A milestone and a millstone

I've reached another milestone. After just two and a half years I've extracted all the data from volume one of the Whitbread Gravity Book. My ridiculously large spreadsheet of beer details* has grown even more ridiculously large. But I've noticed a slight problem.

The spreadsheet covers around 200 years: 1804 to 2005. The 19th century details come mostly from brewing records with a few from chemical magazines. I've the most information for the years 1920 to 1960, courtesy of the Whitbread and Truman Gravity Books. There are a few odd entries for the later 1960's and odd analyss from newspaper articles of the 1970's. After that, the Good Beer Guide is my main source.

And that's where the gaping hole emerges. Because the Good Beer Guide doesn't cover all beer. Just cask beer and the odd bottle-conditioned beer. There's a whole world of British beer that suddenly slips from view. I can tell you next to nothing about Brown Ale after 1965. I don't have any data.

While I know all about the cask beers from a mayfly micro of the mid 1980's, British bottled Stouts of the same period are a total blank. It's frustrating. The Good Beer Guide lets me track changes in strength of cask beers because it was published annually. Each edition is a little time capsule of the beers as they were in a specific year.

I'm working my way around to a request. An appeal. Does anyone know of another source of British beer gravities of the last 40 years? Especially of bottled and keg beers. Without them, I can only see half of the picture.

It's weird that the 1980's should be more problematic than the 1920's.



* It hits 20,000 entries later this week.

Random brewer of the week : Beasley

Hey, know what would be fun? Like really, really fun. Because I know how much you like tables. What if I had a table of beers from a random brewery once a week? It's win - win. You get entertained, I don't have to think up new topics to discuss. (You should try finding ideas for 500 posts each year.)

For the inaugural random brewer I've picked Beasley. Why? It's random, you moron. There's not supposed to be any reason behind it. OK, this is how the selection process went. I opened my Mega Gravity Table, the version sorted by brewery name. I started at the top and Beasley was the first suitable brewery I came across. Ah, the anguish of the creative process.

The Beasley brewery was in Plumstead, South London. It was founded in 1845. And bought and closed by Courage in 1963. Unfortunately, Courage didn't bother depositing any of their brewing records in the archive. Bastards. So all my infor on their beers comes from Whitbread and Truman. Ironic, eh?

Beasley beers
Year	Beer	Style	Price	size	package	Acidity	FG	OG	Colour	ABV	attenuation
1922	KK	Strong Ale	9d	pint	draught		1014.4	1056.6		5.49	74.56%
1922	London Stout	Stout	11d	pint	bottled		1009	1041.1		4.17	78.10%
1922	MA	Mild	5d	pint	draught		1010.4	1034		3.05	69.41%
1922	MA	Mild	5d	pint	draught		1007.6	1030.2		2.93	74.83%
1922	PA	Pale Ale	11d	pint	bottled		1009.5	1040.7		4.05	76.66%
1922	PA	Pale Ale	7d	pint	draught		1011.9	1035.3		3.03	66.29%
1922	PA	Pale Ale	7d	pint	draught		1008.6	1044.1		4.62	80.50%
1922	Stout	Stout	8d	pint	draught		1017.4	1054		4.74	67.78%
1927	Double Brown	Brown Ale	8d	pint	bottled		1010.1	1047.2		4.83	78.60%
1931	Strong Ale	Strong Ale	8d	pint	draught			1048.9
1932	Strong Ale	Strong Ale	8d	pint	draught			1048.4
1933	Strong Ale	Strong Ale	7d	pint	draught			1048.1
1935	PA	Pale Ale	6d	pint	bottled	0.06	1008.8	1037		3.66	76.22%
1936	PA	Pale Ale	6d	pint	bottled	0.05	1007.4	1036.6		3.79	79.78%
1940	Pale Ale	Pale Ale	7d	pint	draught			1042.5
1940	Strong Ale	Strong Ale	8d	pint	draught			1048.4
1940	X	Mild	6d	pint	draught			1034.5
1941	Pale Ale	Pale Ale	10d	pint	draught			1042.1
1944	Dark Brown Ale	Brown Ale			bottled	0.04	1012.4	1033.1	12 + 40	2.67	62.54%
1944	Pale Ale	Pale Ale			bottled	0.05	1006.4	1032.2	18	3.35	80.12%
1946	Dark Brown	Brown Ale	1/-	pint	bottled	0.07	1009.5	1029.5	13 + 40	2.59	67.80%
1946	Pale Ale	Pale Ale	1/-	pint	bottled	0.08	1005.6	1030.3	19	3.21	81.52%
1947	Brown Ale	Brown Ale	1/-	pint	bottled	0.05	1009.3	1029	12 + 40	2.55	67.93%
1947	Brown Ale	Brown Ale	1/-	pint	bottled	0.08	1007.7	1030	11 + 40	2.89	74.33%
1947	Pale Ale	Pale Ale	1/-	pint	bottled	0.05	1005.5	1030.1	21.5	3.20	81.73%
1947	Pale Ale	Pale Ale	1/1d	pint	bottled	0.07	1005.1	1030.3	20.5	3.27	83.17%
1949	Pale Ale	Pale Ale	14d	pint	draught			1033.1	18
1950	Ale	Mild	12d	pint	draught			1031.4	56
1950	Pale Ale	Pale Ale	16d	pint	draught			1035.5	28
1952	Pale Ale	Pale Ale	17d	pint	draught			1037.2	30
1953	Arsenal Extra Stout	Stout	1/2d	half pint	bottled	0.05	1022	1049.2	1 + 21	3.50	55.28%
1953	Coronation Ale	Brown Ale	1/2d	half pint	bottled	0.05	1008.6	1043.1	21 + 40	4.49	80.05%
1953	X	Mild	13d	pint	draught			1031.5	116
1953	X	Mild	13d	pint	draught			1031.2	116
1959	Pale Ale	Pale Ale	10d	halfpint	bottled	0.03	1006.8	1031.1	26	3.15	78.14%
1960	Arsenal Extra Special Stout	Stout	14d	half pint	bottled	0.04	1017.7	1040.7	400	2.88	56.51%
1960	Bitter	Pale Ale	15d	pint	draught	0.05	1004.5	1034.3	35	3.72	86.88%
1960	London Stout	Stout	10d	half pint	bottled	0.02	1010.6	1032.8	325	2.77	67.68%
Sources:
Whitbread Gravity Book
Truman Gravity Book

Arsenal Stout. Lucas would like that one. He's a Gonner. Dark Brown Ale. That has a certain ring to it, too.

Simonds beers 1938 - 1965

I bet you can't guess what this post is about. Really. You think it's going to be another one of those boring table posts, don't you? One with just loads of numbers about beers from a brewery that closed before you were born. Well it isn't.

This post is more a celebration of getting through the Whitbread Gravity Book volume II. It's in alphabetical order, the Whitbread Gravity Book. But, for reasons I won't annoy you with, I finished with Simonds. The former Reading brewer. That was gobbled up, chewed and then spat out again by Courage. There are two factoids I can remember about Simonds:

1. they took part in one of the first copyright lawsuits, being sued by Bass for having a hop-leaf logo that was too similar to their own red triangle
2. the Simonds name lives on, as does their flagship Hopleaf Pale Ale (and logo), in Malta

That's all the interesting stuff. ("Interesting" is a relative term in this context..) I know - what about a nice table of Simonds beers? You know it makes sense.

Simonds beers 1938 - 1965
Year	Beer	Style	Price	size	package	Acidity	FG	OG	Colour	ABV	attenuation
1938	Stout	Stout	10d	pint	bottled			1053.2
1946	SB Pale Ale	Pale Ale	13d	pint	bottled	0.05	1005.1	1029.4	25 Brown	3.16	82.65%
1947	SB Ale	Pale Ale	13d	pint	bottled	0.05	1007.2	1028.6	24.5	2.77	74.83%
1947	SB Ale	Pale Ale	13d	pint	bottled	0.06	1008.2	1029.1	23.5	2.71	71.82%
1947	Special Stout	Stout	12d	pint	bottled	0.06	1022.6	1043.9	1 + 14	2.73	48.52%
1948	Pale Ale	Pale Ale			can	0.06	1007.8	1028.8	22.5	2.72	72.92%
1948	Brown Ale	Brown Ale	18d	pint	bottled	0.05	1006.3	1025.6	40 + 16	2.50	75.39%
1948	Brown Ale	Brown Ale	18d	pint	bottled	0.05	1006.4	1025.7	40 + 16	2.50	75.10%
1948	Brown Ale	Brown Ale	15d	pint	bottled	0.05	1006.7	1026.3	40 + 8.5	2.54	74.52%
1949	E. IPA	IPA	1/6d	pint	draught	0.05	1007	1039.7	23 B	4.26	82.37%
1949	Brown Ale	Brown Ale	15d	pint	bottled	0.05	1008	1026.1	23 + 40	2.34	69.35%
1949	Special Stout MS brand	Stout	12d	half pint	bottled	0.05	1018.9	1045.4	1 + 13	3.42	58.37%
1949	Bulldog Pale Ale (imported into Belgium by John Martin, bought in Brussels)	Pale Ale			bottled	0.08	1011.9	1069.8	25	7.59	82.95%
1950	Ale	Mild	12	pint	draught			1030.4	56
1950	Pale Ale	Pale Ale	14d	pint	draught			1031.5	26
1950	Berry Brown Ale	Brown Ale	15d	pint	bottled	0.07	1007.3	1029.5	10 + 40	2.88	75.25%
1950	SB Pale Ale	Pale Ale	9d	half pint	bottled	0.05	1008.5	1032.5	26	3.11	73.85%
1951	Luncheon Stout	Stout	9d	half pint	bottled	0.07	1013.1	1034.1	1 + 14	2.71	61.58%
1951	Brown Ale	Brown Ale	9d	half pint	bottled	0.06	1009.6	1029.2	19 + 40	2.53	67.12%
1951	Mild Ale	Mild	1/2d	pint	draught	0.05	1005.5	1032	80	3.44	82.81%
1951	Mild Dark Sweet	Mild	1/2d	pint	draught	0.06	1005.7	1031.5	80	3.35	81.90%
1952	Berry Brown Ale	Brown Ale	9.5d	half pint	bottled	0.06	1005.5	1032	5 + 40	3.44	82.81%
1952	Brown Ale	Brown Ale	9d	half pint	bottled	0.05	1009.7	1029.9	17 + 40	2.61	67.56%
1953	Velvet Stout	Stout	26d	pint	bottled	0.05	1022.5	1046.2	1 + 13	3.05	51.30%
1953	Old Berkshire Strong Ale	Strong Ale	14.5d	nip	bottled	0.06	1033.2	1076.7	16 + 40	5.61	56.71%
1953	Tavern Pale Ale	Pale Ale	10d	nip	bottled	0.05	1012.3	1044.9	21	4.23	72.61%
1953	Archangel Stout	Stout	16.5d	nip	bottled	0.05	1041.2	1084.6	1 + 10	5.57	51.30%
1954	Velvet Stout	Stout	14.5d	half pint	bottled	0.04	1023.8	1047.5	350	3.04	49.89%
1955	SB Pale Ale	Pale Ale	9d	half pint	bottled	0.04	1009	1033	21	3.11	72.73%
1955	Bulldog Pale Ale	Pale Ale			bottled	0.05	1018	1067	20	6.38	73.13%
1956	Bitter Ale	Pale Ale	1/-	half pint	bottled	0.04	1010	1030.1	25	2.60	66.78%
1956	Berry Brown Ale	Brown Ale	16d	half pint	bottled	0.04	1011.9	1031.9	85	2.58	62.70%
1956	SB Pale Ale	Pale Ale	10d	half pint	bottled	0.04	1010.3	1033.4	21	2.99	69.16%
1957	Velvet Stout	Stout	14.5d	half pint	bottled	0.04	1022.2	1047.9	250	3.31	53.65%
1957	Luncheon Stout	Stout	11d	half pint	bottled	0.04	1014.9	1033.6	275	2.41	55.65%
1959	Keg Bitter	Pale Ale	22d	pint	draught	0.04	1007.3	1037.4	19	3.76	80.48%
1959	Velvet Stout	Stout	16d	pint	bottled		1022	1047.9	275	3.33	54.07%
1959	SB Light Ale	Pale Ale	10d	half pint	bottled	0.02	1010.3	1034.2	19	3.09	69.88%
1959	Light Ale	Pale Ale	11d	half pint	bottled	0.02	1012.1	1034.4	19	2.88	64.83%
1959	Tavern Export Ale	Pale Ale	17d	halfpint	bottled	0.04	1013	1045.8	18	4.25	71.62%
1960	Best Bitter	Pale Ale	19d	pint	draught	0.05	1007.5	1042.3	17	4.35	82.27%
1960	IPA	IPA	14d	pint	draught	0.04	1010.2	1035.4	18	3.15	71.19%
1960	Velvet Stout	Stout	16d	half pint	bottled	0.04	1020.3	1042.3	300	2.83	52.01%
1960	Luncheon Stout	Stout	10d	half pint	bottled	0.04	1010.4	1034.4		3.11	69.77%
1964	Milk Stout (lactose present)	Stout		pint	bottled	0.05	1021.6	1066.3	250	5.80	67.42%
1965	Martins PA (sold in Belgium)	Pale Ale			bottled	0.05	1019.7	1068	17	6.04	71.03%
Sources:
Truman Gravity Book
Whitbread Gravity Book

There are a couple of beers I was really pleased to find in there: Archangel Stout, Martins PA, Bulldog Pale Ale, Tavern and Berry Brown Ale (just because of the name. And of course an authentic, traditional IPA. None of that new-fangled, high-gravity bollocks.

Oh shit. This did end up just a table post. The brewery shut in 1980. That's in case you want to check if it closed before you were born.



You can find a history of Simonds in pdf format here.