What is Guinness Extra Stout?

A look at the history of an iconic beer - Guinness Extra Stout.

 

Whitbread's bottled beers in 1934

Time to look at the bottled beers in Whitbread’s 1934 price list. Which includes, in addition to the four beers brewed in their Chiswell Street brewery, several produced elsewhere. Which is handy, as it gives a better idea of the beers actually available in a London pub.

The four Chiswell Street beers are the first in list. There appear to be four beers: London Stout, Oatmeal Stout, India Pale Ale and Double Brown. Though the two Stouts were, in reality, identical.

The two Forest beers came from the Forest Gate Hill brewery, which Whitbread bought in 1924. One of their main reasons for purchasing the brewery was to get hold of modern, sediment-free bottling technology. Whitbread having stuck with bottle-conditioning until after WW I.

Based on the price, I’m guessing that the two Forest beers were around 1040º. Hang on. I have an analysis from 1934. It gives the OG as 1039º. So, my guess was pretty close.

Pioneer Ale and Stout were brands of the Lovibond brewery. Not sure why Whitbread were selling them, as I can’t find any connection between the two breweries. I know from analyses in the Whitbread Gravity Book that both beers were around 1030º. 

As already mentioned, Mackeson Milk Stout was being sold at a premium. Based on its gravity in the mid-1050ºs , it falls in the 9d per pint class. But it was sold for 10d per pint.

Something similar is happening with Guinness Extra Stout and Bass Pale Ale. Both of those also had gravities in the mid-1050ºs, but also retailed at 10d per pint. Which was a 1d per pint premium over the expected price. 

Both Bass and Guinness were widely available in other brewers’ tied houses. Usually being bottled by the other brewery, too. The premium charged reflects the renown of the two beers.

In addition to the above prices, a deposit was charged on the bottles of 1d per half pint, 2d per pint and 3d per flagon.  Which, especially in the case of cheaper beers, was a considerable percentage of the total price paid. 

Whitbread's bottled beers in 1934
	Per doz. Botts		Per doz. Half-botts	crates of four flagons
	Wholesale	Retail	Wholesale	Wholesale	Retail
London Stout	6/1d	8/-	—	3/10d	5/-
do. ("Special Whitbread")	—	—	3/6d	—	—
Oatmeal Stout	6/1d	8/-	—	3/10d	5/-
India Pale Ale	5/4d	7/-	—	3/4d	4/4d
do. ("Small Whitbread")	—	—	3/1d	—	—
Double Brown	7/-	9/-	4/-	4/5d	5/8d
(A fine strong ale)
FOREST ALE AND STOUT
Oatmeal Stout	5/4d	7/-	3/1d	3/4d	4/4d
Brown Ale	5/4d	7/-	3/1d	3/4d	4/4d
PIONEER ALE AND STOUT
Family Stout	4/6d	6/-	—	2/10d	3/8d
Family Ale	4/6d	6/-	—	2/10d	3/8d
MACKESON'S MILK STOUT
Milk Stout	7/8d	10/-	4/2d	4/10d	6/-
Bass	8/8d	10/-	5/-
Guinness	8/8d	10/-	5/-
Bass Barley Wine in nips
Source:
A 1934 Whitbread price list.

 

 

Bottling Guinness in the 1960s

Another Guinness bottling controversy. This time about the use of corks. Which Guinness wanted to phase out in favour of crown corks. 

The brilliant thing about this video is that it shows hand bottling at the pub. The beer is in wooden hogsheads, which is filled in bottles and then corked. 

 It's wonderful to see just how the bottling process worked.

 

 

Guinness in crockery bottles

 Here's a reminder of when Guinness was bottled by publicans. In this case, using corked crockery bottles.

 

 At one time, this was how most Guinness was bottled in Ireland. In the pub where it would be sold. This was one of the main reasons Guinness Extra Stout remained bottle conditioned. Publican bottlers didn't have the equipment to artificially carbonate.

Anyone know when publicans stopped bottling in Ireland? 

 

 

J. C. Jacobsen talks malt and Irish breweries

More from the correspondence between Jacobsen father and son. It's such fun. For me, if for no-one else.

The following is taken from a letter of 1870-02-03 from J. C. Jacobsen to Carl Jacobsen.

First he talks about malt.

The floured Scottish barley from last year, from Younger, particularly impressed our farmers, mostly landlords.- I still kept a little of it, but if you can get a small sample (in a bottle) of similarly floured barley in Burton, it would not hurt to have it for reference at another opportunity. 

The Danish farmers were impressed by Scottish barley, but rather bemused by the use of Chilean barley. Something which was very common in UK brewing.

They were also surprised to see the rather narrow and spiked Oderbruck barley and to hear that such barley was sought after in England. Here, they believe that a high weight is the one decisive factor. They could not understand at all that an English brewer could use such chili barley, which I showed them the malt from, and I really do not understand how it is profitable to malt such barley with a malt tax of 21 sh 9d per quarter. It must be extremely cheap. Do you know the price of it? What barley does Evershed use? and what is the price now in Burton? They use as simple barley there as in Edinburgh. 

Yes, Chilean barley was cheap. But not ridiculously cheap. It also had some characteristics - such as nitrogen and protein content - which mad it a good complement to UK barley.

The next bit I found particularly interesting.

I had the company of Tietgen at the table. He strongly recommended visiting the Porter breweries, especially Guinness in Dublin, and then visiting Drogheda (pronounced Droggeda), whose mild ales were famous and cheap. They found a large market, among others, in Liverpool and Manchester. When I expressed my surprise that you had not mentioned Drogheda's beer, he said that the English, out of jealousy of the Irish, tried to ignore it.- He also advised an excursion from Dublin to Waterford, where there, as in several places in Ireland, was a very interesting church from the time of the Danes and the road to it led through the most beautiful parts of Ireland.- But we will hardly have time for that this time.

Guinness Stout was already pretty famous by this point But Drogheda Mild Ales? That's a surprise. It was a pretty small town and brewers there, such as Cairnes, were wuite small.

A church dating back to the time of the Vikings in Ireland must have been pretty old.
 

Dublin Porter Shipments 1894 - 1908

From various years of the Brewers' Journal I've managed to assemble quite a neat little table of Porter exports from Dublin. Pretty sure that they are all shipments from Dublin, both to the Britain and abroad. Though the vast majority of, at least, the Guinness shipments were being sent to Britain. Oh, and only a tiny amount was in the form of Porter. It was almost all Stout.

The proportion accounted for by Guinness was on the increase throughout the period covered, rising from 75% in 1894 to 89% in 1908. Which shows how dominant Guinness was in the Dublin trade. Of course, two of the biggest Irish Porter brewers don't appear in the figures. Because Murphy and Beamish & Crawford were based in Cork.

When you see how much bigger Guinness was than the other Dublin breweries it's no surprise that they were the only ones left a couple of decades after the period covered in the tables.

To put the figures into context, total exports of beer from the UK were only around half a million barrels. And beer imports around 50,000 barrels. When Ireland gained independence in 1922, imports suddenly rocketed to around a million barrels. Almost all of it Guinness. 

Dublin Porter Shipments 1894 - 1899
	1894	1895	1896	1897	1896	1897	1898	1899
Guinness and Son	443,629.5	425,833.5	413,344.5	418,921.5	413,344.5	418,921.5	415,225.5	479,535
Mountjoy Brewery	24,522	24,322.5	28,588.5	31,176	31,095	33,907.5	33,561	33,205.5
Jameson, Pim	24,747	28,378.5	31,098	33,907.5	28,588.5	31,176	34,554	33,033
Watkins	39,465	33,004.5	32,302.5	30,501	32,304	30,501	25,242	18,630
D'Arcy and Son	24,402	22,033.5	25,204.5	25,914	25,204.5	25,914	25,740	22,935
Phoenix Brewery	20,133	18,049.5	17,554.5	13,447.5	17,554.5	13,447.5	12,732	11,586
E. & J. Burke	14,014.5	13,741.5	11,316	8,302.5
All others	1,234.5	3,333	4,890	3,700.5	16,206	12,003	5,881.5	15,198
Total	592,147.5	568,696.5	564,298.5	565,870.5	564,298.5	565,870.5	552,942	614,122.5
Source:
The Brewers' Journal vol. 36 1900, January 15th 1900, page 9.
The Brewers' Journal vol. 34 1898, January 15th 1898, page 36.

Dublin Porter Shipments 1900 - 1908
	1900	1901	1902	1905	1906	1907	1908
Guinness and Son	544,792.5	557,806.5	557,236.5	600,318	650,980.5	670,503	687,486
Mountjoy Brewery	33,105	34,278	33,915	30,498	29,562	27,513	25,522.5
Jameson, Pim	32,050.5	32,128.5	28,668
Watkins	17,782.5	16,656	21,552	38,544	39,481.5	36,541.5	36,175.5
D'Arcy and Son	23,326.5	23,056.5	15,201	23,493	27,789	23,472	21,946.5
Phoenix Brewery	10,033.5	8,133	7,423.5
All others	12,511.5	17,737.5	21,696	228	-	-	22,834.5
Total	673,602.0	689,796	685,692	692,991	747,813	758,029.5	768,457.5
Source:
The Brewers' Journal vol. 38 1902, January 15th 1902, page 9.
The Brewers' Journal vol. 39 1903, January 15th 1903, page 8.
The Brewers' Journal vol. 45 1909, January 15th 1909, page 8.

Oak used in casks

As you may already be aware, UK brewers used almost exclusively Memel oak from the Eastern Baltic to construct their casks.

The discussion which was initiated by Mr. Babington, at the June meeting of the London Institute of Brewing, opened out a very interesting, and, at the same time, a very puzzling question. The timber used in making brewers’ casks is, and has been for countless years, nothing but oak. It is a curious fact, however, that the only kind of oak practically ever used for making casks in which ale is to be stored is that hailing from the Baltic seaports, in other words, the Memel timber.
The Brewers' Journal vol. 38 1902, October 15th 1902, page 589.

There was, however, one UK brewer bucking this trend.

We believe we are correct in stating that the largest firm of stout brewers in the world use nothing but American timber, and they find it in every way satisfactory. But, from long experience, no brewer of ale will be found who can depend on the Quebec oak as a receptacle for his fine produce. At Guinness’s no cooper ever makes an entire cask. The rough hewn Quebec planks are trimmed by one man, passed on to the next for shaping, and so on, until at length they are pieced together and hooped at the other end of the shop.
The Brewers' Journal vol. 38 1902, October 15th 1902, page 589.

Can you guess who that one brewer might be? Largest Stout brewer in the world? It has to be Guinness.

Given that Memel oak was expensive, there was an incentive to use the cheaper North American oak. Prompting brewers to attempt various treatments to remove the woody flavour. All to no avail.

The question, however, that interests us, is why we cannot use the American timber for ale casks? Mr. Babington merely expressed the experience of numerous other ale brewers, when he gave that of his own firm. “We fired our Quebec-timber casks; we steamed them; we boiled them ; we boiled with salt water; we stood them for days; we filled them with sour beer; we bi-sulphited them. They went into the trade, and came back with ‘neat’ beer labelled ‘casky.’ Many experiments have been made with a view to elucidate this mystery of the Quebec timber — all to no purpose, we regret to state. One of Mr. Babington’s friends in the coopering trade tried very drastic treatment. He tried common soda with hot water for varying numbers of hours; soda with alum or salts of tartar; salts of tartar with copperas and boiling water; common salt in varying quantities; lime; solution of pearl ash — all, as we have said, to no purpose." Even coating with paraffin did not eliminate the woody flavour. It is true that this now well-known process will render casks less porous, and should thus tend to remedy the evils attendant upon the use of American oak, or any other variety; but, as it happens, the Quebec timber is by no means of a very porous nature; and, except for this curious property of communicating casky flavours to ale, it appears to be an ideal substance for making brewers’ vessels.
The Brewers' Journal vol. 38 1902, October 15th 1902, page 589.

Not even lining the casks the casks with paraffin helped.

There was scientific research being undertaken into the various types of oak. Though, up unto that point, without any definitive result.

We must confess that some of the methods of treating casks detailed by Mr. Babington do not recommend themselves to us, and, indeed, seem more likely to injure than to cure. For instance, we have never advocated the custom of “pickling” barrels in brine. It is our experience that casks treated with common salt are most difficult to get dry; indeed, they never appear to become thoroughly ary after such treatment, and no doubt the use of pungent chemicals must take some of the “nature” out of the timber, however hard it may be originally. It is very interesting to note that Mr. Matthew J. Cannon is making some experiments on the chemical nature of the various types of oak used in breweries. The tests he has already applied do not afford us any definite information, but his work is, as yet, in its infancy, and he may ere long have some more definite announcement to make. When the nature of these various woods has been established by research, Mr. Cannon will be in a better position to treat his subject scientifically. It is obvious that we must not rob the timber of its valuable resinous constituents, nor of its tannin, for these substances act as powerful preservative agents. We await with deep interest the elucidation of this important problem, as the timber imported from the Baltic is very dear, and it seems rather an odd thing that the good, sound Quebec wood cannot be used in our breweries, on account of practical reasons that, at present, admit of no satisfactory explanation.
The Brewers' Journal vol. 38 1902, October 15th 1902, page 589.

What was the ultimate resolution? Moving from wooden to metal casks.

So many roasted malts

You may never have heard of Plunkett Brothers, but they did play a key role in a classic beer.

They were a Dublin-based malt roaster. And, most importantly, pretty much house roaster to Guinness.

As this testimonial attests.

James's Gate Brewery, Dublin, 25th February, 1873
"Dear Mrs. Plunkett,
We have the pleasure of stating that we are purchasing considerable quantities of your Patent Brown Malt, and find it of very good quality. We would alio say that our connection with your Firm and that of your husband, the late Mr. Randal Plunkett, and his father, extends over fifty years, during which we have had large and satisfactory transactions.
ARTHUR GUINNESS, SONS & CO.
Mrs. Eliza Plunkett, Belle Vue.

The above text comes rom a Plunkett Brothers advertisement in "The Theory and Practice of Modern Brewing" by Frank Faulkner, 1888. By which time Guinness hhad probably swapped out the Patent Brown Malt for roast barley. I know for certain that they were using roast barley in 1894, because I've seen it in a bbrewing record.

Plunkett Brothers produced an impressive range of roast grains:

Chocolate Finest Patent Malt Roasted for Flavor.
Finest Patent Malt Roasted for flavor and color.
No. 1 Patent Roasted Black Malt for color.
No. 2 Patent Roasted Black Malt for color.
Patent Roasted Barley.
Patent Roasted Maize (Patent granted June, '80)
Special “Candied” Malt (Registered March 31, '85)
Golden Finish Malt.
No. 1 Amber Brown Malt.
No. 2 Amber Brown Matt.
High-dried Pale Malt.

I wonder what roasted maize was like? And what the hell it was used for.

Archiving!

I rise a little after eight. Then trapse downstairs to the bar for brekkie.

The big question is: should I get the traditional or the large Irish breakfast? Good sense prevails, and I plump for the large. Only joking. I’m not a total pig.

Is a description necessary? It’s a Wetherspoons breakfast. Functional, is the word that comes to mind. A way to efficiently load up on calories for the day. Two mugs of tea, too. Proper tea. Strong and milky.

I have to ask at the Storehouse information desk for Eibhlin Colgan, the archivist. And soon she’s leading me up to the reading room. Where she already has the volumes I’m going to consult.

There are eight in total: two Cherry, two Perry and four Cairnes. Covering a pretty decent span of years, between them. 1876 to 1966. Lots to get my teeth stuck into.

I wouldn’t describe the work of photographing brewing records as fun. It isn’t. Tedious. Repetitive. Filthy, sometimes. Backbreaking. Mostly just boring.

Pages are turned, photos are taken. Occasionally, I’ll pause to take a look. More so at the start than at the end of the session.

At lunch, I notice that my phone is down to 38% battery. Which is a bit worrying. I ask about charging it while I eat. Unfortunately, I’ve only brought a USB cable. Damn.

It makes the afternoon session even more frantic than usual. I start to regret how much time I spent on some of the Cairnes records this morning.

When I finish, I’ve still a little battery left. But that was much more stressful than it needed to be. Stress is the last thing I need.

1,000 snaps snapped, I head back to my hotel. Where I recharge my phone and copy all those valuable photos to my laptop. After all the effort it took to take them, I wouldn’t want to lose them by dropping my phone or having it nicked.

In one taxi, I explained to the driver what type of pub I like. Old men’s pubs, basically. One he recommended was Cassidy’s, just over the road from my hotel. After nipping into Tesco Express to pick up a couple of sandwiches (and Taytos cheese and onion crisps) for my tea, I drop by there.

It is, as advertised, and old-fashioned sort of pub. The perfect place to try out the Guinness.

I’m not expecting a sensory overload. Let’s be honest: Draught Guinness is pretty bland. But this pint is smooth and easy to drink. With the vaguest flicker of roast lurking somewhere in its shadows.

I quite like quiet times in pubs. Though his one is by no means empty, there’s plenty of space for me to fill with my fat arse. But still enough fellow customers to observe to keep things interesting.

Only the one pint. I’m not made of fucking money. I retreat back to the ‘Spoons. And the warm embrace off cheap cask beer. I enjoyed the Brehon Black Hills so much yesterday, I get myself another. Which I take to my room. Where whisky I don’t need to pay for (again) is waiting for me.

This isn’t going to be a very pubby trip. I’ve a busy schedule and don’t want to knack myself just hanging around in pubs. Much as I love doing that.

Instead, I hang around my room a bit. Nibbling on my Tesco sarnies and sipping my hotel whisky. While watching some shit TV on my laptop.

It’s me chasing the whisky to sleep today.



Cassidys
42 Camden Street Lower,
Saint Kevin's,
Dublin 2,
D02 YP57.

 

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.

Irish brewing in 1970

I seem to keep getting dragged back to Irish brewing at the moment. Not sure why. This is something I came across researching my book "Keg!". It's an overview of the Irish brewing scene, from the point of view of the Guinness chairman.

He starts by relating how the types of beer being drunk had changed over the previous decade.

In a review published recently in the Irish financial journal, Business and Finance, Lord Iveagh, chairman of Guinness, points to the expansion of lager as being the most significant feature of his company's Irish activities in the 1960s, with particular reference to the development of Harp. In 1959, total beer sales comsprised 89 per cent stout, 9.5 per cent ale, and 1.5  per cent lager; in 1969, the proportions are expected to be about 73 per cent stout, 20 per cent ale and 7 per cent lager. Lord Iveagh comments that while more stout is being sold than in 1959 it now makes up only three-quarters of Guinness sales in Eire.

Looking forward to the 1970’s, in Eire the chairman expects increased production capacity to meet the growth of home demand for beer and a more rapid expansion in ale and lager than in stout.
Brewers' Guardian, Volume 99, February 1970, page 77.

The growth of Lager in the 1960s parallels what happened in the UK. Though Lager had advanced a little further in Ireland, with 7% of the market compared to 6% in the UK.* The growth over the course of the decade was truly impressive.

Though lagging far behind the advances of Lager, Ale had still managed to double its market share. Which is interesting. I assume that this was mostly in the form of Pale Ale. I wonder what has happened since? Did its share increase in the 1970s? Does Ale hold as much as 20% still?

This next little bit is very revealing, if you understand what it means.

Guinness has no intention of playing a significant part in the retailing of the company's products but will have to pay attention to packaging and distribution in the ’70’s.
Brewers' Guardian, Volume 99, February 1970, page 77.

That basically means: we aren't going to buy pubs. Which, indeed, was what they did.

Most intriguing was this:

The company intends to encourage the small hop industry that has emerged in Eire over the past couple of years, that it may make a significant contribution, in the future, to the company’s total requirements.
Brewers' Guardian, Volume 99, February 1970, page 77.

What happened to the Irish hop industry? Has it ever provided a significant quantity of Guinness's hop requirements? I somehow doubt it. 

* “The Brewers' Society Statistical Handbook 1990” page 17.

Ireland here I come

The nice people at the Guinness archive are letting me drop by. And, while I'm over, I may as well do as much harvesting as I can.

Like the Perry stuff at the Laois County Library. Filling in a few, of the gaps, in my knowledge of Irish brewing. Filling more in would be great.

I've been asked about writing a book om Irish brewing. Maybe I will, if I can scrape together enough information.

I know they have some brewing records in the Cork archives. But I'm damned if I can find them in their online catalogue. If you can help a poor oldie person to find the relevant documents, do let me know.

Probably in April I'll be over. Any other archive suggestions are very welcome.

The Big Six (part four)

My final part on the Big Six, this time covering numbers 5, 6 and 7.

Watney
The most hated of breweries amongst the CAMRA faithful. For the simple reason that they had moved aggressively into keg beer. Some of their breweries still produced a little cask, but they were deeply committed to keg.

In the 1890s, hey leapfrogged into first place in London after taking part in the first big brewing merger. The result was Watney Combe Reid. A company that was producing over 1 million barrels a year.

They owned several breweries in different regions: Norwich, Webster (Halifax), Wilsons (Manchester), Usher (Cheltenham) and Drybrough (Edinburgh). Some producing cask, others not. Webster’s beers were OK in cask form, but nothing special. Wilsons beers, even though often in cask form, I never cared for.

Whitbread
Very crafty, is how you could describe Whitbread’s route to the Big Six. Under the Whitbread umbrella scheme, they bought minority stakes in smaller brewers. The idea was to make them immune to hostile takeovers by other large companies. In reality, this was often just a first step to Whitbread taking total control.

Initially, many of the breweries gobbled up continued much as before, other than branding their Bitter as Trophy. There were some excellent beers. Wethereds springs to mind. A brewery in the Thames Valley that brewed outstanding beers. Of course, Whitbread fucked it up, but it was good while it lasted.

Guinness
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.

Looking back (part three): 1970s bottled beer

More about the beers of the 1970s. Starting with bottled beers.

The popularity of bottled beer had declined by the time I first hit the pub. In 1960, the split had been 64% draught, 36% bottled. By 1970, it was 73% to 27%. But the bottled figures also included off sales. Which at the time were about 10% of the total.

Why had bottled beer sales fallen? One the answers is keg beer. One of the reasons for drinking bottled beer or mixed bottled and draught was the variable quality of cask beer. Keg beer, which though more expensive than cask, was still cheaper than bottled beer. And offered a similar level of consistency.

Also, some styles of bottled beer were going out of fashion. Milk Stout is a great example. Hugely popular in the 1950s, by the 1970s it had become associated with grannies. Who wants to drink what their Nan is drinking? No-one under fifty. Some breweries still made one, but Mackeson was by far the most common.

Most breweries produced a range of bottled beers. Light Ale, Brown Ale, Pale Ale, Stout and some sort of Strong Ale. That was about it, usually. With quite modest bottled sales, few brewers bothered to make beers just for bottling. Light Ale was bottled Ordinary Bitter, Brown Ale the Mild, and Pale Ale the Best Bitter. Stout and Strong Ale were usually just bottled products, though sometimes a Strong Ale might be sold on draught during the Winter.

There were a couple of very strong bottled beers, like Whitbread Gold Label or Bass No. 1, which were 9%-10% ABV and sold in nip bottles. And in London, Courage Russian Stout. It was unavailable in Newark, despite all the pubs being owned by Courage. The northern part of Courage operated quite separately. None of the beers from Courage's southern breweries were distributed in the Midlands and North.

I can tell you very little about these beers. Because I never drank most of them. I can remember trying Bass No. 1 once. I couldn't even tell you now what colour it was. If I'd known its significance, I'd have paid more attention. And maybe tried it more than once.

Sometimes I did drink bottled beer. When a pub sold no cask beer, there was always an alternative for the real ale fan: bottled Guinness. Sold in every pub and bottle conditioned. It's hard to convey the magnificence of this beer. Dry, roastily bitter and with a distinct lactic tang. One of the greatest beers of the day. With so much more complexity and depth of flavour than the travesty of a Stout that is Draught Guinness. It was a sad day when they stopped bottle conditioning.

The other bottled option was Worthington White Shield. Another one of the handful of bottle-conditioned beers. Unfortunately, it was mostly only available in Bass Charrington pubs, so I didn't get to drink it often. It was bone dry, very highly carbonated and quite heavily hopped. Very pale in colour, too. Another excellent beer. Though you needed to be careful pouring it, as the sediment was easily disturbed. Most barmen wisely left the pouring to the customer.

Guinness mystery

When I was nosing around the website of Dirk van den Broek* for my recent trendy post, I noticed something rather odd about Guinness.

And it wasn't just annoyance at seeing Guinness Special Export on their website, when my local one doesn't stock it. Which is really irritating when they do sell the stupid "draught" version. Which is sort of what I'm coming around to.

This is how canned "Draught" Guinness is listed at Dirk's. See if you can spot anything odd:

 

You probably couldn't spot it. I know I didn't the first few times I looked at it. "Guinness Pilsener stout draught". What? Guinness is a Pilsener?

When I stopped laughing, I started to wonder: how could this have happened? What was the person thinking who wrote this?

All I can come up with is: they think Pilsener is synonymous with beer; or that all draught beer is Pilsener.

Do you have a better theory? Let me know.

 

* A Dutch supermarket chain. Most similar UK equivalent is Morrisons. 

Bottled Imperial Stout sold in Scotland 1880 - 1889

Here's the second part of my look at Imperial Stout  in the 1880s. But, this time, specifically ones on sale in  Scotland. All details have been taken from advertisements in Scottish newspapers. The British Newspaper Archive is such a useful resource.

This bunch is even more dominated by London brewers. Only one is definitely from elsewhere: Guinness. Plus one whose origin in uncertain, Yule. That being the name of the retailer who was presumably selling a brewer's Imperial Stout under their own name.

I was interested to see Reid popping up as well as their later partners Combe. It looks as if Reid had pulled out of the Scottish market - or at least stopped advertising - by 1900. I wonder why that was.

Based on the prices, there's a variation in strength here, too. The only ones which look too be the full Imperial strength are those selling for 2s 9d and 3s per reputed pint. Which equates to  4.1d and 4.75d per imperial pint. Those costing 2s 2d and 2s 3d (3.25d and 3.375d per Imperial pint couldn't have an OG of 1075º-1080º. Not quite as weak as some of the draught versions, but still well off Imperial Stout strength and more like a Double Stout.

I'm pretty sure that Guinness didn't brew a Stout stronger than Extra Stout or Foreign Extra Stout, both of which had an OG of 1075º. Which fits in neatly with the price of 2.25d per reputed pint. I can't remember seeing Guinness Extra Stout sold as Imperial Stout in England. I wonder why it was in Scotland?

Don't get the impression no-one in Scotland was brewing the style. I just couldn't find any adverts which included prices. For example, Devanha of Aberdeen advertised their own Imperial Stout.

Bottled Imperial Stout sold in Scotland 1880 - 1889
year	Brewery	Place	beer	price (per doz)	size
1880	Reid	London	Imperial Stout	6s	reputed quart
1880	Reid	London	Imperial Stout	3s	reputed pint
1880	Truman	London	XXX or Imperial Stout	6s	reputed quart
1880	Truman	London	XXX or Imperial Stout	3s	reputed pint
1883	Barclay Perkins	London	Imperial London Stout	2s 2d	reputed pint
1883	Combe	London	Imperial London Stout	2s 2d	reputed pint
1885	Barclay Perkins	London	Imperial Stout	2s 9d	reputed pint
1885	Guinness	Dublin	Imperial Stout	2s 3d	reputed pint
1885	Truman	London	Imperial Stout	2s 9d	reputed pint
1885	Unknown	London	Imperial Stout	3s	reputed pint
1886	Combe	London	Imperial or XXX Stout	2s 9d	reputed pint
1886	Unknown	London	Imperial XXX London Stout	2s 6d	reputed pint
1888	Reid	London	Imperial Stout	5s	bottle
1888	Reid	London	Imperial Stout	2s 7d	half bottle
1888	Yule	??	Imperial Stout	2s 2d	reputed pint
1889	A. Gordon & Co.	London	Imperial Stout	4s 6d	pint
Sources:
Elgin Courant, and Morayshire Advertiser - Friday 06 February 1880, page 1.
Dundee Weekly News - Saturday 22 December 1883, page 8.
East of Fife Record - Friday 25 September 1885, page 1.
Stirling Observer - Thursday 24 December 1885, page 1.
East of Fife Record - Friday 25 September 1885, page 1.
East of Fife Record - Friday 20 July 1883, page 1.
East of Fife Record - Friday 12 November 1886 page 1.
Dundee Courier - Tuesday 12 January 1886, page 1.
Leith Burghs Pilot - Saturday 01 December 1888, page 1.
Aberdeen Evening Express - Thursday 08 March 1888, page 1.

 

Another cool Guinness video

I loved bottle-conditioned Guinness so much. Never had it corked, mind

 

 

Dead impressed the bloke can pick the corked sample.

 

The second Anglo-Irish Guinness crisis

Peace didn’t last all that long. Less than two years later, in October 1943, renewed shortages of grain in the Republic of Ireland saw the dispute flare up again. With exports of beer being banned once again.

Once again, there was the prospect of most pubs in Northern Ireland having to close. Though the situation was more serious in Northern Irland, where the vast majority of beer was supplied from the Guinness brewery in Dublin, parts of the North of England and Scotland were also affected. The Guinness Park Royal brewery only supplied the southern half of England and Wales.

Once again, the suggestion was mooted in the Northern Irish Parliament that the Ulster Brewery should step up production to fill the gap. Unfortunately, this wasn’t something in the power of the Northern Irish government, as the distribution of raw materials for brewing was handled by the central UK government.

One MP asked the Northern Irish Prime Minister:

“would not be possible to secure imports from Great Britain or to make an effort to arrange for manufacture in Northern Ireland so that workers could not held to ransom "every time it suits certain people.””
Belfast News-Letter - Wednesday 10 November 1943, page 5.

The export ban lasted longer this time, stretching out to more than a month. Supplies of Guinness resumed on 6th December 1943. I’m sure the 300 barmen who had lost their jobs were delighted. Though a quota of only 75% of the 1941 quantities was provided.  But at least there was Guinness again.

Once more, the exact nature of the deal between the UK and the Republic of Ireland wasn’t made public. Presumably it did entail Ireland getting its hands on more grain one way or another.

The first Anglo-Irish Guinness crisis

The position of the Republic of Ireland was a weird one. It was neutral but, due to its proximity to the UK, couldn’t avoid the impact of the war.

The food supply in the Republic of Ireland must have been affected by the war, especially for things like wheat which had been imported. Ireland needed to be supplied by sea and German U-boats would still sink ships bound for Ireland, even though the country was neutral. And obviously Guinness was a good lever to force the UK to provide more grain.

On the one hand, international maritime trade was severely, making it hard to import raw materials or food. On the other, the UK was easily Ireland’s biggest trading partner. Exports to the UK were hugely important for the country’s finances. There’s one pretty obvious Irish export to Britain: Guinness.

While selling Guinness to the UK might have been important financially, it couldn’t come at the expense of Ireland starving. Or going thirsty. The trouble kicked off early in 1942, when the Irish government indicated that no licences would be issued for the export of Guinness unless the UK exported 200,000 tons of wheat to Ireland. The wheat was needed as Ireland was running short of grains for making bread.

Ironically, Ireland’s difficulties were prompted by the USA’s entry into the war.  Ireland had been importing American wheat via the neutral port of Lisbon, but after joining the war these shipments ended. Leaving Ireland about 80,000 tons of wheat short, if the supply of bread was to be maintained at its present level. The short-term solution was to use 20,000 tons of barley which would have between used to brew beer for export and divert it to bread production. And to ban beer exports.

This presented a huge problem for Northern Ireland, where between 70% and 80% of the beer sold was Guinness. Northern Ireland only possessed a single brewery, which was far too small to supply all the pubs in the province.  Only relatively modest amounts were imported from the rest of the UK, mostly typical export beers such as Bass, Worthington and William Younger.

Within a week of the ban, Northern Ireland was virtually running dry. Pubs were closed for much of the day and rationed supplies in the few hours they were open. 200 barmen faced the sack.

Nowhere else in the UK sourced three-quarters of its beer from a single brewery. But it wasn’t just Northern Irish publicans who were likely to lose out. Guinness themselves would lose a big chunk of their sales. In 1942 more than half the beer they brewed was exported.

A suggestion was made to provide the Ulster Brewery – the only producer in Northern Ireland – with more materials so that it could boost production by 25%. But that would still have fallen well short of replacing the beer usually supplied by Guinness.

The crisis was resolved in a couple of weeks, with the first fresh supplies of Guinness arriving in pubs on March 16th, 1942. The quantities supplied were the same as before the export ban.

At the time both sides were cagey about exactly how a resolution had been achieved. A couple of months later, in response to a question in the House of Commons, Major Lloyd George, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Food, assured MPs that no cereals had been exported from the UK to Ireland since January 1st 1941.  

They must have done something to change the Irish government’s mind. What could it have been? Knowing how tricky politicians can be, perhaps the UK had grain shipped directly to Ireland from elsewhere, allowing the official to truthfully say none had been exported from the UK.