Stout on the eve of WW I

Despite the decline of Porter, Stout remained very popular. Most breweries produced more than one at different strengths. London brewers often brewed three, four or even more Stouts.

There was a wide variation in the strength of Stouts. Provincial versions could be as weak as 1050º, very similar in strength to a London Porter. The strongest Imperial Stouts were over 1100º.

Milk Stout was an innovation that made an appearance just a few years before the start of the war. It was first brewed on the Kent coast by Mackeson, who acquired a patent for it and allowed other brewers to brew a version under licence.

Another variation was Oatmeal Stout. This was developed by Maclay of Alloa in the 1890s. They also tried to patent their invention, but with rather less success. Their Beer was called Oat Malt Stout and, as the name implies, used malted oats. Other brewers got around this by using oat flakes and calling their beers Oatmeal Stout.

London Stout before WW I
Year	Brewer	Beer	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	lbs hops/ qtr	hops lb/brl
1910	Barclay Perkins	OMS	1053.2	1016.5	4.86	68.98%	7.50	1.82
1910	Barclay Perkins	BS	1074.2	1025.0	6.51	66.31%	8.00	2.75
1910	Barclay Perkins	BS Ex	1076.0	1022.5	7.08	70.39%	12.00	4.12
1914	Courage	Double Stout	1078.9	1033.2	6.05	57.89%	7.20	2.33
1914	Courage	Imperial	1094.2	1038.8	7.33	58.82%	7.20	2.78
1914	Fuller	BS	1066.4	1020.8	6.03	68.70%	6.74	2.01
1914	Whitbread	LS	1054.0	1014.0	5.29	74.05%	5.99	1.37
1914	Whitbread	Exp S	1070.9	1013.0	7.66	81.67%	13.03	4.25
1914	Whitbread	SS	1079.7	1024.0	7.37	69.88%	8.56	3.03
1914	Whitbread	SSS	1095.0	1036.0	7.81	62.11%	8.56	3.62
Sources:
Barclay Perkins brewing record held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number ACC/2305/1/602.
Courage brewing record held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number ACC/2305/08/247.
Fullers brewing record held at the brewery.
Whitbread brewing record held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/09/108.

Provincial Stouts were, in general, a good bit weaker than their London cousins. And, while London brewers made multiple Stouts, outside the capital they tended to stick to just one.

Provincial Stout before WW I
Year	Brewer	Beer	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	lbs hops/ qtr	hops lb/brl
1914	Adnams	BS	1055.0	1013.5	5.49	75.45%	5.86	1.43
1914	Boddington	Stout	1054.0	1018.0	4.76	66.67%	3.10	0.94
1911	Lees	XXXP	1059.0	1017.0	5.56	71.19%	4.05	0.98
1911	Murphy	XXX	1088.0	1028.5	7.87	67.61%	15.21	5.87
1911	Russell	DS	1074.2				8.37	2.86
1904	Tetley	S	1066.8	1020.5	6.12	69.29%	4.91	1.36
1910	Warwicks	SS	1053.7	1022.2	4.18	58.76%	4.83	1.12
Sources:
Adnams brewing record Book 2 held at the brewery.
Boddington brewing record held at Manchester Central Library, document number M693/405/126.
Lees brewing record held at the brewery.
Tetley's brewing record held at the West Yorkshire Archives, document number WYL756/51/ACC1903.
Warwicks & Richardsons brewing record held at the Nottinghamshire Archives, document number DD/NM/8/4/1.

The exception, in terms of strength, is from Murphy, which was based in Cork, Ireland. The Stouts with gravities in the 1050s look rather like London Porters in terms of strength. The hopping rates are all over the place, but generally lower than in London, with Murphy again being an exception.

Scottish Stout before WW I
Year	Brewer	Beer	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	lbs hops/ qtr	hops lb/brl
1915	Drybrough	XXX	1083	1026	7.54	68.67%	4.79	1.34
1909	Maclay	DBS 54/-	1044	1013	4.10	70.45%	7.56	1.53
1909	Maclay	OMS 63/-	1062	1024	5.03	61.29%	7.56	2.16
1914	Thomas Usher	48/-	1046	1021	3.31	54.35%	5.00	1.04
1914	Thomas Usher	54/-	1056	1025	4.10	55.36%	5.00	1.27
1913	Younger, Wm.	S2	1059	1029	3.97	50.85%	1.88	0.45
1913	Younger, Wm.	S1	1065	1031	4.50	52.31%	1.88	0.50
1913	Younger, Wm.	DBS	1065	1022	5.69	66.15%	10.65	2.63
1913	Younger, Wm.	MBS	1065	1020	5.95	69.23%	3.50	0.74
Sources:
Drybrough brewing record held at the Scottish Brewing Archive, document number D/6/1/1/3.
Maclay brewing record held at the Scottish Brewing Archive, document number M/6/1/1/2.
Thomas Usher brewing record held at the Scottish Brewing Archive, document number TU/6/1/5.
William Younger brewing record held at the Scottish Brewing Archive, document number WY/6/1/2/58.

Scottish started going weird in the late 19th century. Especially at William Younger, who combined minimal hopping (including some spent hops) with very poor attenuation. The forerunners of Sweet Stout, which would later become a Scottish speciality.



The above is an excerpt from my most recent book, Armistice!

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