This first is taken from an interview in the 1890's with a local policeman. He wasn't very impressed with their beer:
"Charrington´s is about the best beer in the neighbourhood. But a great deal of filthy stuff is sold. The Brewers put in as managers men to whom they have advanced large sums. These men must make money. To makemoney they must adulterate. If they don´t, they lose and the brewers foreclose. Some firms are very hard. Perhaps the worst are Brewers at the corner of the Bow Road just before you come to the Stratford Bridge;their name is Smith & Garrett and the beer they sell is bad. Taylor Walker in Limehouse used to be large brewers and do a great Indian trade as well as own the houses in Limehouse. But the India trade has failed them and trade has left Limehouse so they are in a bad way now compared to former years."
*Interview with Inspector Carter*
B346 pp100-107
http://booth.lse.ac.uk/notebooks/b346/jpg/101.html
Next are the details of some of Smith Garrett's beers, just before they disappeared:
Smith Garrett beers | ||||||
Year | Beer | Style | Price | size | package | OG |
1926 | Porter | Porter | 5d | pint | draught | 1035.1 |
1926 | Porter | Porter | 5d | pint | draught | 1031.7 |
1926 | X | Mild | 6d | pint | draught | 1041.9 |
1926 | Pale Ale | Pale Ale | 7d | pint | draught | 1044.4 |
1926 | Pale Ale | Pale Ale | 7d | pint | draught | 1047.5 |
1927 | Strong Ale | Strong Ale | 8d | pint | draught | 1055.68 |
Source: Truman Gravity Book | ||||||
That's it. Just a little interlude, really.
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2 comments:
That bottle label is a short chapter on brewery history in its own right: the Cannon name and trademark from the brewery in St John Street, Clerkenwell taken over by Taylor Walker, in turn taken over by Ind Coope.
Ron, this account from 1880 explains why the export pale ale trade fell off:
http://books.google.ca/books?id=nGEOAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA12&dq=India+%2B+Hill+breweries&lr=&as_drrb_is=b&as_minm_is=1&as_miny_is=1800&as_maxm_is=1&as_maxy_is=1900&as_brr=0&cd=3#v=onepage&q=India%20%2B%20Hill%20breweries&f=false
What is noteworthy is the rather dour look at the quality issue. Even writing in 1880, the writer considered that beer shipped to the stations from the ports was "more or less sour". Makes one wonder if the keynote flavour of Hodgson and the other pale beers in India was a lightly acid taste, which may have been appreciated in a very hot country. In certain farm areas including in (much less warm) England, workers drank fruit vinegar to refresh - lambic may offer an analogy here.
Anyway, the fame of Hodgson's and the other pale beers tailed off pretty fast by the last quarter of the 1800's. More than just Colonial decline and/or Indian self-assertion was involved, IMO. At bottom, I believe the pale ale of the Raj just wasn't that good. The moment fresh local beer became available, and later lager from whatever source, the old London innovation disappeared without a trace.
At a nice Indian restaurant recently I asked the owners, Indian-Canadians, why the otherwise interesting beer list (E.g., it featured fruited and other craft beers, Pilsner Urquel, some good German beers) had no India Pale Ale on it. We have local types and some good imports (e.g., Greene King's IPA at an export strength of 5%) that would go champion with the fine food there. The staff were kind to invite suggestions but seemed not to know that India Pale Ale once had writ in the Sub-Continent. You couldn't blame them. Even in 1880 the beer of which the expeditionary regiments dreamed and would-be scribblers wrote countless doggerel was almost no more.
Gary
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