Interwar Stouts

Numbers. So much easier to handle than slippery words. So true. So reliable. Such fun.

You guessed it. I'm all worded out and need to seek refuge in ciphers. But not just any ones. Oh no. Ones hand-harvested from the Whitbread Gravity Book this very morning, still bejewelled with dew. Fresh, plump, juicy, tempting.

Same score as usual, a bunch of random analyses with little to group them but style and date. Not so random, then. Just very loosely associated. There's almost a full alphabet of names. Only E, I, Q, R, X and Y missing. Just counted how many of the breweries I'd tasted beer from. It's a surprising 14. Sadly, Barclay Perkins isn't amongst them.

The geographical spread isn't bad, either. Scotland, North East, North West, East Midlands, West Midlands, East Anglia, Home Counties, London, even the Isle of Wight.

On to the specifics. Again, there's plenty of variation in strength. I'm not sure how anyone dare call a beer of under 1030º a Stout, except in wartime. There's a mix of what I'd call normal strength Stouts from the London breweries and some pretty watery ones from country breweries. The average comes out fairly high at 1047º.

What's even weirder is that there are a couple that look like modern Guinness: 1040º-ish and 80% plus apparent attenuation. Rogers Special Stout, Ushers Stout, Tomson & Wotton Nourishing Stout, Smithers & Son Oatmeal Stout, Rogers Monarch Stout, M & B Nourishing Stout, Kidd & Hotblack Nourishing Stout. Didn't they realise English Stout was supposed to have been sweet by then?

Notice someting about the Barclay Perkins Stouts? There are ones called Russian Imperial Stout, Imperial Stout and Russian Stout. One, the 1100º we all love and another at just 1061º. Seems like the Russian tag was reserved for the stronger one. In the logs the beers appear as IBSt Ex (the strong one) and IBSt.

One last point. Note how many breweries were producing more than one Stout. Like Fremlin with Milk Stout, Dinner Stout and Oatmeal Stout. Shows the continuing popularity of Stout, at least as a boittled beer.

Stout 1921 - 1938
Year	Brewer	country	Beer	Style	Price	size	package	Acidity	FG	OG	Colour	ABV	atten-uation
1931	Ansell	UK	Tonic Stout	Stout	8d	half pint	bottled	0.08	1010.2	1048.3		4.96	78.88%
1932	Ansell	UK	Tonic Stout	Stout		pint	bottled	0.08	1010.4	1050		5.16	79.20%
1927	Ashton Gate Brewery	UK	Milk Stout	Stout	9d	pint	bottled		1015.7	1052.4		4.76	70.04%
1929	Barclay Perkins	UK	Stout	Stout	9d	pint	bottled		1014.8	1054		5.09	72.59%
1929	Barclay Perkins	UK	Stout	Stout	9d	pint	bottled		1015.6	1053		4.85	70.57%
1931	Barclay Perkins	UK	Dr. Johnson Stout	Stout	8d	pint	bottled		1014.6	1051.9		4.84	71.87%
1931	Barclay Perkins	UK	Dr. Johnson Stout	Stout	8d	pint	bottled		1014.5	1052.4		4.92	72.33%
1931	Barclay Perkins	UK	Stout	Stout	8d	pint	bottled	0.06	1013.5	1048.7		4.57	72.28%
1931	Barclay Perkins	UK	Stout	Stout	9d	pint	bottled	0.06	1012.4	1043		3.97	71.16%
1932	Barclay Perkins	UK	Stout	Stout	9d	pint	bottled	0.06	1016.8	1047		3.90	64.26%
1932	Barclay Perkins	UK	Stout	Stout	9d	pint	bottled	0.07	1013.4	1047		4.36	71.49%
1933	Barclay Perkins	UK	Stout	Stout	8d	pint	bottled	0.08	1014.1	1050		4.66	71.80%
1934	Barclay Perkins	UK	Stout	Stout	15d	quart	bottled	0.06	1018.6	1049.6		4.00	62.50%
1935	Barclay Perkins	UK	Stout	Stout		pint	bottled	0.07	1014.2	1053		5.04	73.21%
1935	Barclay Perkins	UK	Stout	Stout	8d	pint	bottled	0.07	1018.9	1051		4.15	62.94%
1935	Barclay Perkins	UK	Stout	Stout		pint	bottled	0.11	1018.2	1051		4.24	64.31%
1935	Barclay Perkins	UK	Imperial Stout	Stout	6d to 9d	pint	bottled	0.13	1014.23	1061.8		6.20	76.97%
1935	Barclay Perkins	UK	Stout	Stout	8d	pint	draught	0.14	1012.2	1058		5.97	78.97%
1935	Barclay Perkins	UK	Stout	Stout	8d	pint	draught	0.11	1012.6	1059		6.05	78.64%
1936	Barclay Perkins	UK	Stout	Stout		pint	bottled	0.07	1014	1051		4.80	72.55%
1937	Barclay Perkins	UK	Russian Imperial Stout	Stout	10d	nip	bottled	0.12	1023.2	1102.7		10.47	77.41%
1937	Barclay Perkins	UK	Imperial Stout	Stout	6d & 7d	half pint	bottled	0.14	1010.1	1061.2		6.69	83.50%
1938	Barclay Perkins	UK	Russian Stout	Stout	7.5d	nip	bottled	0.07	1024.1	1101.5		10.18	76.26%
1938	Barclay Perkins	UK	Stout	Stout	8d	pint	bottled	0.05	1019.2	1051.1	1 + 15	4.12	62.43%
1938	Barclay Perkins	UK	Milk Stout	Stout	6d	half pint	bottled	0.05	1019.2	1048.6		3.79	60.49%
1939	Barclay Perkins	UK	Milk Stout	Stout	9d	pint	bottled	0.06	1020.2	1049.2		3.74	58.94%
1925	Beer and Rigden	UK	Nourishing Stout	Stout	5.5d	pint	bottled		1011.2	1031.3		2.60	64.22%
1927	Beer and Rigden	UK	Kent's Best Nourishing Stout	Stout	6d	bottle	bottled			1032.7
1929	Beer and Rigden	UK	Nourishing Stout	Stout	5.5d	pint	bottled	0.06	1010.7	1029.9		2.48	64.21%
1930	Beer and Rigden	UK	Milk Stout	Stout		pint	bottled	0.06	1027	1054		3.47	50.00%
1930	Beer and Rigden	UK	Milk Stout	Stout		pint	bottled	0.04	1027.1	1054.4		3.50	50.18%
1928	Burt	UK	Oatmeal Stout	Stout	7d	pint	bottled		1004.8	1037		4.20	87.03%
1926	Cannonbury	UK	Brown Stout	Stout		pint	bottled		1016.9
1932	Carter, Milner and Bird	UK	Milk Stout	Stout	5.5d	pint	bottled	0.06	1013.4	1044.2		3.99	69.68%
1927	Cornbrook	UK	Barley Stout	Stout		pint	bottled			1049.3
1931	Davenport	UK	Extra Stout	Stout	7d	reputed pint	bottled	0.14	1012.3	1057.9		5.94	78.76%
1925	DF Pritchard	UK	Cr??? Cream Stout	Stout	9d	pint	bottled		1016.2	1051.9		4.63	68.79%
1923	Forest Hill Brewery	UK	Nourishing Stout	Stout	12d	quart	bottled		1011.1	1038.6		3.56	71.24%
1921	Fremlin	UK	Oatmeal Stout	Stout	8.5d	pint	bottled		1005.8	1044		4.99	86.82%
1921	Fremlin	UK	Light Dinner Stout	Stout	7d	pint	bottled		1004.5	1031		3.45	85.48%
1921	Fremlin	UK	Light Dinner Stout	Stout	13d	quart	bottled		1005.2	1030.3		3.26	82.84%
1921	Fremlin	UK	Light Oatmeal Stout	Stout	15d	quart	bottled		1005.4	1035.7		3.94	84.87%
1922	Fremlin	UK	Light Dinner Stout	Stout			bottled		1007.4	1031.8		3.16	76.73%
1923	Fremlin	UK	Light Dinner Stout	Stout	7d	pint	bottled		1007.7	1032.4		3.20	76.23%
1923	Fremlin	UK	Oatmeal Stout	Stout	8.5d	pint	bottled		1011.3	1040.6		3.80	72.17%
1928	Fremlin	UK	Dinner Stout	Stout	10.5d	quart	bottled		1006.2	1031.7		3.31	80.44%
1929	Fremlin	UK	Dinner Stout	Stout	5.5d	pint	bottled		1011.5	1031.6		2.60	63.61%
1931	Fremlin	UK	Oatmeal Stout	Stout	8d	pint	bottled	0.05	1017.6	1048.7		4.02	63.86%
1931	Fremlin	UK	Oatmeal Stout	Stout	7d	pint	bottled		1015.6	1036		2.63	56.67%
1931	Fremlin	UK	Oatmeal Stout	Stout	7d	pint	bottled		1013	1042.4		3.81	69.34%
1931	Fremlin	UK	Milk Stout	Stout		pint	bottled	0.05	1020.7	1047.4		3.44	56.33%
1931	Fremlin	UK	Milk Stout	Stout	10d	pint	bottled	0.05	1019.9	1047.5		3.56	58.11%
1933	Fremlin	UK	Dinner Stout	Stout		pint	bottled	0.05	1011	1032		2.71	65.63%
1934	Fremlin	UK	Milk Stout	Stout	8d	pint	bottled	0.05	1020.4	1048.7		3.65	58.11%
1934	Fremlin	UK	Dinner Stout	Stout		pint	bottled	0.07	1007.4	1033		3.32	77.58%
1934	Fremlin	UK	Oatmeal Stout	Stout		pint	bottled	0.06	1013.5	1043		3.82	68.60%
1935	Fremlin	UK	Milk Stout	Stout	8d	pint	bottled	0.06	1020.2	1048.8		3.69	58.61%
1935	Fremlin	UK	Oatmeal Stout	Stout	7d	pint	bottled	0.06	1015.3	1041		3.32	62.68%
1936	Fremlin	UK	Oatmeal Stout	Stout		pint	bottled	0.06	1014.4	1042		3.57	65.71%
1926	Friary Holroyd	UK	Oatmeal Stout	Stout	11d	quart	bottled			1041
1938	Fuller, Smith and Turner	UK	Milk Stout	Stout	8d	pint	bottled	0.06	1020.4	1045.5		3.23	55.16%
1929	Fussell and Sons	UK	Invalid Double Stout	Stout	6d	pint	bottled		1011.8	1040		3.65	70.50%
1929	Gardner	UK	Extra Stout	Stout	8d	pint	bottled	0.19	1013.3	1044		3.98	69.77%
1927	Georges	UK	Bristol Stout	Stout	10d	pint	bottled		1018.1	1059.8		5.41	69.73%
1931	Gilmour	UK	Oatmeal Stout	Stout	9d	pint	bottled		1010.5	1056.1		5.95	81.28%
1933	Home Brewery	UK	Home Stout	Stout		pint	bottled	0.10	1014.7	1046.1		4.06	68.11%
1927	James Rose	UK	Oatmeal Stout	Stout		pint	bottled			1056.6
1928	John Smith	UK	Nourishing Stout	Stout	8d	pint	bottled		1004.6	1043.6		5.09	89.45%
1929	Jude	UK	Stout	Stout	7d	pint	bottled	0.17	1008.6	1036.6		3.63	76.50%
1926	Kemp Town	UK	Double Stout	Stout	5d	pint	bottled		1014.1	1055.3		5.36	74.50%
1926	Kemp Town	UK	Dolphin Stout	Stout	7.5d	reputed quart	bottled		1008.4	1037.9		3.83	77.84%
1926	Kidd and Hotblack	UK	Nourishing Stout	Stout	8d	pint	bottled		1008.7	1048		5.12	81.87%
1928	Lovibond	UK	Light Stout	Stout		pint	bottled		1013	1033.5		2.65	61.19%
1929	Mackeson	UK	Milk Stout	Stout	10d	pint	bottled	0.07	1020.4	1060.4		5.18	66.23%
1925	Mackie and Gladstone	UK	Extra Stout	Stout	8d	pint	bottled		1014.3	1054.8		5.26	73.91%
1922	Manning of Northampton	UK	Stout	Stout	9d	pint	bottled		1010.6	1049.2		5.02	78.46%
1932	Matthew Brown	UK	LS Stout	Stout	8d	pint	bottled	0.07	1007	1041.2		4.45	83.01%
1928	Mellersh and Neale	UK	Oatmeal Stout	Stout	8d	pint	bottled	0.05	1017.4	1038.8		2.76	55.15%
1932	Mercers	UK	Meat Stout	Stout	10.5d	pint	bottled	0.07	1019.2	1054		4.50	64.44%
1928	Mew Langton	UK	Oatmeal Stout	Stout	7d	pint	bottled		1013.4	1041		3.57	67.32%
1926	Mitchell and Butler	UK	Nourishing Stout	Stout	8d	pint	bottled			1048.7
1929	Mitchell and Butler	UK	Nourishing Stout	Stout	8.5d	pint	bottled	0.07	1006.3	1048.4		5.50	86.98%
1931	Mitchell and Butler	UK	Nourishing Stout	Stout	9d	pint	bottled		1005	1046.1		5.37	89.15%
1932	Mitchell and Butler	UK	Nourishing Stout	Stout	9d	pint	bottled	0.06	1006.7	1043		4.73	84.42%
1932	Mitchell and Butler	UK	Extra Stout	Stout	8d	pint	bottled	0.06	1006.8	1049		5.51	86.12%
1933	Morgans Brewery Ltd [Norwich]	UK	Stout	Stout	8d	pint	bottled	0.07	1014.7	1041		3.40	64.15%
1925	Morgans, Tamworth	UK	Stout	Stout	7.5d	half pint	bottled		1013	1053.7		5.29	75.79%
1932	Newcastle Breweries	UK	Stout	Stout	8d	pint	bottled		1010.2	1036		3.34	71.67%
1927	Nicholls, Hertford	UK	Nourishing Stout	Stout	7d	pint	bottled		1010.2	1048.3		4.96	78.88%
1922	Northampton Brewery	UK	Double Stout	Stout	9d	pint	bottled		1015.8	1048.5		4.23	67.42%
1931	Nottingham Brewery	UK	Oatmeal Stout	Stout		pint	bottled		1020.1	1053.2		4.27	62.22%
1927	Oakhill Brewery	UK	Invalid Stout	Stout	10d	pint	bottled		1018.5	1054.8		4.70	66.24%
1922	Phipps	UK	Ratcliffe Stout	Stout	9d	pint	bottled		1020.9	1049.6		3.70	57.86%
1926	Powell and Co.	UK	Luncheon Stout	Stout	5.5d	pint	bottled			1041
1926	Powell and Co.	UK	Oatmeal Stout	Stout	7d	pint	bottled			1044.3
1926	Rock Brewery	UK	Double Stout	Stout	6d	pint	bottled		1006.4	1036.7		3.94	82.56%
1927	Rogers	UK	Special Stout	Stout	7d	pint	bottled		1005.5	1041.7		4.72	86.81%
1927	Rogers	UK	Monarch Stout	Stout	7d	pint	bottled		1008.5	1044.9		4.74	81.07%
1931	Rogers	UK	Cream Stout	Stout	9d	pint	bottled	0.07	1019.1	1057.4		4.96	66.72%
1925	Russells, Gravesend	UK	Stout	Stout	7d	pint	bottled		1012	1056.4		5.79	78.72%
1929	Russells, Gravesend	UK	Stout	Stout	9d	pint	bottled	0.10	1010.1	1057.7		6.22	82.50%
1929	Shepherd Neame	UK	Single Stout	Stout	7d	pint	bottled	0.07	1009.8	1034.8		3.24	71.84%
1926	Smithers and Son	UK	Old Malt Stout	Stout	5.5d	pint	bottled		1012.2	1037.7		3.30	67.64%
1928	Smithers and Son	UK	Oatmeal Stout	Stout	5.5d	pint	bottled		1009	1048		5.08	81.25%
1927	Sprake, Chale I of W	UK	Special Stout	Stout		pint	bottled		1010	1043.2		4.31	76.85%
1928	Sprake, Chale I of W	UK	Special Stout	Stout	7.5d	pint	bottled		1015.7	1047.1		4.06	66.67%
1930	Steward and Patteson	UK	Stout	Stout	7d	pint	bottled	0.06	1013.8	1037.8		3.10	63.49%
1926	Stretton	UK	Stretton's Stout	Stout	8d	pint	bottled			1050.1
1926	Tamplin	UK	Oatmeal Stout	Stout		pint	bottled		1011.3	1043.7		4.20	74.14%
1926	Tamplin	UK	No.1 Cheerio Stout	Stout	7d	half pint	bottled		1015.6	1074.1		7.65	78.95%
1926	Tamplin	UK	Double Stout	Stout	7.5d	reputed quart	bottled		1009	1044.2		4.58	79.64%
1929	Thompsons	UK	Stout	Stout	7d	pint	bottled	0.04	1010.9	1038.7		3.60	71.83%
1929	Tomson and Wotton	UK	Nourishing Stout	Stout	6d	pint	bottled	0.14	1006	1040.7		4.52	85.26%
1931	Usher	UK	Stout	Stout	8d	half pint	bottled	0.05	1019.7	1050.7		4.00	61.14%
1928	Ushers	UK	Stout	Stout	7d	pint	bottled		1008.4	1044.4		4.69	81.08%
1922	Ushers (Edinburgh)	UK	Extra Stout (Belgian sample)	Stout		pint	bottled		1021.8	1069.2		6.15	68.50%
1924	Vaux	UK	Oatmeal Stout	Stout		pint	bottled			1039.6
1925	Vaux	UK	Invalid Stout	Stout	9d	pint	bottled		1017.6	1052.5		4.52	66.48%
1925	Vaux	UK	Oatmeal Stout	Stout	7d	pint	bottled		1012.6	1039.7		3.51	68.26%
1926	W Riding Bottling Co.	UK	White Rose Oatmeal Stout	Stout	8d	pint	bottled			1049.9
1928	West's	UK	Oatmeal Stout	Stout	7d	pint	bottled		1015.1	1040.6		3.29	62.81%
1926	Wethered	UK	Oatmeal Stout	Stout	16d	quart	bottled			1049.5
1926	Whitaker	UK	Standard Stout	Stout	8d	pint	bottled			1044.3
	Average							0.08	1013.39	1047.14		4.41	71.72%
Source:
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/001