Tuesday 26 March 2019

Stout on the eve of WW I

Despite the decline of Porter, Stout remained very popular. Most breweries produced more than one at different strengths. London brewers often brewed three, four or even more Stouts.

There was a wide variation in the strength of Stouts. Provincial versions could be as weak as 1050º, very similar in strength to a London Porter. The strongest Imperial Stouts were over 1100º.

Milk Stout was an innovation that made an appearance just a few years before the start of the war. It was first brewed on the Kent coast by Mackeson, who acquired a patent for it and allowed other brewers to brew a version under licence.

Another variation was Oatmeal Stout. This was developed by Maclay of Alloa in the 1890s. They also tried to patent their invention, but with rather less success. Their Beer was called Oat Malt Stout and, as the name implies, used malted oats. Other brewers got around this by using oat flakes and calling their beers Oatmeal Stout.

London Stout before WW I
Year Brewer Beer OG FG ABV App. Atten-uation lbs hops/ qtr hops lb/brl
1910 Barclay Perkins OMS 1053.2 1016.5 4.86 68.98% 7.50 1.82
1910 Barclay Perkins BS 1074.2 1025.0 6.51 66.31% 8.00 2.75
1910 Barclay Perkins BS Ex 1076.0 1022.5 7.08 70.39% 12.00 4.12
1914 Courage Double Stout 1078.9 1033.2 6.05 57.89% 7.20 2.33
1914 Courage Imperial 1094.2 1038.8 7.33 58.82% 7.20 2.78
1914 Fuller BS 1066.4 1020.8 6.03 68.70% 6.74 2.01
1914 Whitbread LS 1054.0 1014.0 5.29 74.05% 5.99 1.37
1914 Whitbread Exp S 1070.9 1013.0 7.66 81.67% 13.03 4.25
1914 Whitbread SS 1079.7 1024.0 7.37 69.88% 8.56 3.03
1914 Whitbread SSS 1095.0 1036.0 7.81 62.11% 8.56 3.62
Sources:
Barclay Perkins brewing record held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number ACC/2305/1/602.
Courage brewing record held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number ACC/2305/08/247.
Fullers brewing record held at the brewery.
Whitbread brewing record held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/09/108.

Provincial Stouts were, in general, a good bit weaker than their London cousins. And, while London brewers made multiple Stouts, outside the capital they tended to stick to just one.

Provincial Stout before WW I
Year Brewer Beer OG FG ABV App. Atten-uation lbs hops/ qtr hops lb/brl
1914 Adnams BS 1055.0 1013.5 5.49 75.45% 5.86 1.43
1914 Boddington Stout 1054.0 1018.0 4.76 66.67% 3.10 0.94
1911 Lees XXXP 1059.0 1017.0 5.56 71.19% 4.05 0.98
1911 Murphy XXX 1088.0 1028.5 7.87 67.61% 15.21 5.87
1911 Russell DS 1074.2 8.37 2.86
1904 Tetley S 1066.8 1020.5 6.12 69.29% 4.91 1.36
1910 Warwicks SS 1053.7 1022.2 4.18 58.76% 4.83 1.12
Sources:
Adnams brewing record Book 2 held at the brewery.
Boddington brewing record held at Manchester Central Library, document number M693/405/126.
Lees brewing record held at the brewery.
Tetley's brewing record held at the West Yorkshire Archives, document number WYL756/51/ACC1903.
Warwicks & Richardsons brewing record held at the Nottinghamshire Archives, document number DD/NM/8/4/1.

The exception, in terms of strength, is from Murphy, which was based in Cork, Ireland. The Stouts with gravities in the 1050s look rather like London Porters in terms of strength. The hopping rates are all over the place, but generally lower than in London, with Murphy again being an exception.

Scottish Stout before WW I
Year Brewer Beer OG FG ABV App. Atten-uation lbs hops/ qtr hops lb/brl
1915 Drybrough XXX 1083 1026 7.54 68.67% 4.79 1.34
1909 Maclay DBS 54/- 1044 1013 4.10 70.45% 7.56 1.53
1909 Maclay OMS 63/- 1062 1024 5.03 61.29% 7.56 2.16
1914 Thomas Usher 48/- 1046 1021 3.31 54.35% 5.00 1.04
1914 Thomas Usher 54/- 1056 1025 4.10 55.36% 5.00 1.27
1913 Younger, Wm. S2 1059 1029 3.97 50.85% 1.88 0.45
1913 Younger, Wm. S1 1065 1031 4.50 52.31% 1.88 0.50
1913 Younger, Wm. DBS 1065 1022 5.69 66.15% 10.65 2.63
1913 Younger, Wm. MBS 1065 1020 5.95 69.23% 3.50 0.74
Sources:
Drybrough brewing record held at the Scottish Brewing Archive, document number D/6/1/1/3.
Maclay brewing record held at the Scottish Brewing Archive, document number M/6/1/1/2.
Thomas Usher brewing record held at the Scottish Brewing Archive, document number TU/6/1/5.
William Younger brewing record held at the Scottish Brewing Archive, document number WY/6/1/2/58.

Scottish started going weird in the late 19th century. Especially at William Younger, who combined minimal hopping (including some spent hops) with very poor attenuation. The forerunners of Sweet Stout, which would later become a Scottish speciality.



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