Bottled beers in the 1980's

Here's a weird paradox. I have more details about British bottled beer from the 1940's and 1950's than I do from the 1980's and 1990's. I blame CAMRA.

Because with cask beers, there's no problem. They've been documented by the Good Beer Guide since the 1970's. But only cask and bottle-conditioned beers. Which leaves all other forms of bottled beer and keg beer pretty much undocumented. Bit of a bummer for someone like me who's interested in every form of beer. At least from an academic point of view.

So I was delighted when Bailey (of Boak & Bailey) passed on some scans of a 1986 What's Brewing article about bottled beer. One that had lots of lovely gravities included.

It doesn't look that short a list, until you realise that for some styles, for example Stout, it's pretty much complete. Buy which I mean it includes most of the Stouts then brewed in Britain. Apart from Guinness and Courage Russian Stout. I have details for those two elsewhere.

Unfortunately, there weren't any Light Ales listed, which is a bit annoying. It's a style I'd like to trace through to its current virtual extinction. I can't think of many that are still brewed. Courage Light Ale is and maybe Harvey's still make one. How many others are there still?

Brown Ale is another former bottled favourite on its last legs. Well, apart from Newcastle Brown. Even Whitbread's Forest Brown has now gone. I'd be surprised if there were still half a dozen of the weaker type of Brown Ale still knocking around.

Strong Ales and strong Pale Ales were probably the bottled types doing best in the 1980's. Again, my division of them into Strong Ale, Old Ale and Barley Wine is pretty arbitrary. I could just as easily have classified them all simply as Strong Ale.

Bottled beers in the 1980's
Year	Brewer	Beer	Style	OG
1986	Sam Smith	Golden Strong	Barley Wine	1100
1981	Lorimer	Barley Wine	Barley Wine	1074
1986	Adnams	Tally Ho	Barley Wine	1075
1986	Young	Old Nick	Barley Wine	1084
1986	Whitbread	Forest Brown	Brown Ale	1032
1986	Mann	Brown Ale	Brown Ale	1034
1986	Bass (Runcorn)	M & B Sam Brown	Brown Ale	1035
1986	Home Ales	Home Brewed	Brown Ale	1036
1986	Hardy & Hanson	Special Brown	Brown Ale	1036
1986	Scottish & Newcastle	Newcastle Brown Ale	Brown Ale	1045
1986	Vaux	Double Maxim	Brown Ale	1044
1986	Sam Smith	Strong Brown Ale	Brown Ale	1045
1986	Adnam	Fisherman Brown	Brown Ale	1042
1986	Northern Clubs	Federation Strong Brown Ale	Brown Ale	1047
1986	Home Ales	Robin Hood IPA	IPA	1045
1986	King & Barnes	Old XXXX	Old Ale	1046
1986	Banks	Imperial Old Ale	Old Ale	1096
1986	Robinson	Old Tom	Old Ale	1080
1986	Gale	Prize Old Ale	Old Ale	1095
1986	Greene King	Strong Suffolk	Old Ale	1056
1986	Greene King	5X	Old Ale	1106
1986	Young	Ramrod	Pale Ale	1046
1986	Shepherd Neame	Abbey	Pale Ale	1045
1986	Ridley	Old Bob	Pale Ale	1050
1986	Courage	Bulldog Pale Ale	Pale Ale	1068
1986	Adnam	Broadside	Pale Ale	1068
1986	Eldridge Pope	Royal Oak	Pale Ale	1048
1986	Gale	Strong Pale Ale	Pale Ale	1062
1986	Wadworth	Old Timer	Pale Ale	1051
1986	Timothy Taylor	Landlord	Pale Ale	1044
1986	Young	Strong Export	Pale Ale	1062
1986	Sam Smith	Taddy Porter	Porter	1051
1986	Whitbread	Mackeson	Stout	1042
1986	Sam Smith	Nourishing Sweet Stout	Stout	1042
1986	Sam Smith	Strong Stout	Stout	1050
1986	Hardy & Hanson	Blackamoor Stout	Stout	1044
1986	Timothy Taylor	Black Bess	Stout	1043
1986	Morrell	Malt Stout	Stout	1042
1986	Shipstone	Ship Stout	Stout	1042
1986	Courage	Velvet	Stout	1041
1986	Watney	Cream Label	Stout	1038
1986	Younger	Sweet Stout	Stout	1032
1986	Tennent	Sweetheart Stout	Stout	1035
1986	Randall (Guernsey)	Bobby Stout	Stout	1046
1986	Guernsey Brewery	Milk Stout	Stout	1042
1986	Ann Street Brewery	Mary Ann Stout	Stout	1038
1986	Belhaven	Sweet Stout	Stout	1033
1986	Brain	Extra Stout	Stout	1043
1986	Gale	Nourishing Stout	Stout	1034
1986	Greenall Whitley	Red Rose	Stout	1040
1986	Hardy & Hanson	Blackamoor Stout	Stout	1044
1986	Harvey	Sussex Sweet Stout	Stout	1032
1986	Holt	Brown Stout	Stout	1040
1986	Home Ales	Stout	Stout	1037
1986	King & Barnes	JK	Stout	1033
1986	Lees	Archer Stout	Stout	1042
1986	Morrell	Malt Stout	Stout	1042
1986	Palmer	Extra Stout	Stout	1032
1986	Sam Smith	Sweet Stout	Stout	1042
1986	Timothy Taylor	Black Bess	Stout	1044
1986	Sam Smith	Nourishing Stout	Stout	1050
1986	Sam Smith	Oatmeal Stout	Stout	1051
1986	Sam Smith	Imperial Stout	Stout	1073
1981	Elgood	Malt Stout	Stout	1031
1981	Greene King	Farm Stout	Stout	1035
1981	Robinson	Unicorn Stout	Stout	1038
1981	Devenish	S. West Stout	Stout	1040
1981	Marston	Mello Stout	Stout	1043
1986	Greene King	St. Edmund Ale	Strong Ale	1060
1986	St. Austell	Smuggler's Ale	Strong Ale	1070
1986	St. Austell	Prince's Ale	Strong Ale	1100
1986	Davenport	Top Brew de Luxe	Strong Ale	1074
1986	Davenport	Top Brew Original	Strong Ale	1071
1986	Morrell	College Ale	Strong Ale	1073
1986	Lees	Moonraker	Strong Ale	1074
1986	Holt	Sixex	Strong Ale	1064
1986	Higson	Stingo	Strong Ale	1078
1986	Harvey	Elizabethan Ale	Strong Ale	1090
1986	Harvey	Christmas Ale	Strong Ale	1090
1986	Eldridge Pope	Hardy Ale	Strong Ale	1125
1981	Paine	EG	Strong Ale	1047
1981	McMullen	Mitre	Strong Ale	1058
1981	Devenish	Crabber's Nip	Strong Ale	1066
1981	Greene King	Audit Ale	Strong Ale	1078
1986	Hoskins & Oldfield	Christmas Noggin	Strong Ale	1100
1986	Hall & Woodhouse	Stingo	Strong Ale	1075
1986	Watney	Stingo	Strong Ale	1076
1986	Broughton	Old Jock	Strong Ale	1070
1986	Godson	Stock Ale	Strong Ale	1086
Sources:
GBG 1987
What's Brewing November 1986, page 7.