W.E. & J. Rigden grists in 1884/85

And what about the ingredients in Rigden's beers? Well, let’s take a look. Starting with grains.

The base malt in every beer is pale malt. Nothing unusual there. Note, though, that often there was more than one type of pale malt.

Only the Black Beers contain any other type of malt. Namely brown and black malt. Which leaves them with a very London-like grist. With getting on for a 20% roast malt content. I assume that the proximity to capital was why the grist is so similar to those of London brewers.

Only the three cheapest beers, Table Ale, Beer and AK, contain any adjuncts. In the form of flaked maize. Which lowers the malts percentage to around 65%. While the posher beers have around 75%, or, in the case of the Black Beers, 85%. It’s clear that, in the cheap beers, flaked maize is a direct substitute for base malt.

W.E. & J. Rigden grists in 1884/85
Beer	Style	pale malt	brown malt	black malt	total malt	flaked maize
Beer	Mild	69.57%			69.57%	13.04%
AK	Pale Ale	64.04%			64.04%	13.48%
AK Stock	Pale Ale	77.14%			77.14%
Special Ale	Pale Ale	75.00%			75.00%
XXK	Pale Ale	72.41%			72.41%
TA	Table Ale	64.04%			64.04%	13.48%
XXX	Stock Ale	73.77%			73.77%
P	Porter	65.22%	10.87%	6.52%	82.61%
DS	Stout	65.63%	11.72%	7.03%	84.38%
Source:
Fremlin brewing record held at the Kent Archives, document number U3555/2/GBR/BX2/1/9.