Burton beers ca 1955 (part three)

This is working perfectly. I'm spinning a whole month's worth of posts out of  Andrew Campbell's "The Book Of Beer". Today I finish off Burton beers.

First off, Truman. Who were both a London and Burton brewer. They were incredibly proud of their Burton brewery. Which is why you can still see references to it plastered all over former Truman pubs.

"Truman, Hanbury, Buxton & Co's origins are the oldest in London, beginning with a certain Mr. Thomas Bucknall who established a brewhouse in Losworth Field, Spitalfields, about 1666, and which was bought by a Joseph Truman in 1694. In 1800, Samuel Hanbury joined in partnership with the Truman family  and Thomas Fowell Buxton. It was not until 1873 that they bought a brewery in Burton, but as they brew their pale and bitter beers at Burton, they must be included in the Burton group of breweries. Their milds and stouts are brewed in London.

As we write, an intensive advertising campaign is in course to establish their beer Ben Truman as a national beer. Of similar strength to Bass, Double Diamond, and Worthington, it is a good solid beer, with a strong flavour. Another strongly publicized line for which a major campaign is being conducted and a mutual marketing agreement made with Whitbread's and Tollemache, is Trubrown, a brown ale of higher than usual gravity, sweet and well carbonated."
"The Book Of Beer" by Andrew Campbell, 1956, pages 204-205.

Let's take a look at those beers in more detail:

Truman Burton beers in the 1950's
Year	Beer	Style	Price	size	package	FG	OG	Colour	ABV	attenuation
1950	Bitter	Pale Ale	16d	pint	draught	1005.6	1035.3	22	3.86	84.14%
1951	PA	Pale Ale	16d	pint	draught	1006	1038.2	21	4.19	84.29%
1951	Bitter	Pale Ale	17d	pint	draught	1003.8	1038.8	23	4.57	90.21%
1954	PA	Pale Ale	17d	pint	draught	1006.8	1036.9	19	3.91	81.57%
1954	PA	Pale Ale	17d	pint	draught	1006.4	1036.7	18	3.94	82.56%
1955	PA	Pale Ale	17d	pint	draught	1005.9	1037.7	17	4.14	84.35%
1957	PA	Pale Ale	17d	pint	draught	1007.1	1037.2	18	3.91	80.91%
1959	Keg Bitter	Pale Ale	22d	pint	draught	1008.8	1040.5	22	4.12	78.27%
Source: Whitbread Gravity Book

Unfortunately, the Whitbread Gravity Bookonly lists their ordinary Bitter, not Ben Truman. But don't despair. I can check Truman's brewing records to find out more.

Truman Burton beers in 1953
Beer	Style	OG	FG	ABV	App. Attenuation	lbs hops/ qtr	hops lb/brl	pale malt	crystal malt	no. 1 sugar	no. 3 sugar	other sugar	flaked maize	high dried malt	I.M. Co.
P1 B	Pale Ale	1050.7	1014.7	4.76	71.04%	7.21	1.39	90	1	4			7	15	3
P1 B	Pale Ale	1050.7	1017.7	4.36	65.03%	7.15	1.38	90	1	4			7	16	3
No. 7	Mild	1032.7	1006.6	3.44	79.66%	5.00	0.61	21	3			3		21
P1	Pale Ale	1044.6	1013.3	4.14	70.19%	6.14	1.04	112			4			20	4
P2	Pale Ale	1036.8	1008.6	3.74	76.69%	6.14	0.86	112			4			20	4
XX	Mild	1030.7	1005.8	3.30	81.08%	6.14	0.72	112			4			20	4
No. 7	Mild	1032.7	1009.1	3.11	72.03%	4.90	0.85	41	7			7		42
XXX	Mild	1035.7	1007.5	3.74	79.07%	4.90	2.21	41	7			7		42
P1 B	Pale Ale	1051.2	1013.3	5.02	74.05%	7.16	1.42	51		4			4	7	2
Source: Truman brewing records.

P1 is Ben Truman, P1 B the bottling version. P2 is ordinary Bitter. None of these Pale Ales was particularly heavily hopped. The grists are what you would expect: mostly pale malt with some crystal malt, maize and sugar. I'm not quite sure what they mean by high dried malt. I suspect something like mild malt.

Finally a brewery that still exists: Marston's. And still brews in Burton. Incredible, eh? Here's an admission: I like Marston's Pedigree. Especially the farty smell, the sign of a true Burton Pale Ale. I'm not quite sure why it gets so much hate. Too ubiquitous, I guess. Sometimes I feel the beer world is getting like Northern soul: obscure just for the sake of it.

"Marston, Thompson and Evershed had a somewhat later start than some of the Burton breweries, and in fact are technically not in Burton-on-Trent at all, but are at Horninglow, a nearby village where they have been since 1834. Among their important brews is a barley wine type, of considerable strength and mellow character, Old Roger."
"The Book Of Beer" by Andrew Campbell, 1956, page 205.

Unfortunately, I don't have details of the one Marston's beer Campbell mentions, Owd Roger. He got the name slightly wrong, but I'll forgive him that. Instead of details, I've an Owd Roger anecdote. The Old Kings Arms in Newark used to have draught Owd Roger in the winter. I can remember Mogg drinking 5 pints of it one night and being carried out because his legs had stopped working. Served him right for drinking an 8% ABV beer by the pint. Proof that it's impossible to session a beer of that strength.

Here are the Marston's beers I do have information on:

Marston's beers in the 1950's
Year	Beer	Style	Price	size	package	FG	OG	Colour	ABV	attenuation
1950	Pale Ale	Pale Ale	17d	pint	draught		1040.9	28
1952	Extra Stout	Stout	1/3d	half pint	bottled	1011.4	1042.1	1 + 13.5	3.98	72.92%
1954	PA	Pale Ale	1/7d	pint	bottled	1005.1	1044.3	20	5.12	88.49%
1959	Mello Sweet Stout	Stout	15d	halfpint	bottled	1013.6	1040.3	325	3.45	66.25%
Sources: Truman Gravity Book Whitbread Gravity Book

Not much I can say about that. Except that Mello is a great name for a Sweet Stout.