Davenport beers 1931 - 1989

Yes, it's finally come. The last post in my series on Birmingham breweries. About Davenports.

"Beer at home means Davenports,
That's beer, lots of cheer,
Straight from brewery to your home,
Why collect, we'll deliver.
Soon you'll know why folks all say,
Beer at home means Davenports."

What does it say about the power of advertising, that I can remember the Davenports song more than two decades after the brewery closed?

The advertising must have worked on my Dad, too, because he had Davenports delivered. Now I think about it, the first beer I ever tasted was almost certainly Davenports of my Dad. Top Crown Deluxe, perhaps? I think that was the name of the posh Pale Ale they sold. I do know that it was a Bitter of some sort. Too Bitter for my 12-year old self.

It was a bold move of Davenport to sell off some of their pubs and get into the home delivery business. Did it pay off? Difficult to say. As they no longer exist, probably not. But that move was one reason their beers were frustratingly difficult to find in their home city of Birmingham. I can only remember ever going to one of their pubs, somewhere just off Hurst Street in the city centre.

They suffered the brewery equivalent of a fate worse than death: they were bought by Greenall Whitley in 1986 and closed three years later. Drinkers were lucky they closed so quickly. Greenall's quickly turned the beers of their victims over into parodies of themselves. Such poor imitations, that most fans were glad when they were finally put out of their misery and discontinued.

I suppose I should say something about their beers. Specifically the ones in the table. The Best Mild and Traditional Bitter from 1989 were brewed at Shipstone.

The 1949 Brown Ale definitely looks like a bottled Mild. Not sure about the one from 1931. That's a touch strong for a Mild of the day. That's possibly a standalone Brown Ale. If you know what I mean.

It's a shame that there's no pre-war Mild for comparison purposes. The post-war beers have very typical Mild gravities for most of the country, but are a couple of points weaker than other Birmingham Milds.

These a bit more to work with in the Pale Ales. You can see that before the war they made two Bitters, the stronger Best Bitter with a hefty gravity of over 1050º. That's comparable to the Best Bitters of London. The weaker Bitter Beer is a couple of degrees lower in gravity that London ordinary Bitters, which were mostly 1042-1045º. WW II knocked a massive 30 gravity points off Best Bitter. That's a pretty low gravity for a Bitter 1033, even in 1949. From the 1970's on there was very little change in the gravity, which is pretty typical. In general, gravities of many beer remained around their mid-1950's level.

The Stouts present a confusing picture. The Extra Stouts bracketing WW II, with close to 80% attenuation, clearly weren't Sweet Stouts. Again, they nicely demonstrate the effect of WW II on gravities.

Celebration Stout looks like a sweeter replacement for Extra Stout. Not the much lower level of attenuation. Until 1965, when there was a huge change: its gravity doubled and the attenuation went back up. Maybe. Because the two examples from the same year have very different degrees of attenuation.

Not much to say about the Strong Ale, except to point out the high degree of attenuation of the 1931 example.

There. That's Brum done. Any other town take your fancy?

Davenport beers 1927 - 1989
Year	Beer	Style	Price	size	package	Acidity	FG	OG	colour	ABV	App. Atten-uation
1931	Brown Ale	Brown Ale	6.5d	pint	bottled	0.07	1014.2	1044.8		3.96	68.30%
1949	Brown Ale	Brown Ale	1/1.5d	pint	bottled	0.06	1004	1031	5 + 40	3.51	87.10%
1943	Dark Ale	Dark Ale			bottled	0.08	1009	1036.8	7 + 40	3.61	75.54%
1943	Light Ale	Light Ale			bottled	0.07	1007.3	1038	18	3.99	80.79%
1961	Continental Light Ale	Light Ale	15d	half	bottled	0.04	1005.3	1034	8	3.59	84.41%
1949	Mild Ale	Mild	1/1d	pint	draught	0.07	1007.9	1032	4.5 + 40	3.12	75.31%
1977	Mild	Mild		pint	draught			1033
1979	Mild	Mild		pint	draught			1033
1981	Mild	Mild		pint	draught			1034.5
1982	Mild	Mild		pint	draught			1034.5
1983	Mild	Mild		pint	draught			1034.5
1986	Mild	Mild		pint	draught			1034.8
1989	Best Mild	Mild		pint	draught		1010.3	1035		3.20	70.71%
1927	Best Bitter	Pale Ale	7d	pint	bottled			1054.4
1927	Bitter	Pale Ale	5.5d	pint	bottled			1040.5
1929	Best Bitter	Pale Ale	8.5d	pint	bottled	0.07	1014.5	1053.1		5.01	72.69%
1929	Bitter Beer	Pale Ale	5d	pint	bottled	0.05	1008.5	1040.5		4.16	79.01%
1931	Bitter Beer	Pale Ale	6d	half	bottled	0.08	1007.3	1036.7		3.82	80.11%
1931	Best Bitter	Pale Ale	8d	pint	bottled	0.08	1017.9	1053.9		4.66	66.79%
1931	Pale Ale	Pale Ale	5.5d	half	bottled	0.11	1013.2	1055.8		5.54	76.34%
1949	Pale Ale	Pale Ale	9.5d	half	bottled	0.07	1006.6	1039.5	21 brown	4.28	83.29%
1949	Best Bitter	Pale Ale	1/2d	pint	bottled	0.06	1006.5	1032.8	19 brown	3.42	80.18%
1977	Bitter	Pale Ale		pint	draught			1038
1979	Bitter	Pale Ale		pint	draught			1038
1981	Bitter	Pale Ale		pint	draught			1038.9
1982	Bitter	Pale Ale		pint	draught			1038.9
1983	Bitter	Pale Ale		pint	draught			1038.9
1986	Bitter	Pale Ale		pint	draught			1038.9
1989	Traditional Bitter	Pale Ale		pint	draught		1008	1038		3.90	78.95%
1931	Extra Stout	Stout	7d	reputed pint	bottled	0.14	1012.3	1057.9		5.94	78.76%
1949	Extra Stout	Stout	9.5d	half	bottled	0.08	1008.1	1040.2	1 + 15	4.17	79.85%
1953	Celebration Stout	Stout	11d	half	bottled	0.06	1014.7	1041.9	1 + 17	3.52	64.92%
1965	Celebration Stout	Stout	12.5d	half	bottled	0.04	1017.3	1042.1	275	3.10	58.91%
1965	Celebration Stout	Stout	12.5d	half	bottled	0.04	1021	1085	275	8.00	75.29%
1965	Celebration Stout	Stout	12.5d	half	bottled	0.04	1033	1085	275	6.50	61.18%
1927	Strong Ale	Strong Ale	6d	half	bottled			1073.9
1931	Strong Ale	Strong Ale	6.5d	half	bottled	0.08	1012.4	1064.1		6.76	80.66%
Sources:
Good Beer Guide 1978, 1980, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1987, 1990.
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/001
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/002