Friday 7 February 2014

Mann Mild Ale quality 1922 - 1925

As we continue our slow inexorable crawl through London's breweries alphabetically we've come to M. And Mann.

Or Mann, Crossman and Paulin as they were officially known. According to Norman Barber, Mann's Albion Brewery was originally built in 1818*. It was located on the Whitechapel Road. Still is, I suppose, as parts remain standing. The company merged with Watney, Combe, Reid in 1958 to form Watney Mann*. The Albion Brewery survived longer than Watney's own Stag Brewery, only closing in 1979*.

It was another of the Ale brewers which had done particularly well at the latter end of the 19th century, when public taste was moving away from Porter. Their crowning achievement in the 1890's was introduction of the first modern Brown Ale.

They seem to have got through WW I in better shape than many of their rivals, as they made several acquisitions in the just after the war's end:

1919 Young & Co, Stamford Hill Brewery, Stoke Newington
1920 Brandon's Putney brewery, Putney
1924 Best's Brewery, Larkhall Lane, Wandsworth
1925 Hornchurch Brewery of Harman's Uxbridge Brewery
1929 Henry Luker & Co., Southend**


Mann's Albion Brewery in 1896

These are all 7d/6d X Ales. The examples from 1922 are a bit weak for the class - 1042 to 1043 was more typical. Once again the attenuation, which averages 80%, is pretty high. That seems to be pretty standard.

Mann Mild Ale quality 1922 - 1925
Year Beer FG OG ABV App. Atten-uation Appearance Flavour Score
1922 X 1006 1038.7 4.23 83.98% not bright quite sound 1
1922 X 1007 1038.5 4.16 83.12% hazy good 2
1922 X 1008 1040.2 4.19 80.10% almost bright mawkish -2
1922 X 1008 1039.6 4.16 80.81% brilliant v good 3
1923 X 1008 1038 3.90 78.95% bright v fair 2
1923 X 1010 1041.8 4.09 75.36% v dark bright v good 3
1923 X 1010 1042.5 4.22 76.47% bright v fair 2
1923 X 1007 1041.7 4.49 82.73% bright poor -1
1923 X 1008 1042.4 4.42 80.19% brilliant v good 3
1923 X 1008 1040 4.16 80.00% not quite bright poor -1
1923 X 1010 1040 3.89 75.00% brilliant good v full 2
1924 X 1044.6 not bright good 2
1924 X 1007 1043.7 4.74 83.30% bright good 2
1924 X 1008 1043.4 4.57 80.88% brilliant only fair 0
1925 X 1009 1043.8 4.47 78.54% brilliant v fair 2
Average 1.33
Source:
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/001

Ten out of fifteen are bright, which isn't too bad. And a couple more were almost bright. None sound that bad.

As for flavour, the standard is pretty high. Only three negative scores and eight of 2 or 3.

The overall score of 1.33 is pretty good. I think I'd have gambled on a Manns pub. That last sentence could be misinterpreted when spoken. Though a lot probably really were men's pubs.




* "A Century of British Breweries Plus" by Norman Barber, 2005, page 86.
** "The Brewing Industry: A Guide to Historical Records", edited by Lesley Richmond, Alison Turton, 1990, page 225.

3 comments:

StuartP said...

I like the way that every time you post one of these maps, there is a good smattering of 'ph's.
No shortage of options for a night out in them days.

Ron Pattinson said...

Stuart,

and the maps don't even mark beer houses. In the 1890's they were at least a third of the on-licences.

Gary Gillman said...

Some comfort here that the picture of English beer in the period wasn't all grim.

Gary