Mann Burton Ale quality 1922 - 1924

I'm sure you're anticipating which breweries will come up in that series. That is, if there's still anyone there. This is turning into an endurance test.

I've a good random newspaper article for you. One that demonstrates the problems brewers had with pub licences.

"Sir Travers Humphreys applied for the transfer of the licence of the Plough Inn, Tye Common, to new premises on the main road at Hutton. The old Plough was at present on what was more or less bye-road. The owners, Messrs. Mann, Crossman, and Paulin had purchased a site not far away on the main road, close to Ellis Farm. The application was made on business lines, the owners hoping to do more trade in the new house. They offered to surrender another licence, that of the Maltster's Arms, Ingrave, if the application was granted. The licensee of the Plough was Mrs. Cole, who would also be the licensee of the new house. - The Chairman: What are the poor devils at Tye Common going to do if you take away their "pub"?  —Sir Travers: The consumers in Tye Common are so few that it is thought they will not miss the old Plough, and the new premises will not be very far away. Sir Travers added that if the Bench thought fit, the owners would erect larger premises than those as at present planned. - The Chairman said the Bench considered the premises should be larger. They would grant the application, subject to fresh plans being submitted and approved at the adjourned Licensing Session. Supt. Wood said he would like to see the premises placed a little further back than planned to prevent a congestion of traffic upon the road in the event of the draw-in being fully occupied."
Chelmsford Chronicle - Friday 04 February 1927, page 8.

This is typical of the hoops a brewery had to jump through to be able to build a new pub. You'll note that not only did they have to transfer the licence from the old Plough, they also had to surrender another licence. Brewers wanted to build pubs in new housing estates had ti turn in two or three existing licences - usually in inner-city areas where there were lots of small pubs - to get one new licence. It's all to do with the licensing authorities obsession of there being too many pubs and wanting to close as many as possible.

The new Plough still exists. Built well back from the road as Supt. Wood had wanted:

Mann scored impressively for the Mild, finishing top with a score of 1.33. Will their Strong Ale do as well?

In terms of specs, it's dead typical. Well, maybe the ABV is a touch higher than average. You must have noticed by now how similar all these Burtons are to each other.

Mann Burton Ale quality 1922 - 1924
Year	Beer	FG	OG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	Appearance	Flavour	score
1922	KK	1010	1048.5	5.01	79.38%	fairly bright	good	2
1922	KK	1010	1050.8	5.28	79.72%	not bright	fair clean palate	1
1922	KK	1010	1050.5	5.28	80.20%	bright	good	2
1922	KK	1013	1057	5.73	77.19%	bright	not good too sweet	-1
1923	KK	1013	1058.7	5.93	77.51%	bright	v good	3
1923	KK	1012	1055.6	5.67	78.24%	bright	good	2
1923	KK	1011	1054.5	5.67	79.82%	hazy	good	2
1923	KK	1010	1051.7	5.41	80.27%	grey	good	2
1923	KK	1012	1054.2	5.47	77.49%	fairly bright	full fairly good	1
1923	KK	1014	1055	5.33	74.55%	brilliant	fair	1
1924	KK	1011	1054.3	5.60	79.19%	fairly bright	fair	1
1924	KK	1013	1055.5	5.50	76.22%	brilliant	too sweet	-1
Average		1012	1053.86	5.49	78.31%			1.25
Source:
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/001

It says something about the general level of clarity when I consider six out of twelve bright to be pretty good. The only two negative scores are for being too sweet. That's not really that bad at all. Five two and one three is pretty impressive. Not quite as good an average score as their Mild, but 1.25 is pretty damn good.

So far Mann's pubs are looking your best bet.