Bottled Stout in the 1950's - Standard Stouts 65-70% attenuation

Here we go again with another dull and pointless table. Sell your piece in the first sentence, they advise. I think I’ve achieved that goal admirably.

The sport will be to see if I do ever get to the end. I’d put the chances at around 50-50. There are always new shiny things to distract me. Though in my case the shiny things usually aren’t very shiny. Dusty, more like. I’ve still an absolute stack of 19th-century Lager analyses to harvest. And there’s that Which report on beer from 1960 Boak & Bailey sent me. It’s hard not to get drawn away by that.

Anyway, will I can still be arsed to continue, let’s crack on. I was just about to say how they came from all pars pf the UK when I noticed something: two examples of Mercer’s Stout. Is that the fabled Mercer’s Meat Stout? If it is, it looks remarkably ordinary. Though I guess you wouldn’t spot its potential oddness from the bare stats.

I just spotted something odd: a lot of the FG’s are very similar. 33 of the 47 have an FG between 1014 and 1015.9. Looks like customers expected a certain amount of body in their Stout.

It’s surprising that in these reasonably-attenuated set that there should be four Stouts containing lactose. Five, really. It isn’t mentioned in the Whitbread Gravity Book entry, but Mackeson definitely contained it. Less surprising is that these examples are all towards the bottom of the table.

Despite not really being in tooth-rotting country yet, five have the words “sweet” of “glucose” in their name. Looks to me like sweetness was becoming a selling point for Stout. Quite a change from its 18th-century classification as a beer and hence heavily hopped.

Of this set, Mackeson and Sam Smiths Extra Stout are the only two that still exist. Not such a shock as only Hydes, Sam Smiths and Thwaites are still around.

One final point. How exactly is Mc Ewan’s Stout Imperial at just 3.7% ABV? That’s a Table Beer by 19th-century standards.

Here’s the funny, fun, fun bit. The table:

Bottled Stout in the 1950's - Standard Stouts 65-70% attenuation
Year	Brewer	Beer	Price	size	Acidity	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	colour
1959	Bents	Red Label Stout	12d	half		1048.3	1014.5	4.38	69.98%	250
1950	Hancocks	Export Stout	1/2d	half	0.06	1044.4	1013.4	4.02	69.82%	1 + 18.5
1953	Mercers	Stout	1/1d	half	0.06	1045.7	1013.8	4.13	69.80%	1 + 22
1954	Bernard	Export Stout	1/2d	half	0.04	1043.9	1013.3	3.96	69.70%	1 + 14
1951	Hammerton	Oatmeal Stout	23d	pint	0.06	1047.1	1014.3	4.25	69.64%	1 + 21
1959	Ansell	Newcrest Stout	14d	half		1046	1014	4.15	69.57%	190
1954	Tollemache	Beano Stout	9.5d	half	0.04	1041	1012.6	3.68	69.27%	350
1951	Groves & Whitnall	Red Rose Stout	1/2d	half	0.06	1047.5	1014.6	4.26	69.26%
1951	Hammerton	Oatmeal Stout	16d	half	0.07	1045.6	1014.1	4.08	69.08%
1950	J & T Bernard	Stout (Export)	1/1d	half	0.11	1045.5	1014.1	4.07	69.01%	1 + 10
1959	Stones	Samson Stout	13d	half		1045.7	1014.2	4.08	68.93%	459
1952	Duttons	Mercers Stout	1/1d	half	0.06	1045.3	1014.1	4.04	68.87%	1 + 21
1950	Hydes	Special Stout	1/8d	pint	0.05	1045.5	1014.2	4.05	68.79%	1 + 9
1951	Truman	Black Ben Stout	14.5d	half	0.06	1047.6	1014.9	4.23	68.70%	1 + 9
1954	Ansell	New Best Stout	1/2d	half	0.05	1049.7	1015.7	4.40	68.41%	1 + 9
1954	Meux	Special Stout (no lactose)	10.5d	nip	0.04	1040.2	1012.7	3.56	68.41%	300
1958	Bernard	Export Stout	26d	16 oz	0.05	1046.4	1014.7	3.96	68.32%	225
1959	Sam Smith	Taddy Stout	14d	half		1047.1	1015.1	4.14	67.94%	225
1953	Plymouth Breweries	Oatmeal Stout	1/0.5d	half	0.06	1047.9	1015.4	4.21	67.85%	1 + 15
1953	Stones	Samson Stout	1/0.5d	half	0.05	1046.6	1015	4.09	67.81%	1 + 20
1952	Flowers & Son Ltd	Stout	11d	half	0.07	1044.1	1014.2	3.87	67.80%	1R + 16B
1959	Greenall Whitley	Sterling Stout	14d	half		1046.8	1015.1	4.10	67.74%	225
1959	Thwaites	Cream Stout	13d	half		1044.3	1014.3	3.88	67.72%	225
1952	Wilsons	Wembley Stout	11.5d	half	0.07	1044.3	1014.5	3.86	67.27%	1 + 14
1954	Flowers	Table Stout	1/2d	half	0.04	1046.1	1015.2	4.00	67.03%	325
1953	Brickwoods	Black Bricky	11d	nip	0.14	1045.7	1015.1	3.96	66.96%	1 + 12
1959	Hydes	Special Anvil Stout	12.5d	half		1041.4	1013.7	3.58	66.91%	200
1954	Chesham & Brackley	Raven Stout	1/3d	half	0.04	1047.5	1015.8	4.10	66.74%	475
1956	East Anglian Breweries	Ely Silk Stout	1/2d	half	0.07	1046.2	1015.4	3.98	66.67%	275
1957	Samuel Smith	Sams Extra Stout (lactose absent)	1/2d	half	0.06	1049.8	1016.6	4.30	66.67%	225
1950	McEwan	Imperial Stout	1/1.5d	half	0.06	1043	1014.4	3.70	66.51%	22 B
1959	Workington	John Peel Stout	13d	half		1040.9	1013.7	3.52	66.50%	300
1952	Hope & Anchor	Jubilee Stout	1/2d	half	0.08	1041.7	1014	3.58	66.43%	1R + 11B
1959	Hanson, Julia	Special Stout	15d	half		1044.9	1015.1	3.85	66.37%	225
1950	Hammerton	Oatmeal Stout	10.5d	half	0.06	1040.7	1013.7	3.49	66.34%	1 + 17
1954	Hancocks	M Stout (Lactose present)	1/-	half	0.04	1043	1014.5	3.69	66.28%	350
1959	Marston	Mello Sweet Stout	15d	half		1040.3	1013.6	3.45	66.25%	325
1954	Steel Coulson	Elephant Sweet Stout	1/2.5d	half	0.07	1041.7	1014.1	3.57	66.19%	350
1959	Flowers	Sable Stout	15d	half	0.02	1044.3	1015	3.79	66.14%	250
1959	J & J Bernard	Export Stout	13d	half		1046.2	1015.8	3.93	65.80%	275
1953	Truman	Best Stout (Lactose present)	12d	half	0.06	1044.4	1015.2	3.78	65.77%	1 + 8
1957	Whitbread	Mackeson Stout	1/4d	half	0.06	1046.3	1015.9	3.93	65.66%	250
1954	Hall & woodhouse	Glucose Stout	1/-	half	0.04	1042.7	1014.7	3.62	65.57%	375
1954	Vaux & Co	Sweet Strong Stout	1/2d	half	0.05	1047.6	1016.4	4.03	65.55%	1 + 20
1954	Groves & Whitnall	Red Rose Stout (Lactose present)	1/1d	half	0.06	1048.8	1016.9	4.13	65.37%	300
1954	Cornbrook Brewery Co.	Barley Stout (Lactose present)	1/1d	half	0.04	1047.2	1016.5	3.97	65.04%	300
1952	Atkinsons	Semi Sweet Stout	1/-	half	0.06	1046	1016.1	3.87	65.00%	1R + 16B
Source:
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/001.

I’ve a few more years’ worth of this stuff left. Sadly enough for you.