League table of London Porters in the 1920's

If I'd realised how long this series was going to take to complete, I doubt I'd have started it. Andrew was still wearing nappies back then. Now he can legally drink.

I'm not surprised by the overall results. Porter was a drink just slipping over the edge of the cliff and about to plunge to extinction. It's own logical that a lot of it would be dodgy as falling demand had it sitting around in the cellar too long. Seventeen of the 92 samples (18.5%) were described as sour or going off. That certainly makes it sound like old beer was the problem.

The average scores are easily the worst so far. Fewer than half the breweries - five from eleven - finished above zero. The bottom three all performed dreadfully, Cannon the worst of the bunch averaging -2.56 and without a single good sample. Of the 29 samples from the three bottom-placed breweries only three were sound. You defiinitely wouldn't want to drink Porter in a City of London, Cannon or Hoare pub, The irony is that both City of London and Hoare had made their names in the 18th century as Porter breweries. The average for all Porters was negative, the first time that's happened, except for watery MA.

Whitbread and Watney have again scored well. If you take all the beers so far into account, they're no. 1 and no. 2. Truman and Courage have also acquitted themselves well again, though Mann's performance is somewhat disappointing this time out.

Once again the beer specs are pretty similar across the different breweries: OG 1034 - 1039, 3 - 3.9% ABV, around 70% apparent attenuation. From the relatively high finishing gravities I'd deduce that they were trying to leave some body in the beer.

Here's the main league table:

League table of 1920s London Porters by score
Brewery	FG	OG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	score
Watney	1010.0	1035.0	3.24	71.28%	1.44
Whitbread	1011.9	1034.7	2.95	65.87%	1.33
Truman	1010.5	1037.0	3.43	71.62%	0.67
Lion	1009.6	1037.7	3.64	74.35%	0.63
Courage	1010.9	1037.5	3.45	70.88%	0.22
Mann	1009.2	1038.8	3.83	76.23%	-0.25
Wenlock	1011.3	1034.3	2.97	66.94%	-0.33
Barclay Perkins	1011.6	1037.5	3.35	68.98%	-0.63
Hoare	1010.4	1034.0	3.06	69.38%	-1.56
City of London	1008.9	1036.1	3.54	75.56%	-2
Cannon	1009.6	1034.6	3.25	72.38%	-2.56
average	1010.2	1036.1	3.35	71.60%	-0.42
Source:
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/001

Ordering it by percentage with a good flavour gives pretty much the same result:

League table of 1920s London Porters by good flavour
Brewery	No. examples	no. good flavour	% good flavour	score
Watney	9	8	88.89%	1.44
Truman	9	7	77.78%	0.67
Lion	8	6	75.00%	0.63
Whitbread	3	2	66.67%	1.33
Mann	8	5	62.50%	-0.25
Courage	9	5	55.56%	0.22
Barclay Perkins	8	4	50.00%	-0.63
Wenlock	9	4	44.44%	-0.33
Hoare	9	2	22.22%	-1.56
City of London	11	1	9.09%	-2
Cannon	9	0	0.00%	-2.56
average	92	44	47.83%	0.32
Source:
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/001

Cannon's 100% bad for flavour score is impressive in a perverse way. It makes me almost want to go out and give it a try. To see if it could really always be in such poor condition.

Comparing all the styles so far, Porter is easily last, quite a way behind even MA and well below the average of 0.32.

Averages per beer type
beer type	No. examples	no. bright	% bright	no. good flavour	% good flavour	average score
Burton Average	138	61	44.20%	92	66.67%	0.72
Mild Average	188	112	59.57%	112	59.57%	0.16
X Average	170	104	61.18%	106	62.35%	0.23
MA Average	18	8	44.44%	6	33.33%	-0.18
PA Average	167	85	50.90%	109	65.27%	0.62
8d PA Average	118	62	52.54%	76	64.41%	0.52
9d PA Average	49	23	46.94%	33	67.35%	0.88
Porter	92			44	47.83%	-0.42
Average	585	258	44.10%	357	61.03%	0.32
Source:
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/001

Once again, I'm struck by the fact that the top six breweries all survived until the 1960's, with the exception of Lion. the bottom three all left brewing in the 1920's. That surely can't be a coincidence?