Lager in 1960

Here we finally are. At the final part of this series I started several decades ago. Or so it seems.

For Lager, 1960 is a significant year. It’s when the style started to take off in terms of popularity and a large number of brewers started brewing one around this time. And not just national brewers. Regional and even local brewers got in on the act. Of course, most of the Lagers from smaller brewers are long gone. They weren’t able to compete with the advertising budgets of the big boys.

There are rather more survivors from this Which? set than for other styles. Four of the seven brands still exist. Only the Barclay’s and Charrington’s Pilsners  have bitten the dust. The percentage of survivors was much lower for all the other styles.

Lager = shit value. I learned that when I was 15 and sensibly opted for the most cost-efficient of beers: Mild. Piss and taking are two words that come to mind with Lager pricing.  Three bob a pint for something either Mild or Ordinary Bitter strength. With just a few pence from a paper round, Mild made sense.

I split the non-Which analyses because there were beers clearly in a different class. All are genuine imports. And all look as if they’re the original strength. A good bit stronger than most that were brewed in Britain. But not that much more expensive. Leaving, bizarrely, the stronger imports better value than the watery locally-brewed Lagers. Looks like imports set price expectations and British brewers followed.

Backing up to buck banging, draught kicks bottled’s arse, dry styles empty their bladders on the faces of those sweet bastards.

I feel vindicated. Half of Bass and a bottle of White Shield was my London indulgence. Classy, boozy and surprisingly good value.

Average price per % ABV
Style	Which?	mine
Mild	3.87	3.73
Draught Bitter	4.21	4.22
Draught IPA		4.56
Bottled IPA	5.45	6.28
Light Ale	6.56	6.58
Bottled Pale Ale	6.59	6.75
Brown Ale	7.05	6.76
Not so sweet Stout	6.01	7.13
Strong Ale	5.11	7.58
Sweet Stout	9.05	9.57
Lager	10	10.7
Strong Lager		8.1

Lager in 1960
Brewer	Beer	Price per pint d	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	Index of Hop Bitter	price per % ABV
Ind Coope	Graham's Skol	32	1034.4	1007.45	3.50	78.34%	21	9.15
Charrington	Pilsner Lager	32	1036.0	1008.3	3.60	76.94%	32	8.90
Tuborg	Denmark Pilsener	34	1031.1	1005.7	3.30	81.67%	31	10.30
Courage & Barclay	Barclays Pilsner Lager	34	1034.8	1007.8	3.50	77.59%	26	9.70
Courage & Barclay	Barclays Pilsner Lager	36	1035.6	1007.85	3.60	77.95%	25	9.99
Tennent	Tennent's Lager	36	1036.3	1008.55	3.60	76.45%	20	10.00
Carlsberg	Danish Pilsner	36	1031.2	1008.05	3.00	74.20%	23	12.00
Average		34.3	1034.2	1007.7	3.44	77.59%	25.4	10.0
Source:
Which Beer Report, 1960, pages 171 - 173.

Lager in 1959 - 1960
Brewer	Beer	Price per pint d	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	colour	price per % ABV
St. Pauli, Hamburg	B.B. Lager		1030.7	1010.3	2.64	66.45%	7
Tuborg	Tuborg Lager	42	1030.7	1005.8	3.23	81.11%	13	12.99
NV Bierbrouwerij "De Wereld", Raamsdonk	Piraat King Size Ale	27.5	1031.1	1005.6	3.31	81.99%	10	8.30
Vanderheuvel, Brussel	Ekla Lager	32	1031.2	1006.1	3.26	80.45%	10	9.82
Carlsberg	Pilsener	42	1031.2	1009.1	2.76	70.83%	15	15.20
Tollemache	Kroner Lager		1033.4	1007.5	3.24	77.54%	7
Graham's	Skol Pilsner Lager	36	1033.4	1007	3.30	79.04%	8	10.91
Greene King	Lager		1034.9	1006.4	3.56	81.66%	9.5
Tennant Bros.	Lager	31.875	1035.2	1006.8	3.55	80.68%	8.5	8.98
Carling Brewery (brewed in Sheffield)	Black Label Canadian Lager		1036.5	1004.4	4.18	87.95%
Lees	Lager		1037.0
Mitchell & Butler	Export Lager	32	1039.7	1010	3.71	74.81%	7.5	8.62
Average		34.8	1033.8	1007.2	3.34	78.41%	9.6	10.7
Schous Brewery, Oslo	Norwegian Beer	36	1041.2	1005.5	4.66	86.65%	8.5	7.73
Pilsor	Lamot Lager	42	1043.8	1003.2	5.31	92.69%	7.5	7.91
Lamot	Pilsor Lager	36	1044.4	1007.5	4.61	83.11%	7	7.80
Vanderheuval, Brussels	Ekla Lager	42	1045.6	1009.6	4.68	78.95%	10	8.97
Okocim	Full Light Export		1051.8	1009.2	5.32	82.24%	8
Zywiec	Full Light		1052.3	1008.7	5.45	83.37%	8
Lowenbrau	Light Special		1061.1	1014	5.89	77.09%	5
Average		39.0	1048.6	1008.2	5.13	83.44%	7.7	8.1
Sources:
Lees brewing records
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/002.

No next bit. Done, done and fucking done.