Whitbread's bottled beers in 1934

Time to look at the bottled beers in Whitbread’s 1934 price list. Which includes, in addition to the four beers brewed in their Chiswell Street brewery, several produced elsewhere. Which is handy, as it gives a better idea of the beers actually available in a London pub.

The four Chiswell Street beers are the first in list. There appear to be four beers: London Stout, Oatmeal Stout, India Pale Ale and Double Brown. Though the two Stouts were, in reality, identical.

The two Forest beers came from the Forest Gate brewery, which Whitbread bought in ????. One of their main reasons for purchasing the brewery was to get hold of modern, sediment-free bottling technology. Whitbread having stuck with bottle-conditioning until after WW I.

Based on the price, I’m guessing that the two Forest beers were around 1040º. Hang on. I have an analysis from 1934. It gives the OG as 1039º. So, my guess was pretty close.

Pioneer Ale and Stout were brands of the Lovibond brewery. Not sure why Whitbread were selling them, as I can’t find any connection between the two breweries. I know from analyses in the Whitbread Gravity Book that both beers were around 1030º. 

As already mentioned, Mackeson Milk Stout was being sold at a premium. Based on its gravity in the mid-1050ºs , it falls in the 9d per pint class. But it was sold for 10d per pint.

Something similar is happening with Guinness Extra Stout and Bass Pale Ale. Both of those also had gravities in the mid-1050ºs, but also retailed at 10d per pint. Which was a 1d per pint premium over the expected price. 

Both Bass and Guinness were widely available in other brewers’ tied houses. Usually being bottled by the other brewery, too. The premium charged reflects the renown of the two beers.

In addition to the above prices, a deposit was charged on the bottles of 1d per half pint, 2d per pint and 3d per flagon.  Which, especially in the case of cheaper beers, was a considerable percentage of the total price paid. 

Whitbread's bottled beers in 1934
	Per doz. Botts		Per doz. Half-botts	crates of four flagons
	Wholesale	Retail	Wholesale	Wholesale	Retail
London Stout	6/1d	8/-	—	3/10d	5/-
do. ("Special Whitbread")	—	—	3/6d	—	—
Oatmeal Stout	6/1d	8/-	—	3/10d	5/-
India Pale Ale	5/4d	7/-	—	3/4d	4/4d
do. ("Small Whitbread")	—	—	3/1d	—	—
Double Brown	7/-	9/-	4/-	4/5d	5/8d
(A fine strong ale)
FOREST ALE AND STOUT
Oatmeal Stout	5/4d	7/-	3/1d	3/4d	4/4d
Brown Ale	5/4d	7/-	3/1d	3/4d	4/4d
PIONEER ALE AND STOUT
Family Stout	4/6d	6/-	—	2/10d	3/8d
Family Ale	4/6d	6/-	—	2/10d	3/8d
MACKESON'S MILK STOUT
Milk Stout	7/8d	10/-	4/2d	4/10d	6/-
Bass	8/8d	10/-	5/-
Guinness	8/8d	10/-	5/-
Bass Barley Wine in nips
Source:
A 1934 Whitbread price list.

 

 

What is East India Porter?

Always a good one,  East India Porter. And a lovely beer, if you're lucky enough to find one. I very briefly tell the style's story.

 

London bottled beers in the late 1930s

Now we’ve finished with the draught beers, let’s have a look at the bottled ones.

Before we start, you may notice that there are no Strong Ales in the table. Not because they didn’t exist, but because Whitbread and Truman didn’t analyse them. Or just the odd example. Too few, in any case, to be meaningful.

Another note, bottled beers were 1d per pint more expensive than the equivalent draught beer. At least, when sold in pint bottles. A 7d draught beer cost 8d per pint bottle, 15d per quart bottle and 4.5d per half-pint bottle.

Starting at the top, there are three classes of Brown Ale, around half the breweries made a 7d version and half an 8d version. Note that Mann Crossman, the originator of the style, made a beer in the 8d class. Watney had both 7d and 8d beers.

The only beer in the 9d class was Whitbread Double Brown. They also had Forest Brown, a beer in the 7d class. Eventually, after WW II, that would become the only Brown Ale Whitbread brewed.

Pale Ales come in four price classes, 6d, 7d, 8d and 9d. Though the overwhelming majority are 7d beers. With only two 6d beers, and one each of 8d and 9d ones. I’m not sure what this tells us. Though many would be selling a 10d bottled Pale Ale that they didn’t brew themselves. We’ll come to that later.

Interesting that the most popular category of both draught and bottled Pale Ales was the 7d one. Though a bottled 7d Pale Ale was the same strength as a 6d draught one.

The Stouts come in the largest number of price categories, five in total. Though only Whitbread’s Pioneer Stout was in the 6d category. By far the most common was 8d Stout, produced by everyone but Wenlock. 

Half the brewers made both a 7d and an 8d Stout. Which is a testament to the popularity of bottled Stout. While Barclay Perkins had Stouts in three different price categories. And Whitbread in four. Though not the same ones. 

Whitbread’s Stout in the 9d class was Mackeson Milk Stout. Which obviously sold at a premium as, despite having a gravity in the mid-1050ºs, a pint bottle cost 10d. As we’ll see later, pretty well everyone was selling a bottled Stout that cost 10d per pint. Just not one they brewed themselves.

The one beer in the most expensive class is Imperial Russian Stout.

What does all this tell us? That each brewery had a bottled Brown Ale, a Pale Ale, and a couple of Stouts in their range.

London bottled beers in the late 1930s

type

price per pint

OG

BP

Ch

C

F

M C

M

TW

T

Wa

We

Wh

Y

Brown Ale

7d

1036

X

X

X

X

X

X

Brown Ale

8d

1042

X

X

X

X

X

X

Brown Ale

9d

1054

X

PA

6d

1036

X

X

PA

7d

1042

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

PA

8d

1048

X

PA

9d

1054

X

Stout

6d

1036

X

Stout

7d

1042

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

Stout

8d

1048

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

Stout

9d

1054

X

X

X

Stout

>10d

>1070

X

Sources:

A Whitbread 1934 price list

Truman Gravity Book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number B/THB/C/252.

Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/001.

Young's brewing record held at Battersea Library, document number YO/RE/1/8.

Barclay Perkins brewing record held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number ACC/2305/01/622.

 

Brewery key:
BP	Barclay Perkins
Ch	Charrington
C	Courage
F	Fullers
M C	Mann Crossman
M	Meux
TW	Taylor Walker
T	Truman
Wa	Watney
We	Wenlock
Wh	Whitbread
Y	Young

 

What is Milk Stout?

I'm not letting up with these videos. This new one is about Milk Stout. A really weird style that somehow has come back to life. I never expected that.

 

My next book

I carefully reviewed all your opinions on which book I should complete first. And completely ignored them. You wanted "Free!". Which, if I'm honest, is the book I would have voted for. I've gone for "Youngs!"

Why? Don't ask me why. You bastard. I'm old and grumpy. I can do what the fuck I want. What are going to do? Get me sacked?

If you insist, it's mostly a case of I've started so I'll finish. I'm working my way through the Young's records and want to put them to use. If I don't press on now, I won't really make use of the material. Does that make sense? Probably not.

Turning to the book itself, there are currently 41,000 words and 150 pages. Only 60 recipes at the moment. That will grow. Considerably.

"Free!" remains a sort of priority. Once "Youngs!" is out of the way, I'll be back on that full time. 

 

 

 

The next book I actually release will probably be "Tour! vol VI" or "Shut up, Dad!". Or maybe I should finally release "America!". So many decisions.

Let's Brew - 1939 Youngs Porter

The biggest surprise about this beer is that it exists at all. These were the very final days of London Porter. In a couple of years, it would have totally disappeared from London pubs.

With a gravity in the mid-1030ºs, it’s a typical 5d per pint beer. Which is the price class that was usual for London Porter in its final days.

Moving onto the grist, it’s much the same as in 1932. With four malts: mild, amber, black and crystal. A slightly odd combination for a London brewer. Where mild/pale, brown and black malts were more usual. The lack of brown malt is notable, as that was the signature flavour of London Black Beers.

The sugars are a bit of a problem, as there’s a proprietary sugar described as “OM”. I’m guessing that this is a sugar specifically designed for Oatmeal Stout. As a substitute, I’ve upped the No. 3 invert and flaked oats.

There were two types of Kent hops, one from the 1938 and one from the 1939 harvest. 

1939 Youngs Porter
mild malt	4.75 lb	61.29%
black malt	0.50 lb	6.45%
amber malt	0.75 lb	9.68%
crystal malt 120 L	0.50 lb	6.45%
flaked oats	0.75 lb	9.68%
No. 3 invert sugar	0.50 lb	6.45%
Fuggles 120 min	1.125 oz
Fuggles 30 min	1.125 oz
OG	1035
FG	1011
ABV	3.18
Apparent attenuation	68.57%
IBU	29
SRM	23
Mash at	152º F
Sparge at	170º F
Boil time	120 minutes
pitching temp	60º F
Yeast	WLP002 English Ale

 

What is underlet mashing?

Another little video prompted by a viewer request. I explain underlet mashing, a favourite technique of English brewers for more than a century. 

 

More price list fun

To follow on from my post about London draught beers in the 1930s, here's Whitbread's price list from 1934.

As it includes the prices for various cask sizes, it must be a trade list, That is, for publicans. Though it does include the public bar price per pint. In the posher rooms, such as the saloon or lounge, 1d more per pint would have been charged.

To put the cask into context, in 1914, a 36-gallon barrel of X Ale cost 36/- That was for a beer of 1050º. While 1934 X Ale was 1036º. That's about 2.5 times more expensive and 28% weaker. Quite a change. The reason? Extra tax piled on as a result of WW I.

What else can I spin out of this scrap of source material? The final line. Where XXX is crossed out, replaced by 33. A more expensive beer.

Why is the new beer call '33? Because that's when the disastrous tax increase of 1931 was reversed. To celebrate. Whitbread bumped up the gravity of their Burton Ale from 1045º to 1061º*. While also bumping up the price by 1d per pint. I think I would have been able to live with that. But I'm a pisshwead, as Mikey keeps reminding me.

Interesting that Porter and Stout come first on the list. That must be a hangover of Whitbread's time as an early Porter brewer. And one of the largest.

Oh, the Light Ale. That was dark. A piss-weak Dark Mild. Slightly confusing, the name. 

 

 

* Whitbread brewing records held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document numbers LMA/4453/D/01/099 and LMA/4453/D/01/100. 

Scottish brewing myths debunked

Another short video, this time debunking the most popular myths about Scottish brewing  A subject very dear to my heart.

 

London draught beers in the late 1930s

Lucky old London had a pretty decent range of draught beers available in the 1930s. Around a dozen, split over Mild Ales, Pale Ales, Burton Ales, Porters and Stouts. 

Were all the London brewers knocking out a dozen different draught beers? No, they weren’t. I haven’t found one brewery that produced every single type. My favourite Barclay Perkins comes closest with nine.

One slight caveat: for brewers where I don’t have brewing records, there may well be some beers missing. In those cases, I’m dependent on the Whitbread and Truman Gravity Books. And which beers those two brewers bothered to get analysed.

Only one type of beer was produced by every brewery: 7d Pale Ale. The equivalent of Ordinary Bitter.  All but Fullers produced a 5d Mild Ale. Unsurprising, as X Ale was the most popular type of beer. Unless they blended it up from the other two Mild Ales.

Most brewers also had a cheaper, 4d Mild Ale. It’s an interesting one, that. As I know that the quantities brewed by Whitbread and Barclay Perkins were pretty modest. Far less than of the 5d version. It’s interesting that continued to brew it, even though the market was quite small. Without parti-gyling, it probably wouldn’t have been financially viable.

It’s fascinating that ten of the twelve breweries were still making a Porter. Despite sales collapsing disastrously after WW I.

The more expensive type of Burton Ale, the 8d version, was pretty popular, too. Every brewery produced at least one Burton Ale. And several brewers made both a 7d and an 8d version.

Fullers was unique in having no draught Stout. Really odd, that. Every other brewer had one either in the 7d or 8d class.

Every brewery had at least one of these types: Mild Ale, Pale Ale, Burton Ale, Porter/Stout. Which I suppose makes sense, as that would be the typical range of draught beers in a London pub. 

London draught beers in the late 1930s

type

price per pint

OG

BP

Ch

C

F

M C

M

TW

T

Wa

We

Wh

Y

Ale

4d

1030

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

5d

1036

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

XX

6d

1042

X

X

X

PA

6d

1042

X

X

X

PA

7d

1048

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

PA

8d

1054

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

KK

7d

1048

X

X

X

X

X

X

KK

8d

1054

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

KKK

>10d

>1070

X

X

X

Porter

5d

1036

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

Stout

7d

1048

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

Stout

8d

1054

X

X

X

X

Sources:

A Whitbread 1934 price list

Truman Gravity Book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number B/THB/C/252.

Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/001.

Fuller's brewing records held at the brewery

Young's brewing record held at Battersea Library, document number YO/RE/1/8.

Barclay Perkins brewing record held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number ACC/2305/01/622.

 

Brewery key:
BP	Barclay Perkins
Ch	Charrington
C	Courage
F	Fullers
M C	Mann Crossman
M	Meux
TW	Taylor Walker
T	Truman
Wa	Watney
We	Wenlock
Wh	Whitbread
Y	Young

 

 

Let's Brew Wednesday - 1940 Youngs XXXX Ale

I’m lumping this in with the 1939 brews because . . well, I don’t have an example from 1939 and this was brewed barely into 1940, on January 19th.

Surprisingly, the gravity is a couple of degrees higher than in 1932, at a very impressive 1081º.  That’s very high for a draught beer, which is what I believe this was. The quantities brewed were also reasonably large: this batch, for example, was of 51 barrels.

Before WW I,  KK, a standard Burton Ale, was almost as strong as this. The versions from Whitbread and Barclay Perkins were both around 1075º. What a glorious time to have been alive. Little wonder they had so many problems with drunkenness.

No shock, on the other hand, that it was parti-gyled with XXX and X Though the recipe of this brew was slightly different from some others, in that the base malt was 100% mild malt. Rather than a mix of mild and pale malt.

There were two types of Kent hops, both from the 1938 harvest, one of which had been cold stored. 

1940 Youngs XXXX Ale
mild malt	13.75 lb	80.29%
crystal malt 120 L	1.375 lb	8.03%
malt extract	0.50 lb	2.92%
No. 3 invert sugar	1.375 lb	8.03%
caramel 1000 SRM	0.125 lb	0.73%
Fuggles 120 min	2.00 oz
Fuggles 30 min	2.00 oz
OG	1081
FG	1030
ABV	6.75
Apparent attenuation	62.96%
IBU	38
SRM	26
Mash at	153º F
Sparge at	170º F
Boil time	120 minutes
pitching temp	58º F
Yeast	WLP002 English Ale

 

What is Burton Ale?

Another of my short videos. This time looking at Burton Ale, a London staple for the first half of the 20th century. Today, sadly, just a single example exists: Young's Winter Warmer.

 

Augustiner Edelstoff

Since the weather has turned warm, I've mostly been drinking Augustiner Edelstoff on my weekly visit to Butcher's Tears.

It's a lovely drinking beer. Light, but with enough flavour to jkeep you interested. Perfect for casual afternoon drinking. Nothing too distracting.

I do love Austiner's beers.It's hard to beat their Helles when it's served Bayerischer Anstich (straight from a wooden cask). But it's a very delicate beer that doesn't come over as well in the bottle. Edelstoff fares much better.

What style of beer is Edelstoff? I'd call it a Spexial. A pale Lager that's stronger than a Helles. Many Bavarian breweries make one. With a gravity of around 13º Plato and 5.6% ABV.

The classic way would be to call the weaker one a Helles Lagerbier and the stronger one a Helles Export. Though that system has largely broken down since WW II. Agustner do call their standard beer Helles Lagerbier. So ther eis still that.

I'm glad I can get hold of a decent Lager when I'm out. It's depressingly difficult in Amsterdam. Mostly, it's just Pils of varying degrees of awfulness. Edelstoff is a class better. And better class.

I thought you might want a change from Youngs. If only for a day. 

Youngs beers in 1939

Let’s take look at Young’s beers just as WW II was erupting.

The brewing records have eight beers, split into four groups: 2 Mild Ales, 2 Pale Ales, Porter and Stout, 2 Strong Ales. Quite neat, that. These were brewed in three parti-gyles, the Pale Ales, Porter and Stout, Mild and Strong Ales. Again, very neat.

There are still two Mild Ales, A and X Looking like typical 4d and 5d per pint beers. Some London brewers, such as Barclay Perkins, also had a Mild Ale in the 6d per pint class, clocking in at 1043º.  At least watery A was just about intoxicating, at just a sliver under 3% ABV.

The two Pale Ales are 6d and 7d per pint beers. As with the Mild Ales, the top-class draught version – an 8d per pint beer – is missing. Barclay Perkins did have an example of this type, called simply PA, which had a gravity of 1053º.  

There’s been a general reduction in hopping rates since 1932, Mild and Strong Ales are down by about 1 lb per quarter (336 lbs) of malt. The Pale Ales are down by a couple of pounds. That brew of PA was a single-gyle outlier. Usually, the rate was 8 lbs per quarter. The only beers where the hopping remained unchanged were Porter and Stout.

The rate of attenuation looks lower than in 1932. I wouldn’t read too much into that. Final gravities are all over the place in the brewing records. There was considerable variation between brews. Starting gravities, on the other hand, are exactly the same, every time. That’s the joy of parti-gyling. Total control of OG.

I’m quite surprised by the quantities of Porter brewed. More than of the Stout. With batches as large as 90 barrels. Whitbread, a much larger brewery, had Porter brewed just 20 to 50 barrels at a time. Was all Youngs Porter sold on draught? Or bottled as some sort of Stout?

The Stout, for once, is full strength, as an 8d per pint beer. Many London brewers – Whitbread, Watney, Charrington and Courage, for example – lacked a draught Stout in this class.  

XXX is a typical London draught Burton Ale. Or, at least, a typical 8d per pint version. These were in the mid-1050ºs. Whilst 7d per pint examples were around 1048º. 

A couple of other brewers in London had offerings around the same strength as XXXX. Barclay Perkins had KKKK at 1078.5º.  And Fullers Old Burton Extra, a little weaker, at 1069º.  Both XXXX and KKKK were seasonal beers, only sold in the colder months.  

Youngs beers in 1939
Beer	Style	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	lbs hops/ qtr	hops lb/brl
A	Mild	1029	1006.6	2.96	77.08%	6.14	0.71
X	Mild	1035	1007.8	3.60	77.84%	6.19	0.85
PA	Pale Ale	1048	1011.1	4.88	76.92%	10.45	1.99
PAB	Pale Ale	1039	1009.4	3.88	75.71%	7.98	1.22
P	Porter	1035	1011.1	3.16	68.34%	7.00	0.97
S	Stout	1053	1017.2	4.74	67.60%	7.00	1.47
XXX	Strong Ale	1057	1019.4	4.98	65.98%	5.86	1.33
XXXX	Strong Ale	1081	1029.9	6.76	63.07%	5.86	1.90
Source:
Young's brewing record held at Battersea Library, document number YO/RE/1/8.