Beer and food pairing in the 1950’s (part two)

We’re getting to the meat now, so to speak. With specific beer and food pairings, sort of. As well as some non-parings.

First one of the latter:

“Bottled beer is becoming too popular at table. To bombard the tongue with bubbles of gas while eating is wrong. For an appetizer, yes: and at least one strong light ale now brewed with a slightly bitter tang, sold in something less than half-pints, makes an excellent aperitif. Beer, while it assists the appreciation of good food, also makes bad food endurable, and by the standards of former rough, farm-worker's fare food to-day is insipid. Mrs. Carlyle at the Frome inn could not stomach the meat, but she ate the bread with the aid of her pint of porter. In refreshment rooms a good frothy ale — and here's every excuse for bottled  — often gives a flattering zest to rigid sandwiches or cardboard-tasting pie.”
"Beer in Britain", 1960, page 105.

I wish he’d named that Strong Light Ale. Even though that’s a bit of an oxymoron. Light Ale was, by definition, not particularly strong. If it were, it would be called a Pale Ale. I guess with “something less than half-pints” he means a nip bottle. Which was a popular bottle size for stronger beers. Probably to save drinkers the shock of the price of a half or a pint.

I’m with him on fizzy beer. But it’s a problem that’s easily solved with a spoon. A minute or so’s agitation knocks most of the CO2 out of a beer.

Beer certainly will liven up crap food, or at least take your mind off it. In 1958 memories of rationing, which had only finally ended a few years earlier, in 1954, were still strong. And the often unpalatable food that was served up as a result. People had plenty of experience of eating rubbish food.

Now for some examples of cooking with beer as well as drinking it as an accompaniment to food:

“Beer has its place in food as well as with it. Welsh rarebit, when the cheese is blended with a little four-X ale, is delicious. The Suffolk farmer's pig absorbed a quantity of old ale in the curing process, being immersed for three weeks in a liquor of it before smoking. The flavours of beer, oak smoke, and barley-fed pork were combined in the result, and the fat was very rich. When a friend, thinking to give me a treat, partnered one of these hams with audit ale, he overdid it, especially as we were in a small sloop on a choppy sea. Mild beer would have been fitter. On the whole, mild is the best accompaniment to a square meal. Bitter has its virtues, and can give the motorist's appetite an edge which the walker's has gained naturally. Old beer is too sweet for a full meal: it is the ale of evening, of a companion rather than a crowd, and its accompaniment should be slight—a biscuit, or walnuts.”
"Beer in Britain", 1960, page 107.

It’s weird that he’s still calling Mild four-X Ale. True XXXX Ale hadn’t existed since before WW I. True, there were still beers called XXXX in the 1950’s, but they were just ordinary strength Mild Ales of around 3% ABV. A proper XXXX Ale was 8-10% ABV.

That marinated pig has me salivating like a dog outside a butcher’s shop. But I can see the author’s point about Audit Ale not necessarily being the best beer to slop back on a sloop. It was powerful stuff, even in the 1950’s:

Audit Ale 1951 - 1958
Year	Brewer	Price per pint d	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	colour
1951	Friary Holroyd	46.5	1084.6	1022.1	8.17	73.88%	51
1953	Friary Holroyd	45	1084	1025.1	7.67	70.12%	51
1955	Dales (Brewed by Wells & Winch)	36	1062.2	1023.5	5.00	62.22%	115
1955	Greene King	36	1083.2	1017.7	8.59	78.73%	100
1955	Wells & Winch	36	1062.2	1023.3	5.03	62.54%	115
1958	Lacons	54	1095	1017.8	9.65	81.26%	90
Source:
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/002.

I’m also with him on Mild going particularly well with food. It matches perfectly with hearty pub meals like pies, stews or fish and chips. That’s me drooling again, imagining a crusty pie, covered in rich gravy with a pint of Harvey’s Mild to wash it down.

Not all Stouts were good with food:

“Sweet stout is popular, but to me it is as mawkish as a Victorian ballad. A bitter tonic stout, on the other hand, is the best awakener of the sedentary man's digestion, or stand-by if he is hard-pressed and has only ten minutes in which to snatch a bite. A tonic stout is worth a bushel of indigestion tablets, not to mention tranquillizers.”
"Beer in Britain", 1960, page 107.

Proof, incidentally, that not all Stout other than Guinness was sweet in the 1950’s. Again, I’d have to agree with him. For most English dishes a beer like Mackeson is way too sweet. Though perhaps it might work with pudding. This talk of “tonic” is very 19th century, when doctors often recommended a Pale Ale like Bass to aid digestion.

At first I thought this next paragraph was a mention of the elusive commercial style of Home-Brewed. But I’m sure it’s meant more literally – beer brewed by someone at home.

“Finally, there is — or was — homebrewed. There was a jolly miller once who lived on a hill in Suffolk. The sails of his mill twirled merrily in March, and as often as you paid his bill he celebrated the fact with a pint of his home-brewed. It was cloudy — most home-brewed was — but very good, and an inducement to prompt payment. I remember too on my entry into a farmhouse being met by two powerful mingled odours. One came from a batch of loaves fresh from the oven. As to the other ... I sniffed questioningly. The old farmer tapped his nose, put a finger to his lips and opened a door. In a little room a mash-tub was steaming. He was breaking the law; but his tough old age and his son's and daughter's blooming health demonstrated that they understood the basic principles of good living.”
"Beer in Britain", 1960, page 107.

Home brewing wasn’t necessarily illegal in the 1950’s. It was perfectly fine, as long as you bought a licence. As late as 1960, just a couple of years before licences for home brewing were abolished, more than 1,000 were issued:

Brewing licences 1945 - 1960
	Brewers for sale
Year ending 31st March	No.	Duty paid £	Other brewers - not for sale	Total
1945	703	249,637	3,734	4,437
1946	680	255,863	3,512	4,192
1947	648	248,690	3,224	3,872
1948	625	240,265	3,073	3,698
1949	602	229,913	2,998	3,600
1950	567	212,902	2,673	3,240
1951	539	201,909	2,406	2,945
1952	524	199,122	2,225	2,749
1953	501	199,893	2,015	2,516
1954	479	197,056	1,758	2,237
1955	460	192,395	1,523	1,983
1956	426	192,956	1,396	1,822
1957	416	192,387	1,412	1,828
1958	399	198,331	1,317	1,716
1959	378	191,053	1,189	1,567
1960	358	196,675	1,055	1,413
Source:
1962 Brewers' Almanack, page 67.

Georges again

Time to return to Georges of Bristol to hear some more from their chairman.

First a little about the brewery’s history. Founded in 1730, it was registered as a limited company in 1888. Courage bought it up in 1961 with 1,459 tied houses. That number of pubs means it must have been one of the largest regional breweries. It closed in 1999, more than a decade and a half after Horsleydown, the original Courage brewery*.

I drank their beer many times when I lived in London. After the closure of Horsleydown it was the source of Courage Best and Directors. They were OK, if nothing special, I recall. I had a few pints of Best a couple of years ago in Folkestone. Presumably brewed by Charles Wells. It was much the same: alright, but unspectacular.

The war years saw breweries starved of investment. Meaning considerable sums needed to be invested after war’s end, if a company wanted to have their brewery up to scratch:

“During the past two years over £261,000 has been expended on additions to fixed assets.

Of this sum £132,000 represents purchases of valuable licensed houses when opportunities arose. The balance consists of expenditure incurred additions to and modernisation of the brewery and plant particularly to deal economically with the very large increase in output of bottled beers.

Substantial further outlay will be necessary over the next few years to complete this programme in respect of which contracts had been placed September 30, 1949, amounting to £90,000 approximately. “
Western Daily Press - Friday 27 January 1950, page 4.

£132,000 would have been a decent number of pubs – several dozen. You need to remember that for most breweries the only realistic way of boosting output was to control more pubs. The vast majority of beer was drunk in pubs and there were very limited free trade opportunities.

And here’s the recurring theme of a surge in bottled beer sales. Bottling requires far more machinery than merely racking into barrels. Investment in new plant would have been needed to keep up with demand.

“Progress in Repairs
Capital expenditure will also be required to meet the cost of building licensed premises on the Corporation new housing estates. We are pleased to report that negotiations with the planning authorities connection with this matter are proceeding on a satisfactory basis, as stockholders will no doubt have noticed In the Press.

Considerable progress has been made in carrying out repairs which had been deferred on account of war conditions. A survey of outstanding repairs of this nature has been made. In the absence of a further rise in costs it is estimated that the provision made in this year's accounts will be sufficient to cover work still to done.”
Western Daily Press - Friday 27 January 1950, page 4.

In an attempt to fill the housing shortage whole new suburbs, or even complete new towns were built after the war. These were a great opportunity for brewers, offering them the chance to build a large, modern pub in an area with little competition.

Civilian building work came to pretty much a complete stop during the war. Ad in addition to routine maintenance work that had been delayed, many pubs were affected by bombing. George, based in a major port would have had more than their share of pubs damage or even destroyed by German bombs.

I’ll finish with some of Georges beers from the 1950’s:

Georges beers 1949 - 1960
Year	Beer	Style	Price per pint d	package	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	colour
1949	IPA	IPA	17	draught	1037.1	1008.9	3.66	76.01%	29 B
1952	Home Brew	Home Brewed	22	bottled	1043.3	1009.9	4.34	77.14%	1.5 + 40
1953	Glucose Stout	Stout	28	bottled	1045.5	1017.6	3.60	61.32%	1 + 11
1954	Barley Wine	Barley Wine	40	bottled	1078.2	1026	6.78	66.75%	95
1956	Brown Ale	Brown Ale	24	bottled	1035.2	1010.8	3.16	69.32%	90
1958	Glucose Stout	Stout	30	bottled	1045.3	1019.3	3.25	57.40%	225
1959	Glucose Stout	Stout	28	bottled	1045	1018.7	3.39	58.44%	225
1959	Light Ale	Light Ale	24	bottled	1033	1008.7	3.15	73.64%	18
1960	Export Port Ale	Pale Ale	30	bottled	1043.4	1012.8	3.83	70.51%	18
Source:
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/001.

The chairman hasn't finished speaking yet.

* “Century of British Brewers plus” by Norman Barber, 2005, page 118.

Nut Brown Ale again

Drums. Once I start banging one it's hard for me to stop. We're back with Nut Brown Ale.

I told you that none of the references I've found from the 19th century refer unequivocally to a specific product. There's one that might possibly from the 1890's, but none that unequivocally point at a beer really called Nut Brown Ale.

This is the earliest one I can find in the British newspaper archive:

Western Times, Monday 27 December 1900, page 1.

St. Anne's Well, a modestly-sized brewery in Exeter, were an innovative bunch. They were one of the first British breweries to produce a Lager in the 19th century. They also seem to have been a Nut Brown Ale pioneer.

Judging by the price and description,  "A" looks like an early Dark Mild. When did St. Anne's Well start brewing "A"? Luckily, I've earlier adverts from them. I extracted this information from one:

St. Anne's Well Brewery beers 1891
beer	price per barrel	price (per gallon)	price (per doz) pint	size
S.G A specially brewed, Pale Mild Beer	36	12
St. A. P. St. ""ANNE'S PALE ALE."" A light, Pale, Bitter Ale of excellent quality, highly recommended for famile use.	42	14
E.I.P. St. Anne's ""East India Pale Ale"" brilliant, and very superior quality Ale.	54	18
H.B. St. Anne's ""Home Brewed,"" a Mild Ale, but not Pale.	48	16
St. A. XXX A Mild Ale, of the Burton character, of very superior quality.	48	16
St. A. XX A Mild Ale, lighter than XXX, but of the same character and excellence.	42	14
A St. Anne's Ale, lighter than H.B., but of the same character. Recemmended for general family use where a Pale Ale is not required.	36	12
S. ST. ANNE'S STOUT	54	18
ST. ANNE'S LAGER BEER			3s 6d	screw Imperial pint
ST. ANNE'S PALE ALE			3s	Imperial pint
ST. ANNE'S DINNER ALE			2s 6d	Imperial pint
ST. ANNE'S STOUT			3s	Imperial pint
Source:
Exeter Flying Post - Saturday 26 December 1891, page 8.

Now isn't that interesting? "A" is described as a lighter version of Home Brewed. Which itself is described as "a Mild Ale, but not Pale". Making it sound very much like an early, strong Dark Mild. Note that both beers are draught.

What I think we see are the beginnings of both Dark Mild and Brown Ale. But why did Home Brewed and Brown Ale become almost exclusively bottled beers? Was it because of the technological changes that allowed non-deposit bottled beers? And why wasn't bottled Dark Mild called Dark Mild?

Loads more questions and no real answers.

Brewers' Exhibition Champion Awards (1927)

Old beer competitions fascinate me. And just partly because they prove that anally straitjacketed contests aren't the only possibility.

I stumbled on this report of the 1927 Brewers' Exhibition contest and decided to dig around the newspaper archive a bit to see if I could find any of the other winners that year. The Western Daily Press only having bothered to report local winners. What I found was much more interesting than that. I'll tell you what it was after the quote:

"BEER AND CIDER.
BRISTOL & WEST OF ENGLAND TO THE FRONT.
Champion Awards at Brewers' Exhibition. This time the Brewers' Exhibition in London the West of England scored heavily. Firstly Messrs Mitchell, Toms and Co., of Chard, astonished the Scotchmen by securing third prize for their 12s 6d bottle of Littlemoor whiskey, but somehow the same firm were not quite so successful in the cider section as last year. Then Mr Rowle, of Porlock, won the first prize for the best barley grown England this disastrous year, and quite a nice sample it was. Next, the beer judges got busy and amongst these were Messrs Cecil E. Faulkner, of Chard, D. H. Kirkpatrick, Crumlin, Mon.. and B. P. Watkins, Swansea. There were 28 of them in all. A fairly good start was made for the West in Class I. For the best beer of an original gravity of 1.027 degrees to 1.033 degrees, as in a class of 36, second prize went to Messrs Starkey, Knight and Co., Northgate Brewery, Bridgwater. Then came Bristol's turn, for in Class IV., for the best mild ale of an original gravity of 1.039 degrees to 1.048 degrees, in a class of 43, the Ashton Gate Brewery Company, Bedminster, was placed first. As third came Messrs W. and J. Rogers, Ltd., The Brewery, Bristol. In Class IX., for best pale ale of an original gravity of 1.039 degrees 1.054 degrees, a class of 42 entries, Messrs W. J. Rogers took third. They were again placed third for the best black beer of original gravity of under 1.046 degrees. But their greatest success was in winning the first prize for naturally conditioned beers any gravity and then securing the Brewery Trade Review Challenge Cup. which was open to the exhibits of eight other classes. Brewing is evidently not lost art in Bristol yet."
Western Daily Press - Wednesday 02 November 1927, page 11.

The Ashton Gate Brewery won the strong Mild category. They were very proud of their victory and used it in their advertising:

Western Daily Press - Thursday 17 November 1927, page 3.

Now isn't that fascinating? It was Home Brewed that won. Clearly, at least as far as the Brewers' Exhibition was concerned, Home Brewed counted as Mild Ale. You have to wonder if the Rogers beer that place third was their Home Brewed.

Let's take a look and see if it slotted into the gravity band 1039º to 1048º. And while we're at it, let's throw in some other beers from the West Country medal winners:

Year	Brewer	Beer	Style	Price	size	package	FG	OG	ABV	App. Atten-uation
1922	Rogers	Home Brewed Ale	Strong Ale		pint	draught	1008.4	1036.7	3.67	77.11%
1927	Rogers	Special Stout	Stout	7d	pint	bottled	1005.5	1041.7	4.72	86.81%
1927	Rogers	Monarch Stout	Stout	7d	pint	bottled	1008.5	1044.9	4.74	81.07%
1929	Rogers	British Barley Beer	Strong Ale	10d	pint	bottled	1009.7	1055.5	5.98	82.52%
1927	Ashton Gate Brewery	Milk Stout	Stout	9d	pint	bottled	1015.7	1052.4	4.76	70.04%
Source:
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/001

Not quite. It's a bit too weak. Though the gravity may have gone up a little between 1922 and 1927. Though their winner in the Black Beer under 1046º class could have been one of those Stouts.

Home Brewed again

Ferreting around in the newspaper archive in search of Home Brewed, I came across some striking advertisements from the Nottingham Brewery.

They're odd in many ways - lots of white space, text in the form of a poem - but the language and tone are surprisingly modern in some respects. And mirror the kind of marketing used by some of the more cynical hip new breweries:

"MALTANOP—-up-to-date

THE ALE:
We never cease trying make this Ale more perfect
The rich, nut-brown Home Brewed
The briiliant, sparkling Bitter
Familiar to you as MALTANOP
Has about reached the limit of perfection
The very best Materials —The greatest care-yield
MALTANOP The last word in brewing skill.
Times out of number we have been asked to bottle
MALTANOP Home Brewed in Pints -
They are easier to handle than Quarts.
We have now done it.
They are ready to-day
MALTANOP H.B. in Pints 2/9 per dozen
Sold everywhere
Delivered immediately direct from here —Telephone 3324

THE LABEL:
We are discarding the old label
It was cumbersome —we have no use for the obsolete
We even improve our label
The old label bore witness that MALTANOP
remained bright and sparkling to the last drop
and could be drawn on from time to time
without becoming flat
Everybody knows that
We discard verbiage, we rely on your experience
The new label is exceedingly neat
It will please you
A label — not a narrative
MALTANOP Home Brewed is Red
MALTANOP Bitter is Green
No longer square, but oval
The change is in the label—NOT the ale
Our MALTANOP is better than ever

The Nottingham Brewery Ltd
Mansfield Road
Nottingham. 'Phone 3324"
Nottingham Evening Post - Saturday 21 March 1914, page 4.

This phrase "we have no use for the obsolete" sounds much like the line peddled by some of today's keg fans.

2s 9d for a dozen pints equates to 2.75d per bottle. On the eve of WW I, standard Mild cost 2d a pint, which means this Home Brewed was probably a similar strength, given the premium charged for bottled beer. Around 1050º or 5% ABV.

From the stuff about it being clear to the last drop it's obvious that these were artificially carbonated beers. The run up to WW I is when this type of beer was becoming popular and brewers were moving away from bottle conditioning for many styles of beer.

Here's a rather less wordy effort, though still giving Home Brewed a mention:

"MALTANOP

SOME ALE.

TRY IT
You will praise it -
not injudiciously
MALTANOP Rich Home Brewed.
Crisp Sparkling Bitter
Perfect for the table.
At the shops, or direct from us
Fresh and Brilliant
Usual prices

The Nottingham Brewery, Ltd
MANSFIELD ROAD,
NOTTINGHAM.
'Phone 3324."
Nottingham Evening Post - Monday 25 May 1914, page 4.

The Nottingham Brewery weren't the only ones to use the corny Maltanop name, as you can see from the label at the top of the page, which comes from a brewery in Grimsby. I've not been able to find a label for the Nottingham Brewery's version, unfortunately.