Barclay Perkins Porter and Stout malts before WW II

Barclay’s Black Beers used even more ingredients than their Ales. So many, in fact, that I’ve had to split them into four tables rather than three.

Starting with the malts. Eight of them in total.

Only two malts – brown and amber – appear in every beer. The former is no surprise. London brewers were very faithful to brown malt probably because that’s what gave their Stouts the London flavour.

Most brewers elsewhere had dropped it in the 19th century, preferring a simpler grist of just pale and black malt. The proportion used in the two strongest Stouts is very high at over 10%.

Barclay Perkins, as you may have noticed, were big fans of amber malt. By the 1930s, it wasn’t an ingredient that was much used in UK brewing. Especially not in such relatively large quantities.

Most have a base of mild malt. Which wasn’t particularly unusual. What’s the point in using an expensive pale malt in a beer that’s stuffed with roasted grains? RNS and IBS also have some SA malt, implying that they were aged for a while before sale. While using SA malt as the base in IBS Export is no surprise. It would have provided lots of long-term sustenance for the Brettanomyces.

BBS Export stands out by having a base from the most expensive type. Mild malt cost 50 shillings per quarter (336 lbs), while the two types of PA malt in BBS Export cost 59 shillings and 68 shillings.

All but the two strongest have some crystal malt. I suppose with all that malt, they didn’t need any help in beefing up the body.

Barclay Perkins Porter and Stout malts before WW II
Year	Beer	pale malt	brown malt	black malt	amber malt	crystal malt	mild malt	SA malt	PA malt
1936	TT		4.92%		11.68%	6.15%	49.18%
1936	LS		5.20%		11.56%	7.22%	49.70%
1936	BS		4.92%		11.68%	6.15%	49.18%
1936	OMS		4.92%		11.68%	6.15%	49.18%
1936	RNS		5.26%		11.63%	6.65%	40.43%	8.31%
1936	IBS		5.26%		11.63%	6.65%	40.43%	8.31%
1936	BBS Export	8.93%	10.71%	8.93%	14.29%				42.86%
1937	IBS Export		13.03%	6.24%	15.47%			52.12%
Source:
Barclay Perkins brewing record held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number ACC/2305/01/621.