London draught Stout before WW II

Brown Beer – Porter and Stout – were the beers that made London the most important brewing centre in the world. The glory may have faded a little, but the capital remained home to some of the country’s largest breweries. They hadn’t turned their backs on Stout, even if Porter was on its last legs.

No surprise, then, that Stout was still part of a pub’s standard draught range, along with Mild, Bitter and Burton. Indeed, there were two classes of draught Stout. What you could, I suppose call Ordinary Stout at 7d per pint and Best Stout at 8d.

We’ll start with the weaker of the two.

There are a couple of outliers, Wenlock at the top end and Courage at the bottom. Which look like a 6d and an 8d beer, respectively. The average of 1047º looks about right for the norm.

Let’s move onto the pricier one. Noting that Truman had beers in each class.

1055º or so was usually about as draught beer got between the wars, as a result of WW I price controls. There’s not a lot to choose between the examples from different breweries. No really a shack, seeing as they were all paddling in the same pool.

7d London draught Stout before WW II
Year	Brewer	Beer	Price per pint (d)	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation
1937	Charrington	Stout	7	1045.8
1937	Courage	Stout	7	1040.0
1937	Mann	Stout	7	1047.1
1935	Meux	Stout	7	1047	1016.7	3.92	64.47%
1935	Truman	Stout	7	1048	1011.2	4.78	76.67%
1935	Watney	Stout	7	1046	1008.9	4.83	80.65%
1937	Wenlock	Stout	7	1054.4
1937	Whitbread	Stout	7	1050.8
	average			1047.4	1012.3	4.5	73.93%
Sources:
Truman Gravity Book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number B/THB/C/252.
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/001.

8d London draught Stout before WW II
Year	Brewer	Beer	Price per pint (d)	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation
1935	Barclay Perkins	Stout	8	1059	1012.6	6.05	78.64%
1937	Barclay Perkins	Stout	8	1055.3
1937	Taylor Walker	Stout	8	1055.8
1933	Truman	Stout	8	1053.4	1015.8	4.88	70.41%
	average			1055.9	1014.2	5.47	74.53%
Sources:
Truman Gravity Book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number B/THB/C/252.
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/001.