Truman Porter and Stout output 1835-1836

I have some funny fascinations. I won't go into them all now. Just the one: how much of each type of beer did brewers make in the 19th century.

The story, mostly it seems based on a single source, that around the middle of the 19th century Porter began to loosen its grip on the throat of London drinkers. Aged Porter went out of fashion and only Mild Porter remained. Mild Ale was the new rage. How true is this tale? Good question.

London brewers were a meticulous bunch. They kept all sorts of records. The brewing logs are just the tip of the iceberg. Information about how much Running and Keeping Porter were brewed is there. If you can be arsed to dig it out. Which, if I'm being honest, I haven't been so far.

Whitbread kept track of the brews of each type inside the front cover. Combine this with the details of the size of each brew at the back of the log and you can calculate exactly how much Keeping and Running was made. Except it does require a bit of work.

Much simpler are some of the Truman's logs. Where they've done all the addition for you. Which is a very long-winded way of introducing today's table. Truman Porter output by type for the brewing season 1835-1836. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did compiling it:

Truman Porter and Stout 1835-36
	barrels	%
Runner	148,387	60.71%
Running Stout	25,624	10.48%
Keeping Stout	13,646	5.58%
Double Stout	3,532	1.45%
Imperial Stout	468	0.19%
Export Stout	2,019	0.83%
Keeping Beer	48,514	19.85%
Export Keeping	2,217	0.91%
total	244,407
Source: Truman brewing records

Running or Mild Porter was the biggest seller by quite a way. Outselling Keeping Porter by about three to one. Running Stout was the third best seller, with only about half as much Keeping Stout brewed. In case you're wondering, Truman's production of Ale (of all types) in the same period was 49,000 barrels.

What does this tell us? That even in the first half of the 19th century Mild Porter was more popular than Stale by a considerable margin.

When I can be arsed to pull together all the Whitbread numbers, I should be able to draw a neat little graph highlighting the decline of Keeping Porter. But who knows when that will be.