Ind Coope other bottled beers 1950 - 1960

Time to look at the rest of Ind Coope’s bottled beers. Which tell us a little about brewing of the period.

I’ll go through the styles alphabetically because I can’t be arsed to think of anything more clever. Dull old me. Which means we start with Barley Wine. Of which they had two: Arctic Ale and Colne Spring Ale. The former was the descendent of beer really made for Arctic voyages and the other a brand acquired with the purchase of Benskin.

Arctic Ale is pretty strong for the 1950’s, at a little under 8% ABV. But it’s puny compared to its ancestor. These are the vital statistics of the 1875 version, analysed in 1961*:

Present gravity	1053.4º
Original gravity	1126.4º
Alcohol (v/v)	9.65%
Colour (E.B.C.)	156º

Note the massive finishing gravity, which isn’t that much lower than the OG of the 1950’s version. It says much about how British beer had changed since the 19th century.

I was surprised to see that Colne Spring Ale was cheaper, despite being considerably stronger than Arctic Ale. It’s actually not bad value when you consider it has four times the ABV of the weaker Stouts and Brown Ales.

Ind Coope other bottled beers 1950 - 1960
Date	Beer	Style	Price per pint d	Acidity	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	colour
1950	Arctic Ale	Barley Wine	54	0.05	1079.8	1020.1	7.80	74.81%	18 + 40
1951	Arctic Ale	Barley Wine	52.5	0.08	1078.1	1019.1	7.71	75.54%
1952	Arctic Ale	Barley Wine	54	0.07	1080.3	1020.2	7.85	74.84%	21 + 40
1953	Arctic Ale	Barley Wine	54	0.08	1079	1018	7.98	77.22%	18 + 40
1950	Arctic Ale No. 1	Barley Wine		0.10	1079.9	1020.8	7.72	73.97%	40 + 16
1956	Arctic Barley Wine	Barley Wine	54	0.05	1077.1	1019.7	7.49	74.45%	105
1959	Benskins Colne Spring Ale	Barley Wine	47	0.10	1092.8	1009.3	11.08	89.98%	80
1950	Allsopp Nut Brown Ale	Brown Ale	15	0.04	1029.9	1007.7	2.88	74.25%	7.5 + 40
1955	Double Brown Ale	Brown Ale	25	0.04	1047.8	1012.6	4.57	73.64%	45
1950	Nut Brown Ale	Brown Ale		0.06	1029	1009.5	2.52	67.24%	40 + 9
1950	Nut Brown Ale	Brown Ale	18	0.05	1032.3	1008.6	3.07	73.37%	40 + 9
1951	Nut Brown Ale	Brown Ale	18	0.04	1032.6	1007.7	3.23	76.38%	40 + 8
1951	Nut Brown Ale	Brown Ale	19	0.05	1031.9	1008.3	3.06	73.98%	17 + 40
1952	Nut Brown Ale	Brown Ale	19	0.05	1030.9	1011.7	2.48	62.14%	11 + 40
1954	Nut Brown Ale	Brown Ale	19	0.04	1030.7	1009.7	2.72	68.40%	11 + 40
1955	Nut Brown Ale	Brown Ale	22	0.04	1033.6	1011.2	2.90	66.67%	105
1956	Nut Brown Ale	Brown Ale	20	0.04	1032.2	1012.3	2.57	61.80%	90
1959	"Dry Club" Stout	Stout	26	0.02	1038.7	1013.2	3.30	65.89%	240
1950	Allsopp Special Stout	Stout	36	0.05	1034.4	1010.4	3.11	69.77%	1 + 40
1951	Allsopp Special Stout	Stout	24	0.05	1037.8	1011.9	3.35	68.52%
1953	Allsopp Special Stout	Stout	30	0.05	1038.1	1013.4	3.19	64.83%	1 + 11
1959	Allsopp's Sweet Stout	Stout	28		1037.8	1015.4	2.89	59.26%	275
1960	Allsopp's Sweet Stout	Stout	26	0.04	1037.7	1017.3	2.63	54.11%	300
1960	Nourishing Stout	Stout	20	0.04	1031.9	1015	2.18	52.98%	275
1950	Special Stout	Stout		0.05	1035.9	1011.7	3.13	67.41%	1 + 14
1950	Special Stout	Stout	24	0.05	1038.2	1014.9	3.01	60.99%	1 + 14
1951	Special Stout	Stout	24	0.08	1038.3	1013.4	3.22	65.01%	1 + 14
1951	Special Stout	Stout	29	0.07	1037.1	1015.3	2.81	58.76%	1 + 16
1952	Special Stout	Stout	23	0.05	1037.9	1011.5	3.42	69.66%	1 + 11.5
1956	Special Stout	Stout	26	0.04	1038.1	1014.9	2.99	60.89%	250
1956	Sweet Stout (lactose present)	Stout	28	0.05	1038.5	1016.5	2.83	57.14%	250
Source:
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/002.

I’ve not much to say about Nut Brown Ale. Other than that they clearly deliberately made it sweeter after 1952 by dropping the level of attenuation. Oh, and they seem to have upped the gravity a bit when tax fell in 1950.

It’s nice to see a Double Brown, a stronger type of Brown Ale that mostly died out in the 1950’s. This one is a bit weaker than Whitbread’s, which was over 1050º and disappeared in 1955. The colour is quite pale (80 is Dark Mild). So more in the direction of Newcastle Brown.

All that’s left are the Stouts. All two of them. Clearly Special Stout was rechristened Sweet Stout in 1956. Looks like they raised the FG by adding lactose at the same time. Leaving a beer you’d need to drink several gallons of to get any kind of buzz. You can see that the gravity of the Stout was also raised a bit in 1950.

Draught beers next time.





* The Brewer, volume 67, 1961, pages 511 - 513.