Friday 9 August 2019

Carling Black Label arrives in the UK

My concession to summer - a post about Lager. Not done one for ages.

Canadian Eddie Taylor’s acquisition of a British brewing empire began with he let the Hope & Anchor Brewery in Sheffield brew Carling Black Label under licence in 1952 . Initially, it had a very reasonable gravity of 1042º.

When sales were disappointing, mostly due to the small tied estate of Hope & Anchor, Taylor began buying breweries and their pubs. The United Breweries group he put together eventually merged with Charrington and later Bass to become Bass Charrington, the largest brewing enterprise in Britain. Carling was chosen as the group’s main Lager, a decision that catapulted it to become the leading Lager brand. A position it still holds today.

It wasn’t good news for Tennent’s, whom Taylor bought in 1963. Tennent’s had been a national Lager brand before the war, but it was pushed into the background by the selection of Carling Black Label as Bass Charrington’s flagship Lager.

Another victim of the merger was Charrington’s Pilsner Lager, which was first brewed in the 1950’s. That disappeared completely.


British Lagers in the 1950's
Year Brewer Beer package FG OG colour ABV App. Atten-uation
1950 Barclay Perkins Lager bottled 1008 1036.1 11 B 3.65 77.84%
1950 Barclay Perkins Lager bottled 1008 1036.1 11 B 3.65 77.84%
1950 Red Tower Lager bottled 1008.2 1035.8 13 B 3.58 77.09%
1950 Alloa Brewery Light Lager bottled 1009.1 1043.4 7 B 4.46 79.03%
1950 Alloa Brewery Graham's Golden Lager bottled 1010.6 1040.6 9 B 3.89 73.89%
1952 Carlings (Brewed in Sheffield) Black Label Lager Beer bottled 1009.9 1042.3 10 B 4.21 76.60%
1952 Alloa Brewery Graham's Golden Lager bottled 1014.3 1039.2 15 B 3.22 63.52%
1954 Steel Coulson Lager Beer bottled 1004.3 1032 11 3.6 86.56%
1955 Tennent Lager bottled 1007.7 1036.1 9 3.69 78.67%
1956 Flowers Lager bottled 1014 1040.4 9 3.41 65.35%
1956 Flowers Lager bottled 1014 1045.3 9 4.05 69.09%
1956 Red Tower Red Tower Pilsner Lager bottled 1005.9 1031.2 10 3.29 81.09%
1957 Barclay Perkins Pilsner Lager bottled 1006.3 1035 9 3.73 82.00%
1957 Flowers  Lager bottled 1017.9 1045 9 3.5 60.22%
1957 Flowers Flowers Lager bottled 1017.5 1050 14 4.2 65.00%
1957 Graham's Pilsener Lager bottled 1007.2 1035.6 9 3.69 79.78%
1957 Graham's Golden Lager Pilsner Lager bottled 1007.3 1030.4 11 3 75.99%
1957 Charrington Pilsner Lager can 1006.2 1035.5 4.5 3.81 82.54%
1957 Charrington Pilsner Lager can 1005.8 1036 5 3.93 83.89%
1957 Barclay Perkins Pilsner Lager bottled 1006.1 1034.3 6.5 3.67 82.22%
1957 McEwan & Younger "MY" Export Lager bottled 1006.3 1033.6 13 3.55 81.25%
1957 McEwan & Younger "MY" Export Lager bottled 1007.3 1035.2 13 3.62 79.26%
1957 McEwan & Younger "MY" Export Lager bottled 1010.9 1033.8 13 2.96 67.75%
1957 Tennent Lager Beer bottled 1008.6 1040.6 11 4.16 78.82%
1958 McEwan & Younger MY Export Lager can 1010.5 1034.3 9 2.97 69.39%
1959 Carling (brewed in Sheffield) Black Label Lager bottled 1004.4 1036.5 80 4.18 87.95%
1959 Lees Lager 1037
1959 Lees Lager 1037
Sources:
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/002
Lees brewing records


Like this? Then you'll love the book it comes from, Lager! (UK):



7 comments:

Chris Pickles said...

All bottles and cans - when did draught lager become widely available?

bigLurch Habercom said...

And did you see the BBC series "inside the factory" where they were at MolsonCoors in Burton showing how it was made (I would say brewed but that's another argument)

StuartP said...

A sad day.
Can anyone actually describe the taste of Carling?

Ron Pattinson said...

Chris Pickles,

draught Lager wasn't very common until the 1960s. Though Barclay Perkins had been making it since the 1920s. I suppose sales were just too small for it to be worthwhile in most pubs.

Ron Pattinson said...

bigLurch Habercom,

I saw that programme. If you were paying attention, you could work out they were brewing it at high gravity, though they didn't explicitly say so. I worked it out using the volumes that they gave at various parts of the process. Bit disingenuous not to mention that explicitly.

Ilkley Rob said...

Is there any truth in the story that the original Carling Black Label used Spruce Needles as an adjunct to flavour the drink?

Ron Pattinson said...

lkley Rob,

I'd find that very surprising. Sounds like a myth to me.