London Stout between the wars

WW I might have put the boot into Porter, but Stout was still alive and kicking in London. Looking at Whitbread\s production figures, it looks as if some Porter drinkers switched to Stout. It would make sense, as post-war Stout was very similar to pre-war Porter.

Whitbread brewed considerable quantities of Stout between the wars. However, the long-term tendency was of decline.

Over the interwar period, the proportion of Whitbread’s output that was Porter and Stout fell from 35% to 22%. A worrying trend and a sign of what would come after WW II.

This is the time when a couple of Stout variants became incredibly popular: Oatmeal Stout and Milk Stout. Both sort-of exclusively in bottled form.

Oatmeal Stout had been around since the 1890s and was already pretty popular in the runup to WW I. While the original versions, such as Maclay’s, had a hefty quantity of oats, later imitators used ridiculously small amounts. And, as they were often parti-gyled with other Stouts, a company’s draught Stout might also contain unannounced oats.

Milk Stout was developed by Mackeson in 1911. They claimed to want to create a more nourishing form of Stout by adding lactose. They made much play of this on their labels and advertising. It was a big hit. Too big a hit for a small brewer like Mackeson.

Originally, they allowed other brewers to produce Milk Stout under licence. This system broke down after a while when breweries brewed versions without bothering to get a licence. In the 1930s, Mackeson came under the control of Whitbread. Who started brewing their Milk Stout at Chiswell Street in 1936.

The odd strong Stout continued to brewed, mostly for export. Though a few specialities, such as Barclay’s Imperial Russian Stout, continued to be brewed at pre-war strength.

Another big development was the opening of Guinness’s Park Royal brewery in London. Bringing together the two great Stout brewing traditions. Not that Guinness picked up anything from local practices. They brewed exactly the same way as they did in Dublin.

Whitbread Porter and Stout output 1921 - 1939
	P	S	CS	LS	ES	MS	SSS	Total Porter & Stout	Total Ale & Porter	% Porter & Stout
1921	15,688	58,452		133,563	30,920			238,623	675,647	35.32%
1922	16,562	47,530	84,703	15,340	28,582			192,717	576,118	33.45%
1923	14,165	39,960	68,326	20,866	26,660			169,977	505,097	33.65%
1924	15,948	37,834	74,258	23,442	26,710			178,192	551,616	32.30%
1925	14,943	35,396	62,357	22,262	28,974			163,932	527,977	31.05%
1926	13,511	34,567	20,721	69,724	29,990			168,513	512,528	32.88%
1927	10,708	30,087		86,569	22,361			149,725	462,250	32.39%
1928	10,105	30,017		85,992	16,039			142,153	488,357	29.11%
1929	5,558	17,284		51,624	11,313			85,779	443,888	19.32%
1930	13,840	25,643		90,801	20,724			151,008	535,271	28.21%
1931	13,389	17,109		93,094	20,027			143,619	495,805	28.97%
1932	10,493			100,632	15,342			126,467	442,755	28.56%
1933	9,653			97,810	13,973			121,436	471,190	25.77%
1934	9,444			91,660	21,116			122,220	501,180	24.39%
1935	8,006			89,617	25,646			123,269	528,370	23.33%
1936	6,836			85,748	16,868	14,428		123,880	540,995	22.90%
1937	5,939			82,900	10,805	27,730		127,374	565,230	22.53%
1938	5,133			75,651	10,022	36,769		127,575	569,532	22.40%
1939	3,810			67,177	6,037	50,890	928	128,842	590,695	21.81%
Sources:
Whitbread brewing records held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document numbers LMA/4453/D/09/114 to LMA/4453/D/09/126 and LMA/4453/D/01/086 to LMA/4453/D/01/107.

This is an excerpt from my new book on London Stout. Get your copy now!