Courage Stout 1914 - 1918

Part three of my series on Courage beers in WW I? This time, it's their Stouts that come under the magnifying glass. (If you're wondering when I'll get to Pale Ale, don't worry. I won't. They didn't brew any at Courage's Horsleydown brewery until after WW II.)

Here's the (particularly wide) table:

Courage Stout 1914 - 1918
Date	Year	Beer	Style	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	lbs hops/ qtr	hops lb/brl	boil time (hours)	boil time (hours)	boil time (hours)	Pitch temp	dry hops (oz / barrel)	pale malt	brown malt	black malt	no. 3 sugar	black invert	caramel	glucose	other sugar	primings	total
21st Oct	1914	Double Stout	Stout	1078.95	1033.24	6.05	57.89%	7.20	2.33	2	2	1	61º	0.00	60.22%	19.59%	10.52%					9.67%		100.00%
10th Mar	1915	Double Stout	Stout	1078.95	1033.24	6.05	57.89%	7.23	2.37	1.5	2	1	61º	0.00	58.43%	20.22%	10.11%					11.24%		100.00%
17th Feb	1915	Double Stout	Stout	1078.95	1033.24	6.05	57.89%	7.20	2.37	1.5	2	1	61º	0.00	59.47%	19.47%	10.53%					10.53%		100.00%
3rd Feb	1915	Double Stout	Stout	1078.95	1033.24	6.05	57.89%	7.23	2.37	1.5	2	1	61º	0.00	58.08%	19.76%	10.18%					11.98%		100.00%
22nd Sep	1915	Double Stout	Stout	1075.90	1032.13	5.79	57.66%	8.09	2.62	2	2	1	61º	0.00	61.48%	20.23%	10.51%					7.78%		100.00%
29th Sep	1915	Double Stout	Stout	1075.90	1019.39	7.48	74.45%	8.14	2.81	2	2	1	61º	0.00	57.78%	19.26%	10.11%					12.84%		100.00%
6th Oct	1915	Double Stout	Stout	1075.90	1027.70	6.38	63.50%	7.23	2.49	2	2	1	61º	0.00	58.43%	20.22%	10.11%					11.24%		100.00%
1st Dec	1915	Double Stout	Stout	1075.90	1025.48	6.67	66.42%	7.13	2.28	2	2	1	61º	0.00	59.20%	20.62%	11.31%					8.87%		100.00%
10th May	1916	Double Stout	Stout	1068.70	1024.93	5.79	63.71%	7.26	2.24	2	2	1	60º	0.00	60.10%	20.03%	10.02%		9.35%	0.50%				100.00%
17th May	1916	Double Stout	Stout	1068.70	1025.48	5.72	62.90%	7.31	2.03	2	2	1	60º	0.00	60.43%	19.79%	9.09%		9.98%	0.71%				100.00%
3rd Jan	1917	Double Stout	Stout	1071.74	1028.81	5.68	59.85%	6.11	2.16	2	2	1	60º	0.00	58.46%	9.23%	7.69%	6.84%	6.84%	1.71%			9.23%	100.00%
10th Jan	1917	Double Stout	Stout	1071.74	1029.64	5.57	58.69%	6.16	2.17	2	2	1	60º	0.00	43.92%	12.84%	10.81%	4.50%	13.51%	2.25%			12.16%	100.00%
24th Oct	1917	Double Stout	Stout	1063.71	1023.27	5.35	63.48%	5.98	1.87	2	2	1	59º	0.00	66.07%	9.44%	8.09%	5.39%	5.39%	1.80%			3.82%	100.00%
7th Nov	1917	Double Stout	Stout	1063.71	1024.10	5.24	62.17%	5.98	1.87	2	2	1	59º	0.00	66.07%	9.44%	8.09%	5.39%	5.39%	1.80%			3.82%	100.00%
16th Jan	1918	Double Stout	Stout	1063.71	1021.05	5.64	66.96%	5.85	1.82	2	2	1	61º	0.00	67.44%	8.53%	10.85%	0.00%	8.27%	1.55%			3.36%	100.00%
26th Apr	1917	Stout	Stout	1071.74	1030.19	5.50	57.92%	5.96	2.14	2	2	1	60º	0.00	61.88%	10.18%	7.83%	7.31%	7.31%	1.57%			3.92%	100.00%
2nd May	1918	Stout	Stout	1035.46	1008.03	3.63	77.34%	5.52	1.00	2	2	1	60º	0.00	58.70%	9.32%	9.32%		6.21%	1.86%			14.60%	100.00%
25th Jul	1918	Stout	Stout	1035.46	1008.31	3.59	76.56%	5.55	1.01	2	2	1	60º	0.00	57.47%	8.77%	10.71%			1.95%	6.49%		14.61%	100.00%
14th Nov	1918	Stout	Stout	1035.46	1008.31	3.59	76.56%	5.51	1.01	1.5	1.5	1	61º	0.00	56.31%	8.74%	10.68%			1.94%	7.77%		14.56%	100.00%
21st Oct	1914	Imperial	Stout	1094.18	1038.78	7.33	58.82%	7.20	2.78	2	2	1	58º	0.00	60.22%	19.59%	10.52%					9.67%		100.00%
10th Mar	1915	Imperial	Stout	1094.18	1040.44	7.11	57.06%	7.23	2.83	1.5	2	1	58º	0.00	58.43%	20.22%	10.11%					11.24%		100.00%
3rd Feb	1915	Imperial	Stout	1094.18	1038.78	7.33	58.82%	7.23	2.83	1.5	2	1	58º	0.00	58.08%	19.76%	10.18%					11.98%		100.00%
22nd Sep	1915	Imperial	Stout	1091.96	1032.13	7.92	65.06%	8.09	3.17	2	2	1	58º	0.00	61.48%	20.23%	10.51%					7.78%		100.00%
29th Sep	1915	Imperial	Stout	1091.96	1036.01	7.40	60.84%	8.14	3.40	2	2	1	58º	0.00	57.78%	19.26%	10.11%					12.84%		100.00%
6th Oct	1915	Imperial	Stout	1091.96	1033.24	7.77	63.86%	7.23	3.01	2	2	1	58º	0.00	58.43%	20.22%	10.11%					11.24%		100.00%
Source: Documents held in the Courage Archives and the London Metropolitan Archives: ACC/2305/08/247, ACC/2305/08/248, ACC/2305/08/249, ACC/2305/08/250

You'll notice that there's a similar change to rather less coloured malts as we saw with Porter. As they were parti-gyled, this is no great surprise.

The name-change mid-war of their Stout seems only fair. After halving the gravity, it would have been a bit of a cheek to keep calling it Double Stout. You can also observe the sort of rationalisation of beers that took place. In 1914 Courage brewed, in ascecnnding order of strength: Porter, Double Stout and Imperial Stout. By 1918 they were only brewing Stout. But that, at 1035, was considerably weaker than pre-war Porter. Imperial Stout, like Whibread's strong Stouts SS and SSS, never reappeared. (Barclay Perkins, on the other hand, did brew strong Stouts after the war. Several of them, in fact.)

I've just about beaten this WW I Courage horse to death. But don't despair. There are still the 1920's and 1930's to come.