I'm putting a lot of thought into how I'm going to organise the book I'll base on these posts. Not like most of my other books, anyway.
I've lumped together the Northwest, Northeast and Scotland. Just because of the number of samples. They average out to exactly 1037º. Which is a tiny bit more than London Bitters. Though the average ABV is a tiny bit lower due to a slightly lower rate of attenuation.
The average price is 13.4p per pint. Which is 0.5p more expensive than the London average. Meaning the beers in this set are generally better value.
Most the beers look like classic Ordinary Bitters, with gravities in the mid 1030ºs. The exception being Vaux Samson, which has a Best Bitter strength.
Worst value is Greenall Whitley Festival. Which, given the very similar gravities, looks like it could be a keg version of their Bitter. At 15p, it's the most expensive beer, too. It's closely followed by Younger's Tartan.
Best value, in terms of gravity, is Vaux Sampson. Which is also the srtongest. Not sure what that says. The other Vaux beer is significantly worse value. Based on the name, my guess is that it's a Keg Bitter.
Cheapest beer, costing just 12p, was Jennings Castle. Which is 3p less than Festival, despite having a slightly higher ABV.
Still more of this to come.
| Northern and Scottish Bitter in 1972 | ||||||||
| Brewer | Beer | Price per pint (p) | º gravity per p | % ABV per p | OG | FG | ABV | App. Atten-uation |
| Greenall Whitley | Festival | 15 | 2.40 | 0.24 | 1036 | 1008.3 | 3.60 | 76.94% |
| Younger, Wm. | Tartan | 14 | 2.56 | 0.26 | 1035.9 | 1007.4 | 3.70 | 79.39% |
| Greenall Whitley | Bitter | 13 | 2.72 | 0.30 | 1035.4 | 1005.4 | 3.90 | 84.75% |
| Vaux | Gold Tankard | 14 | 2.81 | 0.26 | 1039.4 | 1011.6 | 3.60 | 70.56% |
| Theakston | Best Bitter | 13 | 2.83 | 0.28 | 1036.8 | 1009.1 | 3.60 | 75.27% |
| Jennings | Castle | 12 | 2.87 | 0.31 | 1034.4 | 1006 | 3.70 | 82.56% |
| Vaux | Sampson | 13 | 3.17 | 0.30 | 1041.2 | 1011.1 | 3.90 | 73.06% |
| Average | 13.4 | 2.77 | 0.28 | 1037.0 | 1008.4 | 3.71 | 77.50% | |
| Source: | ||||||||
| Daily Mirror July 10th 1972, page 15. | ||||||||
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6 comments:
I have no experience of this time and place, so I'm wondering something about all of this watery beer.
Did all of the enforcement efforts around diluted beerthat you had described earlier fade away in this era? Did pub owners decide there was nowhere lower to go? Or had gravities descended so much they figured nobody would notice if they snuck more water into the mix?
Anonymous,
none of these samples looks like it's been watered down. Remember, average OG was 1037º.
Sorry to not be clearer. I'm wondering about the market nationwide for beer after it had left the brewery in the era of low gravity. When gravities of beers were already so low, were there still inspectors going around to see if it was watered down? Were pubs still doing it? Or was it pointless?
Having lived in Newcastle for periods in the 1970s if you ventured South of the Tyne, Samson was essentially the equivalent of Clubs Federation Special and S&N Exhibition, usually on tank.
Maxim Brewery of Houghton Le Spring have resurrected Samson and also Wards, cask only.
From my memory, Samson had a very different flavour to Newcastle Ex or Fed Special. Much more assertive, I found the flavour a little too strong for my preference at the time. Gold Tankard had a closer flavour profile to those other beers.
Samson bitter seems like very good value for money.
Oscar
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