What annoys you most about pub snacks?

In 1970, the Brewers' Guardian interviewed three customers about pub food. It gives us a little insight into the attitudes of publicans and diners.

At least that's what I'm going to claim. The reality is that I've a couple of weeks of travelling coming up and I need to string out a stack of posts before I go. Maybe I should make this interactive. You can tell me what you find annoying about pub snacks.

I'll go first. Not enough of them, too expensive. My favourite? A simple hard-boiled egg. Which is something you find in old-fashioned Amsterdam pubs.

What annoys you most about pub snacks?
(a) Well, it's terribly difficult to generalise, of course, but I suppose my pet hate about pub snacks or meals is the awful smell of cooking that hangs around some bars. It hits you as soon as you walk in the place and if you stay for any length of time you can smell it on your clothes when you get home. I don't mean all pubs are like this, but there are plenty of them and when I come across one I can't even drink there, let alone have something to eat.

(b) Apart from the obvious things, like bad hygiene, I think what I dislike most is that one can never really tell how long the food has been standing in the warming cabinet. It’s easy enough to spot a curled up sandwich or a piece of mouldy cheese but if you fancy shepherd's pie or sausages I am put off by the thought that they may have been re-heated from the morning session. Perhaps I am too nervous.

(c) I would say that 99 per cent of pub snacks are really good value for money, but occasionally you can be grossly overcharged for a sandwich in a pub. I went into a pub in the West End [of London] the other day and was charged 3s. 6d. for a cheese and tomato sandwich and the only tomato I found in it was a few pieces of skin. I don't know how some of them get away with it.
Brewers' Guardian, Volume 99, May 1970, page 56.

It's weird complaining about the small of food at a time when pubs were blue with fag smoke. How could you have even smelled the food?

Sometimes it's best not to think too much about what the food might have been through before hitting your plate. Just like in Wetherspoons. Who knows what horrors might have befallen it.

Let's put that 3s. 6d (17.5p) into context. The average price of a pint of Bitter in 1970 was 10.7p. Making that spartan cheese and toamto the equivalent of seven or eight quid today.

We'll move along to the next question.

Do you ever go to a pub for an evening meal? If so what special features do you look for?
(a) I never go on spec., as it were. If I have been recommended to a pub or inn then most certainly I will go, but in general I do not like eating in a room separate from the atmosphere of the pub. I like to be in amongst the noise and entertainment, which after all is a good slice of the attraction at the pub.

(b) No. If I want to eat out then I will go into a proper restaurant where the preparation of food is their whole livelihood and not just an extremely profitable sideline. Apart from this, I feel that there is not enough variation on a pub's menu to warrant it. Roast beef and steak seems to be about the usual limit, whichever language they print it in. Also pubs that serve decent sweets are few and far between.

(c) Yes I do. There are some very nice little restaurants above pubs or in annexes to them. If one is prepared to be adventurous, spend some time searching and, perhaps, be prepared to make a mistake or two. then I think the search can be rewarding. One small complaint is that many pubs, especially in towns, only cater for the lunch-time crowd. If a snack is available in the evening it is often re-heated from the lunch-time session.

I'll answer this one. No. Well, maybe I have at sometime in the past. But I can't think of an occasion off the top of my head. In contrast, I've eaten meals at midday loads of times.

I agree with Mr. a. If I'm in a pub, I want to feel like I'm in a pub. Not a restaurant.

Let's Brew Wednesday - 1900 Barclay Perkins XLK

What changes have the new century brought to Barclay’s Ordinary Bitter? Surprisingly few. To be honest.

The gravity is a little lower, but that was true of pretty much all of their beers. It was a simple question of economics. When the duty increased, the gravity was cut. Brewers didn’t have any option, unless they wanted to cut their profit margin.

When the gravity of a standard barrel was reduced from 1057º to 1055º in 1889, that was, effectively, a 3.5% increase in the duty. On a beer costing 3d a pint, that would have meant raising the price to 3.1d. But the smallest coin was a farthing. 0.25d, so that wasn’t possible. Easier just to reduce the gravity a little and keep the price the same. Customers were very resistant to price rises, beer having cost the same for 30 years at this point.

The elements are much the same as in 1886: base malt, adjuncts and invert sugar. The only difference is that there’s a bit more sugar and there are two adjuncts, flaked maize and flaked rice. This was a transition period when they were moving from rice to maize. A few years later, it was 100% maize.

No foreign hops this time. Just two types of East Kent, from the 1898 and 1899 harvests.

No long ageing for this Running Beer. No more than a few weeks in the cask. 

1900 Barclay Perkins XLK
pale malt	7.75 lb	72.09%
flaked rice	0.50 lb	4.65%
flaked maize	0.50 lb	4.65%
No. 1 invert sugar	2.00 lb	18.60%
Goldings 120 mins	1.50 oz
Goldings 60 mins	1.50 oz
Goldings 30 mins	1.50 oz
Goldings dry hops	1.00 oz
OG	1051
FG	1011
ABV	5.29
Apparent attenuation	78.43%
IBU	58
SRM	6.5
Mash at	148º F
After underlet	153º F
Sparge at	165º F
Boil time	120 minutes
pitching temp	60º F
Yeast	Wyeast 1099 Whitbread ale

Foreign adventures

In 1970, the biggest UK brewing groups were amongst the largest in Europe. Yet they made remarkably few inroads in Europe. Eventually being overtaken by brewers like Heineken and Carlsberg, who had been far smaller in size. Why did UK brewers end up mostly concentrating on the UK market?

Difficult to say. Though one problem may well have been the kind of beer they were trying to sell. Lager was king in continental Europe. But that wasn't what UK brewers were trying to sell abroad.

Allied, with their purchase of two decent-sized Dutch breweries, seemed to have taken a more progressive approach. Especially as it gave them a genuine Dutch Lager brand to compete with Whitbread=brewed Heineken.

Allied find going Dutch does pay
This month. the Rotterdam Brewery of Breda-Oranjeboom N.V., the Dutch concern owned by Britain's Allied Breweries. are to increase their total fermentation capacity by 16,000 hl. with the installation of 12 Ziemann stainless steel combi-tanks of 1,500 hl. capacity. These new fermenters are to be equipped with in-place cleaning and temperature control.

Forming the second stage of work at the brewery, the move follows increased output of 50 per cent from the brewhouse, which consists of a four-vessel Steinecker plant operational since April, 1969. Later on in the year, silos will be installed in the old brewhouse which has virtually been gutted.

For future expansion in production the company can look to their recent purchase from Heineken-Amstel, Holland's largest brewing group. Situated at Helmond, near the German border, it is a 30-acre site — quite a handy acquisition when one considers that this is almost twice the area available at Breda and Rotterdam. At the time of purchase, the plant had no brewhouse but with the company’s current annual capital expenditure running at £l.5m. developments there seem more than likely.

But this is mere speculation on future trends. At present the bare facts are that in its first year of operation the Dutch group made a pre-tax profit of £500,000, after allowing for the cost of loans carrying high interest rates. Mr. Nicholas Herald, the Allied Breweries vice-chairman in charge of the International operations in Holland, also predicts an increase in that figure during the current year.

But this is mere speculation on future trends. At present the bare facts are that in its first year of operation the Dutch group made a pre-tax profit of £500,000, after allowing for the cost of loans carry-high interest rates. Mr. Nicholas raid, the Allied Breweries vice-chairman in charge of the International operations in Holland, also predicts an increase in that figure during the current year.

In the Dutch market the Breda-Oranjeboom grouping claims 20 per cent of the market while Heineken-Amstel have cornered a 55 per cent share. The only other brewery having a sizeable market share is Grolsch Bierbrouwerij, who claim 10 per cent. On the home market, Allied say that per capita beer consumption in Holland has more than doubled in the last ten years — from 41 pints in 1960 to 90 pints in 1969. The picture is just as rosy on the export front. Of last year’s production of l.5m. hl., 13 per cent went to 80 countries.

In the U.K., however, Oranjeboom has not been particularly in evidence. True, Allied did cease sales of Skol 2000 and put the Dutch beer in its place but they have, perhaps, not pushed the beer too much. In 1968, their first year of ownership, £1,312 was spent on advertising Oranjeboom compared with £64,946 on the already established Skol Lager.

But the beer flow is not all one way. Double Diamond is being sold through its namesake's pub in Rotterdam and it is proving extremely popular with the locals. In fact, it accounts for a little under 25 per cent of beer sales through the particular outlet, although it costs more than the ordinary Dutch beers sold there.

When questioned on the reason for Allied success in Holland, despite gloomy forecasts made by some pundits Mr. Herald pointed to the splendid cooperation between the merged breweries which had previously been competitors. The companies they had taken over were sound, he said, and Allied had taken a good, long look at them before making any move. And when they had he, he continued, the deal had been a fair one for both sides. From then on much of the credit goes to the Dutch team who worked together in complete harmony from the start. Draught beer was now bring produced at one brewery, while bottled beers were the sole domain of the other.

Beer is not the only side to Allied trading in the Netherlands. They also acquired Warninks, the well-known advocaat producers, and both Breda and Oranjeboom have large soft drink holdings. In fact, Breda say that 30 per cent of their revenue comes from this sector. Oranjeboom own C P. Fabrieken, fruit juice, mineral and syrups manufacture who in turn control North Netherlands Bottling Co., a company holding the Coca Cola franchise in the three northern provinces of Holland.

All in all the Dutch affair has developed into a strong and growing combine forming a solid base for any further expansion into Europe, should opportunity arise.
Brewers' Guardian, Volume 99, June 1970, page 34.

You can see they were still trying to flog English Pale Ale, in the form of Double Diamond, to Europe. Longterm, Oranjeboom would fare far better in the UK market.

Food in 1970s pubs

Rising living standards after WW II led to an increased demand for food in pubs. Though the form that food took varied considerably. From cold snacks to full meals.

In 1970, the head of Watney Mann’s catering department, Mr. F. MacPhillips, identified four different categories of pub food:

1.    Full meals.
2.    Speciality restaurants, such as steak or fish.
3.    Warm snacks.
4.    Cold snacks. 

The latter two of these categories being the most common.

Brewers were in an odd position when it came to food. In tenanted houses, they had no direct financial interest in the catering. As it was run purely by the tenant. However, knowing that the provision of food encouraged custom, and hence beer sales. So, food did benefit brewers indirectly. In managed houses, however, the catering was run by the brewery, as was everything else.

Customers weren’t totally satisfied with pub meals. Especially the prices. This punter had some harsh words on the subject:

But some of the prices charged are really monstrous. Publicans obviously use this side of their trade to pay for their holidays or the wife's new fur coat. They seem to push the prices to their limit, like they do with foreign lagers. And when they do attempt to keep the price down either the meals shrink or the plates get bigger something happens to the size of the portions anyway.
Brewers' Guardian, Volume 99, May 1970, page 56.

Another complaint was that, as most urban pubs concentrated on serving food at lunchtime, in the evenings everything had been reheated. Insufficient seating meant meals and snacks often had to consumed in crowded conditions or even standing up.
 

Young’s Saxon lager

I could have already guessed that Young's Saxon was a pseudo-Lager. That type of regional brewery just didn't have the equipment for things like decoction and cold fermentation. But chairman John Young hit back at those who complained it wasn't a real Lager.

Given his commitment to cask beer, it's rather odd to hear him extolling the qualities of their Lager.Because, I'm pretty sure, behind the scenes he wasn't that keen on it. Regarding it as an evil necessity rather than the future of the brewery. Which time has shown it wasn't.

Young’s start major drive for their Saxon lager
In readiness for (he expected summer lager boom. Young & Co.’s Brewery Ltd. of Wandsworth, are starting a major sales push for their Saxon Lager, which was introduced last year.

Previously sold in bottles only, the brew was recently launched in cans and, as equipment is installed, it will also be sold on draught in Young's 136 pubs and through free trade outlets.

Mr. Geoffrey Hicks, sales manager of of Foster-Probyn Ltd., Young’s subsidiary, has gathered together a special sales force to concentrate solely on the lager's sales to the free trade. The sales drive will be backed by point-of-sale and poster advertising and poster advertising.

Speaking at the launch, Mr. Hicks said: “Our results last year were most impressive, exceeding our most optimistic forecasts for Saxon, and now we are going all-out to take advantage of the swing to lager drinking with what we feel is a very fine product with a distinctive flavour, stemming from the specially-imported hops and Young’s brewing expertise.

“And for the trade, as with all Young's beers, we have the advantage of being able to offer extremely competitive prices backed by a first-class delivery service.”

Mr. John Young, the company's chairman, had a word to say on the nature of lager itself. He believed that it was not necessarily the bottom fermentation process that made the beer a lager. It was, he claimed. The length of time the drink was stored in cold conditioning tanks after brewing that made a lager what it was. After all, the word lager was derived from the German word for storage. 

Although Saxon is not brewed by the bottom fermentation process it has a long storage time and this prompted Mr. Young to defend the beer against those who had criticised his right to call Saxon a lager: “Saxon is stored for ten weeks before being ready for sale - a much longer period than most of our rivals store their lager beers.”
Brewers' Guardian, Volume 99, June 1970, page 34.

John Young does have a point. There are German beers described as "obergäriges Lagerbier": top-fermenting Lager. It's a term used for beers such as Kölsch and Alt which are top-fermented then lagered at a near-freezing temperature. Which sounds very similar to what was happening with Saxon. I'm sure Mr. Young is correct when he said most rival UK Lagers weren't lagered for ten weeks. Many probably barely had time to rest in the lagering cellar.

 

Let's Brew - 1899 Barclay Perkins X Ale

At the end of the 1880s, there was quite a big cut in the gravity of X Ale. Followed by another, smaller one, in the second half of the 1890s. Presumably in reaction to increases in duty.

The recipe was also quite unstable in that period. In addition to base malt, sometimes there was brown malt, sometimes crystal malt and others both. After 1891, They settled on just pale and crystal malt. Along with a bit of flaked maize and a shitload of sugar. As often in the 19th century, it’s just described as “saccharum”. I’ve opted for No. 3. Partly because it feels right. But also because it gets the colour to about the right spot.

In the copper, were some American hops, from the most recent harvest, 1898. There were also some Mid-Kent hops from the same year. The other type of Mid-Kent hops were a year older, but are specifically described as Goldings.

The finished beer would have been semi-dark, fairly hoppy and with a decent alcoholic kick. My type of Mild. 

1899 Barclay Perkins X Ale
pale malt	6.75 lb	63.26%
crystal malt 60L	0.25 lb	2.34%
flaked maize	1.00 lb	9.37%
No. 3 invert sugar	2.67 lb	25.02%
Cluster 120 mins	1.00 oz
Fuggles 120 mins	0.50 oz
Fuggles 60 mins	1.25 oz
Goldings 30 mins	1.25 oz
OG	1055
FG	1009
ABV	6.09
Apparent attenuation	83.64%
IBU	55
SRM	16
Mash at	148º F
After underlet	153º F
Sparge at	165º F
Boil time	120 minutes
pitching temp	61º F
Yeast	Wyeast 1099 Whitbread ale

Bass Charrington's £20m. brewery project

More about the wonderful Runcorn brewery. This time it's a puff piece in the Brewers' Guardian.

It's rather typical of the technocrat tone of the publication at the time. As sort of Hooray for Everything approach

"Bass Charrington's £20m. brewery project
As can be seen from the above scale model, a feature of Bass Charrington's proposed £20m. brewery on a 100-acre site at Runcorn New Town, Cheshire, is that much of the production plant will be in the open air. At this stage, the company are not disclosing any technical details of the project, but it is thought likely that there will be a system of batch wort production and a degree continuous fermentation.

The practice of placing some of the plant outside the brewery walls follows similar recent moves at the Beamish & Crawford brewery in Cork and the Cornbrook Brewery, Manchester, where they have outside fermenters. Last year a completely exposed brewhouse at the Tennent Caledonian Brewery in Glasgow also went into production.

Bass Charrington's announcement follows the completion of a survey into the, brewing, packaging and distribution requirements the company are likely to be facing in the l970's and 1980’s."
Brewers' Guardian, Volume 99, May 1970, page 33.

This open-air shit seems to have been an obsession of Bass Charrington.I can understand why you'd put conical fermenters outside, especially the huge ones. But why the hell would you put the brewhouse outside? This is the UK. Where rain isn't totally unknown. Wouldn't it just be a right pain in the arse for the brewing staff?

"The new brewery, along with packaging and kegging facilities should come into production in 1972-73. It will have an annual capacity of 2.5 million barrels and will employ approximately 1,250 people. When completed it will be Europe’s largest single unit and it will be capable of expansion if this should prove necessary at some later date.

Stone & Webster in London are producing the engineering design, carrying out the purchasing and supervising construction of the development which will use processes specified bv Bass Charrington. Stone & Webster have been working as consultants with Bass Charrington during the planning stages and engineering design work has already been started by them."
Brewers' Guardian, Volume 99, May 1970, page 33. 

It actually opened in 1974. And initially employed 500. Which turned out to be far too many. Eventually it was staffed by just 150.

This next bit is rather disingenuous. Because the medium-term plan was to close all their breweries in England and Wales, other than Runcorn and Cape Hill. It looks like bottling and canning was already being concentrated at Runcorn in anticipation of this.

"Once the new brewery comes into operation a number of existing plants in the Group will be closed during 1972-73. The breweries affected are Barrow, Blackpool, Burnley, Liverpool, Manchester, Aberbeeg, Fernvale and Mile End. The Cannon brewery at Sheffield may also be closed.

Bottling will cease at Tadcaster and Wolverhampton; bottling and canning will cease at Cape Hill: and bottling and kegging will cease at Cardiff, but all these units will continue to brew. The bottling, kegging and canning plant at Tottenham will also close as will the bottling plant at Yeovil.

As a result of this reorganisation Bass Charrington breweries in England and Wales will, after the new brewers has come into production, be sited at: Runcorn; Tadcaster; Sheffield; Burton; Birmingham; Cardiff; Wolverhampton. The reorganisation will not affect Bass Charrington's operations in Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic."
Brewers' Guardian, Volume 99, May 1970, page 33.

They seem to have forgotten about one English brewery: Highgate in Walsall. Or was it jsut too small to be worth mentioning? Never heard of Fernvale? Neither had I. It was in South Wales, apparently. Aberbeeg was the home of Webbs, another brewery from South Wales that I've never come across before. Probably because it was so small.

Ireland!

One of the questions I get asked most often - along with "Why is your blog called that?", "Why don't you get a haircut?", "Who is this mysterious woman called Dolores?" and "Are you sure you want a pint of Imperial Stout this early in the day?" - is "When are you going to write a book about Ireland?"

I think I've already got the title nailed down. But that's about it. Which is why my answer has always been: "I don't have enough information." That wouldn't have put everyone off. In the past, at least. Being positive (however uneasy that makes me feel), writers just making stuff up doesn't happen now. So much.

A second answer is: more research.

The limited photos of Irish brewing records were almost all sent to me. Time for me to get off my arse and head to Ireland.

In April, I'll visit three archives. In Dublin, Portlaoise and Cork. If past experience is anything to go by, I'll get filthy fingers, backache and a desire to never take a photograph again. And lots of surprises when I start slowly trawling through those photographs.

Research is so much fun.

When branding fails

Marketing releases are often hilarous when looked at with hindsight. Like Bass's new regional Bitter for Yorkshire. Which tried to build a nrew brand from a previous success.

"Bass launch new “regional” bitter
Despite the continuing disappearance of many local brews, one of the country’s largest brewing groups, Bass Charrington Ltd., is showing its awareness of regional palate preferences by the introduction of beers suited to a particular area.

Latest beer in this context is Brew Ten, which has been launched in the North-East and is advertised as being “specially brewed for the men of the North by Bass".

Described as a medium-priced draught bitter — it has a recommended public bar price of 2s. 2d. per pint — Brew Ten follows on from the success Bass Charrington have had in the Midlands with their Brew XI.

A major programme of television, Press and poster advertising starting this month has been planned by Bass Charrington to support the launch of Brew Ten."
Brewers' Guardian, Volume 99, May 1970, page 49.

Spoiler here: Brew XI was shit. A sweetish beer sometimes likened more to a Pale Mild than a Bitter. And Brew Ten? That was even worse. The success of Brew XI might not have totally been on its own merits.

"Brew XI draught beer took the Midlands by storm and was a genuine success; of course, that success was helped along by strenuous statements that it was successful - like a government minister justifying his policies - and the fact that it was replacing the existing M&B brands which had a ready-made market."
"The Brewing Industry 1950 - 1990", by Anthony Avis, 1997, page 104.

Picking a lower number for the new beer possibly wasn't the brightest idea.

"As part of the same thought process the Tadcaster Brewery had been allocated X, by which to call its main draught beer; and that too was a failure in marketing terms - the Yorkshire drinking public were convinced they were being sold weaker beer than the Midlands, since X was less than XI; so it was dropped as a brand name."
"The Brewing Industry 1950 - 1990", by Anthony Avis, 1997, page 107.

A top-down approach always works so well.

Let's Brew Wednesday - 1890 Adnams SS

Stout would remain an obligatory element in an English brewery’s beer range well into the 20th century. Though the quantities brewed might be quite small as it became increasingly only available in bottled form.

For a Stout, the grist is pretty simple. Just one coloured grain: black malt. Along with some sugar and caramel. You may have noticed that Adnams didn’t a whole load of different types of malt. Other than base malt, the small amount of black malt they needed for Stout was the only other one.

Two types of hops, Altmark and Sussex. I’m not really sure what variety the former were. I’ve just gone with the most common type of German hops. Ditto with Sussex and Fuggles.

Was this aged? I don’t really know. Maybe. But probably not more than six months. 

1890 Adnams SS
pale malt	8.50 lb	65.94%
black malt	1.25 lb	9.70%
No. 2 invert sugar	3.00 lb	23.27%
caramel 1000 SRM	0.14 lb	1.09%
Hallertau 105 mins	2.75 oz
Fuggles 30 mins	0.75 oz
Goldings dry hops	0.75 oz
OG	1064
FG	1019
ABV	5.95
Apparent attenuation	70.31%
IBU	42
SRM	42
Mash at	151º F
Sparge at	170º F
Boil time	105 minutes
pitching temp	57º F
Yeast	WLP025 Southwold

More Mablethorpe memories

There were two Bass Charrington pubs in town. The Eagle, a substantial detached Victorian building a bit outside the centre. I went in there at least once with my brother. Pretty sure they had no cask. As it’s the one and only time I drank Bass No. 1.

Just down the road, towards the seafront, was a rather good chippy. With an attached fish restaurant. A place where they served the chippy food, but on china with proper cutlery, accompanied by white sliced bread spread thinly with margarine and mugs of tea. It’s the only type of restaurant I’d eaten in before going to university.

The other Bass house was on the High Street. The Book in Hand. A pub whose narrow frontage shouted: fuck off, you’re not welcome. Just looking at it, you knew the atmosphere was shit, the beer was shit, the people were shit. They’d think you were a little shit and quite possibly kick the shit out of you.

I never visited it, oddly.

My memories are of walking past and being met by a waft of warm air. Caressing on the cheek but a frontal assault on the nose. A mixture of stale beer, fag smoke and other assorted odours I don’t care to think about too much. OK, it was much like any pub smelt at the time. Just in a more concentrated form. Perhaps on account of the narrow frontage not offering the foul air many routes of escape.

Just over the road was the was the far more salubrious Louth Hotel, a large and airy Home Ales house. In their plain, no-nonsense house style. But with cask Mild and Bitter served, as almost always in Home pubs, by electric pumps. The pubs could open crazily early – 10:00. And the Louth always seemed to do a surprisingly good trade in the two hours before midday. The democratically-priced beer might have been the key.

Much to my regret, unlike Skegness, Mablethorpe had no Shipstones pub.

Runcorn mega-keggery

The classic idiotically-conceived mega-brewery. Thought up by a chairman without brewing experience (who believed any beer could be brewed anywhere) and constructed by chemical engineers. How could it possibly have gone wrong?

The idea was that the whole of England and Wales would be served by just two breweries: Cape Hill and Runcorn. Beer brewed in Runcorn would be shipped by train to a depot in Stratford, East London. The train would later return to Runcorn with empties.

It was a personal project of H Alan Walker, chairman and chief executive of Bass Charrington. A man with, to put it mildly, a rather autocratic management style. Despite many in the company having misgivings about the plans, no dissent was allowed. The chairman made it very clear than anyone raising objections would be sacked.

After some delays, the brewery opened in 1974. With all the company’s breweries in Lancashire closing as well as the Charrington brewery in Mile End to make way for it. For some reason, the packaging plant was built far away from the brew house meaning beer had to be moved between the two through a very long pipe. Not exactly an efficient way of operating.

At the time, Bass Charrington was weirdly keen on having most of the brewing kit outdoors. Not just conical fermenters, but even the brewhouse itself. Something they had already done at Tennent’s Wellpark Brewery in Glasgow.

As soon as the brewery opened, it ran into problems. On the one hand, it struggled to replicate the beers from the existing breweries. And on the other, it had terrible industrial relations, leading to repeated strikes.

CAMRA weren’t great fans, as the brewery produced no cask beer. And had entailed the closure of a string of regional breweries: Barrow, Blackpool, Burnley, Liverpool, Manchester, Aberbeeg, Fernvale and Mile End. It left the group with no brewery further south than Birmingham.  

Eventually, they did manage to sort out the problems at the brewery, albeit too late:

"The beer was improved by rebuilding the brewery along orthodox lines, and the beer became acceptable for what it was, and not a pretence of being something else. Just as everything was going quite well the depression in the brewery trade descended, and there was too much brewing and canning capacity."
"The Brewing Industry 1950 - 1990", by Anthony Avis, 1997, page 109.

The brewery closed in 1993. Fewer than 20 years after first coming onstream. 

Men in white coats

I'm finding that reading old issues of the Brewers' Guardian is conjouring up the mood of the 1970s even better than my music playlist. At least when it comes to the point of view if industry insiders. It's very much a technocratic view.

The writers are very gung ho about all the latest technological developments like continuous fermentation and tank beer. Which are portyaed as the future of brewing. There's rarely any mention of beer flavour. Other than claiming the new proceses had no impact on it.

And it the photos of all the gleaming stainless steel, the brewers are always wearing white coats. Like laboratory workers. It's telling of the way brewers were regarded at the time. Oh so different from today's hippy rock stars.

I've only got to June 1970. But already so much really useful material. Going through the whole decade is going to be so much fun. I'm really looking forward to the reaction to CAMRA and the Real Ale movement.

Let's Brew - 1890 Adnams Tally Ho

Strongest in Adnams range remains Tally Ho. Not sure what they called it back then. In recent years, they’ve called it a Barley Wine. Not so sure they would have called it that in 1890. More likely Old Ale or even just Strong Ale.

Main difference with the 1879 recipe is the presence of something called “colour”. Which I’m taking to mean a caramel of some sort. A bit tricky to work out the quantity, as it’s listed in pints rather than pounds. Or to know exactly what shade it was. Guesses all around, then.

While we’re on the topic of guesses, the brewing records don’t include FG’s or boil times. Though, oddly, they do specify when a copper sample was taken. After two hours for this brew. Meaning the boil time must have been, at least, 120 minutes.

Three types of hops: Worcester, Kent and Burgundy. No real clue what variety the last might have been. I’ve gone with the only French-grown type I know. Could me miles off there. But, as the quantity is small and I’ve put it at the start of the boil, it will probably have a negligible effect on the flavour.

Returning to guesses, one to two years conditioning in oak is what I’d plump for. Along with Brettanomyces, obviously. 

1890 Adnams Tally Ho
pale malt	13.00 lb	76.11%
No. 2 invert sugar	4.00 lb	23.42%
caramel 1000 SRM	0.08 lb	0.47%
Fuggles 120 mins	3.75 oz
Strisslespalt 120 mins	1.25 oz
Goldings 30 mins	4.50 oz
OG	1086
FG	1024
ABV	8.2
Apparent attenuation	69.66%
IBU	88
SRM	18
Mash at	153º F
Sparge at	165º F
Boil time	120 minutes
pitching temp	57º F
Yeast	WLP025 Southwold

Another foreign Lager-brewer moves in

Tuborg, Carlsberg’s big local rivals had also been active in the UK market in the interwar period. Just like Carlsberg, their beer looked much like its domestic product at 4.5% ABV.

And, this is so weird, after the war, they had a Pilsner at 3% ABV and a stronger “Export Beer” at 5.3% ABV.

In 1970, they struck a deal with Truman, then still independent, to sell. And then later brew under licence, their draught Lager in the UK. 

Another agreement signed for sale of foreign lager
In line with a marked increase in sales of lager beers and its healthy prospective growth rate, yet another trading agreement has been signed with a foreign brewer for the sale of its beer in this country. Trumans have made a long-term agreement with Tuborg of Denmark to sell Tuborg lager on draught in their houses from the beginning of this month.

Truman's will be producing the lager in their re-built London brewery with purpose-built plant which is being installed in consultation with Tuborg and produced to their specification and under their surveillance. An English brewer will be in charge of production.

As an interim measure, until the new plant is functioning, Tuborg will supply beer to the brewery by bulk tankers direct from Copenhagen.

From May 1, it will be available initially in 350 Truman’s houses and progressively in the majority of their 1,200 pubs and for their free trade.

At the moment, Truman’s sell Skol and Harp lagers in their houses, plus a certain amount of Holsten on draught, and carry a selection of Continental bottled lagers. The company have said the new move will not immediately jeopardise existing ties but agreements with Harp and Skol expire in 1973.
Brewers' Guardian, Volume 99, April 1970, page 23.

Takeovers of the two breweries involved by larger local rivals would render this dear irrelevant very quickly.

 

The foreign view of English pubs in the 1970s

What did foreign tourists think of UK pubs? Well, luckily someone went to the trouble of carrying out a survey.

Not very clean, seems to have been the main complaint. I can understand what they meant. late in the evening, especially if a pub was busy, the staff might not have time to go around collecting glasses, emptying ashtrays and cleaning tables. Which is one of the reasons I always took my empties back to the bar. If you didn't, your table could become completely filled with empty glasses.

"Tourist's eye-view of English pubs
Dirty glasses and full ashtrays are the two main gripes tourists have about English pubs, according to a recent survey carried out by Interflow Ltd., on behalf of Reckitt & Colman Industrial Division. Public houses were under the room-for-improvement section and were, in fact, bettered only by hotels, restaurants and "top-of-the-table” London Airport.

The survey, full title: The Qualitative Survey on the Attitudes of Overseas Tourists to Cleanliness in English Pub Buildings, concluded that although many pubs were thought to be bright and welcoming - and the respondents praised the whole institution of the English pub — some foreigners remarked adversely on the standards of cleanliness encountered in many pubs which they had visited.

Typical of the comments was the statement from an Italian visitor: "I have been to quite a lot of pubs. Sometimes they are very drab and messy and sometimes they are bright and comfortable. I like a pub to have comfortable chairs and carpets. I think when people are in a place with a carpet they do not so easily throw things down, like cigarette packets or ash.”

But let the last word come from a German who remarked:    ". . . although the place was rather dirty the beer was very good. They must have looked after their cellar so beautifully they didn't have time to dust.”"
Brewers' Guardian, Volume 99, May 1970, page 34.

 At least you don't have to worry about overflowing ashtrays any more. But the weird London thing of not providing beers mats mean that tables in the capital's pubs soon become annoyingly wet.

Let's Brew Wednesday - 1890 Adnams PA

They continued to brew a full-strength Pale Ale at Adnams. And, unlike the Mild Ales, it was around the same strength as an equivalent beer brewed in London.

As with most Pale Ales of the late 19th century, there wasn’t much to the recipe. Just base malt and sugar. Though the base was split 50-50 between English and foreign barley. Which wasn’t unusual for the time. The foreign barley, however, would have been malted in the UK.

There were also two types of sugar. One, the usual Saccharum, the other, rather enigmatically, simply described as “P”. I’ve absolutely no idea what that might be. So I’ve just stuck with No. 1 invert.

Following the theme of twos, there’s also a pair of hop types: Worcester and Kent. With no season indicated. I’ve interpreted the former as Fuggles and the latter as Goldings.

This might well have been a Stock Pale Ale. In which case, it would have had at least six to nine months of secondary conditioning. Possibly more. 

1890 Adnams PA
pale malt	9.50 lb	79.17%
No. 1 invert sugar	2.50 lb	20.83%
Fuggles 105 mins	2.75 oz
Fuggles 60 mins	2.75 oz
Goldings 30 mins	2.75 oz
Goldings dry hops	0.75 oz
OG	1060
FG	1016
ABV	5.82
Apparent attenuation	73.33%
IBU	93
SRM	7.5
Mash at	153º F
Sparge at	165º F
Boil time	105 minutes
pitching temp	58º F
Yeast	WLP025 Southwold

Guinness in the 1970s

The seventh member of the Big Six. Somehow excluded from their club, Guinness wasn’t seen as one of the big brewers, because they owned no pubs. Ironically, it was Guinness who brought down the tied house system with a complaint which eventually led to the Beer Orders in the 1980s.

Because they owned no pubs and had a bottle-conditioned beer in every pub, Guinness mostly escaped the ire of CAMRA. And weren’t considered part of the evil Big Six, despite having a market share as large as that of Courage.

The company operated two European breweries: St. James Gate in Dublin and Park Royal in London. The latter was opened in the 1930s in reaction to trade friction between the UK and the newly-founded Irish Free State. In General, the North of England and Scotland received beer from Dublin and the South from London.

Before 1970, the vast majority of Guinness sold in UK pubs was in bottle-conditioned format. Most of which wasn’t bottled by Guinness themselves, but by other brewers or third-party bottlers. For example, in Leeds, all the Guinness in Tetley’s pubs was bottled by Musgrave & Sagar, a former brewery in the town.

In 1970, a satellite racking facility was built in Runcorn. This seems to have been mostly dedicated to filling Draught Guinness into 50-litre kegs. The beer came from both their Dublin and London breweries. It had an annual capacity of 500,000 barrels and was intended only to supply the North of England.  

Guinness needed the facility after signing agreements with 19 of the 20 largest breweries to sell draught Stout in their pubs. At Park Royal, where kegging had taken place up until then, there was insufficient space for expansion.  

For home brewers, Guinness Extra Stout was an excellent source of a very active yeast. Me and my brother used it often.

Who drank what in 1970

In 1969, United Glass Ltd. commissioned our old friends at Mass Observation to investigate drinking habits in the UK. The results are, as you would expect, fascinating.

"It was found that on average, a consumer drinks between 2 and 3 types of drink per day. The highest duplication occurs on Friday and Saturday and the lowest on Monday and Tuesday. Also the under 25’s and the AB social class consume a greater variety of drinks than other informants."
Brewers' Guardian, Volume 99, March 1970, page 87.

I think what they're saying there is that people went out drinking more at the weekend than at the start of the week. Now there's a surprise. And the young and the wealthy drank more different drinks than the average. Not much of a shock, either.

"U.G. say that men drink an average of 79 fl. oz. per day compared to the 59 fl. oz. consumed by women. The difference is least marked at the beginning of the week but the gap widens considerably towards the week-end when the consumption of beer amongst males rapidly increases. Conversely, women do tend to drink less at weekends it was found. Further details of the survey are available on application to the market research manager, United Glass Ltd."
Brewers' Guardian, Volume 99, March 1970, page 87.

Again, nothing really shocking. Men drank more than women and drank more beer at the weekend. I think I could have guessed that.

What did surprise me is the difference in beer drinking between men and women - 36% of men but just 7% of women. That's a huge difference. I wonder what the numbers would be now? My guess would be that the overall average would be something similar to 21%, but that the split between men and women would be more even.

One big change from today would be regards to tea. I'm sure the percentage of people making tea with teabags would be much higher than 5%.

I'm shocked to see only 10% of people drank water. Barely more than the 9% who drank hot chocolate. 

Type of drink X proportion drinking
	Total	Sex		Age				Social Class
		Male	Female	16-24	25-34	35-44	45-64	AB	C1	C2	DE
All Respondents	2107	1052	1055	421	378	423	885	253	415	806	633
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
Tea	90	91	89	84	87	90	94	89	87	91	91
Instant Coffee	57	51	62	64	68	57	48	71	61	58	46
Beer	21	36	7	27	24	18	19	26	20	12	21
MiIk	13	11	15	22	13	8	11	16	16	11	13
Water	10	9	11	13	10	8	10	13	12	9	10
Hot Chocolate	9	7	11	12	12	8	8	11	11	9	8
Squash	9	7	10	15	12	5	6	10	8	9	7
Milk Drinks	7	6	9	4	8	7	9	8	10	6	7
Ground Coffee	7	7	7	6	8	5	9	15	13	6	2
Spirits and Fortified Wine	7	6	7	5	8	5	8	19	9	5	3
Tea made with tea-bags	5	4	5	6	5	5	4	9	5	4	3
Others	21	17	22	29	19	18	17	27	25	21	15
Duplication	156	152	155	187	174	134	143	214	177	150	126
Source:
Brewers' Guardian, Volume 99, March 1970, page 87.