Courage Porter and Stout 1920 - 1928 (part one)

No, I hadn't forgotten about this series. Just got distracted by all sorts of other crap.

Let's start with the Porter. I've just been checking the strength of London Porter in the 1920's. There's a surprising degree of variation. At the bottom is Whitbread Porter, with a pathetic gravity of just 1028º. At the top is Mann, at 1041º. Most are between 1035º and 1038º, which puts Courage Porter at the weak end.

The degree of attenuation is pretty typical. Most of the other breweries' versions are between 70 and 75% apparent attenuation.

That's fairly decent hopping, around 1 lb per barrel, for a beer of this gravity. It's about the same as Whitbread's but 50% more than Barclay Perkins'. I'm sure that you're glad to hear that.

Courage's was a 7d Stout (8d until 1923). That is, a pint  on draught cost that much in a public bar. Most London Stouts were 1d a pint dearer and had gravities between 1050º and 1055º. Wenlock was one of the few other 7d Stouts and that also had a gravity around 1045º. There were plenty of bottled Stouts in the 1040's, especially the cheaper ones sold in quart bottles. Some were even under 1040º

Not sure why Double Stout suddenly became just plain Stout. Maybe they realised it was a bit of a cheek calling something of such a modest gravity double. Or perhaps it was just that, with only one Stout in their lineup, qualification of the name wasn't needed.

Courage Porter and Stout 1920 - 1928
Year	Beer	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	lbs hops/ qtr	hops lb/brl	boil time (hours)	boil time (hours)	boil time (hours)	Pitch temp
1920	Double Stout	1043.8	1011.6	4.25	73.42%	7.37	1.62	1.5	1.5	1	62º
1920	Stout	1047.4	1015.0	4.29	68.42%	5.09	1.18	1.75	1.75	1	62º
1921	Stout	1043.8	1010.0	4.47	77.22%	7.14	1.56	1.5	1.5	1	61.5º
1923	Stout	1043.8	1011.4	4.29	74.05%	7.54	1.58	1.5	1.5	1	60.5º
1926	Stout	1045.4				7.34	1.36	1.5	1.5	1	62º
1927	Stout	1045.4				7.17	1.33	1.5	1.5		º
1928	Stout	1046.5				7.71	1.37	1.5	1.5	1	61.25º
1920	Porter	1029.6	1007.2	2.97	75.70%	7.12	1.07	1.5	1.5	1	61º
1921	Porter	1029.6	1007.2	2.97	75.70%	7.14	1.05	1.5	1.5	1	61º
1922	Porter	1032.7	1008.9	3.15	72.88%	6.79	1.15	1.5	1.5	1	60º
1922	Porter	1032.7	1008.3	3.22	74.58%	8.56	1.17	1.5	1.5	1	61º
1923	Porter	1032.7	1008.3	3.22	74.58%	8.29	1.18	1.5	1.5	1	60º
1926	Porter	1032.7				7.50	1.01	1.5	1.5	1	61.5º
1926	Porter	1032.7				7.34	0.98	1.5	1.5	1	61.5º
1927	Porter	1032.7				7.17	0.96	1.5	1.5		º
1928	Porter	1032.7				7.71	0.96	1.5	1.5	1	63º
Source:
Courage brewing records held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document numbers ACC/2305/08/251, ACC/2305/08/253, ACC/2305/08/255 and ACC/2305/08/256.

Next time wwe'll be looking at the grists.