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