Tuesday 17 September 2013

Bottled beers in the 1870's

As my series on bottled beers winds its way towards the sunset, here's a look at some random bottled beers of the 1870's.

It's quite a small set. Not sure why. Odd that I should have more examples from the 1860's. There's no logical reason, just an irrational result of my anarchic research. Anyway, let's try and make the best of what data we have, shall we?

The vast majority of the examples fall into one of three styles: IPA, Pale Ale and Stout. Though the line between Pale Ale and IPA could be quite arbitrary. Which Bass being described as both Pale Ale and East India Pale Ale amply demonstrates. There was really a stronger differentiation between Light Bitter and Pale Ale than IPA and Pale Ale. Assuming the latter two were both Stock beers.

What strikes me is how many of the bottled beers come from a few large, well-known breweries and are, in effect, brands which are promoted. Bass with its IPA, Guinness with Extra Stout, William Younger with IPA and Scotch Ale, Barclay Perkins with Stout and Carlsberg with Lager. With the exception of Barclay Perkins, all were still going strong a century later. This is really the beginnings of branded beer.

Not e that the two most popular styles - Porter and Mild Ale - are completely absent. Though there are two examples of Cooper, which was supposedly a mixture of Porter and Stout. I suspect it might have actually been bottled Porter, just sold under a more marketable name.

This is quite an early date for Lager in Britain, which only arrived, in the form of imports, in the late 1860's. Initially, the Vienna and Munich styles were dominant. Carlsberg clearly got their foot in the door early doors. I doubt the beer here was the Pilsner that Carlsberg is now famous for. More likely it was the Munich type, which I know was where they began, Lager-wise.

You'll be pleased to hear that I have details of some of the beers. The William Younger ones. I can match them 100%, but I know they're in there. The IPA and Stout aren't such a problem, as there is only really one candidate for each in the brewing records. The Strong Ale is trickier, as Younger brewed loads of them. I've included 100/- to 160/- in the table. It must have been one of those. Or No. 1, so I've put that in, too. Here they are, in all their glory:

William Younger beers
Date Year Beer Style OG FG ABV App. Atten-uation lbs hops/ qtr hops lb/brl
4th Sep 1868 XP IPA 1052 1013 5.16 75.00% 10.00 2.60
3rd Dec 1869 DBS Stout 1066 1019 6.22 71.21% 12.76 4.11
25th Nov 1868 No. 1 Strong Ale 1099 1041 7.67 58.59% 6.46 3.37
24th Aug 1868 100/- Ale 1076 1034 5.56 55.26% 6.67 2.73
24th Aug 1868 120/- Ale 1088 1037 6.75 57.95% 7.14 3.57
25th Aug 1868 140/- Ale 1102 1043 7.81 57.84% 6.36 4.12
8th Sep 1868 160/- Ale 1116 1053 8.33 54.31% 8.16 5.35
Source:
William Younger brewing record held at the Scottish Brewing Archive document number WY/6/1/2/21.

That's me done. Just the main table and I'm gone.

Bottled beers in the 1870's
Brewery Place year beer style price per dozen size source
Byles & Co Henley 1876 Cooper Cooper 2s 6d pint Harrod & Co.'s Directory of Beds, Bucks ..., 1876
Biden & Co. Gosport, Hants 1876 Cooper Cooper 2s 6d Imperial pint
Wm. Younger Edinburgh 1870 India Pale Ale IPA 4s 6d pint "Street's Indian and Colonial Mercantile Directory for 1870", page xiv
Bass  Burton 1871 East India Pale Ale IPA 4s 9d Imperial pint Edmund Oxborrow price list
Bass  Henley 1876 Pale Ale IPA 4s 6d pint Harrod & Co.'s Directory of Beds, Bucks ..., 1876
Bass Burton 1876 East India Pale Ale IPA 6s quart Lincolnshire Chronicle - Friday 22 December 1876, page 1
Bass Burton 1876 East India Pale Ale IPA 4s 6d Imperial pint Lincolnshire Chronicle - Friday 22 December 1876, page 1
Bass Burton 1876 East India Pale Ale IPA 3s 6d reputed pint Lincolnshire Chronicle - Friday 22 December 1876, page 1
Bass Burton 1876 East India Pale Ale IPA 2s 3d imperial half pint Lincolnshire Chronicle - Friday 22 December 1876, page 1
Bass  Burton 1879 Pale Ale IPA 4s 6d Imperial pint The British Library
Carlsberg Copenhagen 1872 Danish Beer Lager 2s 6d pint Aberdeen Journal - Wednesday 10 July 1872, page 4.
Carlsberg Copenhagen 1872 Danish Beer Lager 5s quart Aberdeen Journal - Wednesday 10 July 1872, page 4.
Ind Coope Romford 1871 AK Pale Ale 3s Imperial pint Edmund Oxborrow price list
Byles & Co Henley 1876 Pale Ale Pale Ale 3s pint Harrod & Co.'s Directory of Beds, Bucks ..., 1876
Byles & Co Henley 1876 Old Strong Pale Ale Pale Ale 5s 6d pint Harrod & Co.'s Directory of Beds, Bucks ..., 1876
Biden & Co. Gosport, Hants 1876 Pale Ale Pale Ale 4s Imperial pint
Biden & Co. Gosport, Hants 1876 Family Pale Ale Pale Ale 3s Imperial pint
Wm. Younger Edinburgh 1871 Strong Scotch Ale Scotch Ale 4s pint Edmund Oxborrow price list
Wm. Younger Edinburgh 1870 Extra Stout Stout 4s 4d pint "Street's Indian and Colonial Mercantile Directory for 1870", page xiv
Barclay Perkins London 1871 Brown Stout Stout 3s Imperial pint Edmund Oxborrow price list
Barclay Perkins London 1871 Double Brown Stout Stout 4s 9d Imperial pint Edmund Oxborrow price list
Guinness Dublin 1871 Double Brown Stout Stout 4s 9d Imperial pint Edmund Oxborrow price list
Byles & Co Henley 1876 Stout Stout 3s 6d pint Harrod & Co.'s Directory of Beds, Bucks ..., 1876
Biden & Co. Gosport, Hants 1876 Extra Stout Stout 4s Imperial pint
Guinness Dublin 1876 Dublin Stout Stout 6s quart Lincolnshire Chronicle - Friday 22 December 1876, page 1
Guinness Dublin 1876 Dublin Stout Stout 4s Imperial pint Lincolnshire Chronicle - Friday 22 December 1876, page 1
Guinness Dublin 1876 Dublin Stout Stout 3s 6d reputed pint Lincolnshire Chronicle - Friday 22 December 1876, page 1
Guinness Dublin 1879 Extra Stout Stout 4s 6d Imperial pint The British Library
Wm. Younger Edinburgh 1870 Double Strong Strong Ale 5s pint "Street's Indian and Colonial Mercantile Directory for 1870", page xiv
Bass  Burton 1871 Very Strong Ale Strong Ale 4s 9d Imperial pint Edmund Oxborrow price list


4 comments:

Ed said...

You'd better check your figures Ron, they seem to be saying the IPA is the weakest beer! ;-)

Ron Pattinson said...

Ed,

and that couldn't possibly be right, could it?

Anonymous said...

It also shows the IPA was the lowest hopped brew(though not relative to gravity) and that Youngers used a lot of hops in their beer.Yet Roger Protz (I assume he wrote it) in the 2014 Good Beer guide that the Scots used few hops ,"a reflection of a colder climate where hops don't grow"

Ron Pattinson said...

Marquis, indeed. That "too cold for hops" story is the sure sign of a lazy researcher just repeating what everyone else has said before him.