Dry Irish Stout

I stumbled across a recent article in All About beer called "The Evolution of Dry Stout" by K. Florian Klemp.

I've seen worse articles on the history of Stout. But it pepetuates a particularly annoying myth. That at the start of the 20th century English Stout all went sweet. Sorry, two annoying myths. Also that Guinness has been highly attenuated and dry since the 1800's.

Here's what the article says:

"This is where the Dublin and London stouts diverged over the next few decades, according to some observers. Dublin stout, using the Guinness template, came to mean a marginally drier version, made only with pale and patent malt. The attenuation was largely due to the exclusion of less fermentable amber and brown malts. London stout, truer to precursors, used pale and brown malts, but often a bit of the newly minted patent malt and perhaps amber and crystal malt. Some brewers eschewed the patent malt altogether, relying on the traditional brown malt. Irish brewers often “gyled” theirs with a dose of lively, fermenting beer for conditioning. These ubiquitous, high-quality Irish and English porters and stouts became dominant beers of the 19th century."
http://allaboutbeer.com/article/evolution-dry-stout/

And this:

"By the early 20th century, porter had essentially run its course in England and was replaced by stout as the dark beer of choice. Along the way, stout had also lost its meaning as a strong beer, but simply a black beer chiefly brewed in England and Ireland. The dry stouts contrasted greatly with sweet milk stouts favored at the turn of century. Sweet stouts became England’s preferred roasty beer, leaving Ireland chief domain of the dry version."
http://allaboutbeer.com/article/evolution-dry-stout/

Pretty clear restating of those myths.

I was going to write a complicated article, comparing Guinness of various periods with English Stouts. Then I thought "bugger that". I'll just let the numbers speak for themselves. Here they are:

Stout in 1921
Brewer	Beer	Price	size	package	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation
Barclay Perkins	Stout		pint	bottled	1061	1016.8	5.74	72.46%
Bass	Export Stout (purchased in France)		pint	bottled	1079.5	1025.2	7.06	68.30%
Bass	Export Stout (purchased in Brussels)		pint	bottled	1093.5	1036	7.45	61.50%
Brown (Coldstream Brewery)	Stout		pint	bottled	1050.8	1016	4.51	68.50%
Cannon Brewery	Stout	8d	pint	draught	1047.7	1014.7	4.27	69.18%
Cannon Brewery	Stout	8d	pint	draught	1048	1014	4.41	70.83%
Cannon Brewery	Stout	12d	pint	draught	1066	1024	5.43	63.64%
Cannon Brewery	Stout	8d	pint	draught	1035.5	1009.7	3.34	72.68%
Cannon Brewery	Stout	12d	pint	draught	1066.8	1026.7	5.18	60.03%
Charrington	Anchor Stout	15d	quart	bottled	1039.4	1011.6	3.60	70.56%
Charrington	Anchor Stout	15d	pint	bottled	1039.3	1011	3.67	72.01%
Charrington	Stout	9d	pint	draught	1052.2	1017.3	4.52	66.86%
City of London	Stout	8d	pint	draught	1046.5	1017	3.81	63.44%
City of London	Stout	8d	pint	draught	1045.1	1013.7	4.07	69.62%
Courage	Stout	8d	pint	draught	1047.7	1013.8	4.40	71.07%
Courage	Stout				1043.8	1009.97	4.47	77.22%
Fremlin	Oatmeal Stout	8.5d	pint	bottled	1044	1005.8	4.99	86.82%
Fremlin	Light Dinner Stout	7d	pint	bottled	1031	1004.5	3.45	85.48%
Fremlin	Light Dinner Stout	13d	quart	bottled	1030.3	1005.2	3.26	82.84%
Fremlin	Light Oatmeal Stout	15d	quart	bottled	1035.7	1005.4	3.94	84.87%
Guinness	Extra Stout	9d	pint	draught	1054.8	1015.8	5.06	71.17%
Guinness	Extra Stout		pint	bottled	1059	1020	5.05	66.10%
Hammerton	Oatmeal Stout	17d	quart	bottled	1046.5	1014.1	4.20	69.68%
Hammerton	V.C.Stout	13d	quart	bottled	1034.1	1003.3	4.02	90.32%
Hammerton	Oatmeal Stout	9d	pint	bottled	1046.8	1011.5	4.59	75.43%
Hammerton	Stout	8d	pint	draught	1045.3	1013.8	4.08	69.54%
Hoare	Stout	9d	pint	draught	1054	1023.2	3.97	57.04%
Huggins	Stout	9d	pint	draught	1056.5	1017.3	5.08	69.38%
Ind Coope	Nourishing Stout	11d	pint	bottled	1048.6	1009.1	5.15	81.28%
Isleworth	Stout	15d	quart	bottled	1039.9	1012.8	3.51	67.92%
Isleworth	Stout	8d	pint	bottled	1039.9	1003.5	4.75	91.23%
Lion Brewery	Stout	8d	pint	draught	1047.2	1013	4.44	72.46%
Mann Crossman	London Stout	17d	quart	bottled	1040.4	1009.8	3.97	75.74%
Mann Crossman	Oatmeal Stout	11d	pint	bottled	1053.8	1009.5	5.78	82.34%
Mann Crossman	London Stout	9d	pint	bottled	1041	1009	4.16	78.05%
Mann Crossman	Oatmeal Stout			bottled	1053.6	1008.7	5.86	83.77%
Mann Crossman	Stout	9d	pint	draught	1053.8	1009.6	5.77	82.16%
Mann Crossman	Stout	9d	pint	draught	1055.7	1015.2	5.26	72.71%
Meux	Original London Stout	8.5d	half pint	bottled	1066.1	1014.3	6.76	78.37%
Meux	Brown London Stout	17d	quart	bottled	1042.5	1010.3	4.18	75.76%
Noakes	Stout	7d	pint	draught	1039.4	1018.1	2.74	54.06%
Peter Walker	Double Stout	13d	pint	bottled	1047.1	1008.9	4.98	81.10%
Raggett	Nourishing Stout	13d	pint	bottled	1055.1	1016.5	5.01	70.05%
Simonds	Milk Stout	13d	pint	bottled	1064.8	1019.3	5.91	70.22%
Smith Garrett	Oatmeal Stout	13d	quart	bottled	1038.5	1010.4	3.64	72.99%
Smith Garrett	Brown Stout	13d	quart	bottled	1038.4	1008.8	3.84	77.08%
Smith Garrett	Oatmeal Stout	7.5d	pint	bottled	1038.3	1009	3.80	76.50%
Smith Garrett	Brown Stout	13d	quart	bottled	1038.4	1009.2	3.79	76.04%
Style & Winch	Oatmeal Stout	13d	quart	bottled	1032.9	1009.3	3.06	71.73%
Taylor Walker	Nourishing Stout	15d	quart	bottled	1038.8	1010.8	3.63	72.16%
Taylor Walker	Nourishing Stout	8d	pint	bottled	1039.9	1013.8	3.37	65.41%
Taylor Walker	Stout	9d	pint	draught	1059.3	1021.8	4.85	63.24%
Taylor Walker	Stout	9d	pint	draught	1059	1023.2	4.62	60.68%
Tollemache	Tolly Stout	11d	pint	bottled	1061.1	1011.8	6.44	80.69%
Tollemache	Double Stout	8d	pint	bottled	1039.6	1009	3.97	77.27%
Truman	Family Stout	19d	pint	bottled	1048.4	1014.2	4.43	70.66%
Truman	Stout	8d	pint	draught	1046.5	1013.1	4.33	71.83%
Truman	Stout	8d	pint	draught	1045.8	1016.6	3.77	63.76%
Watney	Reids Family Stout	9d	pint	bottled	1045	1010.7	4.46	76.22%
Watney	Family Stout	17d	quart	bottled	1046.3	1012.5	4.39	73.00%
Watney	Special Stout	13d	pint	bottled	1059	1016.2	5.56	72.54%
Watney	Reids Oatmeal Stout	9d	pint	bottled	1045.5	1009.7	4.66	78.68%
Watney	Stout	9d	pint	draught	1053.4	1014.8	5.01	72.28%
Watney	Stout	9d	pint	draught	1054.5	1014.4	5.21	73.58%
Watney	Stout	9d	pint	draught	1045.7	1009.8	4.67	78.56%
Whitbread	Stout	9d	pint	draught	1056.4	1020.4	4.65	63.83%
Whitbread	Stout	9d	pint	draught	1056.4	1015.6	5.30	72.34%
Average					1048.9	1013.6	4.59	72.91%
Sources:
Courage brewing record held at the London Metropolitan Archives document number ACC/2305/08/251
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/001.
Thomas Usher Gravity Book document TU/6/11

Tha apparent attenuation of the two samples of Guinness Extra Stout are 71.17% and 66.10%. Less than average of 72.91%. Of the 65 English Stouts, only 26 have a lower degree of attentuation than the most highly attenuated Guinness. 12 English Stouts have attenutaion greater than 80%., 2 more than 90%.

Draw you own conclusions. I'm off to drink a Guinness Special Export.