Useful, in that is shows the range of beers on sale. At least the ones brewed by Flowers themselves. There's at least one beer from another brewer excluded: Guinness Extra Stout.
The selection isn't enormous. Just two draught and four bottled beers. The draughts are what you would expect: Bitter and Mild. Not many surprises in the bottles, either: a strong Pale Ale, Light Ale, Brown Ale and Stout. It's about the minimum you would expect from an English brewery.
"RETAIL PRICESOne of the reasons I was so keen on finding this particular price list is that I've a Flowers brewing record from just a few years later. The beer range is considerably more extensive.
Flower’s Ales and Stout directed to he sold by Flower and Sons, Ltd., at all their houses throughout the Midland Counties
DRAUGHT BEERS Description LOUNGE, SMOKE ROOM AND AND BEST BAR PUBLIC BAR AND OUTDOOR India Pale Ale 1/4d. per pint 1/3d. per pint XXX Mild Ale 1/3d. per pint 1/2d. per pint
BOTTLED BEERS Description LOUNGE, SMOKE ROOM AND AND BEST BAR PUBLIC BAR AND OUTDOOR Large Small Large Small India Pale Ale "Gold Top" - 1/1.5d. - 1/1d. Light Bitter Beer "Red Top" 1/4d. 8.5d. 1/3d. 8d. Brown Ale "Brown Top" 1/4d. 8.5d. 1/3d. 8d. Flower‘s Stout "Yellow Top" 1/5d. 9d. 1/4d. 8.5d.
FLOWER'S ALE
The Famous Ale from Stratford - upon - Avon."
Leamington Spa Courier - Friday 15 October 1948, page 6.
| Flowers beers in 1955 | |||||||
| Beer | Style | OG | FG | ABV | App. Atten-uation | lbs hops/ qtr | hops lb/brl |
| PX | Pale Ale | 1030.3 | 1011.5 | 2.49 | 62.05% | 6.00 | 0.79 |
| LA | Pale Ale | 1030 | 1007 | 3.04 | 76.67% | 6.00 | 0.78 |
| Green Label | Pale Ale | 1047 | 1015 | 4.23 | 68.09% | 7.24 | 1.34 |
| BX | Brown Ale | 1030.4 | 1009 | 2.83 | 70.39% | 5.02 | 0.59 |
| IPA | IPA | 1034.2 | 1009 | 3.33 | 73.68% | 7.59 | 0.98 |
| OB | Pale Ale | 1043.4 | 1011 | 4.29 | 74.65% | 7.23 | 1.23 |
| PX | Pale Ale | 1030.4 | 1011 | 2.57 | 63.82% | 6.19 | 0.73 |
| XXX | Mild | 1032.4 | 1010 | 2.96 | 69.14% | 5.08 | 0.65 |
| Shakespeare Ale | Strong Ale | 1075.4 | 1027 | 6.40 | 64.19% | 8.86 | 2.66 |
| Stout | Stout | 1039.8 | 1014.5 | 3.35 | 63.57% | 7.17 | 1.14 |
| Source: | |||||||
| Shakespeare Birthplace Trust DR227/215 Brewing Record Book No 2 | |||||||
Some are easy to match up with the price list. IPA and XXX are obviously the two draught beers. BX and LA look like the Brown Ale and Light Bitter.
The bottled Stout and IPA are trickier. At over 2 shillings a pint, bottled IPA was obviously a different beer from the draught version. Green Label or OB would be my guess. At just about 1040º, the Stout in the brewing record looks too strong to retail for just 1d more per pint than the Light Bitter and Brown Ale. My guess is that this version had a lower OG, somewhere around 1035º.
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3 comments:
Hi Ron - are those draught prices the right way round, where its saying that the beer in the lounge/ smoke rooms is cheaper than in the public bar? I always thought there was a levy on beer in the posh bits to pay for the carpet and occasionally table service? The prices for the large bottled beers are also listed as higher in the public bar, but the small bottled beers are higher in the lounge than the public bar - which is what I would have expected. Unless I'm losing it with all the pre-decimal prices :-)
Steve N,
not sure what you mean. The Lounge prices are 1d per pint more expensive.
Ah, the penny (pun intended) has dropped. That's what you get for being born in 1971. I was reading the prices as 1/4d per pint, etc. - as in a quarter penny per pint, not 1 and fourpence. Mystery solved. I bet my Dad had wished he could have gotten a pint in 1955 for 1/4d!
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