Barclay Perkins and Co.'s Imperial Brown Stout

Intrigued as to the age of the term "Imperial Stout", I decided to give the newspaper archives a quick twirl. Not sure it threw up any real answers. I did find a nice Barclay Perkins reference, though.

I've searched in the past for Barclay Perkins price lists without success. Which is why I was so surprised to find this. Though, sadly, it doesn't include actual prices.

"BARCLAY, PERKINS, AND CO.’S IMPERIAL BROWN STOUT
THE Subscribers, with reference to their Advertisement of November last, now beg to intimate, that they have received a few Hhds for sample of the above PORTER, which, has been brewed expressly for the Scotch Trade, and is rich and mild, and of very fine flavour. They will feel happy to show it to any of their friends who may find it convenient to call at the Store. In two or three weeks they will have a plentiful supply.

Messrs B. P. & Co.’s Porter of all strengths, possesses the double advantage of coming ripe in bottle in a short period, and of keeping in a perfect sound state for any reasonable length of time.

The Subscribers have it fifteen years in bottle in a perfectly sound state, retaining its full quality, and flavour much Improved.

The kinds of Porter, which the Subscribers have now on sale, brewed by Messrs B. P. & Co. are as under, viz:—

Common Porter,	marked P.
Brown Stout,	do. B.S.
Double Brown Stout	do. B.B.S.
Imperial Brown Stout,	do. XX.

And they request of their numerous Friends in Town and Country, that in giving orders for either of the above qualities, they would have the goodness to specify particularly the marks, to prevent mistakes, as the different kinds of Porter are called by various names by other Houses in the Trade.

No. 28, St Andrew Street, Leith, 18th Jan. 1833.
J. G. THOMSON & CO."
The Scotsman - Saturday 19 January 1833, page 1.

It is just about a full list of their products at the time. Only FSt, a weak Stout that was almost identical to their Porter, except that in contained a higher proportion of brown malt, and Table Beer. At the time, Barclay Perkins were yet to dip their toes into the Ale market.

The bottled beers sound like magic - coming into condition quickly and staying good for years. Though, if you think about it carefully, it does seem possible. If they had already been vat aged for a long period, they would have carbonate in the bottle. And the Brettanomyces which was present would keep them sound for years. That was certainly true of  the later Russian Stout.

Even at the time of WW II, Barclay's had a considerable trade in Scotland, which might seem a bit of a surprise. So much so, that they brewed a special version of Russian Stout just for Scotland. I'm not so sure that they had special versions for north of the border back in the 1830s. There's no indication that I've seen in the brewing records. 

What is said to have been chalked on the barrels to indicate the beer contained inside did surprise me a bit. Because they don't all match the brew house names. BS and BBS (or BSt and BBSt) do tally with the brewing records. 

 Porter, however, was called TT. And as for Imperial Stout, that was IBS (or IBSt). XX is not just a weird designation for such a strong Stout, it's also dead confusing. Especially as they had no X. A few years later, when they started brewing a set of X Ales, there's no way they could have continued to use XX for Imperial Stout.