Compared to the big London breweries Boddington were brewing on a pretty small scale. Based on the 3,200 barrels they brewed in April 1939, they must have brewed around 40,000 barrels. In the same year, Whitbread brewed 590,695 barrels.
Looking at Boddington’s output in detail, around 71% was XX, 23% IP (Bitter), while Stout and CC (Strong Ale) amounted to 3% each. It’s pretty clear what was getting knocked back the most in Boddies’ pubs
Down South at Whitbread, Mild was also the most popular beer, but the two Milds (X and LA) combined only accounted for around 40% of production. The two Pale Ales (PA and IPA) clocked up 33%, while the Porter and Stouts held a very respectable 22%. Though it’s worth pointing out that just three beers – X, IPA and LS (London Stout) – made up around three-quarters of Whitbread’s production.
Boddington output by beer April 1939 | |||||
Beer | OG | barrels | tax per barrel | total tax | % of total |
XX | 1033 | 2,090.58 | 36 | 3,763.05 | 64.34% |
XX | 1034 | 212.92 | 38 | 404.28 | 6.55% |
IP | 1044 | 753.39 | 58 | 2,184.83 | 23.19% |
Stout | 1047 | 93.83 | 64 | 300.27 | 2.89% |
CC | 1055 | 98.33 | 80 | 393.32 | 3.03% |
Total | 3,249.06 | 7,045.75 | |||
Source: | |||||
Boddington brewing record held at Manchester Central Library, document number M693/405/129. |
Whitbread output by beer in 1939 | |||
Beer | OG | barrels | % of total |
LA | 1028.4 | 5,747 | 0.97% |
X | 1034 | 232,453 | 39.35% |
33 | 1059.7 | 17,073 | 2.89% |
DB | 1054.5 | 8,663 | 1.47% |
PA | 1048.2 | 50,740 | 8.59% |
IPA | 1037 | 147,177 | 24.92% |
P | 1029.3 | 3,810 | 0.65% |
LS | 1046.3 | 67,177 | 11.37% |
ES | 1055.5 | 6,037 | 1.02% |
MS | 1057 | 50,890 | 8.62% |
SSS | 1110.3 | 928 | 0.16% |
Total | 590,695 | ||
Sources: | |||
Whitbread brewing record held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/01/107. | |||
Whitbread brewing record held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/09/126. |
3 comments:
No surprise that mild dominated, but it's interesting that London Stout and Mackeson make up 20 per cent of Whitbread's output … I am guessing that a large majority of that is in the off-trade - any figures on that? Though "stout and mild" (or "granny") was a thing, of course …
Was this output anomalous against the rest of the country (outside London) though? I'm pretty sure mild was the dominant beer style in Britain until the 1950s.
I'd say the 40,000 barrel a year production estimate is probably a little on the low side. April is hardly a peak time for brewers, who would normally expect to sell more beer during the warmer summer months and during the Christmas period.
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