Saturday 8 August 2015

Coronation Beers (part two)

Did only a handful of brewers produce a coronation beer? Not if surviving labels are anything to go by.

On The Labologist's Society webpage there are 154 examples from 147 breweries. Admittedly a couple are foreign. But that’s still quite a lot. To do my favourite thing, contextualise that, there were 501* breweries in the UK in 1953. Meaning around a third brewed – or at least marketed – a beer for the coronation.

Here’s a list of those beers:

Coronation Beers
Brewery Beer
Abington Brewery Co Ltd Coronation Ale
Adnams & Co Ltd Coronation Ale
James Aitken & Co Coronation Ale
Alton Court Brewery Co Ltd Queens Ale
Ballingall & Son Ltd Coronation Ale
Barclay Perkins & Co Ltd Russian Imperial Stout
Barnsley Brewery Co Ltd Royal Strong Ale
Charles Beasley Ltd Coronation Ale
Benskins Watford Brewery Ltd Coronation Ale
Bent's Brewery Co Ltd Coronation Ale AI
Bentley & Shaw Ltd Regalia Ale
Bentleys Old Brewery (Rotherham) Ltd Elizabethan Ale
Bentley's Yorkshire Breweries Ltd Coronation Ale
T & J Bernard Ltd Coronation  Heavy Ale
T & J Bernard Ltd Coronation  Light Ale
Beverley Brothers Ltd Coronation Ale
Birkenhead Brewery Co Ltd Coronation Ale Double Strong
Border Breweries Ltd Crown Ale
W H Brakspear & Sons Ltd Coronation Ale
Brickwood & Co Ltd Coronation Ale
Bristol Brewery George & Co Ltd Coronation Stout
The Broadway Brewery Ltd Coronation Ale
Matthew Brown & Co Ltd  Coronation Bitter Beer
Matthew Brown & Co Ltd  Kings Ale
Brutton Mitchell Toms Ltd Coronation Ale
Burtonwood Brewery (Forshaws) Ltd Loyalty Ale
Bushell Watkins & Smith Ltd Coronation Ale
William Butler & Co Ltd Coronation Ale
J W Cameron & Co Ltd Sovereign Stout
Campbell Praed & Co Ltd Coronation Brew
Carlsberg Brewery Ltd Royal Lager
Carlise & District State Management Brewery Crown Ale (naturally matured in bottle)
R. F. Case & Co Ltd Elizabethan Ale
Castletown Brewery Ltd Queen's Ale
Catterall & Swarbrick Ltd Queen's Ale
The Ceylon Brewery Ltd Coronation Ale
Charrington & Co Ltd Royal Toby Ale
Richard Clarke & Co Coronation Ale
Cobb & Co Ltd Crown IPA
Cobbold & Co Ltd Coronation Pale Ale
Dale & Co Ltd Coronation Ale
Daniell & Sons Ltd Coronation Ale
James Deuchar Ltd Coronation Ale
Robert Deuchar Ltd Coronation Ale
J A Devenish & Co Ltd Coronation Beer
Drybrough & Company Ltd '53 Ale
Dudgeon & Co Ltd Coronation Ale
Dunmow Brewery Ltd Coronation
Dutton's Blackburn Brewery Ltd Coronation Ale
East African Breweries Ltd Coronation Ale
East African Breweries Ltd Simonds Coronation Lager
East Anglian Breweries Ltd Ely Coronation Ale
Eldridge Pope & Co Ltd Coronation Ale
Ely Brewery Co Ltd Ely Coronation Ale
Evan Evans Bevan Ltd Silver Crown Ale
Felinfoel Brewery Co Ltd Coronation Ale
Fremlins Ltd Queens Ale
Friary Holroyd & Healy's Breweries Ltd Sovereign
Sidney Fussell & Sons Ltd  Coronation Ale
Sidney Fussell & Sons Ltd  Coronation Stout
Gibbs Mew & Co Ltd Coronation Beer
Gordon & Blair (1923) Ltd Coronation Strong Ale
Greene King & Sons Ltd Coronation Ale
John Groves & Sons Ltd Coronation Ale
Groves & Whitnall Ltd Coronation Ale
Hall & Woodhouse Ltd Coronation
Julia Hanson & Sons Ltd Coronation Ale
Harman Uxbridge Brewery Ltd Coronation Ale
Harvey & Son Elizabethan Ale
G S Heath Ltd Coronation Ale
J W Hemingway Ltd Coronation Ale
J Hey & Co Ltd Coronation Ale
S H Higgs Ltd Double Lion Pale Ale
Higson's Brewery Ltd Coronation Ale
Holden's Brewery Ltd Coronation Stout
Holt Brothers Ltd. Coronation Ale
Hope & Anchor Breweries Ltd Royal Jubilee Stout
The Hull Brewery Co Ltd Coronation Ale
Hyde's Anvil Brewery Ltd Anvil Brand Pale Ale
Hyde's Anvil Brewery Ltd Pale Ale the Family Anvil
Ind Coope & Allsopp Ltd Commonwealth Ale
Jennings Brothers Ltd Coronation Ale
John Joule & Sons Ltd Coronation Ale
Kemp Town Brewery Brighton Ltd Coronation Ale
Lancashire Clubs Brewery Ltd Queens Ale
Leeds & Wakefield Breweries Ltd Coronation Regal a Strong Ale
Marston Thompson & Evershed Ltd Coronation Ale Dark Strong
Matthews & Co Coronation Ale
Mauldon & Sons Coronation Ale
McLennan & Urquhart Ltd Coronation Ale
McMullen & Sons Ltd Coronation Ale
Meux's Brewery Co Ltd Coronation Treble Gold
Mitchells & Butler Ltd Coronation Ale
Moors & Robsons Breweries Ltd Coronation Ale
J & J Morison Ltd Coronation Ale
Morland & Co Ltd Monarch
Morland & Co Ltd Queen's Toast
Morrells Ltd Coronation Ale
William Murray & Co Ltd Coronation Ale
William Neesham Ltd Coronation Stout
H Newnam & Sons Ltd Coronation Strong Ale
Nicholson & Sons Coronation Ale
J Nimmo & Son Ltd Coronation Ale
Okell & Son Ltd Coronation Ale
Paine & Co Ltd Coronation Ale
P. Phipps & Co Ltd Double Crown
Portsmouth & Brighton United Breweries Ltd Pompey Royal Coronation Brew
Thos. Ramsden & Son Ltd Old Ram Coronation Brew
Randall's Brewery Ltd Coronation Ale
Rayment & Co Ltd Coronation Ale
David Roberts & Sons Ltd Coronation Ale
Frederic Robinson Ltd Unicorn Coronation Ale
St Austell Brewery Coronation Ale
Scarborough & Whitby Breweries Ltd Queens Ale
Shepherd Neame Ltd Coronation Ale
Shrewbury & Wem Brewery Co Ltd Coronation Ale
H & G Simonds Ltd Coronation Ale
Simonds Farsons Cisk Ltd Crown Ale
Simpsons Brewery Ltd Century Stout
Southams Brewery Ltd Coronation Ale
South London Brewery Ltd Elizabeth 1953
John Smith's Tadcaster Brewery Co Ltd Coronation Ale
Star Brewery Co Ltd Coronation Brew
Starkey Knight & Ford Coronation Ale
Steel Coulson & Co Ltd Coronation Export Ale
Steel Coulson & Co Ltd Coronation Sweet Stout
Strong & Co of Romsey Coronation Ale
Stroud Brewery Co Ltd Coronation Ale
Style & Winch Coronation Brew Barley Wine
Tamplin & Sons Ltd Queens Ale
Taylor Walker & Co Ltd Coronation Ale
Taylor Walker & Co Ltd Coronation Vintage Ale
Tollemache's Breweries Ltd Coronation Ale
Tomson & Wotton Ltd Coronation Ale 1953
Ushers Wiltshire Brewery Ltd Triple Crown
Thomas Usher & Son Ltd Golden Rule
Vallances Brewery Ltd Coronation Ale
Wadworths & Co Ltd Queen's Ale
Peter Walker (Warrington) Ltd Coronation Ale
Warwicks & Richardsons Ltd Coronation
Webbs (Aberbeeg) Ltd Coronation Ale
Samuel Webster & Sons Ltd Old Brown Coronation Ale
Welcome Brewery Co Ltd Loyal Welcome Coronation Ale
Charles Wells Ltd Coronation Ale
Wells & Winch Ltd Coronation Ale
Richard Whitaker & Sons Ltd Coronation Bitter
Whitworth, Son & Nephew Ltd Coronation Ale
Wolverhampton & Dudley Breweries Ltd Coronation Ale Old Ale
Wrekin Brewery Co Ltd Coronation Wrekin Ale
Yorkshire Clubs Brewery Ltd Coronation Beer
Young & Co Brewery Ltd Coronation Ale
J J Young & Son Ltd Coronation Strong Ale
George Younger & Son Highland Ale
Robert Younger Ltd Coronation Ale
Source:
The Labologist's Society http://labology.org.uk/?page_id=1637


You probably noticed that some names were quite popular. I can’t help myself from producing another table. This time breaking the beers down by their names:

Coronation beer names
name number % of total
Coronation 3 1.95%
Coronation Ale 92 59.74%
Coronation Beer 3 1.95%
Coronation Brew 5 3.25%
Coronation + style 10 6.49%
Crown 7 4.55%
Elizabeth 4 2.60%
Queen 9 5.84%
Sovereign 2 1.30%
monarch 1 0.65%
Royal 4 2.60%
other royal related 3 1.95%
style 8 5.19%
other 3 1.95%
total 154
Unsurprisingly, the vast majority included the word “coronation” or another with a royal connection. Kings Ale seems the oddest choice. I’m truly baffled by that one.

Also of interest is the spread of styles. You’d expect Strong Ales, but there are quite a few Stouts and even some Pale Ales and an IPA. Many give no indication of what style they might be.

Next time a brewer will tell us about brewing a Coronation Ale: “best brew since 1914”.





* Brewers' Almanack 1955 p.68.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Hi Ron , the Matthew Brown Kings Ale is probably the old Nuttall's Kings Ale(Blackburn), You'll know that Brown moved from Preston to Blackburn Ca 1927 and into what was the Nuttall brewery.