"A Short History of our National Beverage" arrived yesterday. It's a little pamphlet put out by Groves & Whitnall in the 1930's. You can probably guess why I bought it.Sure enough, C Ale gets a mention. This is the paragraph describing Groves & Whitnall's bottled beers:
"Burton itself cannot produce anything which, in its class, is superior to our Bitter Beer. Our famous "C" Ale is similar to the best Burton "Mild". Our strong Old Ale or "Barley Wine" stands pre-eminent and apart from all others, and our "Special" Ale in bottle is fittingly described by its title."
So C Ale was like a Burton Mild. That's progress, of a kind. I wonder what exactly they mean by a Burton Mild?
I'm still wondering what 'C' stood for. In Graham Swift's novel 'Waterland' the plot hinges around a bottle of Coronation Ale, there's no chance it could be that is there?
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