Between the wars bottled London Stout

More shit about London Stout, I'm afraid. This just happens to be what I'm working on at the moment.

Outside London, draught Stout was becoming somewhat of rarity. Even within the capital it was coming under threat. Bottled Stout, on the other hand, remained popular. As is evidenced by the broad range of Stouts of different strengths which were brewed.

Many London brewers were still producing multiple Stouts. Forest Hill, for example, had Stouts at 6d, 7d and 8d per pint. While Hoare and Charrington both had 7d and 8d Stouts.

In order to compare prices between draught and bottled beer, a simple rule of thumb is that the latter cost 1d more. So, an 8d per pint bottled Stout is the equivalent of a 7d draught Stout.

As with the draught Stouts, most of the beers fall nicely into the last price control bands with regards to gravity. The 8d bottled Stouts average 1048.7º and the 9d ones 1055.6º. Quite close to the 1046.6º and 1055.2º of draught 7d and 8d Stouts.

You’ll note that there were bottled versions which were much weaker than any draught Stouts. The weakest make a mockery of the term Stout, being under 4% ABV.

There are quite a few Oatmeal Stouts in the table. It’s a type of beer which was very popular at the time. I’ve deliberately included the standard Stout from the same brewery. Just to show that they were likely the same beer, simply labelled differently.

Between the wars bottled London Stout
Year	Brewer	Beer	Price	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation
1926	Forest Hill Brewery	Stout	6	1033.3
1928	Hammerton	V.C.Stout	6	1035.9	1006.7	3.80	81.34%
1929	Lovibond	Pioneer Stout		1032.6	1007.3	3.28	77.61%
	Average			1033.9	1007.0	3.54	79.47%
1929	Charrington	Stout	7	1038	1009.4	3.71	75.26%
1927	Forest Hill Brewery	Stout	7	1046.4
1929	Hoare	Stout	7	1038	1012.4	3.31	67.37%
1928	Isleworth	Stout	7	1040.7	1008.3	4.21	79.61%
1930	Taylor Walker	Nourishing Stout	7	1037	1008.6	3.69	76.76%
	Average			1040.0	1009.7	3.73	74.75%
1930	Cannon Brewery	Cannon Stout	8	1047	1013.2	4.38	71.91%
1929	Charrington	Oatmeal Stout	8	1046	1010.1	4.67	78.04%
1930	Charrington	Stout	8	1049
1930	Courage	Stout	8	1050.2
1926	Forest Hill Brewery	Stout	8	1055
1928	Friary Holroyd	Stout	8	1042.6
1926	Hammerton	Oatmeal Stout	8	1050.1	1015.9	4.43	68.26%
1929	Hammerton	Stout	8	1049	1014.6	4.46	70.20%
1930	Hoare	Toby Stout	8	1042	1013.6	3.67	67.62%
1928	Hoare & Co	Stout	8	1047.3
1928	Mann Crossman	London Stout	8	1050.5	1012.2	4.98	75.84%
1930	Meux	Stout	8	1049.2
1930	Meux	Oatmeal Stout	8	1050	1009.4	5.29	81.20%
1928	Noakes & Co	Stout	8	1055.9
1926	Reid	Stout	8	1050.3
1928	Truman	Eagle Stout	8	1048.9	1009.5	5.13	80.57%
1928	Watney	Reids Oatmeal Stout	8	1050	1015.6	4.46	68.80%
1928	Watney	Reids Family Stout	8	1050.2	1012.7	4.87	74.70%
1930	Young & Co	Stout	8	1042.01
	Average			1048.7	1012.7	4.63	73.72%
1928	Barclay Perkins	Stout	9	1053.9	1014.5	5.12	73.10%
1929	Barclay Perkins	Stout	9	1053	1015.6	4.85	70.57%
1929	Barclay Perkins	Stout	9	1054	1014.8	5.09	72.59%
1926	Whitbread	Stout	9	1057.7
1928	Watney	Reids Special Stout		1056	1014.7	5.37	73.75%
1928	Mann Crossman	Extra Stout	9	1059.9	1016.2	5.68	72.95%
1927	Taylor Walker	Special Stout	10	1055	1013.7	5.37	75.09%
	Average			1055.6	1014.9	5.25	73.01%
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.