Monday 26 August 2013

Bottled beer in the 1850's

Exeter and Plymouth Gazette, Saturday 06 June 1857, page 5.
I enjoyed our little look at bottled beer of the 1840's that I thought I'd extend the series. It saves me the trouble of doing any proper research or exerting any other effort. As I keep telling you, I'm a lazy bastard at heart.

Again, I've arbitrarily assigned styles to the beers. Not that there are many unclear ones in this set. About the only decision I had to make was to assign Strong Ale to the Burton Ales.

I'll mention now a difficulty that bottled beer presents when trying to guess the strength of a beer. With draught beers it's a piece of piss to work out relative strength. That's because the measures are known. A barrel is 36 gallons, a kilderkin is 18 gallons, etc. The capacity in gallons is often also specifically mentioned in advertisements. No such luck with bottles. Sometimes no size is indicated. Others it says "large" or "small". Even when it says "pint" or "quart" there's uncertainty. Because often that doesn't mean an imperial pint or quart but a "reputed" pint or quart. These were two-thirds of the imperial measure, or 378.85 ml and 757.7 ml, respectively.

In some entries in the table below, it can't possibly be an imperial pint. For example the Barnstaple Porter. 1s 9d for a dozen pints is 1.75d. per pint, which is below the draught price of 2d. per pint. That must be a reputed pint.

Do you see the biggest change in this list? Lower-gravity Pale Ales have appeared. Beers that definitely aren't IPA's and are considerably weaker. Or at least considerably cheaper. For example, Ind Coope's AKK Ale. The draught version cost 1s 2d per gallon, which implies a gravity of 1050-1055º. You can see that a quart of it (probably a reputed quart) cost the same as an imperial pint of Allsopp's IPA.

Alnwick Mercury, Monday 01 March 1858, page 1.

Note that there are still several examples of bottled Mild and Porter, though the latter is considerably outnumbered by bottled Stouts. As we progress through the decades of the 19th century you'll see how these become progressively rarer, with bottled Porter disappearing entirely. You can clearly see the most popular bottled styles emerging: IPA, Pale Ale, Stout and Strong Ale. Undoubtedly helped along by the most hyped beers of the day: Bass and Allsopp IPA, Guinness Extra Stout and Bass and Allsopp Strong Burton Ales.

I almost forgot the sad little Table Ale. A the advertisement was in a Northumberland newspaper, it's almost certainly of Scottish origin.

You know the score. I've still four decades of the 19th century to go. More to follow.

Bottled beers in the 1850's
Brewery Place year beer style price per dozen size source
Wm. Younger Edinburgh 1852 Edinburgh Ale Edinburgh Ale 4s pint Medical times and gazette, Volume 5, 1852, page 155
Wm. Younger Edinburgh 1852 Edinburgh Ale Edinburgh Ale 4s 6d pint Medical times and gazette, Volume 5, 1852, page 155
Unknown Edinburgh 1855 Edinburgh Ale Edinburgh Ale 6s "Food and its adulterations" by Arthur Hill Hassall, 1855, page 52.
Allsopp Burton 1853 Pale Ale IPA 5s Imperial pint "The lancet 1853, vol. 2", 1853, page 258
Allsopp Burton 1855 East India Pale Ale IPA 5s "Food and its adulterations" by Arthur Hill Hassall, 1855, page 52.
Bass Burton 1858 Pale India Ale IPA 7s quart Alnwick Mercury - Monday 01 March 1858, page 1
Allsopp Burton 1853 Mild Ale Mild Ale 5s 6d Imperial pint "The lancet 1853, vol. 2", 1853, page 258
Barnstaple brewery Barnstaple 1853 XX Ale Mild Ale 3s quart North Devon Journal - Thursday 14 April 1853, page 1.
Barnstaple brewery Barnstaple 1853 XX Ale Mild Ale 1s 9d pint North Devon Journal - Thursday 14 April 1853, page 1.
Barnstaple brewery Barnstaple 1853 XXXX Ale Mild Ale 4s 3d quart North Devon Journal - Thursday 14 April 1853, page 1.
Barnstaple brewery Barnstaple 1853 XXXX Ale Mild Ale 2s 4d pint North Devon Journal - Thursday 14 April 1853, page 1.
Unknown Unknown 1858 Fine Mild XX Ale Mild Ale 5s 6d quart Alnwick Mercury - Monday 01 March 1858, page 1
Wm. Younger Edinburgh 1852 Pale Ale Pale Ale 3s pint Medical times and gazette, Volume 5, 1852, page 155
John Lovibond Greenwich 1852 Bitter Ale Pale Ale 2s 6d pint "W. Archdeacon's Greenwich & Woolwich directory for 1852" page 2
Barnstaple brewery Barnstaple 1853 Pale Ale Pale Ale 4s 3d quart North Devon Journal - Thursday 14 April 1853, page 1.
Barnstaple brewery Barnstaple 1853 Pale Ale Pale Ale 2s 4d pint North Devon Journal - Thursday 14 April 1853, page 1.
Ind Coope Romford 1857 AKK Ale Pale Ale 5s quart Exeter and Plymouth Gazette - Saturday 06 June 1857, page 5.
Ind Coope Romford 1857 AKK Ale Pale Ale 2s 9d pint Exeter and Plymouth Gazette - Saturday 06 June 1857, page 5.
Unknown Unknown 1858 Fine Pale Ale Pale Ale 5s 6d quart Alnwick Mercury - Monday 01 March 1858, page 1
Barnstaple brewery Barnstaple 1853 Porter Porter 3s quart North Devon Journal - Thursday 14 April 1853, page 1.
Barnstaple brewery Barnstaple 1853 Porter Porter 1s 9d pint North Devon Journal - Thursday 14 April 1853, page 1.
Unknown London 1858 Best London Porter Porter 4s 6d quart Alnwick Mercury - Monday 01 March 1858, page 1
Wm. Younger Edinburgh 1852 Stout Stout 2s pint Medical times and gazette, Volume 5, 1852, page 155
Wm. Younger Edinburgh 1852 Stout Stout 3s pint Medical times and gazette, Volume 5, 1852, page 155
John Lovibond Greenwich 1852 Double Stout Stout 2s 6d pint "W. Archdeacon's Greenwich & Woolwich directory for 1852" page 2
Barnstaple brewery Barnstaple 1853 Treble Stout Stout 4s 3d quart North Devon Journal - Thursday 14 April 1853, page 1.
Barnstaple brewery Barnstaple 1853 Treble Stout Stout 2s 4d pint North Devon Journal - Thursday 14 April 1853, page 1.
Guinness  Dublin 1854 Extra Stout Stout 3s 6d Durham Directory & Almanack, 1854
Calvert & Co. London 1855 Double Stout Stout 5s "Food and its adulterations" by Arthur Hill Hassall, 1855, page 52.
Guinness  Dublin 1857 Extra Stout Stout 4s Durham Directory & Almanack, 1857
Guinness Dublin 1858 Dublin Stout Stout 6s 6d quart Alnwick Mercury - Monday 01 March 1858, page 1
Unknown London 1858 Best London Stout Stout 5s 6d quart Alnwick Mercury - Monday 01 March 1858, page 1
Allsopp Burton 1853 Strong (Old Burton) Ale Strong Ale 6s 6d Imperial pint "The lancet 1853, vol. 2", 1853, page 258
Unknown Burton 1855 Burton Ale Strong Ale 6s "Food and its adulterations" by Arthur Hill Hassall, 1855, page 52.
Unknown Burton 1855 Burton Ale Extra Quality Strong Ale 7s "Food and its adulterations" by Arthur Hill Hassall, 1855, page 52.
Unknown Unknown 1858 Table Ale Table Ale 3s 6d quart Alnwick Mercury - Monday 01 March 1858, page 1

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