Let's Brew - 1939 Whitbread London Stout

There was some variation in the draught beer classes of London beers. Especially when it came to Stout.

For while some breweries had an 8d draught Stout with an OG of over 1050º, others brewed it as a 7d a pint beer, with a gravity of 1047-1048º. Whitbread belonged to the latter group.

For a brewer who had been brewing Porter since the 18th century, London Stout was a surprisingly recent product. It was first brewed just before WW I, in 1910. It immediately become Whitbread’s second most popular beer, only outsold by their Mild, X Ale.

As with their Porter, chocolate malt has been substituted for black malt. No surprise there, as London Stout was parti-gyled with Porter. At least for the moment. Porter wasn’t going to be around for much longer. Not sure why Whitbread moved over to chocolate malt. Their London rivals stuck with either black malt or roasted barley.

The tiny percentage of oats are there so Whitbread could legally sell some of this as Oatmeal Stout. Legally, if not morally, they were in the clear. All a bit of a con really, though. I wonder if anyone ever tried blind tasting the standard Stout and Oatmeal Stout? And did they cost the same?

The hops were the same, obviously, as the Porter with which it was parti-gyled: Mid-Kents from the 1936, 1937 and 1938 crops; Polish from 1938 and “Old Continentals”. A truly cosmopolitan bunch.

1939 Whitbread London Stout
pale malt	7.50 lb	71.98%
brown malt	0.75 lb	7.20%
chocolate malt	0.75 lb	7.20%
flaked oats	0.09 lb	0.86%
No. 3 invert sugar	1.00 lb	9.60%
caramel 1000 SRM	0.33 lb	3.17%
Hallertau 75 mins	0.50 oz
Fuggles 75 mins	0.75 oz
Goldings 30 mins	1.25 oz
OG	1047
FG	1015.5
ABV	4.17
Apparent attenuation	67.02%
IBU	31
SRM	39
Mash at	149º F
Sparge at	170º F
Boil time	75 minutes
pitching temp	62º F
Yeast	Wyeast 1099 Whitbread Ale