Monday 22 February 2021

Friary Holroyd and Friary Meux beers 1926 - 1967

Another technical, Meux-related post. This time of Friary Holroyd and Friary Meux. And for Joe Tindall of the Fateful Glass of Beer blog.

This set runs almost up to the closure of the Guildford brewery (originally Friary Holroyd)  in 1969. Including exciting stuff like Keg Mild. But also genuinely unusual things, such as Audit Ale.

I'm done with this now and it'll be back to WW II and Boddington Bitter for the rest of the week. Apologies for the interruption to normal service.


Friary Holroyd and Friary Meux beers 1926 - 1967
Year Brewer Beer Style Price size package OG FG ABV App. Atten-uation colour
1926 Friary Holroyd Stout Stout 8d pint bottled 1039.3        
1926 Friary Holroyd Oatmeal Stout Stout 11d quart bottled 1041        
1928 Friary Holroyd Stout Stout 8d pint bottled 1042.6        
1929 Friary Holroyd Brown Ale Brown Ale   pint bottled 1045 1012.2 4.25 72.89%  
1929 Friary Holroyd Ale Mild   pint bottled 1039 1010.6 3.68 72.82%  
1931 Friary Holroyd Ale Pale Ale     bottled 1037.5 1007.6 3.89 79.73%  
1931 Friary Holroyd Brown Ale Brown Ale     bottled 1044.9 1010.4 4.48 76.84%  
1931 Friary Holroyd Double Stout Stout     bottled 1046.1 1018.2 3.60 60.52%  
1934 Friary Holroyd Ale Mild 11d quart bottled 1039 1007.4 4.11 81.03%  
1935 Friary Holroyd Friary Ale Pale Ale     bottled 1038 1008.6 3.82 77.37% 24
1935 Friary Holroyd Brown Ale Brown Ale     bottled 1046 1012.4 4.36 73.04%  
1935 Friary Holroyd Double Stout Stout 7d pint bottled 1043 1017.2 3.33 60.00%  
1936 Friary Holroyd Friary Ale Pale Ale 7d pint bottled 1038 1008.1 3.88 78.68%  
1936 Friary Holroyd Friary Brown Brown Ale   pint bottled 1040 1009.3 3.99 76.75%  
1936 Friary Holroyd Friary Brown Brown Ale 7d pint bottled 1040.3 1010 3.93 75.19%  
1936 Friary Holroyd Friary Brown Brown Ale 8d pint bottled 1044.7 1018 3.44 59.73% 1 + 26
1938 Friary Holroyd Pale Ale Pale Ale 7d pint bottled 1038 1009.6 3.68 74.74% 24 Brown
1940 Friary Holroyd PA Pale Ale 9d pint bottled 1033.4 1010.2 3.00 69.46% 25 brown
1950 Friary Holroyd X Mild 12d pint draught 1033.5       82
1950 Friary Holroyd Pale Ale Pale Ale 14d pint draught 1036.6       29
1951 Friary Holroyd Mild Ale Mild 1/2d pint draught 1029.9 1004.5 3.30 84.95% 85
1951 Friary Holroyd Audit Strong Ale Strong Ale 1/3.5d nip bottled 1084.6 1022.1 8.17 73.88% 40 + 3
1953 Friary Holroyd Double Stout Stout 10d half pint bottled 1034.7 1014.6 2.59 57.93% 1 + 18
1953 Friary Holroyd Audit Ale Strong Ale 1/3d nip bottled 1084 1025.1 7.67 70.12% 3 + 40
1957 Friary Meux Malt Stout Stout 1/- half pint bottled 1036.1 1017.5 2.39 51.52% 300
1959 Friary Meux Friary Ale Pale Ale 10d halfpint bottled 1031.5 1007.9 3.06 74.92% 18
1960 Friary Meux Bitter Pale Ale 14d pint draught 1033.8 1005.2 3.57 84.62% 20
1960 Friary Meux Treble Gold Pale Ale 18d pint draught 1042.3 1008.9 4.18 78.96% 23
1960 Friary Meux Bitter Pale Ale 6.5d half pint draught 1034.9 1007.2 3.60 79.37%  
1960 Friary Meux Mild Mild 6d half pint draught 1031.1 1006.45 3.20 79.26%  
1960 Friary Meux Brown Ale Brown Ale 10d half pint bottled 1030.2 1011.6 2.40 61.59%  
1960 Friary Meux Friary Ale Light Ale 10d half pint bottled 1030.6 1009.7 2.70 68.30%  
1961 Friary Meux Drum Treble Gold Pale Ale 22d pint draught 1041.5 1006 4.44 85.54% 26
1962 Friary Meux Drum Mild Mild 14d pint draught 1029.1 1006.3 2.85 78.35% 120
1963 Friary Meux Keg Mild Ale Mild 20d pint draught 1030.1 1008.8 2.66 70.76% 110
1963 Friary Meux Drum Treble Gold Pale Ale 26d pint draught 1043.1 1008.2 4.36 80.97% 27
1965 Friary Meux Pipkin 4 Pale Ale 7/8d 4 pints can 1029.5 1007.6 2.84 74.24% 16
1966 Friary Meux Treble Gold Pale Ale 17d half pint bottled 1039.2 1009 3.78 77.04% 23
1967 Friary Meux Drum Mild Mild 21d pint draught 1028.5 1006.3 2.78 77.89% 105
Sources:
Which Beer Report, 1960, pages 171 - 173.
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/001.
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/002.
Truman Gravity Book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number B/THB/C/252.

 

 

1 comment:

John Lester said...

Friary Meux did continue to use the Friary and Meux names for a while after the merger: the labels for Friary Ale and Friary XXX Ale, for example, continued unchanged with the addition of “Friary Meux Ltd” and “London and Guildford” in small letters; and other bottled beers included Meux’s Treble Gold, Meux’s Night Cap Stout and Meux’s Stout (again with the addition of Friary Meux Ltd and London and Guildford). I’m not sure when this formula changed (though it squares with Ron’s list of Meux beers in 1960 in his last post), but new labels were introduced (probably around 1960 or a year or so thereafter) which dropped the “Meux’s” from the Treble Gold and Nightcap [sic] Stout labels. At this point the order of the two breweries was reversed, so that the labels stated “Guildford and London”. Friary Ale and Meux (rather than Meux’s) Stout were continued. The final change came after the closure of the old Meux’s brewery in 1965, when the labels dropped the reference to London.

As far as draught beer is concerned, I’m not sure when the old Friary and Meux beers were dropped, but Ron’s table of Friary beers in this post suggests the draught beers were called Friary Meux by 1960; and this is backed up by the Which report on beer in 1960, which lists Friary Meux Mild and Bitter. The draught beers listed in “The Friary Meux Guide to London” (undated, but probably issued around the late 1950s and certainly no later than 1960) were Mild, Bitter, Burton (in season) and Treble Gold (Best Bitter).

I believe, incidentally, that the prefix “Drum” (as in Drum Treble Gold on Ron’s list) signified a keg beer. This usage survived beyond the end of Friary Meux: I remember drinking Ind Coope Drum Bitter in the Oxford Union in the early 1970s; and, during Allied Breweries’ revival of the Friary Meux name in the 1980s, there was a Friary Meux Drum Mild.