Beer is Bust beers

To go with yesterday's post of an advert listing various beers on sale here are analyses of most of them.

The ones described as "all" beers selling for 3 shillings or so a quart are those with gravities in the low 1030ºs. They're things like Brown ale, Light Ale and low-gravity Stouts. A beer selling for 3 shillings a quart would be around 10d or 11d when packaged as a half pint.

1/4 (16d) seems like pretty good value for a beer as strong as Bass or Worthington. I'm sure the advert got it wrong when it spoke of red and green labelled Bass. Their Pale Ale came with either a red label (bottle conditioned) or a blue label (brewery conditioned). It was Worthington which had Green Shield, the brewery-conditioned version of White Shield.

In the strong Pale Ale segment, Double Diamond, Tavern and Ben Truman were less value for money, being only 0.5d per half pint cheaper, despite being considerably weaker than Bass or Worthington.

Beer is Bust beers
Year	Brewer	Beer	Style	Price	size	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	colour
1955	Bass	Pale Ale (Blue Triangle)	Pale Ale			1063.5	1003.1	7.96	95.12%	19
1955	Bass	Pale Ale (Red Triangle)	Pale Ale			1063.2	1009.6	7.02	84.81%	19
1953	Bass	Barley Wine	Barley Wine	20d	nip	1104.6	1036.3	8.90	65.30%	80
1956	Ind Coope	Double Diamond	Pale Ale	17d	half pint	1048.3	1012.7	4.62	73.71%	20
1956	Simonds	Bitter Ale	Pale Ale	12d	half pint	1030.1	1010	2.60	66.78%	25
1956	Simonds	Berry Brown Ale	Brown Ale	16d	half pint	1031.9	1011.9	2.58	62.70%	85
1957	Simonds	Luncheon Stout	Stout	11d	half pint	1033.6	1014.9	2.41	55.65%	275
1959	Simonds	Tavern Export Ale	Pale Ale	17d	half pint	1045.8	1013	4.25	71.62%	18
1959	Simonds	SB Light Ale	Pale Ale	10d	half pint	1034.2	1010.3	3.09	69.88%	19
1956	Truman	Trubrown	Brown Ale	10.5d	half pint	1034.9	1016.5	2.37	52.72%	95
1956	Truman	Light Ale	Pale Ale	10d	half pint	1031.7	1011.4	2.62	64.04%	19
1956	Truman	Eagle Stout	Stout	11d	half pint	1034.8	1016.1	2.41	53.74%	225
1959	Truman	Ben Truman Pale Ale	Pale Ale	16d	half pint	1049.9	1010	5.20	79.96%	17
1953	Watney	Yorkshire Stingo	Barley Wine	17d	nip	1089.6	1031.7	7.52	64.62%	110
1956	Watney	Brown Ale	Brown Ale	10d	half pint	1032.2	1011.1	2.73	65.53%	120
1957	Watney	Special Stout	Stout	13d	half pint	1042.3	1009.4	4.28	77.78%	200
1959	Watney	Pale Ale	Pale Ale	10d	half pint	1033.2	1010.1	2.99	69.58%	23
1955	Worthington	India Pale Ale (Green Shield)	IPA			1063.3	1009.4	7.06	85.15%	18
1955	Worthington	India Pale Ale (White Shield)	IPA			1063.7	1002.9	8.02	95.45%	18
Source:
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/002.

Dutch Pils 1945 - 1950

Yes, time for another fun table of Dutch beer analyses. For that most iconic of Lager styles, Pils.

Most Dutch beers bounced back to just about pre-war strength pretty quickly. The first couple of years after the war gravities were lower, but by 1947 were back to where they had been in 1939.

Take Pils, for example. In 1939 eight examples averaged 11.84º Plato, 4.72% ABV and 76.48% apparent attenuation. In analyses taken between 1947 and 1950, the gravity averages out a little lower. However, an increased degree of attenuation left the ABV almost the same.

Those lucky Dutch drinkers. Beer back to its proper strength after just two years of peace.

Dutch Pils 1945 - 1950
Year	Brewer	Beer	OG Plato	FG Plato	ABV	App. Atten-uation	Colour
1945	Heineken	Pils	8.21	1.78	3.26	78.87%	0.55
1946	Oranjeboom	Pils	7.87	1.95	3.03	75.81%	0.65
	Average		8.04	1.87	3.14	77.34%	0.60
1947	Amstel	Pils	11.13	2.45	4.56	78.74%	1.30
1947	Heineken	Pils	11.64	2.84	4.60	76.44%	0.62
1947	Oranjeboom	Pils	10.96	2.11	4.60	81.42%	0.75
1947	Van Vollenhoven	Pils	11.41	2.48	4.70	79.03%	0.68
1947	ZHB	Pils	10.92	2.78	4.27	75.36%	0.58
1949	Amstel	Pils	11.17	2.49	4.53	78.47%	0.70
1949	Bavaria	Pils	11.87	1.86	5.21	84.94%	0.52
1949	Brand	Edel Pilsener	11.34	2.32	4.72	80.27%	0.52
1949	Dommelsch	Pils	11.47	1.51	5.20	87.35%	0.58
1949	Drie Hoefijzers	Pilsener	11.00	3.13	4.07	72.43%	0.38
1949	Grolsch	Pils	11.87	2.10	5.15	82.98%	0.52
1949	Heineken	Pils	12.06	3.64	4.40	70.81%	0.48
1949	Oranjeboom	Pils	11.03	1.97	4.76	82.78%	0.52
1949	Phoenix	Pils	10.77	1.92	4.61	82.79%	0.32
1949	Van Vollenhoven	Pils	11.64	1.91	4.94	84.22%	0.58
1949	ZHB	Pils	11.18	2.35	4.50	79.71%	0.48
1950	Brand	Edel Pilsener	11.61	2.99	4.53	75.12%	0.42
1950	Phoenix	Pils	11.26	2.36	4.65	79.77%	0.70
	Average		11.35	2.40	4.67	79.59%	0.59
Source:
Rapporten van laboratoriumonderzoeken naar producten van Heineken brouwerijen in binnen- en buitenland en naar producten van andere brouwerijen held at the Amsterdamse Stadsarchief, document number 834 - 1794.

 

Beer is Bust

If you're wondering about that title, it comes from the advert below. And is obviously a joke on the campaign of the brewing industry at the time call Beer is Best.

This advert provides an interesting snapshot of what types of beer were on offer in the late 1950s.

BEER is BUST - wide open!
Maybe you KNOW us best as WINE MERCHANTS but we can also tell you ALL there is to know about BEER - if you're interested. What's mere, we STOCK far MORE different BEERS than MOST brewers — because we have NO "ties" at all. We are not bound to sell ONLY this beer or that: we stock ALL the good been you are likely to ask for -  BECAUSE hate to lose a sale.
Worthing Gazette - Wednesday 26 June 1957, page 9.

First, the standard beers. Where they don't even bother mentioning the individual types, just the brewery.

We stock all SIMONDS beers, 3/- qt; all TRUMANS beers, 3/1 qt. ; all WATNEYS, 3/1 qt; all WHITBREADS, 3/7; also Fremlins, Tolly, Mackesons, Friary, Younger's, Eldridge Popes, Benskins, Flowers, and Uncle TOM COBLEY's too if you even SUGGEST you might want it.
Worthing Gazette - Wednesday 26 June 1957, page 9.

Fascinating that Whitbread was sold at a premium price compared to the other breweries. Especially surprising as two of the other brewers - Truman and Watney - were Whitbread's direct rivals. 

Next a selection of Burton Pale Ales.

BASS, of course — both Red and Green labels - in pints 2/7, half-pints 1/4, and nips 1/-; WORTHINGTON, same prices; Double-Diamond 1/4 ; TAVERN Ale, 1/3.5; Ben TRUMAN 1/3.5; and all other best ales.
Worthing Gazette - Wednesday 26 June 1957, page 9.

As relatively strong beers for the period, this set is much more expensive: 1/4 for a half pint when the standard beers sold for 3/- per quart.

I love the way the strongest ones are described as "he-man" beers:

And the HE-man beers: Simonds 5-X at 1/4 per nip; Stingo 1/6 nips: Barley Wine 1/8 nips. Lay in some beer at HOME and get the GARDENING done this weekend.
Worthing Gazette - Wednesday 26 June 1957, page 9.

A bit unusually, they still sold beer in casks.

If YOU like it from the WOOD - for real BEERMANSHIP - we can cope with that too: try a "PIN" (4.5 gallons), it should last you ALL evening! SIMONDS 30/-; Whitbreads Bitter 57/-; Younger. Scotch Ale No. 3 57/-, Worthington 57/-. Or any OTHER brew you fancy, in ANY size you like from a PIN to a HOGSHEAD (72 gallons - lasts MANY people a whole WEEKEND).
Worthing Gazette - Wednesday 26 June 1957, page 9.

Though they got the size of a hogshead wrong: it's 54 gallons. I'm guessing that the Simonds beer must have been Mild Ale, given the price relative to the other ones mentioned.

They were very keen on cans. I doubt any advert today would mention the method of can disposal suggested.

Beer in CANS is excellent - tastes BETTER than beer in bottles - honestly, And SO handy! NO empties to return. Just chuck them over the hedge; easy to CARRY, to OPEN, to DRINK. Keeps perfectly for MONTHS - if nobody sees it - and we can even POST a dozen cans to you and you get them NEXT morning - NO charge for postage or packing. We STOCK 8 kinds of BEERS in CANS - biggest seller is TAVERN at 16/- dozen. For a BARBECUE up the CREEK take some CANS in your CANOE.
Worthing Gazette - Wednesday 26 June 1957, page 9.

Wow - 8 types of canned beer. The crazy bastards.

Of course, Lager was also on offer. Only a couple of types, mind.

It you like it LIGHT and mild, fresh and FROTHY, how about LAGER? We stock Barclays 1/3; TUBORG and Carlsberg 1/5; HEINEKEN'S 1/7. One LAST try to get YOUR order.
Worthing Gazette - Wednesday 26 June 1957, page 9.

Finally, a selection of Stouts. 20 different ones, no less.

About STOUT now, which we nearly forgot to mention. We stock GUINNESS of course, in 4 sizes: 4/3 qt., 2/2 pt., 1/1.5 half-pint, 11d nip. MACKESONS, in bottle or can. OATMEAL Stout, PLAIN stout and FANCY stout - perhaps a score of them. Very good for NURSING MOTHERS. Very good EXCUSE for nursing mothers. We deliver to you IMMEDIATELY if you say so throughout the TOWN area; and regularly EVERY WEEK in all COUNTRY districts. A postcard brings us RUSHING to your door.
DOMINIC
Peter Dominic Limited
Worthing Gazette - Wednesday 26 June 1957, page 9.

How quaint, ordering by postcard. 

Next time - some details of the beers mentioned.

Dutch Bokbier in 1948

While in the late 1940's beer in the UK was still getting weaker, things were picking up in Holland. In 1948 there was even some full-strength Bokbier. Those jammy continental bastards.

Though not every beer in the table was really Bok-strength. Currently the Dutch Boks sold in Autumn have to be at least 16º Plato. Only four of the examples meet that criterion. Pre-war analyses have gravities ranging from 15.14º to 17.63º Plato, averaging 16.8º Plato.

The ABV of every beer is certainly below what would be expected today, where 6.5% is the norm. This set only has one over 6% ABV and one at just 4.4% ABV. The pre-war set varied between 5.51% ABV and 6.85% ABV, averaging 6.03%.

Colours are quite varied. That's the Brand scale, by the way. If my little conversion table is correct, 14.5 to 32 Brand is approximately 20 to 40 SRM. Or dark brown to near black, in layman's terms.

Almost back to pre-war Bok, but not quite. Still, was better than the situation in the UK, where average gravity was about at its nadir..

Dutch Bokbier in 1948
Brewer	Beer	OG Plato	FG Plato	ABV	App. Atten-uation	Colour
Heineken (Ams)	Bok	16.42	5.83	5.65	65.94%	22
Heineken (Rtm)	Bok	16.15	5.46	5.69	67.58%	20
Oranjeboom	Bok	16.08	5.28	5.82	68.53%	32
Drie Hoefijzers	Bok	15.73	5.00	5.69	69.53%	14.5
Grolsch	Bok	15.18	3.87	6.04	75.62%	22
Hengelo	Bok	15.81	4.61	5.95	72.10%	22
Bavaria	Bok	14.10	3.83	5.41	73.92%	19
Amstel	Bok	15.65	7.27	4.42	55.05%	15.65
Phoenix	Bok	15.23	5.04	5.39	68.21%	20
ZHB	Bok	16.05	5.97	5.47	64.25%	22
Van Vollenhoven	Bok	15.73	5.11	5.66	68.84%	19
Source:
Rapporten van laboratoriumonderzoeken naar producten van Heinekenbrouwerijen in binnen- en buitenland en naar producten van andere brouwerijen held at the Amsterdamse Stadsarchief, document number 834 - 1794.

Let's Brew Wednesday - 1881 Whitbread XPS

One step up in strength from Porter was XPS. The name presumably stands for Export Stout. It’s about the same as a Single Stout for the domestic market.

I’ve no real idea where it was exported to. It could have been pretty much anywhere in the world. Possibly even as far away as Australia, which at the time was importing large quantities of British beer.

The grist is mostly made up of the same elements as the Porter: pale, brown and black malt. In slightly different proportions, however. There double the percentage of brown malt and less pale malt. There’s also one extra element: sugar. I’ve guessed No. 3 invert, as there’s no indication of type in the brewing record.

Two types of English hops, from the 1880 and 1881 harvest, and one type of American hops, from 1881, graced the copper. I’ve guessed that there were also quite a lot of dry hops, this being a beer that would have to stay sound for a long time.

For that same reason I’ve reduced the FG from the 1021.9º listed in the brewing record.

1881 Whitbread XPS
pale malt	11.50 lb	71.88%
brown malt	2.25 lb	14.06%
black malt	0.75 lb	4.69%
No. 3 invert sugar	1.50 lb	9.38%
Cluster 120 mins	2.00 oz
Goldings 60 mins	4.00 oz
Goldings 30 mins	4.00 oz
Goldings dry hops	1.00 oz
OG	1073
FG	1016
ABV	7.54
Apparent attenuation	78.08%
IBU	122
SRM	34
Mash at	149º F
Sparge at	170º F
Boil time	120 minutes
pitching temp	57º F
Yeast	Wyeast 1099 Whitbread Ale

 

Light Mild 1946 to 1964

A bit of a change of pace, today. Or perhaps a return to the past. To those heady days of the 2010s, when every day I'd post tables of beer analyses. Let's see if we can relive them.

This is some information on post-war Light Mild which I've assembled for another project. One which, doubtless, I'll bore the eyebrows off you with later.

Where does Light Mild become Dark Mild? I've plumped for 46 EBC (old scale). Totally arbitrary, and possibly a little too high.

Talking of high, the degree of attenuation is just that in most examples. With the odd exception like Whiitaker Best Mild. Some are crazily high at over 90%, resulting in some Milds over 4% ABV. Which is pretty damn strong for a post=war Mild, Light or Dark. On the other hand, a few can't even scrape up to 3% ABV.

Light Mild 1946 to 1964
Year	Brewer	Beer	Price per pint	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	colour
1946	Barclay Perkins	Ale	13.5	1031.1	1008.8	2.89	71.70%	19.5
1949	Brickwoods	Mild Ale	13	1033.2	1004.8	3.7	85.54%	20.5
1949	City Brewery	Mild Ale	13	1032.6	1006.8	3.35	79.14%	21
1949	Mitchell & Butler	XX	18	1034.6	1003.9	4	88.73%	35
1949	Portsmouth United	Mild Ale	13	1029.3	1003.1	3.41	89.42%	19
1949	St. Annes Brewery	Mild Ale	13	1034.9	1003	4.16	91.40%	20
1951	Vaux	Mild Ale	15	1035.6	1002.9	4.27	91.85%	24.5
1951	Fremlin	XXL	12	1029.4				22
1951	Shepherd Neame	X	12	1031.4				24
1952	Lees	K		1031				34
1955	Thwaites	Mild Ale	16	1032.2	1006.1	3.39	81.06%	40
1959	Ramsdens	Best Mild	13	1035.5	1006.5	3.63	81.69%	35
1959	Websters	Best Mild	13	1034.9	1004.4	3.81	87.39%	20
1959	Bentleys	Mild	13	1032.9	1005.4	3.44	83.59%	30
1959	Ramsdens	Mild	12	1029.2	1004.7	3.06	83.90%	45
1959	Whitaker	Best Mild	13	1033.1	1010.2	2.86	69.18%	45
1961	Cornbrook	Keg Mild	17	1035	1002.3	4.09	93.43%	20
1961	Ansell	King Pin Mild	19	1037.6	1006.7	3.86	82.18%	45
1961	M & B	Keg Mild	19	1038.5	1009.9	3.58	74.29%	45
1962	Ind Coope	Mild Ale	14	1033.7	1009.5	3.13	71.81%	20
1962	McMullen	Mild Ale	14	1034	1006.3	3.46	81.47%	20
1964	John Smith	Mild Ale	15	1030.9	1008.5	2.8	72.49%	30
	Average		14.3	1033.2	1006.0	3.5	82.12%	28.8
Source:
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/002.