It's likely that the emergence of keg beer paid a part in its decline. After WW I, bottled beer was very much on the rise. Mostly in reaction to poor quality draught beer. There was no room for the publican to bugger up beer which had been stabilised in the brewery. Mixing draught and bottled beer became common. Drinkers might well have preferred to drink just bottled beer, but it was too expensive. A half of Bitter topped up with a bottle of Light Ale was the answer.
The keg beers which started popping up after WW II were effectively just bulk versions of bottled beer. Rather than mess around with a mix of bottled and draught, there was now a simple draught alternative. And the practice began dying out.
Note that only six of the seventeen beers was actually called Light Ale. More - seven - are called Pale Ale. Though, I'm sure, that drinkers would have usually ordered all these beers as Light Ale.
Amazingly, the London examples aren't the most expensive. They are the worst value, though. The average price is exactly the same as for Brown Ale. Though the average OG is 1º lower. However, a far greater degree of attenuation, leaves the ABV 0.38% higher. And a bit over 3%.
Most expensive on average are the beers from the Midlands and North. Though the average OG is 1º higher than for the other regions. What strikes me most about the Light Ales is how there's minimal regional variation. The average OG, ABV and rate of attenuation are all very similar.
There are quite a few beers under 3% ABV. But far fewer than Brown Ales. The generally high rate of attenuation is responsible for that.
Much to my surprise, the Southern Light Ales work out as the best value, on average. And includes the two of the individual best value beers: Cook Golden Ale and Adnams Pale Ale. While the best value of all was Vaux Light Brown Ale.
On a personal not, I never drank any of these beers. Why? Because, let's be honest, they weren't either very interesting or very good. And I was a Mild drinker. No way I would have ever drunk Light Ale.
Today, only a handful of Light Ales are still brewed. Courage Light Ale probably being the most widely available.
| Light Ale in 1972 | ||||||||
| Brewer | Beer | Price per half pint (p) | º gravity per p | % ABV per p | OG | FG | ABV | App. Atten-uation |
| London | ||||||||
| Truman | Light Ale | 8.5 | 3.48 | 0.32 | 1029.6 | 1008.8 | 2.70 | 70.44% |
| Young | Pale Ale | 8 | 3.71 | 0.41 | 1029.7 | 1004.3 | 3.30 | 85.52% |
| Watney | Pale Ale | 7.5 | 4.17 | 0.39 | 1031.3 | 1008.9 | 2.90 | 71.57% |
| Whitbread | Pale Ale | 8 | 4.20 | 0.41 | 1033.6 | 1008.2 | 3.30 | 75.74% |
| Courage | Light Ale | 7 | 4.63 | 0.46 | 1032.4 | 1007.7 | 3.20 | 76.23% |
| Average | 7.8 | 4.04 | 0.40 | 1031.3 | 1007.6 | 3.08 | 75.90% | |
| Midlands and North | ||||||||
| Worthington | Light Ale | 8 | 3.80 | 0.34 | 1030.4 | 1009.5 | 2.70 | 68.75% |
| Theakson | Pale Ale | 8.5 | 3.71 | 0.34 | 1031.5 | 1009.1 | 2.90 | 71.11% |
| Scottish & Newcastle | Newcastle Amber Ale | 7.75 | 4.31 | 0.43 | 1033.4 | 1008.0 | 3.30 | 76.20% |
| Vaux | Light Brown Ale | 6.5 | 4.92 | 0.43 | 1032 | 1010.4 | 2.80 | 67.66% |
| Greenall Whitley | Champion | 8.5 | 4.09 | 0.41 | 1034.8 | 1007.8 | 3.50 | 77.59% |
| Jennings | Castle Pale Ale | 8.5 | 4.09 | 0.44 | 1034.8 | 1006.3 | 3.70 | 81.90% |
| Average | 8.0 | 4.15 | 0.40 | 1032.8 | 1008.5 | 3.15 | 73.87% | |
| South | ||||||||
| Greene King | Pale Ale | 7.5 | 4.23 | 0.44 | 1031.7 | 1006.3 | 3.30 | 80.13% |
| Ind Coope | Light Ale | 7 | 4.54 | 0.40 | 1031.8 | 1010.2 | 2.80 | 68.08% |
| Adnams | Pale Ale | 6.5 | 4.82 | 0.46 | 1031.3 | 1008.2 | 3.00 | 73.96% |
| Cook | Golden Ale | 7 | 4.90 | 0.44 | 1034.3 | 1010.4 | 3.10 | 69.83% |
| Devenish | Light Ale | 8.25 | 3.61 | 0.33 | 1029.8 | 1008.9 | 2.70 | 70.13% |
| Hall & Woodhouse | Badger | 7 | 4.36 | 0.44 | 1030.5 | 1006.6 | 3.10 | 78.36% |
| Average | 7.2 | 4.41 | 0.42 | 1031.6 | 1008.4 | 3.00 | 73.41% | |
| Overall average | 7.6 | 4.21 | 0.41 | 1031.9 | 1008.2 | 3.08 | 74.31% | |
| Source: | ||||||||
| Daily Mirror - Tuesday 11 July 1972, page 9 | ||||||||
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9 comments:
When I started drinking in pubs in the late eighties, it was quite common to see older guys ordering "splits". Draught bitter and a bottle of pale ale was the most common I think, but you also saw bitter and stout and mild and brown ale. I drank pints of draught bitter mostly, with the occasional bottle of Guinness, but never thought of mixing them and, not knowing the history of it, was a bit bemused by those who did. I didn't realise then of course that I was actually witnessing the end of a trend in British drinking culture.
Pint of bitter, bottle of Gold Label. Drink half the bitter, top up with Gold Label. Smashing.
I noticed you've started publishing plato per pence, but I haven't studied it carefully. Which early 70's beer style was the best for the frugal drinker?
Anonymous,
it's not degree Plato but degree SG.
In general, Mild was the best value. Or beer from Federation or the Carlisle State Brewery.
Unknown,
sound like my sort of drink. I used to mix draught Bass and White Shield.
Matt,
when I lived in the East End I used to mic Truman's Tap Bitter, their revival cask beer, with bottled Guinness. Tap wasn't a great beer.
We used to drink the gold label bitter combo in a single pub in Crosby. Became very popular with the kids. The local Whitbread area manager must have been really confused by the massive uptick in sales of Gold Label, and after a while all kinds of Gold Label promo material was on display bar-side, with alluring lights shining through the gold-foil capped bottles. Incidentally, Jim at Foggy Noggin brewed a Gold Label recipe one time and we got to replicate the experience with half of that mixed with half a Bit O'Beaver. It was phenomenal.
Very easy to see why mixing died out Ron.
Oscar
On the Gold Label theme, as a student in the mid 80s in Brighton we used to to drink Gales HSB a lot, but a bottle of Prize Old Ale was a great addition if you wanted to catch up with your drinking companions. Not quite a 3% pale ale!
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