Monday 13 February 2023

Whitbread Porter grists 1805 - 1940

Another crazily data-heavy post. Before you ask, I tried to make it into a stacked bar chart, but Excel told me my data was too complicated.

I still think the data in table form does make some trends very visible. Like the near-constancy of brown malt. The rise of black malt and its replacement by chocolate malt. Flirts with sugar in the late 19th century before its definitive adoption in 1902.

No adjuncts. Apart from maybe tiny quantities of oats, which may have been in flaked form. Though they could also have been malted. The records don't specify the form. Their presence is purely on account of Porter being parti-gyled with Stout. Some of which was sold as Oatmeal Stout. The tiny amount of oats was simply there for legal reasons.

The ups and downs of brown malt are also very evident. From a peak of 35% to a low of, well, nothing. Or 3%, if you look at it another way.

Mild malt takes a bow towards the end of Porter's life, making up part of the base malt. I assume for financial reasons.

Whitbread Porter grists 1805 - 1940
Year pale malt brown malt black malt amber malt choc. Malt mild malt white malt oats total sugar
1805 78.95% 21.05%              
1807 66.32% 16.84%   16.84%          
1808 64.76% 35.24%              
1809 76.12% 23.88%              
1811 72.41% 27.59%              
1812 64.76% 17.62%   17.62%          
1813 52.62% 25.51%   21.87%          
1814 77.94% 22.06%              
1815 74.28% 25.72%              
1816 54.56% 26.10%   19.34%          
1817 87.89% 11.82% 0.30%            
1818 69.57% 8.28% 0.41%       21.74%    
1819 91.39% 7.82% 0.78%            
1821 94.78% 4.01% 1.20%            
1822 95.78% 3.07% 1.15%            
1823 75.84% 4.07% 4.07%       16.02%    
1824 95.39% 3.41% 1.19%            
1825 98.80%   1.20%            
1826 98.63%   1.37%            
1827 98.78%   1.22%            
1828 98.82%   1.18%            
1829 98.63%   1.37%            
1830 98.27%   1.73%            
1831 98.44%   1.56%            
1832 88.00% 10.59% 1.41%            
1833 87.06% 11.32% 1.62%            
1834 87.85% 10.09% 2.06%            
1835 88.45% 9.63% 1.93%            
1836 76.58% 20.54% 2.88%            
1837 89.49% 7.93% 2.58%            
1838 85.52% 12.07% 2.41%            
1839 85.52% 12.07% 2.41%            
1840 85.52% 12.07% 2.41%            
1841 81.10% 16.26% 2.64%            
1842 81.10% 16.26% 2.64%            
1843 81.10% 16.26% 2.64%            
1844 80.93% 16.23% 2.84%            
1845 80.93% 16.23% 2.84%            
1846 76.58% 20.54% 2.88%            
1847 77.40% 19.66% 2.95%            
1848 76.42% 20.50% 3.08%            
1849 77.02% 19.56% 3.42%            
1850 76.27% 20.46% 3.27%            
1851 76.27% 20.46% 3.27%            
1852 76.27% 20.46% 3.27%            
1853 77.02% 19.56% 3.42%            
1854 75.83% 20.49% 3.69%            
1855 75.83% 20.49% 3.69%            
1856 76.64% 19.46% 3.89%            
1857 76.64% 19.46% 3.89%            
1858 76.64% 19.46% 3.89%            
1859 75.83% 20.49% 3.69%            
1860 75.83% 20.49% 3.69%            
1861 75.83% 20.49% 3.69%            
1862 76.27% 19.37% 4.36%            
1863 76.27% 19.37% 4.36%            
1864 75.90% 19.28% 4.82%            
1865 80.63% 14.18% 5.20%            
1866 81.01% 14.24% 4.75%            
1867 43.42% 11.03% 6.07%           39.49%
1868 74.20% 9.42% 4.71%           11.67%
1869 72.68% 11.08% 5.54%           10.71%
1870 79.15%
6.03%           14.82%
1871 84.21% 9.87% 5.92%            
1872 94.25%
5.75%            
1873 88.72%
5.28%           5.99%
1874 87.20% 7.38% 5.41%            
1875 75.47% 14.37% 5.75%           4.41%
1876 79.35% 15.11% 5.54%            
1877 79.75% 14.47% 5.79%            
1878 80.67% 13.88% 5.45%            
1879 83.30% 10.69% 6.01%            
1880 84.70% 9.31% 5.99%            
1881 85.67% 7.96% 6.37%            
1882 83.82% 9.37% 6.81%            
1883 80.81% 12.79% 6.40%            
1884 77.14% 14.37% 8.49%            
1885 76.06% 15.75% 8.19%            
1886 84.98% 8.29% 6.73%            
1887 84.98% 8.29% 6.73%            
1888 86.96% 6.78% 6.26%            
1889 84.00% 8.96% 7.04%            
1890 86.94% 6.53% 6.53%            
1890 83.22% 8.70% 8.08%            
1891 78.57% 9.88% 6.97%           4.58%
1892 79.82% 7.02% 7.02%           6.14%
1893 84.00% 8.30% 7.70%            
1894 82.34% 9.74% 7.92%            
1895 85.44% 6.85% 7.71%            
1896 86.31% 6.44% 7.25%            
1898 86.30% 6.58% 7.12%            
1899 86.56% 6.72% 6.72%            
1900 85.67% 7.16% 7.16%            
1901 85.67% 7.16% 7.16%            
1902 80.34% 10.16% 6.77%           2.73%
1903 80.43% 9.65% 6.76%           3.17%
1904 78.29% 9.54% 7.16%           5.01%
1905 78.01% 9.66% 7.25%           5.07%
1906 76.75% 9.83% 7.62%           5.80%
1907 73.74% 10.29% 8.70%           7.27%
1908 74.27% 10.08% 8.53%           7.12%
1909 75.76% 10.19% 8.49%           5.57%
1910 73.66% 10.06% 7.94%           8.34%
1911 72.35% 10.42% 8.23%         0.36% 8.64%
1912 72.89% 10.19% 7.90%         0.33% 8.69%
1913 73.38% 10.39% 8.31%         0.27% 7.64%
1914 74.63% 10.48% 6.29%         0.34% 8.25%
1915 70.19% 10.19% 8.49%        
11.14%
1916 73.31% 10.13% 7.94%        
8.62%
1917 70.35% 10.54% 8.35%        
10.76%
1918 71.97% 12.32% 9.24%        
6.47%
1919 67.49% 11.37% 8.12%         0.71% 12.31%
1920 66.91% 11.33% 8.50%         0.37% 12.89%
1921 62.86% 10.70% 10.17%         0.35% 15.92%
1922 68.39% 11.53% 10.61%         0.61% 8.88%
1924 65.77% 11.44% 2.18%   12.15%     0.36% 8.10%
1925 64.96% 11.25% 3.37%   11.81%     0.74% 7.87%
1926 73.87% 7.09%     9.31%     0.62% 9.10%
1927 72.62% 6.29%     9.35%     0.55% 11.19%
1928 72.26% 6.79%     8.91%     0.49% 11.55%
1929 72.74% 6.83%     8.97%     0.50% 10.96%
1930 72.74% 6.83%     8.97%     0.50% 10.96%
1931 72.71% 6.52%     8.55%     0.61% 11.61%
1932 70.12% 6.75%     8.86%     0.74% 13.53%
1933 71.58% 6.88%     9.03%     0.69% 11.81%
1936 54.57% 6.11%     8.02% 18.46%   0.80% 12.04%
1937 54.28% 6.08%     7.98% 18.36%   0.80% 12.50%
1938 54.42% 6.10%     8.00% 17.61%   1.60% 12.27%
1938 54.57% 6.11%     8.02% 18.46%   0.80% 12.04%
1939 72.83% 6.10%     8.00%     0.80% 12.27%
1940 57.32% 6.07%     7.96% 19.90%   0.80% 7.96%
Sources:
Whitbread brewing records held at the Lonndon Metropolitan Archives, document numbers LMA/4453/D/09/001 to LMA.4453/D/09/126.

 

 

1 comment:

Steve N said...

Hi Ron - another good chart type for this type of info is the Area chart - you can use it to show the proportion of each ingredient, scaled up to 100% like in this table, and its a little easier on the eye than the stacked bar for a lot of data like this. If you have additional volume data - say, total amount of porter produced in barrels per year, for instance, you can also show that data together with the variation in ingredients over time - so both variation in volume and composition - with, say, time on the x axis and volume/ percentage on the y axis. Excel makes it dead easy - just select the data and hit the relevant chart type. If you google Area charts, you'll see examples (harder to explain in text!).