77
|
85.04%
|
1952
|
Steward & Patteson,
|
Brown Ale
|
11.5d
|
half pint
|
1010.3
|
1032.5
|
7 + 40
|
2.87
|
68.31%
|
1956
|
Stroud Brewery Ltd
|
Cotswold Brown Ale
|
11d
|
half pint
|
1010.1
|
1037.1
|
90
|
3.50
|
72.78%
|
1953
|
Tamplin
|
Baby Browm
|
8d
|
nip
|
1007.9
|
1034.3
|
10 + 40
|
3.43
|
76.97%
|
1955
|
Tennant Bros. Ltd,
|
Lion Brown Ale
|
11.5d
|
half pint
|
1011.4
|
1034.9
|
85
|
3.04
|
67.34%
|
1955
|
Tennant Bros. Ltd,
|
Family Brown Ale
|
1/6d
|
pint
|
1007.5
|
1031.9
|
50
|
3.16
|
76.49%
|
1952
|
Tetley
|
Family Ale
|
1/3d
|
pint
|
1009
|
1035.5
|
3.5 + 40
|
3.44
|
74.65%
|
1955
|
Unknown Brewer
|
1/-
|
half pint
|
1008.4
|
1035.6
|
75
|
3.53
|
76.40%
| |
1952
|
Ushers Trowbridge
|
Brown Ale
|
8.5d
|
half pint
|
1007.7
|
1033.6
|
10 + 40
|
3.36
|
77.08%
|
1953
|
Ushers Wiltshire Brewery [Trowbridge]
|
Triple Brown
|
1/6d
|
half pint
|
1013.6
|
1063.4
|
12 + 40
|
6.50
|
78.55%
|
1953
|
Vale of Neath Brewery
|
???? Brown Ale
|
1/3d
|
half pint
|
1019.3
|
1070.6
|
34 B
|
6.68
|
72.66%
|
1955
|
Vaux & Co
|
Double Maxim Ale
|
1/-
|
half pint
|
1012.8
|
1048.5
|
110
|
4.63
|
73.61%
|
1955
|
Wadworth
|
Middy Brown Ale
|
11d
|
half pint
|
1012.9
|
1034.5
|
95
|
2.79
|
62.61%
|
1952
|
Whitbread
|
Double Brown
|
1/3d
|
half pint
|
1053.8
| ||||
1954
|
Whitbread
|
10.5d
|
half pint
|
1012.2
|
1034.8
|
14 + 40
|
2.92
|
64.94%
| |
1956
|
Wm. Younger & Co
|
"Wee Willie" Brown Ale
|
1/-
|
half pint
|
1009.6
|
1033.5
|
70
|
3.10
|
71.34%
|
1956
|
Wm. Younger & Co
|
1/1d
|
half pint
|
1013.2
|
1046.8
|
75
|
4.36
|
71.79%
| |
1955
|
Nut Brown Ale
|
11d
|
half pint
|
1008.6
|
1036
|
80
|
3.56
|
76.11%
| |
1953
|
Young & Son
|
Chestnut Brown Ale
|
1/1d
|
half pint
|
1016.5
|
1055.1
|
33 + 40
|
5.01
|
70.05%
|
Source:
Whitbread Gravity Book
|
Still several more types of beer to go. Then we'll get onto the specific brands. That will be particularly revealing.
5 comments:
Burton's look like a good candidate for a Lets brew Wednesday is their any plans?
Oblivious, yes, Burton would be a good Let's Brew option. I've a variety of Barclay Perkins recipes: KK, KKK and KKKK.
I wonder if this author is still living. Michael Jackson mentions him a few times in his early books, once when he recommended brown ale with apple pie.
Gary
Gary, I'm not sure, but I would suspect that he isn't. Simply because the book was published 54 years ago and he doesn't write as if he's really young. So I would guess he would be pushing 90, at least, if still alive.
You are probably right Ron.
I know Peter Mathias is still living, he is about 84. I wonder if he is still interested in 1700's-era English brewing history for which he did so much pioneering work in his book covering that period until 1830. If so, he would be fascinated by the discussions that go on here I am sure!
Gary
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