The ups and downs of Porter and Stout

I'm moving back a little further in time to see how Whitbread Porter and Stout fared in the late 19th and early 20tth centuries.

It's a rather more complicated story than between the wars, when the trend was always downwards. 1880 to 1899 is one of general decline, but then turned around and was rising all the way until 1910.

In 1880, Porter and Stout made up 38% of Whitbread’s output. But by 1899 had fallen to 29%. The fortunes of Stout seem to have been transformed by the introduction of Country Stout, which was soon selling over 100,000 barrels a year and boosted Black Beer’s share to over 40%.

Sales of Double Stout also shot up with the dawn of the new century, hitting over 40,000 barrels.

To put these numbers into context, most years Whitbread brewed more of one beer, X Ale, than all the Porter and Stout combined.

The last couple of decades of the 19th century were happy times for brewers, as can be seen in the increase in Whitbread’s output, which more than trebled between 1880 and 1910.

P = Porter
C = Country Porter
S = Stout
CS = Country Stout
LS = London Stout
SS = Double Stout
SSS = Treble Stout 

Whitbread Porter and Stout output 1880 - 1910
year	P	C	S	CS	LS	SS	SSS	Total Porter & Stout	Total Ale & Porter	% Porter & Stout
1880	75,898		471			8,411	15,069	99,849	261,785	38.14%
1881	75,423		217			9,143	14,366	99,149	284,391	34.86%
1882	79,605		523			9,577	15,682	105,387	297,645	35.41%
1883	78,595		541			10,352	15,213	104,701	292,671	35.77%
1884	89,925		323			12,160	16,049	118,457	320,769	36.93%
1885	91,885		970			12,290	17,146	122,291	322,140	37.96%
1886	88,017		720			11,445	17,531	117,713	304,472	38.66%
1887	90,397		841			12,422	17,426	121,086	329,214	36.78%
1888	91,008		425			14,138	15,515	121,086	347,267	34.87%
1889	94,097		392			14,819	15,859	125,167	354,835	35.27%
1890	100,250					18,110	16,950	135,310	381,026	35.51%
1891	113,027					20,602	15,335	148,964	416,814	35.74%
1892	94,027	29,124				17,887	15,029	156,067	451,176	34.59%
1893	80,067	39,543				17,355	13,679	150,644	457,418	32.93%
1894	75,553	35,516				17,194	13,542	141,805	464,323	30.54%
1895	73,459	37,043		2,706		17,796	12,743	143,747	473,435	30.36%
1896	73,994	39,188		10,132		19,205	12,206	154,725	508,008	30.46%
1897	79,624	42,933		17,003		19,490	12,263	171,313	545,887	31.38%
1898	84,316	41,162		26,549		20,039	11,576	183,642	603,695	30.42%
1899	78,190	44,556		36,138		23,238	10,962	193,084	664,164	29.07%
1900	77,183	43,102	4,252	50,286		28,316	11,087	214,226	671,579	31.90%
1901	76,080	37,766	7,946	68,719		34,541	10,398	235,450	706,223	33.34%
1902	81,926	35,700	8,315	82,752		41,017	11,333	261,043	741,806	35.19%
1904	82,848	32,620	12,904	110,689		44,874	13,187	297,122	759,324	39.13%
1905	89,170	29,352	13,669	119,703		42,062	14,009	307,965	778,152	39.58%
1906	84,261	5,686	13,512	152,418		38,968	17,219	312,064	802,427	38.89%
1907	99,864		15,235	152,880		40,447	16,181	324,607	823,499	39.42%
1908	92,529		4,023	170,830		45,252	14,833	327,467	811,599	40.35%
1909	85,610			187,934		45,660	14,060	333,264	860,823	38.71%
1910	108,166				199,761	43,041	10,879	361,847	850,828	42.53%
Sources:
Whitbread brewing records held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document numbers LMA/4453/D/01/045 to LMA/4453/D/01/075 and LMA/4453/D/09/076 to LMA/4453/D/09/104.

And, just for those who complained last time, here's a chart of the data.

The long decline of Porter and Stout: the graph

OK. You wanted that table in graph form. So here it is. Hope you're satisfied now. 

Does that make the data easier to grasp?

The long decline of Porter and Stout

One of the joys of  writing a proper book is putting material together in a proper order. A joy, because that's when you notice stuff. Information you already have, put into a new context.

There's been plenty of that serendipity as I plod my was through the fields of Stout history. The new book is full of tables, of course. It wouldn't be right without lots of tables. The information I mostly collected years ago. But I'm mostly using it slightly differently from how I have before. Giving me the occasional dazzling new insight. And plenty of dully gleaming ones.

This is a table I assembled for the interwar chapter. Whitbread brewing records have dead handy summaries of the quantity of each beer brewed week by week in the final few pages. Allowing us to trace the decline of not just Porter, but also Stout.

An inexorable decline throughout the whole period. With Porter and Stout dropping from a very respectable 35% in 1921 to just 22% in 1939. I would tell you what happened after that. But the bastards stopped recording the totals in 1940.

The revelation? I hadn't noticed just how much how much Whitbread Stout sales were on the slide between the wars.

S = Stout
CS = Country Stout
LS = London Stout
ES= Extra Stout
MS = Mackeson Stout
SSS = Treble Stout

In the 1920s, S, CS, LS and ES were idebntical.

Whitbread Porter and Stout output 1921 - 1939
	P	S	CS	LS	ES	MS	SSS	Total Porter & Stout	Total Ale & Porter	% Porter & Stout
1921	15,688	58,452		133,563	30,920			238,623	675,647	35.32%
1922	16,562	47,530	84,703	15,340	28,582			192,717	576,118	33.45%
1923	14,165	39,960	68,326	20,866	26,660			169,977	505,097	33.65%
1924	15,948	37,834	74,258	23,442	26,710			178,192	551,616	32.30%
1925	14,943	35,396	62,357	22,262	28,974			163,932	527,977	31.05%
1926	13,511	34,567	20,721	69,724	29,990			168,513	512,528	32.88%
1927	10,708	30,087		86,569	22,361			149,725	462,250	32.39%
1928	10,105	30,017		85,992	16,039			142,153	488,357	29.11%
1929	5,558	17,284		51,624	11,313			85,779	443,888	19.32%
1930	13,840	25,643		90,801	20,724			151,008	535,271	28.21%
1931	13,389	17,109		93,094	20,027			143,619	495,805	28.97%
1932	10,493			100,632	15,342			126,467	442,755	28.56%
1933	9,653			97,810	13,973			121,436	471,190	25.77%
1934	9,444			91,660	21,116			122,220	501,180	24.39%
1935	8,006			89,617	25,646			123,269	528,370	23.33%
1936	6,836			85,748	16,868	14,428		123,880	540,995	22.90%
1937	5,939			82,900	10,805	27,730		127,374	565,230	22.53%
1938	5,133			75,651	10,022	36,769		127,575	569,532	22.40%
1939	3,810			67,177	6,037	50,890	928	128,842	590,695	21.81%
Sources:
Whitbread brewing records held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document numbers LMA/4453/D/09/114, LMA/4453/D/09/115, LMA/4453/D/09/116, LMA/4453/D/09/117, LMA/4453/D/09/118, LMA/4453/D/09/119, LMA/4453/D/09/120, LMA/4453/D/09/121, LMA/4453/D/09/122, LMA/4453/D/09/123, LMA/4453/D/09/124, LMA/4453/D/09/125, LMA/4453/D/09/126, LMA/4453/D/01/086, LMA/4453/D/01/087, LMA/4453/D/01/088, LMA/4453/D/01/089, LMA/4453/D/01/090,  LMA/4453/D/01/091, LMA/4453/D/01/092, LMA/4453/D/01/093, LMA/4453/D/01/094, LMA/4453/D/01/096, LMA/4453/D/01/096, LMA/4453/D/01/097, LMA/4453/D/01/098, LMA/4453/D/01/099, LMA/4453/D/01/100, LMA/4453/D/01/101, LMA/4453/D/01/102, LMA/4453/D/01/103, LMA/4453/D/01/104, LMA/4453/D/01/105, LMA/4453/D/01/106 and LMA/4453/D/01/107.

Let's Brew Wednesday - 1945 Whitbread Mackeson Stout

Another recipe from 75 years ago. This time a beer which is still around. Just about.

The longer the war lasted, the more Whitbread went over to brewing single gyle. Even with their Stouts, which pre-war had always been brewed in a parti-gyle of some description.

By moving over to brewing London Stout and Mackeson separately, it meant Whitbread could employ slightly different recipes for the two. Post-war, there was a return to parti-gyling Mackeson, but only with Extra Stout, the beer brewed for the Belgian market, never with the standard Stout.

One of the biggest differences being the hopping rate. London Stout received 6.25 lbs per quarter (336 lbs) of malt, Mackeson 5 lbs. Also, there was no longer any need to include a minimal quantity of oats in the grist. This particular example also differs in having 100% mild malt as base, with no pale malt. Leaving the recipe a good bit simple than London Stout’s.

The hops are a right mixture. Whitbread Mid-Kent from the 1944 and 1945 crops, Kent from 1944, Oregon from 1942 and Old Continentals. A bit of everything, really.

1945 Whitbread Mackeson Stout
mild malt	6.15 lb	63.21%
brown malt	0.50 lb	5.14%
chocolate malt	0.50 lb	5.14%
flaked barley	0.50 lb	5.14%
lactose	0.75 lb	7.71%
No. 3 invert sugar	1.00 lb	10.28%
caramel 1000 SRM	0.33 lb	3.39%
Cluster 60 mins	0.125 lb
Hallertau 60 mins	0.125 lb
Fuggles 60 mins	0.75 oz
Fuggles 30 mins	0.75 oz
OG	1046
FG	1016.5
ABV	3.90
Apparent attenuation	64.13%
IBU	20
SRM	35
Mash at	147º F
After underlet	154º F
Sparge at	170º F
Boil time	60 minutes
pitching temp	64º F
Yeast	Wyeast 1099 Whitbread Ale

Whitbread's Ale and Stout

Random price list time. Today it's the turn of Whitbread bottled beers from 1937.

It comes from a bit away from London - Grantham in Linconshire. Which is about 100 miles due North of the capital. I usually refer to Grantham as Newark's evil twin. Especially when speaking with Dolores. She wasn't impressed by Grantham.

Whitbread was one of the small group of brewers whose products were sold nationally. Though it Whitbread's case the more distant trade seems to have been exclusively bottled. Whereas others - such as Bass - also supplied draught beer all overs the country.

Listed below is pretty much the full set of Whitbread's bottled beers. The only one missing is Extra Stout. But there's a good reason for that - it was brewed exclusively for export, principally to Belgium. There's still a beer sold as Whitbread Extra Stout in Belgium

Grantham Journal - Saturday 11 December 1937, page 4.

Here are the details of the beers themselves. Plus the relative price per strength.

Whitbread bottled beers in 1937
Beer	Style	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	lbs hops/ qtr	hops lb/brl	price per pint (d)	gravity points per d
IPA	IPA	1037.1	1009.5	3.65	74.39%	10.00	1.58	7	5.30
X	Mild	1033.1	1011.0	2.92	66.77%	7.92	1.12	7	4.73
DB	Brown Ale	1054.7	1012.5	5.58	77.15%	9.98	2.32	9	6.08
LS	Stout	1044.6	1013.0	4.18	70.85%	6.94	1.26	8.5	5.25
LOS	Stout	1044.6	1013.0	4.18	70.85%	6.94	1.26	8.5	5.25
MS	Stout	1057	1024.5	4.19	57.02%	6.95	1.48	10	5.70
Sources
Whitbread brewing records held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document numbers LMA/4453/D/01/103, LMA/4453/D/01/104 and LMA/4453/D/09/125.
Thomas Usher Gravity Book held at the Scottish Brewing Archive, document number TU/6/11.

Surprisingly, Double Brown is the best value, followed by Mackeson. Though there are some caveats. The gravity given for X/Forest Brown is probably too low. From analyses I know that the real OG was higher - more like 1038º. The increase is due to the addition of primings at racking time. In value for money terms. it's prbably really about the same as IPA.

The OG and FG of Mackeson I've taken from an analysis rather than the brewing record. As the lactose added at racking time isn't recorded in the brewing record.

Let's Brew - 1940 Whitbread Mackeson Stout

The third beer in Whitbread’s Stout parti-gyle was Mackeson. Which may sound a little odd, it being a Milk Stout. But, on account of the particular way Whitbread brewed Mackeson, that wasn’t a problem.

Because the lactose wasn’t added in the copper, as you might expect, but at racking time in the form of primings. Meaning it was no problem to parti-gyle it with other beers. Before the addition of lactose, the rate of attenuation of Mackeson was very similar to that of London Stout, somewhere around 70%.

For something which today would be described as a Sweet Stout, this version of Mackeson is surprisingly robustly hopped. And, even after the addition of the lactose, the rate of attenuation isn’t that low – still over 60%. Far greater than the ridiculously under-attenuated Sweet Stouts to be found at the time in Scotland. Meaning the finished beer probably tasted bitter-sweet rather than just overpoweringly sweet.

Whitbread were already brewing large quantities of Mackeson before the war. It was a beer very much in vogue and, like Bass and Guinness, was also sold in other breweries’ tied houses. A sure sign of a beer that was a cut above the norm.

1940 Whitbread Mackeson Stout
pale malt	9.00 lb	70.98%
brown malt	1.00 lb	7.89%
chocolate malt	1.00 lb	7.89%
flaked oats	0.10 lb	0.79%
No. 3 invert sugar	0.50 lb	3.94%
lactose	0.75 lb	5.91%
caramel 1000 SRM	0.33 lb	2.60%
Fuggles 75 mins	1.50 oz
Goldings 30 mins	1.50 oz
OG	1056
FG	1021
ABV	4.63
Apparent attenuation	62.50%
IBU	32
SRM	42
Mash at	150º F
Sparge at	170º F
Boil time	75 minutes
pitching temp	62º F
Yeast	Wyeast 1099 Whitbread Ale

Let's Brew - 1939 Whitbread Mackeson Stout

One of Whitbread’s most popular beers was their Milk Stout, Mackeson. They had acquired the brand when they bought the eponymous brewery in Hythe in Kent.

Mackeson was the inventor of Milk Stout – Stout with added lactose – releasing the first version in 1909. The concept was to create a more nourishing version of Stout. It’s debatable whether that’s true, but the new beer was a hit with drinkers.

Mackeson was savvy enough to patent their idea but, as they weren’t large enough to meet demand for the new style themselves, they allowed other brewers to produce their own version under licence. Mackeson, however, remained the brand leader and it was the main reason Whitbread bought the brewery.

This beer is one of the many reasons I thank the heavens for the Whitbread Gravity Book. Because without it I’d have no idea how much lactose was used. Since it isn’t mentioned in the brewing records. Whitbread brewed it as a normal Stout and only added the lactose as primings at racking time. By comparing the OG as brewed with the OG in the Gravity Book, I could work out how much lactose had been added. As brewed, the OG was 1050

Other than the added lactose, the recipe is the same as Porter and London Stout, with which Mackeson was parti-gyled in various combinations.

1939 Whitbread Mackeson Stout
pale malt	8.25 lb	66.43%
brown malt	1.00 lb	8.05%
chocolate malt	1.00 lb	8.05%
flaked oats	0.09 lb	0.72%
lactose	0.75 lb	6.04%
No. 3 invert sugar	1.00 lb	8.05%
caramel 1000 SRM	0.33 lb	2.66%
Hallertau 75 mins	0.50 oz
Fuggles 75 mins	0.75 oz
Goldings 30 mins	1.50 oz
OG	1057
FG	1021.5
ABV	4.70
Apparent attenuation	62.28%
IBU	32
SRM	43
Mash at	149º F
Sparge at	170º F
Boil time	75 minutes
pitching temp	62º F
Yeast	Wyeast 1099 Whitbread Ale