Bottled Stout in the 1950's - Standard Stouts 60-65% attenuation

The biggest surprise is that I’m still rambling across the moorland of 1950’s Stout. Surely I must eventually come across a pub?

As we gradually move our way down the attenuation scale, you’ll see the FGs rise and ABVs fall. Which is only logical. Though we’ve still got a way to go down that particular road.

There’s a considerable variation in price, not always that directly related to strength. The cheapest, Greenall’s Oatmeal Stout was just 21d – 8.75p in modern money – while the dearest, Mackeson cost 32d (13.33p). That’s almost 50% more, despite there being little difference in ABV. AAs  national, heavily-advertised brand, it shouldn’t be a surprise that Mackeson demanded a premium price. The same seems to be true to a lesser extent of Charrington’s Punch Stout.

Just 5 of the 48 examples have the word “sweet” or “glucose” in their name. Almost as many, 4, are Oatmeal Stouts. More surprisingly, there are two Oyster Stouts. How modern.

There’s a reason why there are four analyses of Jubilee Stout. It was another widely available Stout which Whitbread presumably saw as a rival to their own Mackeson brand. A beer which was incredibly important for the company in the 1950’s.

There’s a very good geographical spread of breweries, from Scotland down to Southwest England, with pretty much every region inbetween represented. Including my hometown of Newark-on-Trent, in the form of Holes Castle Stout.

I can’t think of anything else to say. So here’s the table.

Bottled Stout in the 1950's - Standard Stouts 60-65% attenuation
Year	Brewer	Beer	Price per pint d	Acidity	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	colour
1953	Davenport	Celebration Stout	22	0.06	1041.9	1014.7	3.52	64.92%	1 + 17
1953	Hunt Edmunds	Country Stout	26	0.06	1043.8	1015.4	3.67	64.84%	1 + 15
1950	Castletown	Manx Oyster Stout	26	0.07	1043.7	1015.4	3.66	64.76%	1 + 17
1953	Young & Son	Victory Oyster Stout	26	0.05	1046.5	1016.4	3.89	64.73%	1R + 17B
1959	Vaux	Red Label Stout	28		1043.9	1015.5	3.67	64.69%	300
1957	Boddingtons	Extra Stout (lactose absent)	28	0.04	1043.9	1015.6	3.66	64.46%	250
1951	Hope & Anchor	Jubilee Stout	28	0.04	1041.7	1014.9	3.46	64.27%
1953	Samuel Smith	Sams Stout	22	0.11	1043.9	1015.7	3.64	64.24%	1 + 11
1952	Hammerton	Oatmeal Stout	29	0.07	1047.2	1017	3.90	63.98%	1 + 18.5
1959	Nimmo	Nimmo's Stout	28		1048.2	1017.4	3.98	63.90%	300
1954	Bent's	Red Label Stout	26	0.04	1049.2	1017.8	4.06	63.82%	300
1959	Plymouth Breweries	Imperial Brown Stout	26		1045.1	1016.4	3.71	63.64%	350
1954	Charrington	Punch Stout	30	0.04	1047.5	1017.3	3.90	63.58%	1 + 18
1955	Devenish	Double Weymouth Sweet Stout	28	0.06	1042.8	1015.6	3.51	63.55%	400
1959	Devenish	Devenish	28		1042.2	1015.4	3.46	63.51%	350
1953	James Hole & Co	Castle Stout	24	0.06	1041	1015	3.36	63.41%	1R + 17B
1951	Birkenhead Brewery	BB Stout	26	0.11	1046.6	1017.1	3.81	63.30%
1952	Hope & Anchor	Jubilee Stout	28	0.06	1040.5	1014.9	3.31	63.21%	1 + 11.5
1957	Charrington	Punch Stout	30	0.04	1047.2	1017.4	3.85	63.14%	270
1959	Flowers	Table Stout	30		1043.3	1016	3.53	63.05%	250
1952	Hope & Anchor	Jubilee Stout	26	0.05	1040.6	1015.1	3.29	62.81%	1 + 10
1950	Hope & Anchor	Jubilee Stout	26	0.05	1040	1014.9	3.24	62.75%	1 + 11
1952	Groves & Whitnall	Red Rose Stout	26	0.07	1047.9	1017.9	3.87	62.63%	1 + 12
1951	Truman	Best Stout	22	0.06	1040.9	1015.3	3.31	62.59%	1 + 16
1951	Hammerton	Oatmeal Stout	23	0.07	1046.8	1017.6	3.77	62.39%	1 + 22
1950	M???? Manchester	Stout	24	0.06	1044.1	1016.6	3.55	62.36%	1 + 13
1951	Greenalls	Oatmeal Stout	21	0.05	1042.7	1016.1	3.43	62.30%
1950	H???? Manchester	M. Stout (HMS)	25	0.06	1047.2	1017.8	3.80	62.29%	1 + 14
1954	Plymouth Breweries	Brown Imperial Stout	25	0.04	1048.6	1018.5	3.89	61.93%	375
1952	Atkinsons	Punch Stout	24	0.05	1045.3	1017.3	3.61	61.81%	1R + 11B
1959	Joule	Royal Stout	28		1047.1	1018	3.76	61.78%	250
1959	Wrekin	MS Stout	28		1042.3	1016.2	3.37	61.70%	250
1953	Georges	Glucose Stout	28	0.06	1045.5	1017.6	3.60	61.32%	1 + 11
1959	Whitbread	Mackeson Stout	32		1046	1017.8	3.64	61.30%	400
1954	Calder	Scotch Stout	28	0.04	1040.9	1015.9	3.23	61.12%	1 + 14
1959	Boddingtons	Extra Stout	24		1043.8	1017.1	3.45	60.96%	325
1953	Charrington	Punch Stout	30	0.05	1047.8	1018.7	3.76	60.88%	1 + 15
1956	Deuchar R	Edinburgh Sweet Stout	30	0.04	1042.9	1016.8	3.37	60.84%	300
1954	Wilsons	Wembly Extra Stout	26	0.04	1044.3	1017.4	3.47	60.72%	325
1953	John Joule	Royal Stout	28	0.05	1046.3	1018.2	3.63	60.69%	1 + 16
1953	Camerons	Sovereign Stout	28	0.06	1047.3	1018.6	3.70	60.68%	1 + 15
1959	Butler, Wm	Black Satin Sweet Stout	29		1042.2	1016.6	3.30	60.66%	300
1959	Groves & Whitnall	Red Roses Stout	25		1047.5	1018.7	3.72	60.63%	250
1954	Whitworth Son & Nephew	Sweet Stout	28	0.04	1044.7	1017.6	3.50	60.63%	375
1954	Plymouth Breweries	Oatmeal Stout	25	0.04	1048.7	1019.2	3.81	60.57%	400
1959	Taylor Walker	Cannon Stout	29	0.04	1045.8	1018.1	3.57	60.48%	425
1952	Wilsons	Extra Stout	23	0.05	1043.7	1017.4	3.39	60.18%	1R + 16B
1954	Truman	Best Stout	24	0.04	1044	1017.6	3.41	60.00%	1 + 10
	Average		26.54	0.05	1044.7	1016.8	3.60	62.46%
Source:
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/002.