Thursday 4 July 2013

Barclay Perkins Ale production 1861 - 1870

There's something else I finally got around to in my last visit to the archives in London. Looking at the last in a set of documents called the Sanctum Sanctorum. They detail how much of each Ale was made in a year and the materials used to brew it. Dead handy figures to have.

For a random reason I can no longer remember, I hadn't photographed the one covering 1861 to 1870. A real shame, and not just for reasons of completeness. The 1860's was a crucial decade in the rise of Mild Ale and in particular X Ale.

You can see the Barclay Perkins output of X Ale more than doubled in the 1860's, from 47,000 to 97,000 barrels. Not only did the output of X Ale increase in real terms, the proportion of X Ale compared to other Ales also rose. It went from around 70% of the total to 88%. Gradually, all the stronger X Ales faded away. The same was true of London brewers, too. by 1900 XX, XXX and XXXX had disappeared from all the big London brewers' portfolios. The only stronger Ales brewed were in the form of Stock Ales: KK and KKK.


Barclay Perkins Ale production 1861 - 1870 (barrels)
Year malt (qtrs) hops (lbs) X XL XX XXX KK KKK KKKK Table total % X
1861 21,930 288,028 47,285 604 5,474 1,102 6,723 4,676 100 65,964 71.68%
1862 21,045 286,027 46,781 1,177 4,097 1,675 8,909 4,399 111 1,172 68,321 68.47%
1863 23,500 335,936 48,604 1,209 4,496 1,329 13,064 4,401 225 1,174 74,502 65.24%
1864 22,200 249,717 50,168 3,887 1,292 7,385 4,741 492 67,965 73.81%
1865 23,846 267,602 58,391 5,016 1,032 5,935 4,310 134 74,818 78.04%
1866 23,242 247,040 63,427 4,897 791 3,569 2,318 229 75,231 84.31%
1867 24,446 237,896 68,333 4,966 908 4,173 2,605 112 81,097 84.26%
1868 24,416 226,664 73,601 5,368 1,029 3,129 1,309 84,436 87.17%
1869 30,140 311,128 87,421 5,892 871 2,937 6,199 1,062 104,382 83.75%
1870 31,266 321,375 96,999 4,709 599 5,172 2,055 102 109,636 88.47%
Source:
Barclay Perkins document held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number ACC/2305/01/672

Here's a little more historical context for those 1860's numbers:


Barclay Perkins Ale production 1834 - 1855 (barrels)
Year malt (qtrs) hops (lbs) X XX XXX XXXX KK KKK KKKK Table total % X
1834 5,695 51,270 3,434 8,014 812 622 507 985 14,374 23.89%
1840 22,111 239,324 16,936 9,514 2,804 302 4,589 6,575 466 41,186 41.12%
1845 24,810 402,083 22,497 8,502 3,274 98 4,366 5,313 176 1,164 45,390 49.56%
1850 23,625 327,556 32,604 7,765 1,975 2,686 7,351 204 1,097 53,682 60.74%
1855 20,018 294,198 35,153 4,870 1,018 5,445 2,722 102 960 50,270 69.93%
Sources:
Barclay Perkins documents held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document numbers ACC/2305/01/669, ACC/2305/01/670 and ACC/2305/01/671

It's odd what happened with X Ale in London. As it became the dominant style, the range of different X Ales contracted. Usually the opposite is true. When a style becomes more popular more different-strength versions appear. That's certainly what happened with Pale Ale. Not quite sure why it was the other way around with Mild.

The stronger Ales all had their peak output early on: XX in 1836, XXX in 1838 and XXXX in 1837.Clearly the working man had decided that X Ale was his favourite. When you look at the strength of these beers it's easy to see why:


BP Ales in 1839
Beer OG
X 1071.7
XX 1087.5
XXX 1104.4
Source:
Barclay Perkins brewing record held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number ACC/2305/1/550.

Even a bottom of the range X Ale was a pretty powerful beer. Gravities fell a little over the century, but in 1869 the X Ales were still pretty formidable. Not something I'd want to drink a gallon of. Not something I could drink a gallon of.


BP Ales in 1862
Beer OG
X 1066.2
XX 1081.2
XXX 1098.6
Source:
Barclay Perkins brewing record held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number ACC/2305/1/569.

Before 1834, Barclay Perkins had been a Porter-only brewery. Wisely, they had moved into Ale in the 1830's when the swing from Porter to Mild started. You can see that move accelerating in the 1860's and by the end of the decade more than 25% of Barclays output was Ale. Porter and Stout remained more important for London brewers than those in the provinces, but by the end of the 19th century they  were brewing more Ale than Porter. At Whitbread Ale first outstripped Porter in 1876*. At Barclay Perkins it took a little longer.


Barclay Perkins output 1834 - 1870
Year Ale output total output % Ale
1834 14,374 343,569 4.18%
1840 41,186 400,838 10.27%
1845 45,390 396,784 11.44%
1850 53,682 397,360 13.51%
1855 50,270 357,836 14.05%
1861 65,964 373,043 17.68%
1862 68,321 383,436 17.82%
1863 74,502 418,461 17.80%
1864 67,965 415,721 16.35%
1865 74,818 415,142 18.02%
1866 75,231 428,000 17.58%
1867 81,097 423,444 19.15%
1868 84,436 405,622 20.82%
1869 104,382 409,327 25.50%
1870 109,636 410,710 26.69%
Sources:
Barclay Perkins documents held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document numbers ACC/2305/01/669, ACC/2305/01/670, ACC/2305/01/671and ACC/2305/01/672
"The British Brewing Industry, 1830-1980" T. R. Gourvish & R.G. Wilson, pages 610-611




* Whitbread brewing records held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document numbers LMA/4453/D/01/041 and LMA/4453/D/09/070.

3 comments:

Martyn Cornell said...

I'm assuming the grist was all, or almost all, pale malt?

Ron Pattinson said...

Martyn,

100% pale malt.

beer guru, jr. said...

I could drink a gallon of that 1104 OG stuff. As long as I didn't have to, oh, manage some steam boiler's gauges in some Dickensonian London factory. Because that could be bad :)