The Whitbread Gravity Book

What a wonderful document it is. Well, pair of documents, as there are two volumes. The most valuable references for anyone wanting to take a close look at British beer in the 20th century. I don't know what I would have done without it.

Across thousands of entries, it records the vital statistics of  the beers of Whitbread's rivals. OG, FG, price, colour. Sometimes even short descriptions of flavour, condition and clarity. There's an emphasis on the London area, which was Whitbread's main stomping ground. But plenty of beers from all parts of the UK.

Between them, the two volumes cover a span of almost 50 years: 1922 to 1968. Starting with the fallout of WW I and ending in the keg era, there were a lot of changes over those years. All of which you can see reflected in the Gravity Book's pages. For example, laying bare what bad value keg beer was in comparison to cask.

I've lent heavily on the Gravity Book for a couple of my works: Austerity! and Blitzkrieg!. One, Draught!, is totally dependent on it. 

While writing the last-named book, I got a better idea of why Porter was in terminal decline between the wars. It was quite often in poor shape, described as "sour" or "going off". Sounds like cask beer that's been on for too long. Poor sales meaning beer gets too old, leading to even fewer sales. A vicious cycle, such as happened with Mild a few decades later.

When it becomes particularly useful is in relation to breweries whose records have been lost. Allowing us our only glimpse at what their beers were like.

I've transcribed every entry into a spreadsheet. Except for a couple of pages where my photos are too blurred to read. It took a lot of hours. Worth it, totally. Not sure I'd want to do it again.

a Barclay Perkins page from volume 2

For the moment, the Gravity Book volumes are in a safe place: London Metropolitan Archives. But you have to physically go there to access them. A pretty big limitation.

How could I forget my book Numbers!. Which has hundreds of analyses taken from the Whitbread Gravity Book. As well as other sources.

It's the Perfect Ale

I guess lots of you agree, seeing as that spells out IPA. As it does in this advert from 1950:

Banbury Guardian - Thursday 23 March 1950, page 2.

What was that beer like? How strong was it? What colour? They're the questions I always asked when I was adverts like this. I never expected to get answers. But I did. Thank Whitbread.

The Whitbread Gravity Book is one of the most valuable sources on 20th-century UK brewing. Without its thousands of ananlyses, I'd have no idea - and no possibility of ever discovering - the details of the beers from brewery's whose records are lost.

The colour numbers in the Gravity Book are particularly helpful. Brewers mostly didn't record the colour in their brewing records. Nor all the colouring sugars they added post-fermentation. Many of the recipes in my new book came out way paler than the Gravity Book analysis. I've adjusted the recipes accordingly.

Multiple sources. Combining them to make something greater than their simple sum is my ultimate joy.

Here are those NBC beer details:

Northampton Brewery beers 1948 - 1952
Year	Beer	Style	Price per pint d	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	colour
1948	Brown Ale	Brown Ale	18	1032.4	1008.4	3.11	74.07%	150
1950	IPA	IPA		1046.2	1012.4	4.39	73.16%	24
1950	PA	Pale Ale		1035.2	1007.8	3.56	77.84%	32
1952	Jumbo Stout	Stout	18	1037.8	1016.8	2.70	55.56%	100
1952	Brown Ale	Brown Ale	18	1038	1013	3.23	65.79%	200
1949	Pale Ale	Pale Ale	15	1033.4	1008.1	3.28	75.75%	28
Source:
Whitbread Gravity Book document LMA/4453/D/02/002 held at the London Metropolitan Archives

Bottled IPA in 1960

We’re continuing our leisurely amble through the dales of 1960’s beer analyses. This time pausing to look at the noble vista of IPA before us.

The Which? report didn’t have a category of IPA. That’s my interpretation. But there’s no way I’m going to leave two classic IPAs, White Shield and Red Triangle, lumped with the Pale Ales. Greene King’s IPA they classified as a Light Ale. I can see the sense in that, but have still moved it in with the other IPAs. For no real reason, other than to make a slightly bigger table.

One thing really surprised me about the Which? analysis. That there’s such a difference in bitterness levels between White Shield and Red Triangle. You can see that the gravities are very similar.  I know that ten years later, they were exactly the same beer, just differently packaged. If that bitterness number is to be believed that couldn’t have been true in 1960.

It’s a pity the Whitbread Gravity Book has no White Shield entry for 1960. There is one for 1961, and it’s almost identical to the Which? beer.

Not the very high rate of attenuation of the Bass/Worthington beers. So high that they have a lower FG than the far weaker Greene King beer. Except for Blue Triangle. There’s a good reason for that. White Shield and Red Triangle were bottle conditioned while Blue Triangle was brewery conditioned. I assume the bottle conditioned beers had a longer period of maturation. The high attenuation makes Bass Red Triangle the cheapest per in terms of price per 1% ABV. In fact, it’s as cheap as some draught Bitters in those terms.

Courage Alton IPA looks to be along similar lines to the Bass examples, with a decent enough gravity of 1050º. Brickwoods Sunshine IPA is a little weaker, and looks closer to a bottled Pale Ale. The draught IPAs are a good bit weaker, though, unsurprisingly, are better value for money.

Here are the tables in all their glory:

Bottled IPA in 1960
Brewer	Beer	Price per pint d	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	Index of Hop Bitter	price per % ABV
Worthington	White Shield	32	1053.8	1007.2	6.10	86.62%	32	5.25
Bass	Bass Red Triangle	32	1054.4	1004.1	6.60	92.46%	55	4.85
Greene King	India Pale Ale	20	1033.2	1008.5	3.20	74.40%	24	6.25
Average		28	1047.1	1007	5.30	84.49%	37	5.45
Source:
Which Beer Report, 1960, pages 171 - 173.

Bottled IPA in 1960
Brewer	Beer	Price per pint d	Acidity	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	colour	price per % ABV
Bass	Pale Ale	34	0.04	1054.2	1008.3	6.00	84.69%	21	5.67
Bass	Blue Triangle		0.04	1061.1	1012.7	6.32	79.21%	17
Brickwoods	Sunshine IPA	28	0.04	1044.7	1011.4	4.16	74.50%	25	6.73
Courage, Barclay	Alton IPA	32	0.05	1050	1011.6	4.99	76.80%	21	6.41
Greene King	India Pale Ale	20	0.02	1033	1007.7	3.16	76.67%	25	6.32
Average		26.7	0.04	1048.6	1010.3	4.93	78.37%	21.8	6.28
Draught IPA
Mann Crossman	IPA	19	0.06	1041.2	1009.9	4.06	75.97%	23	4.68
Simonds	IPA	14	0.04	1035.4	1010.2	3.15	71.19%	18	4.44
Average		16.5	0.05	1038.3	1010.1	3.61	73.58%	20.5	4.56
Source:
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/002.

It really will be Light Ale next. I promise.

Bottled Pale Ale in 1960

I told you I’d be annoying you with more of this junk. I jumped all the way from Bitter to Pale Ale. Basically the same stuff, just from a bottle rather than a pump.

As before, we’ll be looking at the beers from both the Which? report and the Whitbread Gravity Book. I must admit that I’ve fiddled with the Which table a bit. Some of the beers just weren’t Pale Ales. Double Maxim and Younger’s No. 3 are obviously totally different styles. While White Shield and Red Triangle I have to class as IPA.

One thing immediately about the Which list: most of the examples were also keg beers. Brewmaster, Double Diamond, Red Barrel, Ben Truman and John Courage. Though the keg versions were usually weaker. It’s really weird how the OG averages out to exactly 1048º. Which makes them look rather like continental Lagers in terms of gravity and ABV.

The bitterness levels are all over the place, with the two hoppiest being more than double that of the least hoppy, Long Life. I remember that. It used to be advertised a lot. I think it was exclusively a canned beer. Can’t say I ever drank it. Looked like complete crap.

There’s not much to choose between them in terms of value for money. Other than Red Barrel Export, which is a bit worse value than the others.

As if to prove how good my collection of analyses is, I’ve ones from 1960 for every one of the Which examples except for Long Life. You can see that the gravities match pretty well from the two tables. At least now they do. I’d made a mistake transcribing the Double Diamond OG from the Whitbread Gravity Book and had it as 1038.4º.

There’s an interesting variation in colours in the Gravity Book examples. Stroud Cotswold Ale is very dark for a Pale Ale. Assuming that’s what it was. I can’t be sure, based on the name. Below 20 is on the pale side. I’d put money on Abbot being considerably darker than 19 today.

At least the prices are consistent: around 30d (2s 6d) a pint for the ones with gravities in the high 1040’s.

Bottled Pale Ale in 1960
Brewer	Beer	Price per pint d	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	Index of Hop Bitter	price per % ABV
Charrington	Toby Ale	29	1047.6	1010.7	4.80	77.52%	36	6.04
Flowers	Brewmaster	30	1047.3	1011.2	4.70	76.43%	39	6.39
Ind Coope	Double Diamond	30	1047.3	1011.2	4.70	76.43%	25	6.39
Watney	Red Barrel	30	1048.0	1014.8	4.30	69.17%	36	6.98
Watney	Red Barrel Export	36	1048.7	1014	4.50	71.25%	31	8.00
Truman	Ben Truman	30	1049.3	1011.6	4.90	76.47%	37	6.12
Courage & Barclay	John Courage	30	1050.3	1011.9	5.00	76.44%	39	6.00
Ind Coope	Long Life	32	1045.1	1009	4.70	80.04%	19	6.81
Average		30.9	1048.0	1012	4.70	75.47%	32.8	6.59
Source:
Which Beer Report, 1960, pages 171 - 173.

Bottled Pale Ale in 1960
Brewer	Beer	Price per pint d	Acidity	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	colour	price per % ABV
Charrington	Toby Ale	29	0.04	1046.5	1014.8	4.10	68.17%	23	7.07
Cheltenham & Hereford Brewery	West Country Ale	30	0.03	1044.1	1011.7	4.05	73.47%	28	7.41
Cobbold	Cardinal Ale	30	0.04	1048.6	1015.8	4.10	67.49%	24	7.32
Flowers	Brewmaster Export	30	0.02	1047.4	1011	4.55	76.79%	17	6.59
Georges & Co.	Export Port Ale	30	0.04	1043.4	1012.8	3.83	70.51%	18	7.84
Greene King	Abbot Ale	30	0.03	1048.6	1006.7	5.24	86.21%	19	5.73
HE Thornley	TK Pale Ale	32	0.03	1043.8	1009.5	4.29	78.31%	22	7.46
Ind Coope	Double Diamond	30	0.04	1048.4	1012.4	4.68	74.38%	18	6.41
John Smith	Pale Ale (sold in Belgium)		0.04	1055.5	1013.7	5.22	75.32%	17
Marston	Burton Keg	21	0.05	1036	1006.8	3.65	81.11%	20	5.75
Morland	Viking Ale	28	0.04	1045.1	1012	4.14	73.39%	30	6.77
Strong	Special Pale Ale		0.02	1041.3	1009.7	3.95	76.51%	23
Stroud Brewery	Cotswold Ale	24	0.02	1034.8	1004.3	3.81	87.64%	45	6.30
Truman	Ben Truman	30	0.05	1049.4	1012.1	4.85	75.51%	17	6.19
Watney	Red Barrel	30	0.05	1048.9	1015.2	4.37	68.92%	23	6.87
Average		28.8	0.04	1045.5	1011.2	4.32	75.58%	22.9	6.75
Source:
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/002.

Light Ale is next on the agenda. Sometime.

Bottled Stout in the 1950's - Standard Stouts 60-65% attenuation

The biggest surprise is that I’m still rambling across the moorland of 1950’s Stout. Surely I must eventually come across a pub?

As we gradually move our way down the attenuation scale, you’ll see the FGs rise and ABVs fall. Which is only logical. Though we’ve still got a way to go down that particular road.

There’s a considerable variation in price, not always that directly related to strength. The cheapest, Greenall’s Oatmeal Stout was just 21d – 8.75p in modern money – while the dearest, Mackeson cost 32d (13.33p). That’s almost 50% more, despite there being little difference in ABV. AAs  national, heavily-advertised brand, it shouldn’t be a surprise that Mackeson demanded a premium price. The same seems to be true to a lesser extent of Charrington’s Punch Stout.

Just 5 of the 48 examples have the word “sweet” or “glucose” in their name. Almost as many, 4, are Oatmeal Stouts. More surprisingly, there are two Oyster Stouts. How modern.

There’s a reason why there are four analyses of Jubilee Stout. It was another widely available Stout which Whitbread presumably saw as a rival to their own Mackeson brand. A beer which was incredibly important for the company in the 1950’s.

There’s a very good geographical spread of breweries, from Scotland down to Southwest England, with pretty much every region inbetween represented. Including my hometown of Newark-on-Trent, in the form of Holes Castle Stout.

I can’t think of anything else to say. So here’s the table.

Bottled Stout in the 1950's - Standard Stouts 60-65% attenuation
Year	Brewer	Beer	Price per pint d	Acidity	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	colour
1953	Davenport	Celebration Stout	22	0.06	1041.9	1014.7	3.52	64.92%	1 + 17
1953	Hunt Edmunds	Country Stout	26	0.06	1043.8	1015.4	3.67	64.84%	1 + 15
1950	Castletown	Manx Oyster Stout	26	0.07	1043.7	1015.4	3.66	64.76%	1 + 17
1953	Young & Son	Victory Oyster Stout	26	0.05	1046.5	1016.4	3.89	64.73%	1R + 17B
1959	Vaux	Red Label Stout	28		1043.9	1015.5	3.67	64.69%	300
1957	Boddingtons	Extra Stout (lactose absent)	28	0.04	1043.9	1015.6	3.66	64.46%	250
1951	Hope & Anchor	Jubilee Stout	28	0.04	1041.7	1014.9	3.46	64.27%
1953	Samuel Smith	Sams Stout	22	0.11	1043.9	1015.7	3.64	64.24%	1 + 11
1952	Hammerton	Oatmeal Stout	29	0.07	1047.2	1017	3.90	63.98%	1 + 18.5
1959	Nimmo	Nimmo's Stout	28		1048.2	1017.4	3.98	63.90%	300
1954	Bent's	Red Label Stout	26	0.04	1049.2	1017.8	4.06	63.82%	300
1959	Plymouth Breweries	Imperial Brown Stout	26		1045.1	1016.4	3.71	63.64%	350
1954	Charrington	Punch Stout	30	0.04	1047.5	1017.3	3.90	63.58%	1 + 18
1955	Devenish	Double Weymouth Sweet Stout	28	0.06	1042.8	1015.6	3.51	63.55%	400
1959	Devenish	Devenish	28		1042.2	1015.4	3.46	63.51%	350
1953	James Hole & Co	Castle Stout	24	0.06	1041	1015	3.36	63.41%	1R + 17B
1951	Birkenhead Brewery	BB Stout	26	0.11	1046.6	1017.1	3.81	63.30%
1952	Hope & Anchor	Jubilee Stout	28	0.06	1040.5	1014.9	3.31	63.21%	1 + 11.5
1957	Charrington	Punch Stout	30	0.04	1047.2	1017.4	3.85	63.14%	270
1959	Flowers	Table Stout	30		1043.3	1016	3.53	63.05%	250
1952	Hope & Anchor	Jubilee Stout	26	0.05	1040.6	1015.1	3.29	62.81%	1 + 10
1950	Hope & Anchor	Jubilee Stout	26	0.05	1040	1014.9	3.24	62.75%	1 + 11
1952	Groves & Whitnall	Red Rose Stout	26	0.07	1047.9	1017.9	3.87	62.63%	1 + 12
1951	Truman	Best Stout	22	0.06	1040.9	1015.3	3.31	62.59%	1 + 16
1951	Hammerton	Oatmeal Stout	23	0.07	1046.8	1017.6	3.77	62.39%	1 + 22
1950	M???? Manchester	Stout	24	0.06	1044.1	1016.6	3.55	62.36%	1 + 13
1951	Greenalls	Oatmeal Stout	21	0.05	1042.7	1016.1	3.43	62.30%
1950	H???? Manchester	M. Stout (HMS)	25	0.06	1047.2	1017.8	3.80	62.29%	1 + 14
1954	Plymouth Breweries	Brown Imperial Stout	25	0.04	1048.6	1018.5	3.89	61.93%	375
1952	Atkinsons	Punch Stout	24	0.05	1045.3	1017.3	3.61	61.81%	1R + 11B
1959	Joule	Royal Stout	28		1047.1	1018	3.76	61.78%	250
1959	Wrekin	MS Stout	28		1042.3	1016.2	3.37	61.70%	250
1953	Georges	Glucose Stout	28	0.06	1045.5	1017.6	3.60	61.32%	1 + 11
1959	Whitbread	Mackeson Stout	32		1046	1017.8	3.64	61.30%	400
1954	Calder	Scotch Stout	28	0.04	1040.9	1015.9	3.23	61.12%	1 + 14
1959	Boddingtons	Extra Stout	24		1043.8	1017.1	3.45	60.96%	325
1953	Charrington	Punch Stout	30	0.05	1047.8	1018.7	3.76	60.88%	1 + 15
1956	Deuchar R	Edinburgh Sweet Stout	30	0.04	1042.9	1016.8	3.37	60.84%	300
1954	Wilsons	Wembly Extra Stout	26	0.04	1044.3	1017.4	3.47	60.72%	325
1953	John Joule	Royal Stout	28	0.05	1046.3	1018.2	3.63	60.69%	1 + 16
1953	Camerons	Sovereign Stout	28	0.06	1047.3	1018.6	3.70	60.68%	1 + 15
1959	Butler, Wm	Black Satin Sweet Stout	29		1042.2	1016.6	3.30	60.66%	300
1959	Groves & Whitnall	Red Roses Stout	25		1047.5	1018.7	3.72	60.63%	250
1954	Whitworth Son & Nephew	Sweet Stout	28	0.04	1044.7	1017.6	3.50	60.63%	375
1954	Plymouth Breweries	Oatmeal Stout	25	0.04	1048.7	1019.2	3.81	60.57%	400
1959	Taylor Walker	Cannon Stout	29	0.04	1045.8	1018.1	3.57	60.48%	425
1952	Wilsons	Extra Stout	23	0.05	1043.7	1017.4	3.39	60.18%	1R + 16B
1954	Truman	Best Stout	24	0.04	1044	1017.6	3.41	60.00%	1 + 10
	Average		26.54	0.05	1044.7	1016.8	3.60	62.46%
Source:
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/002.