Hoare Pale Ales 1925 - 1934

We've arrived at Hoare's Pale Ales, both bottled and draught.

Let's start with the draught version. It's obviously just one beer and, with a gravity in the mid-1040's, it's an Ordinary Bitter. What Can I really say about this beer? It looks very normal, that's about it.

Hoare Pale Ales 1925 - 1934
Year	Beer	Price	size	package	Acidity	FG	OG	ABV	App. Atten-uation
1925	Toby Ale	5.5d	half	bottled		1011.5	1046.1	4.49	75.05%
1929	Pale Ale	8d	pint	bottled		1013.8	1047	4.30	70.64%
1930	Golden Dinner Ale	7d	pint	bottled		1010.6	1035	3.16	69.71%
1931	Toby Ale		pint	bottled			1044
1931	Toby Ale	10d	pint	bottled		1011	1037	3.37	70.27%
1931	Toby Ale	9d	pint	bottled		1010.8	1040.7	3.88	73.46%
1932	Toby Ale	9d	pint	bottled	0.05	1013.6	1043	3.81	68.37%
1922	PA	8d	pint	draught		1013.8	1047.3	4.34	70.82%
1922	PA	8d	pint	draught		1012	1047	4.54	74.47%
1923	PA	8d	pint	draught		1010.8	1046.3	4.61	76.67%
1923	PA	7d	pint	draught		1012.2	1046.7	4.48	73.88%
1925	PA	7d	pint	draught		1010.6	1047.1	4.75	77.49%
1926	Pale Ale	7d	pint	draught			1044.5
1928	PA	7d	pint	draught		1009.9	1045.5	4.63	78.24%
1929	PA	7d	pint	draught	0.07	1008.4	1046.3	4.94	81.86%
1930	PA	7d	pint	draught		1007.6	1047	5.14	83.83%
1930	PA	7d	pint	draught	0.07	1008.9	1044	4.57	79.77%
1931	PA	7d	pint	draught	0.08	1010.4	1046.5	4.69	77.63%
1931	PA	8d	pint	draught	0.07	1008	1044	4.69	81.82%
1932	PA	8d	pint	draught	0.06	1010.2	1044	4.39	76.82%
1932	Pale Ale	8d	pint	draught			1045.1
1933	PA	7d	pint	draught	0.07	1007.8	1043	4.58	81.86%
1934	Pale Ale	7d	pint	draught			1045.3
Sources:
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/001
Truman Gravity Book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number B/THB/C/252

Here's proof of how typical Hoare's Bitter was. These are some other London Ordinary Bitters:

London Ordinary Bitters
Year	Brewer	Beer	Price per pint	FG	OG	ABV	App. Atten-uation
1923	Barclay Perkins	Pale Ale	7d	1009.4	1045.9	4.75	79.52%
1923	Barclay Perkins	Pale Ale	8d	1007.8	1046.3	5.02	83.15%
1923	Benskin	PA	8d	1010.4	1052.4	5.47	80.15%
1923	Cannon Brewery	PA	8d	1010.3	1045.3	4.55	77.26%
1923	Cannon Brewery	PA	7d	1009.8	1045.8	4.68	78.60%
1923	Charrington	PA	7d	1010.6	1048.1	4.88	77.96%
1923	Charrington	PA	8d	1008	1049.5	5.42	83.84%
1923	City of London	PA	7d	1009.4	1046.9	4.88	79.96%
1923	City of London	PA	8d	1007.8	1048.3	5.28	83.85%
1923	Huggins	PA	7d	1008.2	1046.7	5.02	82.44%
1923	Huggins	PA	8d	1009.4	1046.9	4.88	79.96%
1923	Lion Brewery	PA	8d	1011.2	1046.7	4.61	76.02%
1923	Meux	PA	7d	1008.8	1046.8	4.95	81.20%
1923	Meux	PA	8d	1007.8	1047.3	5.15	83.51%
1923	Truman	PA	7d	1009.6	1046.6	4.81	79.40%
1923	Truman	PA	8d	1008.6	1048.6	5.21	82.30%
1923	Wenlock	Pale Ale	7d	1008.4	1043.9	4.62	80.87%
1923	Wenlock	Pale Ale	8d	1007.2	1047.2	5.22	84.75%
1923	Whitbread	PA		1013.0	1046.4	4.42	71.98%
Average				1009.2	1047.1	4.94	80.35%
Sources:
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/001
Whitbread brewing record held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/01/088

Maybe Hoare's had a slightly lower than average OG, but otherwise it looks very similar.  Which shouldn't really be that much of a surprise. London brewers kept a pretty close eye on their competitors.

Moving on to the bottled Pale Ales, the first two from 1925 and 1929 look like the same beer as the draught version. Golden Dinner I guess could be more accurately described as a Light Ale. One interesting point is that the FG of the bottles versions are generally higher. No idea why that might be, unless it's due to secondary fermentation in the cask version.

That was a bit tabletastic. We've still a couple of more sets to go: Mild, Burton and Brown Ale. So much fun, so little time.

Hoare bottled Stout 1828 - 1934

And here they are, the bottled Stouts of Hoare and Co. What a confusing bunch they are.

Why confusing? Because the gravities are all over the shop.  I think what we a re looking at is more than one brand.

Before 1931 none of the beers is a version of their draught Stout because the OG's are all too low. After 1931, the ones hovering around 1040 could well be as, if you remember from the last part, that was about the OG of draught Stout.

Judging by its (low) gravity, Oatmeal Stout was definitely a different beer from the others. Not just the standard Stout with a token amount of oats in it packaged up differently. That was the case at both Whitbread and Barclay Perkins.

There's one feature all of these beers share: a relatively low degree of attenuation. In the case of the last Oatmeal Stout, very low. How ironic that Family Stout is the only one over 4% ABV.

Hoare bottled Stout 1828 - 1934
Year	Beer	Price	size	Acidity	FG	OG	ABV	App. Atten-uation
1928	Stout	8d	pint			1047.3
1929	Stout	7d	pint		1012.4	1038	3.31	67.37%
1930	Toby Stout	8d	pint		1013.6	1042	3.67	67.62%
1931	Oatmeal Stout		pint			1036
1931	Toby Stout		pint		1016	1044.4	3.67	63.96%
1931	Stout	9d	pint			1041.6
1931	Stout	9d	pint			1036.4
1932	Stout	9d	pint	0.06	1013.4	1039	3.31	65.64%
1932	Stout	8d	pint			1033.8
1932	Stout	9d	pint			1039.3
1933	Family Stout		pint	0.06	1014.9	1047.7	4.25	68.76%
1933	Oatmeal Stout	9d	pint	0.05	1015	1032	2.19	53.13%
1933	Stout	8d	pint			1035.2
1933	Stout	9d	pint			1041.9
1934	Stout	8d	pint			1044.6
Sources:
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/001
Truman Gravity Book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number B/THB/C/252

Next time we'll be looking at Hoare's Pale Ales.

King's Day

Yesterday was the first ever Koningsdag. Since they started having a national holiday for the monarch's birthday, there have only been queens. Until this year.

I used to hate  the day. Back whe I was daft enough to go into the centre of town. It's a nightmare for someone who hates crowds of people as much as me. Being honest, I'm not that keen on people in general. After we had kids, my opinion changed.

One of the main featues of the day is the vrij markt (free market). Everyone is allowed to do a bit of street trading, wherever they can find a free spot. With one exception: only under-16's are allowed to sell stuff in Vondel Park. Dead handy during my periodic bouts of unemployment, because what they're flogging is often dead cheap kids' clothes. And a couple of years we made a few bob with a stall our own.

No need for that this year, me still being in full-time employment. (I don't mean the beer writing thing. When I started adding up the hours I spend on that, I realised I have two full-time jobs.) But Lexie did set up on the square to sell a few bits and bobs. He made 20-odd euros, which he was pretty pleased with. I only took half as my dad cut.

I used to on the hunt for beer glasses. Ten years ago, I could always find old fluted Belgian Pils glasses or hadled half litre mugs from random German breweries. But the supply had dried up. Now it's mostly dull modern Heineken glasses. So I don't bother looking any more. But Dolores does on her annual search for bargains.

Now it's what I call "drinking glasses" that she finds. Glasses to be used rather than for display. She picked up Duvel tulip and a Corsendonk glass yesterday. Handy back up for the Leffe glass I usually use. That was a Koniginnendag buy, too.

Rice in German beer

Rice in German beer, eh? It didn't end with the introduction of the Reinheitsgebot to the whole country in 1906.

The quotes below come from a report on the German brewing industry produced by the British Intelligence Objectives Sub-Committee in 1946 which was reproduced in a recent issue of Brewery History. A group of British brewers went and had a nose around various German breweries and maltsters.

Schultheiss-Patzenhofer Brauerei, Berlin.
"Export beers were pasteurised and had for all practical purposes an indefinite life in bottle. In an effort to eliminate, ad far as possible, non-biological haze, the grst for export beers contained up to 20% of rice, of, alternatively, 20% of rice and 5% of maize."
Brewery History, Number 156, 2013, page 68.

Bavaria und St. Pauli Brauerei, Hamburg
"Export beers were brewed by the three mash system with an open boil for 2.5 hours. When available, 5 to 7% of rice  was added to the grist for export beers. At a later stage export beers were also primed."
Brewery History, Number 156, 2013, page 73.

Bill Brauerei, Hamburg
"For their export beers they used anything up to 20% of rice in the grist, and used, as far as possible, a low nitrogen barley of Moravian origin for the malt. The malt and rice were mashed separately, the rice being added to the mash after the albumin rest - i.e. the first stage."
Brewery History, Number 156, 2013, page 76.

I knew German brewers didn't have to stick to the Reinheitsgebot for export beers - other than in Bavaria - but I didn't realise rice was so popular. It looks like the practice was pretty common in Northern Germany.

Even though the report was written in 1946, it must be referring to pre-war practice as no beer was being exported just after the war. In fact not much was being brewed at all, other than for the occupying forces. What beer was brewed for the civilian population was just 2º Plato.

Hoare draught Stout 1870 - 1933

Here, as threatened, is my second instalment on Hoare's beers. This time it's the turn of draught Stout.

Which was, along with Porter, their original specialisation. This time I've split it into two parts, one for draught versions the other for bottled. You'll see why that makes so much sense when you've looked at the tables.

I'll start with the three examples from 1870. They come courtesy of the British Medical Journal. I can make a decent stab at what they were sold as. In ascending order of strength: Stout, Double Stout and Treble (or Imperial) Stout. Don't believe me? Well here are Truman's equivalents from the very same year:

Stout	1070.1
Double Stout	1079.5
Imperial	1083.7
Source:
Truman brewing record held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number B/THB/C/072.

It's very strange what happens in the 1930's. At the beginning of the 1920's, it's very much what you would expect: 9d a pint and a gravity in the mid-1050's. (If you're wondering, Guinness Extra Stout was 1055 in the 1920's.) Then after 1923 the price drops to 8d a pint. Now I understand why the gravity would drop in 1931: Snowden's emergency budget that raised beer duty from 80 shillings a standard barrel to 114 shillings.

Hoare draught Stout 1870 - 1933
Year	Beer	Price	size	Acidity	FG	OG	ABV	App. Atten-uation
1870	Stout			0.23	1025.9	1090.9	8.29	71.49%
1870	Stout			0.20	1014	1068.1	6.96	79.43%
1870	Stout	3.5d	pint	0.22	1014.5	1078.4	7.81	81.50%
1921	Stout	9d	pint		1023.2	1054	3.97	57.04%
1922	Stout	9d	pint		1020.8	1056.8	4.65	63.38%
1922	Stout	9d	pint		1018.7	1054.2	4.59	65.50%
1923	Stout	9d	pint		1020.4	1055.4	4.52	63.18%
1923	Stout	8d	pint		1017.4	1054.4	4.79	68.01%
1923	Stout	8d	pint		1017.5	1050.5	4.27	65.35%
1925	Stout	8d	pint		1013.2	1052.7	5.13	74.95%
1928	Stout	7d	pint		1013.6	1046.6	4.28	70.82%
1928	Stout	7d	pint		1012.6	1053	5.26	76.24%
1929	Stout	8d	pint	0.12	1010.9	1052.1	5.37	79.08%
1929	Stout	8d	pint	0.09	1018	1056.2	4.95	67.97%
1930	Stout	8d	pint		1022.6	1055	4.18	58.91%
1930	Stout	8d	pint	0.08	1013.9	1053	5.08	73.77%
1930	Stout	8d	pint		1019.2	1047	3.58	59.15%
1930	Stout	8d	pint		1015.2	1050	4.51	69.60%
1930	Stout	7d	pint			1048.2
1931	Stout	8d	pint	0.06	1016.5	1044.8	3.66	63.17%
1931	Stout	8d	pint	0.14	1012.6	1054.2	5.41	76.75%
1931	Stout	8d	pint		1015.2	1041	3.33	62.93%
1931	Stout	8d	pint			1038.3
1932	Stout	8d	pint	0.07	1015	1041	3.36	63.41%
1932	Stout	8d	pint	0.06	1012	1042	3.89	71.43%
1932	Stout	8d	pint			1039.1
1932	Stout	8d	pint			1042.4
1933	Stout	8d	pint	0.11	1013.8	1042.2	3.67	67.30%
Sources:
British Medical Journal June 25th 1870, page 658.
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/001
Truman Gravity Book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number B/THB/C/252

The gravity of Stout prior to the budget makes working its effect a piece of piss. Because averaging around 1055, it was standard gravity (a standard barrel was 36 gallons of beer with an OG of 1055). Which means the tax on a barrel of Stout increased by 34 shillings. Or 11.33d per gallon. That's near as dammit 1.5d per pint.

What most breweries in London did was to cut the gravity of their draught Stout to 1047 and increase the price from 8d to 9d. Here are some examples:

London draught Stouts
Date	Brewer	Beer	Price	size	OG
1931	Barclay Perkins	Stout	9d	pint	1050.9
1931	Barclay Perkins	Stout	9d	pint	1049.6
1931	Charrington	Stout	9d	pint	1049.3
1931	Charrington	Stout	9d	pint	1043
1931	Courage	Stout	8d	pint	1047.6
1931	Courage	Stout	8d	pint	1046.9
1931	Mann Crossman	Stout	9d	pint	1046.3
1931	Mann Crossman	Stout	9d	pint	1046.8
1931	Taylor Walker	Stout	8d	pint	1049.5
1931	Taylor Walker	Stout	9d	pint	1046.9
1931	Truman	Stout	8d	pint	1044.3
1931	Truman	Stout	8d	pint	1048.8
1931	Watney	Stout	8d	pint	1047.8
1931	Watney	Stout	8d	pint	1043.3
1931	Wenlock	Stout	8d	pint	1046.7
1931	Wenlock	Stout	8d	pint	1045.6
1931	Whitbread	LS	8d	pint	1045.3
Average					1047
Sources:
Truman Gravity Book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number B/THB/C/252
Whitbread brewing record held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document numberLMA/4453/D/09/124

That gravity cut and price increase makes sense when you look at the tax paid: per bulk barrel at the rate of  114 shillings per barrel:

OG	tax per barrel (shillings)
1041	85.0
1039	80.8
1047	97.4

At 1047, about 17.5 shillings more tax was due, which is about 6d per gallon or 0.75d per pint.

The table tells you what Hoare did: they dropped the gravity so much that the tax die was about the same as before the budget, namely 80 shillings per barrel. I guess most breweries thought that was just too drastic. I agree with them. A gravity of 1040-ish is just too low for a Stout.