Monday 4 August 2014

Mann Porter quality 1922 - 1923

Don't worry. The torture will only last a few more weeks. Once we've dumped the vinegary Porters down the drain, there's just the Stouts left.


Mann was a brewery which ended the 19th century well and managed to survive the troubles which beset the brewing industry in the early decade of the 20th century. It helped that they were the originators of a hot new beer style, Brown Ale. Their relatively good performance is well illustrated by comparing their output with that of Barclay Perkins:

Beer output of Barclay Perkins and Mann 1900 - 1924 (barrels)

1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908
Barclay Perkins 589,201 573,302 541,822 539,153 534,284 549,634 560,103 555,370 527,716
Mann 500,029 557,403 593,694 624,718 644,162 672,104 657,161 650,254 625,130
1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916
Barclay Perkins 525,854 500,205 549,841 589,543 587,547 582,263 511,870 438,242
Mann 601,363 590,608 630,417 619,058 611,704 609,623
1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924
Barclay Perkins 426,170 247,089 325,965 464,033 393,045 348,576 293,728 303,676
Mann 365,525 269,475 699,297 619,608
Sources:
The British Brewing Industry, 1830-1980 T. R. Gourvish & R.G. Wilson, pages 610-611
Document ACC/2305/1/711/1 in the London Metropolitan Archives
"Albion Brewery 1808 - 1958" by Hurford Janes, 1958, pages 87, 89 and 91.

Mann overtook Barclay Perkins in 1902 and stayed a little in front up until WW I. The war years were slightly more kind to Mann: Barclay Perkins produced 42% of their 1914 output in 1918. For Mann it was 44%. But it's what happened after the war that really tells a story. Barclay Perkins never got back to anywhere near their pre-war level and in 1924 brewed just over half what they had in 1914. While Mann brewed slightly more in 1924 than 1914. Unfortunately, I don't have figures for any other breweries. My guess would be Barclay Perkins were closer to the norm than Mann. The hard times of the interwar years saw most breweries production fall.

One little titbit from the Mann's brewery history. In 1924, 88,000 of the 619,608 barrel they brewed were bottled. (They produced 6 bottled beers: London Stout, Oatmeal Stout, Extra Stout, Family Ale, Brown Ale and Bitter Ale.) That's just over 14%. By 1958 that had increased to 70% of their output*. That's extremely high, even for the 1950's. I wonder how much of that was Brown Ale? Probably quite a bit as it was one of a handful of bottled beers - like Guinness, Bass and Worthington - which were regularly sold in other breweries' tied houses.

Now it's time to review Mann's season so far. In the Mild competition they topped the table of 17, with an average score of 1.33. Their Burton Ale came third of fourteen, averaging 1.25. But their Pale Ale let them down a little, coming tenth of fourteen, just staying positive with a score of 0.07.

Hoare's Porter is the strongest of the bunch, with the highest average OG, ABV and rate of attenuation. So good value for money for all you pisshead. But what about its quality?

Mann Porter quality 1922 - 1923
Year Beer FG OG ABV App. Atten-uation Flavour score Price
1922 Porter 1009.6 1040.3 3.99 76.18% v fair 2 6d
1922 Porter 1007 1034 3.51 79.41% v poor -3 6d
1922 Porter 1009.6 1041.1 4.09 76.64% v poor -3 6d
1923 Porter 1009.6 1039.6 3.89 75.76% fair 1 6d
1923 Porter 1010.6 1038.6 3.63 72.54% fair 1 5d
1923 Porter 1009.3 1039.3 3.89 76.34% fairly good 1 6d
1923 Porter 1008.9 1039.9 4.03 77.69% nasty flavour -3 6d
1923 Porter 1009.2 1037.2 3.63 75.27% v fair 2 6d
Average  1009.2 1038.8 3.83 76.23% -0.25
Source:
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/001


Bit of a mixed bag, eh? Three real stinkers (literally, based on the descriptions) leave it with a negative average score of -0.25. But the other five score fairly well, five of eight having a positive score, including two twos. That would leave me to believe that the problem lies in the pub cellar rather than the brewery.

Time traveller advice? Choose your Mann's pub wisely if you're drinking Porter.




* "Albion Brewery 1808 - 1958" by Hurford Janes, 1958, page 91.

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