Bottled Stout in the 1950's - Standard Stouts >70% attenuation

You’d best get settled in because this is going to take a while. I’ve made up a whole load of Stout categories and I’ll be slowly crawling through them over the next weeks. Not sure exactly why I’m doing this, other than that I’ve started and I’d like to finish.

I suppose it’s all part of one of my current grand schemes. A close look at British beer and brewing in the period 1945 to 1960. With a particular emphasis of bottled beer and bottling. I know. Really dull stuff. But I see that as a challenge. And if worried about alienating readers, I’d never write anything I really want to.

I’ve arranged the beers in descending order of attenuation. You can see that not only is Guinness Extra Stout No. 1, it also occupies 9 of the top 20  positions. But there’s a fair spread amongst the Guinness examples, from 80.13% to 93.95% apparent attenuation. There are 13 examples from other breweries with a higher degree of attenuation of the least attenuated version of Guinness.

There are several beers that look quite similar to Guinness: Massey, Matthew Brown, Magee Marshall, Chesters, Holts and M & B. Though some do have a lower OG. All but M & B are from the Northwest of England. Is that a coincidence, or were drier Stouts more popular in that part of the country?

Looking more closely, there are almost no Southern breweries in the list. Just these ones: Watney, Hunt Edmunds, Starkey, Knight & Ford, Shrewesbury & Wem, Truman and Flowers. And most of those are towards the bottom end of the list. Not sure what that tells us, but I find it interesting.

Judging by its price, Guinness was a premium product. The average price per pint of the whole set is  26.2d. For Guinness it’s 30.5. But that makes sense, if you think about it. Two breweries – Guinness and the bottling/reselling brewery – both needed to make a profit from it.

I was surprised to see a beer described as a Sweet Stout (Chesters) in this set and one containing lactose (Hydes). Especially as the latter had a 75% rate of attenuation. There can’t have been that much lactose added or the FG would be higher.

I originally had two examples of Mackeson in this set. But I removed them because I’d taken the details from brewing records and they were for the beer as brewed, before the addition of lactose at the end of primary fermentation.

Bottled Stout in the 1950's - Standard Stouts >70% attenuation
Year	Brewer	Beer	Price	size	Acidity	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	colour
1953	Guinness	Extra Stout	1/-	nip	0.18	1046.3	1002.8	5.70	93.95%	1 + 8
1959	Massey	Prize Stout	12.5d	halfpint		1040.8	1004.2	4.78	89.71%	475
1959	Matthew Brown	Lion Oatmeal Stout	13d	halfpint		1040.4	1005.2	4.59	87.13%	150
1954	Guinness	Extra Stout	1/3.5d	half pint	0.05	1047.5	1006.6	5.34	86.11%	200
1954	Magee Marshall	Extra Stout	11d	half pint	0.04	1043.5	1006.4	4.84	85.29%	200
1954	Guinness	Extra Stout	1/2d	half pint	0.05	1047.4	1007.1	5.26	85.02%	1 + 13
1954	Chester Brewery	Extra Stout	1/-	half pint	0.11	1042.7	1006.5	4.72	84.78%	250
1951	Guinness	Extra Stout	1/3d	half pint	0.05	1049.1	1007.5	5.43	84.73%	1 + 8
1952	Guinness	Extra Stout	1/2d	half pint	0.07	1047.4	1007.5	5.20	84.18%	1 + 8
1957	Matthew Brown	Lion Oatmeal Stout	1/-	half pint	0.09	1041.4	1006.7	4.52	83.82%	250
1959	Holt, Joseph	Brown Stout	13.5d	halfpint		1045.2	1007.5	4.91	83.41%	325
1953	Mitchell & Butler	Extra Stout	1/-	half pint	0.05	1049	1008.2	5.32	83.27%	1 + 11
1951	Guinness	Extra Stout	1/3.5d	half pint	0.08	1047.7	1008.1	5.16	83.02%	1 + 8.5
1952	Bent's Brewery	Imperial Stone Stout	11.5d	half pint	0.07	1041.3	1007.1	4.45	82.81%	1R + 8B
1951	Mitchell & Butler	Nourishing Stout	1/5d	pint	0.04	1042.8	1007.4	4.61	82.71%	1 + 10
1951	Mitchell & Butler	Nourishing Stout	1/6d	pint	0.07	1042.1	1007.3	4.53	82.66%	1 + 12
1950	Guinness	Extra Stout	1/11d	pint	0.06	1048.6	1008.6	5.21	82.30%	1 + 8
1957	Guinness	Extra Stout	1/5d	half pint	0.05	1047.3	1008.6	5.04	81.82%	150
1953	Guinness	Extra Stout	1/3.5d	half pint	0.05	1047.4	1008.7	5.04	81.65%	1 + 11
1959	Hey's	White Rose Stout	14d	halfpint		1046.6	1008.7	4.94	81.33%	325
1951	Mitchell & Butler	Extra Stout	10.5d	half pint	0.04	1048	1009	5.08	81.25%	1 + 9
1952	Matthew Brown	Oatmeal Stout	11.5d	half pint	0.07	1041.1	1007.8	4.33	81.02%	1 + 11
1959	Robinson	Unicorn Black Stout	14.5d	halfpint		1041.8	1008.1	4.38	80.62%	240
1954	Watney	Reids Special Stout	12.5d	half pint	0.04	1043.3	1008.5	4.53	80.37%	1 + 15
1951	Courage	Sturdy Extra Stout	12d	half pint	0.05	1043.6	1008.6	4.55	80.28%
1958	Guinness	Extra Stout	1/4.5d	half pint	0.07	1046.3	1009.2	4.83	80.13%	200
1951	Watney	Special Stout	12d	half pint	0.06	1045.3	1009.1	4.71	79.91%	1 + 12
1959	Hewitt Bros.	Oatmeal Stout	10d	halfpint		1042.3	1008.8	4.36	79.20%	300
1954	JW Lees	Archer Stout	1/-	half pint	0.06	1040.7	1008.5	4.19	79.12%	225
1950	Watney	Reids Special Stout	12d	half pint	0.06	1045.9	1009.6	4.72	79.08%	1 + 11
1953	Mitchell & Butler	Extra Stout	1/-	half pint	0.05	1046.2	1009.8	4.74	78.79%	21 B
1950	Watney	Reids Stout	17d	pint	0.06	1042.9	1009.1	4.39	78.79%	1 + 10
1953	Camerons	Sovereign Stout	1/1d	half pint	0.05	1044.3	1009.6	4.51	78.33%	1R + 17B
1957	Watney	Special Stout	13d	half pint	0.05	1042.3	1009.4	4.28	77.78%	200
1951	Hancocks	77 Export Stout	1/2d	half pint	0.06	1045.9	1010.3	4.63	77.56%	1 + 12
1954	Mitchell & Butler	Extra Stout	1/-	half pint	0.05	1049	1011.2	4.92	77.14%	1 + 14
1951	JW Lees	Archer Stout	1/1d	half pint	0.14	1041.7	1009.6	4.17	76.98%
1952	Leicester Brewing & Malting	Milk Stout	1/2.5d	half pint	0.17	1044.2	1010.2	4.42	76.92%	1 + 15.5
1959	Threlfalls	Extra Stout	13d	halfpint		1044.4	1010.5	4.40	76.35%	175
1951	JW Lees	Archer Stout	1/1d	half pint	0.06	1040	1009.5	3.96	76.25%
1953	Stroud Brewery	Cottswold Stout	1/-	half pint	0.06	1043.3	1010.4	4.27	75.98%	1R + 14B
1959	Lion Brewery	Lion Prize Stout	14d	half pint	0.06	1046.3	1011.3	4.38	75.59%	175
1954	Threlfalls	Extra Stout	1/1d	half pint	0.04	1046.9	1011.5	4.60	75.48%	225
1954	Hydes	Special Stout (Lactose present)	1/1d	half pint	0.04	1043.2	1010.9	4.19	74.77%	225
1952	Nimmo	Nimmo's Stout	1/-	half pint	0.05	1045	1011.4	4.36	74.67%	1R + 7B
1952	Mardens	Mylki Extra Stout	1/3d	half pint	0.06	1043.9	1011.2	4.24	74.49%	1R + 1 B
1957	Watney	Reids Special Stout	18d	half pint	0.06	1045.2	1011.8	4.33	73.89%	225
1959	Hunt Edmunds	Country Stout	12d	halfpint		1043.3	1011.7	4.10	72.98%	225
1952	Marston	Extra Stout	1/3d	half pint	0.06	1042.1	1011.4	3.98	72.92%	1R+13.5B
1952	Greenall Whitley	Wilderspool Extra Stout	1/1d	half pint	0.07	1040.4	1011	3.81	72.77%	1 R + 9 B
1959	Ardwick Brewery	Chesters Special Sweet Stout	15d	halfpint	0.04	1045.5	1012.5	4.28	72.53%	200
1954	Mardens	Mylki Stout	1/2d	half pint	0.04	1043.1	1012	4.03	72.16%	250
1950	Stone, Wm.	Samson Stout	1/-	half pint	0.07	1043.1	1012.1	4.02	71.90%	1 + 18
1952	Shrewesbury & Wem	Extra Stout	1/2d	half pint	0.08	1041	1011.8	3.78	71.22%	1R + 18B
1950	Truman	Black Ben Stout	14.5d	half pint	0.07	1048.8	1014.2	4.49	70.90%	1 + 9
1950	Truman	Black Ben Stout	14.5d	half pint	0.07	1049	1014.3	4.50	70.82%	1 + 10
1953	Starkey, Knight & Ford	Super Stout	1/2d	half pint	0.04	1045.9	1013.4	4.21	70.81%	1 + 16
1954	Flowers	Table Stout			0.07	1046.4	1013.6	4.25	70.69%	350
1959	Chesters	Special Sweet Stout	14d	halfpint		1044.6	1013.2	4.07	70.40%	200
1954	Thwaites	Cream Stout	1/1d	half pint	0.04	1044.3	1013.2	4.03	70.20%	200
1959	Cornbrook Brewery	Barley Stout	12.5d	halfpint		1046.3	1013.8	4.21	70.19%	250
1953	Worthington	XX Stout	1/-	half pint	0.05	1040	1012	3.63	70.00%	1R + 16B
Source:
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/001.

What’s next? Standard-strength Stouts with not such good attenuation.