Whitbread Porter and Contract Porter

What better way to kick off the New Year than with a table. It adds to the festive mood no end. For me, at least.

The table relates to one of my recurring themes, though it may not at first be that obvious. What theme is that? IPA was not a strong beer. It gives an insight into why IPA was the strength it was.

During the 1850's and 1860's Whitbread brewed a shitload of Porter under contract for the Indian market. I mean a shitload - 50,000 barrels in 1860. Out of a total of 174,929 barrels of Porter. Or 29% of the Porter they brewed.

So was their Contract Porter brewed stronger than their standard Porter to help it survive the voyage? Not really. As you'll be able to see below:

Whitbread Porter and Contract Porter (for India)
Date	Year	Beer	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	lbs hops/ qtr	hops lb/brl	boil time (hours)	boil time (hours)	boil time (hours)	Pitch temp	pale malt	brown malt	black malt
10th Jul	1855	P	1059.0	1015.5	5.75	73.71%	10.81	2.79	1.5	1.5	2	64º	120	40	8
6th Nov	1855	P	1059.8	1018.3	5.50	69.44%	3.78	0.91	1.5	1.5	2	64º	141	50	9
7th Jul	1856	P	1054.8	1013.0	5.53	76.26%	10.99	2.95	1.5	1.5	2	64º	120	40	8
25th Nov	1857	Contract	1059.8	1015.5	5.86	74.07%	20.28	5.29	1.5	1.5	2	63º	141	50	9
25th Nov	1857	Contract	1059.8	1015.5	5.86	74.07%	20.28	5.29	1.5	1.5	2	64º	141	50	9
9th Dec	1857	Contract	1058.7	1016.1	5.64	72.64%	20.14	5.18	1.5	1.5	2	64º	141	50	9
21st Aug	1857	P	1054.0	1013.3	5.39	75.38%	12.21	3.17	1.5	1.5	2	64º	120	40	8
9th Mar	1858	Contract	1061.2	1020.8	5.35	66.06%	20.33	5.36	1.5	1.5	2	64º	141	50	9
16th Oct	1858	Contract	1058.2	1017.2	5.42	70.48%	20.43	5.54	1.5	1.5	2	64º	141	50	9
6th Nov	1858	Contract	1062.6	1018.8	5.79	69.91%	20.26	5.96	1.5	1.5	2	64º	141	50	9
29th Nov	1858	Contract	1060.7	1016.6	5.83	72.60%	20.02	5.70	1.5	1.5	2	64º	141	50	9
6th Mar	1858	P	1052.9	1016.1	4.87	69.63%	3.33	0.79	1.5	1.5	2	64º	120	40	8
24th Mar	1858	P	1056.0	1014.4	5.50	74.26%	3.27	0.80	1.5	1.5	2	64º	120	40	8
22nd Jan	1858	P	1054.0	1015.2	5.13	71.79%	3.03	0.74	1.5	1.5	2	64º	120	40	8
5th Jul	1858	P	1053.7	1016.9	4.87	68.56%	11.65	2.68	1.5	1.5	2	64º	120	40	8
25th Nov	1858	P	1054.6	1014.7	5.28	73.10%	9.95	2.45	1.5	1.5	2	64º	120	40	8
7th Sep	1858	P	1055.7	1018.8	4.87	66.17%	12.93	2.78	1.5	1.5	2	64º	120	40	8
24th Sep	1858	P	1053.2	1016.6	4.84	68.75%	12.25	3.00	1.5	1.5	2	64º	120	40	8
19th Oct	1859	Contract	1060.1	1019.7	5.35	67.28%	20.43	5.67	1.5	1.5	2	64º	141	50	9
9th Nov	1859	Contract	1059.8	1018.3	5.50	69.44%	20.50	6.02	1.5	1.5	2	64º	141	50	9
25th Jan	1859	P	1056.8	1016.1	5.39	71.71%	3.56	0.91	1.5	1.5	2	64º	141	50	9
28th Jul	1859	P	1057.9	1018.3	5.24	68.42%	11.51	2.97	1.5	1.5	2	64º	141	50	9
10th Nov	1859	P	1052.1	1015.2	4.87	70.74%	1.64	0.42	1.5	1.5	2	64º	141	50	9
11th Apr	1860	Contract	1056.5	1015.5	5.42	72.55%	20.31	5.93	1.5	1.5	2	64º	141	50	9
9th Aug	1860	P	1054.0	1015.8	5.06	70.77%	11.19	3.02	1.5	1.5	2	64º	141	50	9
7th Nov	1860	P	1055.4	1015.0	5.35	73.00%	9.84	2.58	1.5	1.5	2	64º	141	50	9
30th Dec	1861	Contract	1059.8	1016.6	5.72	72.22%	20.82	5.56	1.5	2	2	64º	140	50	10
8th Jul	1861	P	1053.5	1015.8	4.98	70.47%	10.37	2.63	1.5	1.5	2	64º	141	50	9
25th jul	1861	P	1052.6	1015.2	4.95	71.05%	10.74	2.63	1.5	1.5	2	64º	141	50	9
2nd Jan	1862	Contract	1058.2				20.54	5.35	1.5	2	2	64º	140	50	10
8th Apr	1862	P	1054.6	1015.5	5.17	71.57%	10.03	2.25	1.5	2	2	64º	131	40	9
Source: Whitbread brewing records held at the London Metropolitan Archives Documents: LMA/4453/D/09/049 LMA/4453/D/09/050 LMA/4453/D/09/051 LMA/4453/D/09/052 LMA/4453/D/09/053 LMA/4453/D/09/054 LMA/4453/D/09/055

The Contract Porter was sometimes a tad stronger, but that was caused by a drop in the strength of the domestic Porter during the 1850's. The two versions were pretty much identical, but for one significant difference: the Indian one had about twice as many hops.

See how standard Porter sometimes dropped below 1055, but the Contract Porter never did.  There's a reason for that, as I explained not long ago:

"Ale, Pale or Bitter ; brewed chiefly fur the Indian market and for other tropical countries.—It is a light beverage, with much aroma, and, in consequence of the regulations regarding the malt duty, is commonly brewed from a wort of specific gravity 1055 or upwards; for no drawback is allowed by the Excise on the exportation of beer brewed from worts of a lower gravity than 1054."
"Ures' dictionary of arts, manufactures and mines, Volume 1" by Andrew Ure, 1867, page 306.

Simple - Whitbread wouldn't get the tax back if the gravity of Contract Porter fell below 1055.

If you're wondering about the standard Porter entries that have less than a pound per barrel of hops, I think I have an explanation. In the winter months, when most of the Contract and Keeping Porter was brewed, far fewer hops were used in standard Porter. It seems they were re-using some of the tons (literally) of the hops used in Keeping and Contract Porter.