London X Ale hops 1900 - 1915

With the UK’s hop producers unable to cope with brewers’ demands, no surprise that imports are well represented in the table. Though a large majority – 38 out of 52 – were English.

Breaking down the English hops, most were from Kent, with Mid-Kent dominating. Rather fewer from East Kent, but that’s to be expected. That was the source of the best-quality hops, which tended to be reserved for more expensive beers, such as Pale Ales. Second most popular were hops from Worcester, a region more analogous in quality to Mid-Kent. And, finally, a couple of examples from the relatively small district of Sussex.

Top dog amongst the foreign hops was the USA, with 8 examples. Bohemia and Germany managed a couple each. Followed by single examples from Alsace and Belgium. Though I suppose the former was technically part of Germany at the time.

As for age, most were reasonably fresh, never more than a couple of seasons old. With the one massive exception of 10-year-old Alsace hops in the 1906 Barclay Perkins X Ale. You have to wonder what the point was of using such ancient hops.

London X Ale hops 1900 - 1915
Year	Brewer	hop 1	hop 2	hop 3	hop 4	hop 5
1900	Barclay Perkins	MK 1898	MK 1899	Bohemian 1899
1906	Barclay Perkins	MK 1905	US 1904 CS	Worcs. 1904	Alsace 1896
1909	Barclay Perkins	US 1908	Sussex 1908	MK 1907	Worcs. 1905 CS
1914	Barclay Perkins	EK 1913	MK Fuggles 1912 CS	MK Goldings 1913	Hallertau 1912 CS
1900	Whitbread	EK 1898	EK 1899	Worcs. 1897
1905	Whitbread	MK 1903	MK 1904	US 1904	Washington 1904	Worcs. 1903
1910	Whitbread	MK 1909	MK 1909	MK 1909
1914	Whitbread	EK 1912	MK 1912	Kent 1912
1902	Fullers	English 1900	English 1901	Worcs. 1901
1910	Fullers	Oregon 1907	MK 1909	EK 1908
1914	Fullers	MK 1913	Poperinge 1913	Cobbs 1913	Cobbs 1914
1914	Courage	Hallertau 1912	English 1912	English 1914
1900	Truman	Kent 1899	Worcs. 1899
1905	Truman	Worcs. 1904	Worcs. 1904	Sussex 1904
1910	Truman	Worcz. 1908	Oregon 1908	Saaz 1908
1915	Noakes	California 1914	Oregon 1914
Sources:
Barclay Perkins brewing records held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document numbers ACC/2305/1/593, ACC/2305/1/599, ACC/2305/1/601 and ACC/2305/1/603.
Whitbread brewing records held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document numbers LMA/4453/D/01/065, LMA/4453/D/01/070, LMA/4453/D/01/076 and LMA/4453/D/01/079.
Fullers brewing records held at the brewery.
Courage brewing record held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number ACC/2305/08/247.
Truman brewing records held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document numbers B/THB/C/181, B/THB/C/186 and B/THB/C/190.
Noakes brewing record held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number ACC/2305/17/34.

London X Ale malts 1900 - 1915

Quite a few coloured malts are still knocking around in the grists. One iteration each of Barclay’s and Whitbread’s X Ales contain brown malt. Quite a lot in the case of the former and just a smidgen in the latter. This was early in the period covered, though.

Three beers have a very small amount of black malt, below 1% in every case. Presumably it was there for colour correction rather than flavour. While the percentage of amber malt in two Barclay’s examples is high enough to have impacted both the colour and the flavour.

As a type of malt specifically developed for beers like Mild Ale, you’d expect there to be more examples of crystal malt. This was certainly the case later in the century, when it became one of the standard ingredients for Mild. The percentages are all quite small, well below 10% in every case.

Fullers is the only brewery to include no coloured malts at all, sticking to just base malt. A tradition they continued for many decades.
 

London X Ale malts 1900 - 1915
Year	Brewer	pale malt	brown malt	black malt	amber malt	crystal malt	total malt
1900	Barclay Perkins	45.00%	23.63%			2.25%	70.88%
1906	Barclay Perkins	75.80%					75.80%
1909	Barclay Perkins	61.06%			10.18%		71.24%
1914	Barclay Perkins	66.04%			7.34%		73.38%
1900	Whitbread	91.30%					91.30%
1905	Whitbread	88.00%	3.00%				91.00%
1910	Whitbread	89.47%					89.47%
1914	Whitbread	93.41%					93.41%
1902	Fullers	67.47%					67.47%
1910	Fullers	74.05%					74.05%
1914	Fullers	75.52%					75.52%
1914	Courage	82.09%		0.83%		6.06%	88.98%
1900	Truman	80.33%		0.12%			80.45%
1905	Truman	79.07%					79.07%
1910	Truman	73.04%				3.91%	76.96%
1915	Noakes	68.86%		0.72%		5.02%	74.60%
	Average						79.60%
Sources:
Barclay Perkins brewing records held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document numbers ACC/2305/1/593, ACC/2305/1/599, ACC/2305/1/601 and ACC/2305/1/603.
Whitbread brewing records held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document numbers LMA/4453/D/01/065, LMA/4453/D/01/070, LMA/4453/D/01/076 and LMA/4453/D/01/079.
Fullers brewing records held at the brewery.
Courage brewing record held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number ACC/2305/08/247.
Truman brewing records held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document numbers B/THB/C/181, B/THB/C/186 and B/THB/C/190.
Noakes brewing record held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number ACC/2305/17/34.

 

London X Ale adjuncts and sugars 1900 - 1915

Most X Ales by this point contained unmalted grains. Just one of them, as everyone seemed to have settled on flaked maize. Flaked rice had clearly had its day.

Not so with sugar, where there’s a stack of different types. Which illustrates the increasing sophistication in its use. Unsurprisingly, No. 3 – the classic Dark Mild sugar – is the most popular. Possibly even more so than the table suggests. Other sugar includes a lot of unspecified sugar and there’s a good chance than some of those were No. 3.

Overall, the quantity of sugar has increased, from 13.5% to 14.4%. Additionally, every single example includes at least a little. And some more than just a little, the outlier being the 1902 Fullers at 29%.

Glucose makes its first appearance. It wouldn’t be its last. Fullers, in particular were big fans of glucose, making extensive use of it in the first half of the 20th century. Caramel also pops up more regularly, presumably for colour correction. 

London X Ale adjuncts and sugars 1900 - 1915
Year	Brewer	flaked maize	no. 3 sugar	glucose	caramel	other sugar	total sugar
1900	Barclay Perkins	11,63%				17,50%	17,50%
1906	Barclay Perkins	10,11%		2,81%	0,06%	11,23%	14,10%
1909	Barclay Perkins	10,18%			0,04%	18,54%	18,59%
1914	Barclay Perkins	8,20%				5,76%	5,76%
1900	Whitbread					8,70%	8,70%
1905	Whitbread		9,00%				9,00%
1910	Whitbread		10,53%				10,53%
1914	Whitbread		6,59%				6,59%
1902	Fullers	3,21%			0,71%	28,61%	29,32%
1910	Fullers	6,56%	8,75%		0,65%	10,00%	19,39%
1914	Fullers	6,29%	12,59%	5,59%			18,18%
1914	Courage					11,02%	11,02%
1900	Truman	8,93%				10,63%	10,63%
1905	Truman	8,79%			0,44%	11,71%	12,15%
1910	Truman	9,13%				13,91%	13,91%
1915	Noakes	0,54%	23,91%		0,48%	0,48%	24,87%
	Average	7,60%					14,39%
Sources:
Barclay Perkins brewing records held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document numbers ACC/2305/1/593, ACC/2305/1/599, ACC/2305/1/601 and ACC/2305/1/603.
Whitbread brewing records held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document numbers LMA/4453/D/01/065, LMA/4453/D/01/070, LMA/4453/D/01/076 and LMA/4453/D/01/079.
Fullers brewing records held at the brewery.
Courage brewing record held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number ACC/2305/08/247.
Truman brewing records held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document numbers B/THB/C/181, B/THB/C/186 and B/THB/C/190.
Noakes brewing record held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number ACC/2305/17/34.

Let's Brew Wednesday - 1915 Noakes Double Stout

The summer of Stout continues with a Double from one of London's less fashionable breweries.

They were located on White's Ground in Bermondsey. Right next to the railway viaduct that leads to London Bridge station. The same railway viaduct that currently houses the Kernel Brewery, but much closer to the station. Brewing ceased in 1921 with the brewery and its pubs ended up in the hands of Courage in 1930.

That's why the brewing record still exists. Because they were taken over by Courage. A single brewing book from 1915-1916 is part of the Courage Archive at the London Metropolitan Archives.

Noakes was one of a fairly large number of modestly-sized breweries that once operated in London. Many, like Noakes, were located in the more industrial bits of the South Bank. I've published lots of recipes from the big boys - Barclay Perkins, Courage, Whitbread, Truman - and this is a chance to look at what their smaller competitors were brewing.

As usual, I've made comparisons simple by slotting all the numbers into a handy table. You'll notice that there was a fair diversity in grists. All five beers only have two malts in common: brown and black. One note: for the purposes of this table I've assumed that all the malts were 336 lbs per quarter.

London Stouts 1905 - 1915
Date	19th May	17th Feb	17th Feb	7th Apr	3rd Jul
Year	1915	1915	1915	1911	1905
Brewer	Whitbread	Fuller, Smith & Turner	Courage	Barclay Perkins	Truman
Beer	SS	BS	Double Stout	BS Ex	SS
Style	Stout	Stout	Stout	Stout	Stout
OG	1075.0	1064.3	1078.95	1076.0	1074.8
FG	1018.0	1018.8	1033.24	1022.5
ABV	7.54	6.01	6.05	7.08
App. Attenuation	75.99%	70.69%	57.89%	70.39%
lbs hops/ qtr	7.12	6.33	7.20	12.00	6.1
hops lb/brl	2.42	1.96	2.37	4.07	2.39
pale malt	65.73%	57.73%	59.47%		75.81%
brown malt	13.29%	12.37%	19.47%	9.13%	6.50%
black malt	5.59%	6.19%	10.53%	8.79%	4.33%
amber malt	2.80%			13.53%
SA malt				54.11%
no. 2 sugar				14.43%
no. 3 sugar	12.59%
caramel		2.79%			1.81%
glucose		3.67%
other sugar		9.16%	10.53%		11.55%
oats		0.47%
flaked maize		3.44%
primings		4.18%
total	100.00%	100.00%	100.00%	100.00%	100.00%
Sources:
Whitbread brewing record held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/09/109
Courage brewing record held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number ACC/2305/08/247
Barclay Perkins brewing record held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number ACC/2305/1/602
Fullers brewing record held at the brewery
Truman brewing record held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number B/THB/C/108

Spotted how Noakes Double Stout differs from these other London Stouts? It's the only one containing crystal malt. As I've said many times before, crystal malt wasn't used that much before WW I, except in Mild Ales.

The classic 19th-century London Stout was a mix of pale, brown, black and sometimes amber malt. After the Free Mash Tun Act of 1880, flaked maize and increasing amounts of different sugars appeared in Stout grists. Very few beers were all-malt after this date.






Can't think of anything else relevant so I'll make way for Kristen and all the technical detaily stuff . . . . .

Kristen’s Version:

Notes: Another one of the ‘not much to say’. This baby is 100% malt focused. Choose your favorite brands and so on. The invert is 100% mandatory. You can do 100% invert 2 or 3 or the mix if you have it. The ‘3’ makes it more fruity is all. Won’t make a difference the first time along for you lot. Choose a yeast that doesn’t attenuate so much. The only thing is you might have to crash cool it to ensure it finishes high. Maybe not though…your call!

A tenancy dispute in 1900

The tied house system. It's been a vital part of the British pub trade for a long, long time. And disputes between brewer and tenant have been around just as long.

This is a court case from 1907. A tenant of Noakes and Co. refused to pay the extra shilling a barrel charged for beer as a result of a tax to help fund the Boer War. Let's see how far the tenant got with that one:

"1907 March 26

COZENS-FARDY, M.R. VAUGHAN WILLIAMS and BUCKLEY, L.JJ.

The plaintiffs were brewers and the lessors of a public-house known as the Hollydale Tavern at Peckham. The defendant was a licensed victualler, and the assignee of two leases of the same premises granted by the plaintiffs. The leases contained covenants by the lessees for themselves, their heirs, executors, administrators and assigns, that they would not during the term of the leases buy, receive, sell, or dispose of either directly or indirectly, or permit to be bought, received, sold, or disposed of either directly or indirectly, in or upon, out of, or about the said premises, or any part thereof, any porter, stout, beer, and ale other than such as should have been bona fide purchased of the lessors or of their successors in business.

Early in 1900, in consequence of the Boer war, an extra duty of 1s. a barrel (called the war tax) was imposed on beer. The principal London brewers met and agreed to put this extra 1s. a barrel on their customers, and in March, 1900, the plaintiffs sent a circular letter to all the tenants (including the defendant) of their tied houses in which they said: "You are doubtless aware that Her Majesty's Government have imposed a war tax on beer of 1s. a barrel, and we are consequently compelled to add this amount to the price of all our beer." For some time the plaintiffs supplied and the defendant paid for the beer at the increased price, but subsequently he refused to pay the extra 1s. a barrel, and in July, 1905, the plaintiffs sued him on a specially indorsed writ for 264l. 0s. 2d. , being the amount due from him for malt liquors supplied by them to him at the increased price.

By his defence the defendant admitted that the goods mentioned in the claim were sold and delivered by the plaintiffs to him in pursuance of the said covenant, and alleged that it was an implied term of the covenant that the plaintiffs would supply such porter, stout, beer, and ale as the defendant might buy or purchase from them at the fair market prices of the day, and that the prices claimed were not the fair market prices of the day for the said goods. Alternatively, he alleged that the prices claimed were unreasonable, unfair, and excessive.

The action came on for trial without a jury before Bray J. on April 28, 1906, when judgment was given for the plaintiffs. The defendant appealed.

The appeal was heard on March 26, 1907.

Montague Lush, K.C. , and W. O. Hodges , for the appellant.
English Harrison, K.C. , and Hansell , for the respondents.

COZENS-HARDY M.R. I think the view taken by the learned judge in this case was quite correct. The defendant Day is the occupier of a tied house. The tie is in the usual form with one exception, the tenant is bound - I am not giving the words, but merely the substance - to keep the house as a licensed house, and ie to do what he can to promote trade. That, of course, presupposes the necessity of securing for the house malt liquors, and then comes what is known as the tie. It is a covenant that no beer shall be consumed at the house except that which is bought from the plaintiffs, Messrs. Noakes and Co., Limited. There is no express provision by Noakes and Co., Limited, binding them to supply beer, still less is there any provision fixing the price at which beer is to be purchased, but Mr. English Harrison has argued the case with great fairness and in a manner which, whether it is right or wrong in point of law, is at least as favourable to the defendant as it can possibly be put. He assumes that there is an implied covenant by Messrs. Noakes and Co., Limited, that they will on the request of the defendant supply him with beer of drinkable and reasonable quality and at a reasonable price. Now I am clear that that implied covenant is not one which binds them to supply beer at the lowest possible market price. It must be at a reasonable price, and when we have evidence here that the price of beer at the date of the granting of the lease was 36s. a barrel, and that at the date when Day became assignee of the lease it was 33s. a barrel, and that subsequently the cost to the brewer was increased by the extra war tax of 1s. a barrel, it seems impossible to say that the charge of 34s. a barrel was not a reasonable charge. I should have come to that conclusion apart from any evidence, but when we find from the evidence given on behalf of the plaintiffs by the representatives of two breweries, one of them certainly a very large brewery, it is plain that the course taken by Messrs. Noakes and Co., Limited, is not a peculiar individual course taken by them in distinction from all other breweries, but is one which other breweries in a large way of business have thought themselves justified in taking. The New Westminster Brewery Company, all of whose houses are tied, have done exactly that which Messrs. Noakes and Co., Limited, did. The Cannon Brewery, which is a very large brewery, have done the same thing. Their houses are mostly tied houses, but with a certain proportion of free houses, that is to say, houses as to which there is no tie. It is said by Mr. Lush, "Oh yes, there are many houses in the full sense of the word free, but they are not free houses because they have obtained a loan from the brewers." In my opinion that is not really important to any point we have to decide here, and I see no ground for holding that there has been anything but a reasonable price charged for the beer. The appeal is dismissed with costs.

VAUGHAN WILLIAMS and BUCKLEY L.JJ. concurred."

Of course, the tenant had to pay up in the end. No surprise there.

I couldn't help looking at the numbers. 33s seems more than a fair price for a barrel of beer. I thought the going rate for standard Porter or Mild was 36s, pre-WW I. Not just in the years running up to 1914, but for several decades. I can't think why the tenant was so upset at having to pay 34s.

Let's look more closely at the amount the brewery demanded: 264 quid. Remember that the tenant was underpaying by a shilling a barrel. At 20 shillings to the pound, I make that 5,280 barrels. Assuming that's over 5 years, it comes to about 20 barrels a week. Which sounds about right. What amazes me is that Noakes supplied so much beer when they weren't being fully paid.

Maybe the tenant had picked the wrong man to represent him. Mr Lush - not a name that inspires confidence, is it?

Noakes and Co. were bought up by Courage in 1930. Which is why there are a few brewing records from them in the London metropolitan Archives. Which means . . . table time. Here are their beers from just a few years later (and before the effect of WW I):

Noakes and Co. beers in 1915
Year	Beer	Style	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	lbs hops/ qtr	hops lb/brl	boil time (hours)			Pitch temp	dry hops (oz / barrel)	pale malt	brown malt	black malt	amber malt	crystal malt	no. 1 sugar	no. 3 sugar	CDM sugar	flaked maize	flaked rice
1915	DS	Stout	1074.8	1024.4	6.67	67.41%	2.54	0.88	1.5	1.5	1.5	62º	0.00	50.65%	3.83%	8.93%	10.13%	10.13%		11.26%	5.07%
1915	P	Porter	1038.8	1009.7	3.85	75.00%	2.54	0.46	1.5	1.5	1.5	61º	0.00	50.65%	3.83%	8.93%	10.13%	10.13%		11.26%	5.07%
1915	X	Mild	1044.9	1010.5	4.54	76.54%	2.59	0.48	1.5	1.5	1.5	63º	0.00	64.35%	0.00%	0.51%		4.69%		29.05%	0.89%
1915	DS	Stout	1074.8	1027.1	6.30	63.70%	4.00	1.38	1.5	1.5	1.5	61.5º	0.00	47.66%	4.00%	8.81%	9.53%	9.53%		14.12%	6.35%
1915	P	Porter	1041.6	1010.8	4.07	74.00%	4.00	0.77	1.5	1.5	1.5	62º	0.00	47.66%	4.00%	8.81%	9.53%	9.53%		14.12%	6.35%
1915	LBA	Pale Ale	1045.2	1011.4	4.47	74.85%	9.53	2.02	2	2		61º	7.45	62.11%					24.84%	12.42%			0.62%
1915	X	Mild	1047.1	1009.7	4.95	79.41%	2.72	0.59	1.5	1.5		56.5º	0.00	60.65%		0.82%		4.33%		32.49%	1.44%	0.27%
1915	X	Mild	1039.3	1008.9	4.03	77.46%	2.72	0.49	1.5	1.5		56.5º	0.00	60.65%		0.82%		4.33%		32.49%	1.44%	0.27%
1915	DS	Stout	1073.4	1026.6	6.19	63.77%	3.13	1.06	1.5	1.5	1.5	61º	0.00	47.82%	3.93%	9.43%	9.36%	9.36%		13.86%	6.24%
1915	P	Porter	1041.3	1012.2	3.85	70.47%	3.13	0.59	1.5	1.5	1.5	62º	0.00	47.82%	3.93%	9.43%	9.36%	9.36%		13.86%	6.24%
1915	XB	Pale Ale	1055.4	1008.0	6.27	85.50%	14.68	4.44	2.5			56º	8.04	64.76%					13.49%	20.24%			1.52%
1915	XXX	Strong Ale	1077.0	1029.9	6.23	61.15%	12.60	4.23				56.5º	8.00	79.07%		1.49%		4.94%	13.18%		1.32%
1915	DS	Stout	1074.2	1027.7	6.16	62.69%	2.09	0.83	1.5	1.5		61º	0.00	53.51%	3.68%	5.52%	4.86%	4.86%		21.89%	5.68%
1915	P	Porter	1046.5	1012.7	4.47	72.62%	2.09	0.52	1.5	1.5		61º	0.00	53.51%	3.68%	5.52%	4.86%	4.86%		21.89%	5.68%
Source: Noakes brewing records held at the London Metropolitan Archives document ACC/2305/17/34