The Progress of Brewing in Ireland

I warned you that I'd been bitten by the Irish brewing bug. 

"The Progress of Brewing in Ireland.

Little is known of the early history of brewing in Ireland where beer was not a national drink in the same way as in England In the reign of James I., however, Dublin was noted for its brown ale, and early in the eighteenth century it was estimated that the amount of beer annually produced in Ireland was nearly half a million barrels. Dublin and Cork being the chief brewing centres, while there was a considerable Quantity of beer imported. Several of the existing Irish breweries can lay claim to very considerable antiquity. Thus the firm of Messrs. Jameson, Pim, and Co., hold leases dating from 1715, and in 1766 the Ardee-street Brewery, then owned by Sir James Taylor, headed the list of the forty Dublin Breweries which paid excise duty. Again, the Anchor Brewery was founded in 1740, and in 1759 Mr. Arthur Guinness purchased Mr. Rainsford's brewery, and thus laid the foundation of the present colossal establishment of Messrs. Guinness and Co., whilst the Cork Porter Brewery, at present owned by Messrs. Beamish and Crawford, was worked in 1715 by one Edward Allen, and several of the country breweries were established in the eighteenth century.


How the Royal Dublin Society helped the Brewing Industry,

The Royal Dublin Society took a very active part in fostering the brewing industry, and as early as 1744 granted premiums to brewers who used the largest quantity of Irish hops. In 1763 out of the £8,000 which was granted by Parliament to be spent by the Society in encouraging certain trades, £200 was devoted to the brewing industry. In April, 1764, the Society granted premiums varying from £20 to £12 to the first five persons who sold by retail the greatest quantity of Irish Porter in the year ending 25th March, 1764, and the winner of the first premium was one Stephen Malone, who sold 24 hogsheads. In October, 1765, the Society granted to Mr. Thomas Andrews of New Row, on the Poddle, a premium of £62 6s. 6d., being at the rate of 1d. per gallon for 14,958 gallons of porter brewed by him since 1st June, 1764.

In 1771 a committee was appointed by the Society "to consider in what manner it might be expedient to give encouragement for the establishment of good public breweries in different parts of this Kingdom."

The committee reported in March, 1772, as follows:—

1. "That it is the opinion of this Committee that the Discouragement of the consumption of low-priced spirituous liquors in the country is an object of the utmost consequence to the health and morals of the people as well as to the Police and Manufactures of this Kingdom, and, of course, highly deserving of the attention of the Dublin Society."

2. "That it is the opinion of this Committee that the erection of new Breweries of a good kind of Malt Liquor in the several Provinces of this Kingdom would be the most likely means to promote this desirable end."

3. "That it is the opinion of this Committee that a premium of four shillings in the barrel should be given upon the first 1,000 barrels of Ale of the value of 30 shillings per barrel (first cost to the Retailer) which shall be made and sold out of any one Brewery which shall be erected after the 25th of March, 1772, the Quantity and Value of said Malt Liquor to be ascertained by the certificate of the Collector of the District where such Brewery shall be established." "The said Premium shall be given for each of the four Provinces respectively."

These proposals were adopted with the proviso that no brewery in the city of Dublin or within twenty miles thereof should be eligible, and in 1777 Mr. James Higginson obtained a premium of £200 for having established a "brewery in Lisburn and for having brewed the required 1,000 barrels."
"Ireland Industrial and Agricultural", 1902, page 453 - 454.

The government paying a prize for brewing beer. Very enlightened. Can't see that policy flying nowadays.

More to follow. I've been fatally infected.

Beer joke

As part of my occasional series of jokes I find when looking for something else:

Courage and Barclay Journal Vol.1 No.3 March 1958, page 23.

Imperial Pop

Imperialising. Not a new phenomenon at all. As these texts demonstrate.

Imperial pop. It conjures up an image of pop, but with a higher alcohol content. With half a pint of spirits in it, this recipe seems to fit my imagination:

"IMPERIAL POP.

Put two ounces of cream of tartar, and the juice and parings of two lemons, into a stone jar ; pour on them seven quarts of boiling water, stir and cover close, when cold sweeten with loaf sugar and straining it, bottle and cork it tight. Add in bottling half a pint of spirits of the best kind.— This is a pleasant liquor and considered wholesome."
"The vintner's guide" by William Phipps, 1825, page 126.

This version sounds rather less alcoholic:

"Recipe for the beverage called imperial pop.—Put into an earthen pot two pounds of sugar, two lemons cut into slices, and two ounces of cream of tartar. Add nine quarts of boiling water, mix the materials well, cover the vessel with a stout cloth and let it cool.

When cold, spread two table spoons full of good yeast from beer on a thin slice of bread and put into the vessel, which must be covered as before, and left till the next day. It may then be filtered through a fine cloth, and bottled and corked tight in strong bottles. In the course of three or four days the fermentation will be nearly complete, and the liquor may be drunk."
"American journal of science, Volume 27" , 1835, page 200.

That's it. Just me being amused by a name.

Fermentation and racking at Allsopp in the 1880's

We're still at Allsopp in the late 19th century. A great place to be. I'm already planning my excursion there when I finally get my hands on a time machine.

Let's continue with a description of fermentation and racking.

"Following the process, we again ascended to the level of the mill floor, from whence we travelled in an opposite direction. Crossing a metal bridge, we came to the cooling department, where we found the atmosphere a most desirable one on such a hot summers day. It is a lofty place situated over two of the union rooms, and measures 126 feet by 114 ft. Placed therein, are four of Morton's refrigerators, and also three of the Helical circular refrigerators. These latter consist of eight 1-inch block-tin tubes, one above the other, which run in a volute form to the centre, starting from a stand-pipe 4 inches in diameter; on arriving at the centre they run direct into a box tank communicating with the fermenting rounds. Besides these mechanical appliances, there are four open coolers, or shallow frames, covering a large open surface, for use in winter time, each being placed at a lower level than the other. The wort remains in these coolers, at a depth of three to four inches, for about half-an-hour, when it is run over the refrigerators before mentioned. Looking through the open lattices of this cooling loft, what a busy scene meets our eye. It is almost a birds-eye view of the place we behold. - On one side, the cooperage, where hundreds of men are moving about, on the other, trucks being filled at the stores with barrels of ale, malt being unloaded at the brewhouse, and, in front, the engine shops, storehouses, a long stretch of stacks and piles of barrels many feet high ; and. covering five or six acres of ground, the workmen moving to and fro, looking like bees in a hive."
"Noted breweries of Great Britain and Ireland, Vol. I" by Alfred Barnard, 1889, page 138.

Morton's refrigerator. One of the standard piece of brewery kit. Wonder what one looked like? I did. Which is why I hunted down this picture of one, taken from an advert for the firm that invented and patented the device, Morton and Wilson of Stockton-on-Tees. Evidently the Edradour distillery still uses one.

It's odd that, despite having modern cooling devices, Allsopp still used open coolers in the winter. I wonder why? Perhaps because it was cheaper.

Now on to fermentation.

"On leaving the coolers, we descended a staircase into the room below, devoted to the fermenting department, and measuring 258 feet by 228 feet. It contains 210 rounds, sometimes circular and sometimes square; 140 of these hold fifteen barrels each, and seventy of them 110 barrels. After the wort leaves the refrigerators, it is conducted by pipes to these rounds, which are all arranged in rows with great compactness and, regularity. Here the yeast is added, and, after a part of the fermentation has taken place, the wort runs by gravitation to the union casks or cleansing vessels, holding 4.5 barrels each, where the fermentation is completed. These union casks are fitted with swan necks, which act as syphons ; through them, the yeast forces its way upwards into the troughs, and, when the fermentation is finished, the ale is let down into the racking vats. Passing through an archway, we found ourselves on another part of the floor where are placed 192 more of these "unions," and then we descended by an iron staircase to another union-room below. This light and lofty apartment, with its Val de Travers asphalted floor covered with union casks, is of the same dimensions as the room above. It contains 1,376 union casks, is a delightfully clean looking place, the walls of which are painted white are dado'd all round like those in private houses. In order to complete this department and finish our duties for the day, we crossed the noble latticed iron bridge, which is an object of interest from the railway, to a larger union room than any yet inspected over the racking room at the back of the general offices. It is a light and lofty chamber 375 feet by 105 feet, and 21 feet high, containing 1,624 union casks which can cleanse 263,088 gallons at one time; it is floored like the others with asphalte of the latest and most approved description, and, along each avenue, there is an open space to the floor below, giving free ventilation and air to the building Altogether, these rooms contain three thousand casks, with a capacity of 486,000 gallons. After the active state of fermentation has subsided, the beer remains in these union casks a short time to allow it to settle before it runs into the racking squares below; after which it is racked into casks."
"Noted breweries of Great Britain and Ireland, Vol. I" by Alfred Barnard, 1889, pages 138 - 140.

There's something I don't quite understand here. How can a round be square? Seems a bit counter-intuitive. But more intriguing is the weird sizes of the fermenters: some 15 barrels, some 110. Fifteen barrels? Are they having a laugh? That's not small, that's minute for a brewhouse that was knocking out 15,000 barrels a week. Even 110 barrels seems small for the scale of the brewery. It's a mystery to me why they would mess around with so many small fermenters. Between them, the rounds had a capacity of 9,800 barrels. Which does seem enough cope with 15,000 barrels a week, assuming the wort only remained in them for a few days before moving to the unions.

That's a nice detail about the beer resting in the unions after for a while after the end of fermentation to drop bright. That makes sense. The capacity of the union sets matches the weekly output of the brewhouse almost exactly. They had 3,192 union casks, each with a capacity of 4.5 barrels, or 14,364 barrels. Assuming that their kit matched, that implies that the wort could not have remained more than 7 days in the unions. Probably at least a day or tow fewer to allow for cleaning and maintenance.

And finally, racking:

"The racking room below, to which we next directed our steps, is a wonderful place and, notwithstanding all we had seen, quite astounded us by its extraordinary size. It is nearly 400 feet long and more than 100 feet wide; the floors above it are supported by no less than eighty-four iron pillars of ponderous strength and breadth, painted red and drab. In the centre of the place, there are twelve racking or settling squares, each supported on fluted cast-iron columns, of handsome appearance and capable of holding 190 barrels each ; they are for receiving the ale from the union casks. A main pipe is attached to each square, connected with which is a long pipe, containing as many as six stop cocks to fill six casks at a time. After doing justice to this racking hall, we were conducted across the roadway to another one under the New Brewery, not quite so large but equally lofty. Previous to being filled, all casks are again smelled and examined before being hopped and corked, and as many as 20,000 casks pass through these racking rooms weekly. At the east end of the building there is a small engine which drives two sets of tunning pumps, and, at right angles, there is a barm-pressing department containing two of Johnson's and four of Needham's presses and other appliances. The yeast here undergoes a double process of pressing which enables it to be kept longer. The casks, when filled, are put into the stores for a time, and afterwards rolled out to the loading stage, where the shive is taken out of the cask, and the taster tries every one, after which they are filled up, re-shived and the number taken by a clerk from the cask office department. A lad then follows and imprints a seal on the cork of every cask."
"Noted breweries of Great Britain and Ireland, Vol. I" by Alfred Barnard, 1889, pages 140 - 142.

Maths time again. Twelve racking squares of 190 barrels gives a total capacity of 2,280 barrels. Or about the equivalent of one day's output.

I'd hope that they would give the casks a sniff before filling them. It was the best way of spotting any infection problem. "Stinkers". That was the evocative name given to bad casks. If I read the text correctly, it says that the casks were hopped before being filled. I'd thought it was the other way around: fill then throw in the hops after. Of course, that Pale Ale was dry hopped is no surprise. Their quality control seems to have been fairly strict, having someone taste every cask before shipping. That's probably one of the reasons Allsopp's beer had such a good reputation.

Moscow mayor in Anchor Bankside

I use my time so well. Browsing "The Golden Cockerel" (the in-house mag of Courage, Barclay, Simonds) for example.

Old newspapers and magazines hypnotise  me. Pulling away my treacle-sticky eyeballs is hard. You don't want to know how much of my free time is spent enslaved to old publications.

While wandering the corridors of obscurity, I occasionally walk into a lamppost of relevance. This is today's lamppost;

"Protocol was at a minimum when Mr. and Mrs. G. D. Braiton, the manager and his wife of The Anchor, Bankside, received a very distinguished guest for aperitifs and lunch one morning in January. Mingling quite unceremoniously with the throng of lunchtime customers were Comrade Vladimir Promyslov, Moscow's burly mayor, with other members of his staff and officials of the L.C.C., with whom the mayor had been spending a few days on an official visit.

Comrade Promyslov was impressed by The Anchor. "I can see I have been missing something very special", he said, through his two diligent interpreters. Unfortunately, we do not know what he thought of English beer: he drank whisky — not even Russian Stout! But two of his staff seemed to be enjoying the bitter, and they all did excellent justice to a real English meal of asparagus soup, whitebait, roast beef and Yorkshire pudding, and apple pie."
"The Golden Cockerel Vol.3 No.7 Spring 1964", page 19.

The Cold War. I blame that for the total ignorance of Russian drinking habits. My money would have been on whisky. Nice Russian Stout joke, though.

I should explain. The Anchor Bankside is the Barclay Perkins brewery tap. (I know "was the Barclay Perkins brewery tap" is more accurate, as the brewery is long gone. In my head, they live on.) Hence the Russian Stout reference.

The barman is rather nattily dressed. They're such scruffs behind the bar nowadays. All jeans, T-shirts and stubble.  But it's what behind him that harpooned my eyes: wooden barrels on stillage. Barclay Perkins beers, gravity-served. Maybe Comrade Promyslov was a bit of a Philistine.

Those barrels reminded me of my last time in the Anchor. Late November last year. There were barrels on stillage then.

Asparagus soup: is that typically English? I've been perfecting my Yorkshire puddings. They're tricky little devils to make. Worryingly satisfying when it goes well.

Don't the windows in both pictures look similar?


More misshapen veg from the Golden Cockerel's garden soon.

Messrs. P. & H. Egan, Tullamore

Damn you all. You've gone and got me all intrigued about Irish brewing. In particular the types of beer brewed.

I found a quite useful article about the brewery of Messrs. P. and H. Egan on the web. It's obviously from a book published around 1900. Unfortunately, the web page doesn't give the original source.

It kicks off with some general bumph about the company:

"Church Street Premises, and History of the Firm.

Our readers will take an interest in hearing a few facts about the firm of Messrs. P. and H. Egan. This business, established in 1852, and carried on the Bridge House under the name of P. and H. Egan, was converted into a Limited Liability Company on 1st January. 1896, with a nominal capital of £80,000. They purchased the old established business of Stirling and Co., in March. 1896, and now trade under the title of Power and Co., in those premises. The capital of the new company was subscribed privately, and since that time the business has increased by leaps and bounds, additions having continually to be made to the premises and plant to cope with the extension of the trade. The requirements of their business compel the firm to keep between forty and fifty horses on the road constantly. These horses travel over a radius of thirty miles, taking frequently two-days' journeys, and a staff of between 200 and 250 hands are constantly employed, this staff being considerably increased during the busy seasons of the year."
http://www.offalyhistory.com/categories/Reading-Resources/Tullamore-History/?Page=3

A couple of hundred staff is quite a considerable number. Or would be if it was just for the brewery. Egan, however, ran a series of businesses including a malting, grocery, saw mill, bacon smoker, wine merchant, tea merchant, tobacco merchant. A bit of everything, in fact.

"Beer Bottling Stores

In these stores are bottled ale, porter, lager beer, hops, etc. Here are bottled yearly over 600 hogsheads of Bass and an immense quantity of Guinness, lager beer, etc. Messrs. P. and H. Egan also bottle Bass's light dinner ale, and they are, we believe, almost the only people in the province of Leinster that bottle that particular ale. The label is similar to the ordinary Bass label in outline, but differs by having a blue instead of a red diamond in the centre. Off these stores are situated the Bottled Drink Storerooms. These rooms are divided off into sections, each section being capable of holding a hogshead. These several sections were either filled or being filled on the day of our visit, the supply being constantly renewed. The bins are dated as they are filled, and thus the length any bin is filled can be seen at a glance. Next these rooms is the Mineral Water Store. Here is a large supply of minerals of every description, in syphons and every shaped bottle. The output of mineral waters amounts to almost ten thousand dozen a month."
http://www.offalyhistory.com/categories/Reading-Resources/Tullamore-History/?Page=3

I'm not surprised at them bottling Guinness and Bass. That's to be expected. But lager beer? Seems very early for Lager to have penetrated so far into Ireland. It is at least confirmation of the popularity of Pale Ale in Ireland. Though 600 hogsheads doesn't seem that much compared to Salt's London stores that held 20,000 barrels.

Light Ale. It's a surprise to see that, too.I've never associated Light Ale with Ireland. Though come to think of it, the Irish labourers in Bolton were drinking Light Ale in the 1930's (according to "The Pub and the People"). Maybe I've missed something.

"The Brewery,
in which this famous and old-established firm brew their several makes of porter and ale. Here we were handed over by Mr. Power to Mr. Patrick J. Egan, son of Mr. H. Egan. Entering the brewery yard we noticed the row of stables which extends down along one side, and which provides stable-room for over twenty horses. There is also a large amount of stable-room in connection with the retail premises first described. Passing the stables, we entered the brewery, and proceeded through that establishment, following the articles that go to the manufacture of porter and ale through the various stages. On the top is situated the tank which contains the liquor which goes to the manufacture of the beer. This tank is filled with water from the town supply, which comes a distance of about nine miles, from a place called Clonaslee, and which is of the purest kind possible. Close at hand is situated the boiling tank in which is stored the boiling water used in the manufacture of the grist. We next saw the Mash Tun. In this immense tun are mixed the malt (which had previously been ground on the loft below and brought up by a system of Jacob's ladders) and boiling water. Here this mixture is allowed to remain for some time, and then the wort is passed onto the Coppers. Leaving the liquor in the process of manufacture, we entered the office of Mr. Patrick J. Egan, the brewer and our guide. This office commands a full view of the yard beneath, so that everything enters and leaves the brewery under his personal supervision. Emerging from this office, we again took up the thread of our journey and proceeded to the copper room. In this room are situated the various coppers, in which the worts coming from the tun overhead are mixed with the hops and then boiled. These coppers are of a very large capacity, and are used - some for the brewing of ale, and others for the brewing of porter. The liquor, after being boiled in these coppers, is passed off into the hop back; here it is allowed to rest a short time, and is then sent on to the cooler, where it is allowed to stand for some time. It is then passed over refrigerators and into the fermenting tuns. There are five of these fermenting tuns in Egan's brewery, each of them of very large capacity, and all contained liquor in various stages of manufacture on the day of our visit. All of these vessels are furnished with attemperating apparatuses and skimming parachutes. The liquor is allowed to ferment for four or five days. During that time it gives off the yeast. When the process of fermentation is over, the liquor is sent on to the racking squares, and from this filled into casks and made ready for use. Both porter and ale are brewed at this brewery; but we understand that Messrs. P. and H. Egan intend to devote their entire attention henceforth to the brewing of ale. With this end in view, and to place their ales in a proper manner before the public, they are increasing their facilities for the manufacture of ale, and are appointing agents in every district in Ireland. They have already appointed Messrs. Slattery and Waters, 63 Middle Abbey-street, as their Dublin agent, and have also appointed a regular agent in the West of Ireland. We congratulate the firm upon their determination to secure for themselves a share of the ale trade for the city and provinces, and assure them that there is plenty of room for business with such a high-class article as theirs on the market. We saw samples of the several qualities of ale brewed by Messrs. Egan, and all were as sparkling in appearance and as palatable as any ale we have ever seen or tasted. The four qualities of ale, with their prices are strong-bitter ale, 48s. per barrel ; family bitter ale, 36s. per barrel ; strong mild xx ale, 48s.per barrel; single mild ale, 28s. per barrel, less usual trade discount. All these ales are the best of their several kinds, and equal any other make already on the market.

We visited next the Ale Store, where the barrelled porter and ale are stored preparatory to being sent out to the firm's customers. Here was a good supply of each of the several brands, and here completed our survey of the brewery proper. We then saw the Hop Lofts, two extensive stores, well filled with the best Worchester and Kent hops, as the ingredients used by Messrs. Egan in the manufacture of their liquors are the best procurable.
http://www.offalyhistory.com/categories/Reading-Resources/Tullamore-History/?Page=3

Now there's some handy information. Egan's brewery sounds very similar to one in England. Though it sounds as if they just had a single large mash tun. I remember reading that Guinness had huge mash tuns. Maybe it was an Irish thing.

Refrigerators, attemperators and skimming parachutes: it sounds like they had a full set of modern kit. It's a shame the author isn't more specific about the size of any of the vessels. "Very large capacity" doesn't tell me anything.

I wonder why they were ditching Porter to concentrate on Ale? Could it be the competition from Guinness? With the way Guinness dominated the Irish Porter market, I could imagine it was hard work for a small brewer to get trade.

Now we get to the best bit: details about the Ales they brewed. Strong Bitter Ale, Family Bitter Ale, Strong Mild Ale and Mild Ale. Going from the prices (and assuming they were roughly similar to those in England), I would guess the gravities as being:

Strong Bitter Ale 1070º
Family Bitter Ale 1055º
Strong Mild Ale 1070º
Mild Ale 1040º

That isn't too dissimilar from what an English brewery would have been producing. And Egan were using the same terms as in England: Bitter Ale and Mild Ale.

"Leaving the brewery and its store-rooms, we crossed the yard and entered the

Bottling Departments,

which are worked in connection with the brewery. We first entered the Bottle-Washing Department. This consists of two rooms, in which the bottles are ranged on shelves, and a third room, in which stand the two machines by which the bottles are washed. These machines are of the best possible kind, and cleanse the bottles both inside and out in a manner that cannot be surpassed. Several men were working at the washing on the day of our visit; one man employed in bringing the bottles on a truck to be washed, and another carrying them away, when washed, on another truck. These rooms are capable of holding an immense quantity of vessels, and this capability is taxed to the utmost, as there is a constant draw on the store for all the departments of this large firm. We next visited the Ale and Porter Bottling Department, filled with hogsheads of bass, Guinness, lager beer, hop bitters, etc., all being filled from. The weekly bottling of porter here, amount to about twenty hogsheads per week, while the other liquors are bottled in proportionally large quantities. The liquors, when bottled, are sent from this place into the bottled ale stores, and there placed in bins (sections into which the store is divided) until ready to be taken to the retailer. Each of these bins are capable of holding a hogshead, so the department always contains on an average about forty hogshead, of bottled beers. Messrs. Egan also bottled their own ale here, and it commands a very large sale in the district and neighbouring counties. Twelve vans are continually kept on the road delivering these bottled stuffs to the trade in the surrounding districts."
http://www.offalyhistory.com/categories/Reading-Resources/Tullamore-History/?Page=3

Twenty hogsheads a week doesn't strike me as a "large quantity". It's interesting that they were bottling their own Ale as well as Bass, Guinness and Lager. Do any labels still exist?

I officially take back what I said about Mild have passed Ireland by. It clearly didn't. And neither did Bitter.

The scale of Allsopp in the 1880's

Burton breweries. I just can't find out enough about them. I'm back again at Allsopp, Burton's number two brewery in the 19th century.

I'll start off with a quote that gives some idea of the scale of brewing in Burton. And reveals how impressive Allsopp's brewery was.

"Each day, as we continued our investigations, we were the more surprised at the size of the buildings, and the enormous amount of plant and machinery required to carry on the manufacture of ale in these mammoth Burton breweries. As we steamed into Burton Station from Derby, the object that principally attracted our attention was Messrs. Allsopps' new brewery, which is of enormous dimensions, handsome elevation, and ranks equal to any in the kingdom. The brewery and its attendant buildings, including the offices and cooperage, cover about fifty acres, and extend from Station Street to High Street, where it is connected with the old brewery and cask manufactory by the private railway lines of the firm. The company have also 140 acres of land for the business in the parishes of Shobnall, Stapenhill and elsewhere. The clock-tower house, as seen in our engraving, rears its head above all the other buildings, and contains the Engine House to be hereinafter described. It is of handsome and lofty elevation, and is quite an ornament to the brewery. On our arrival, we proceeded to inspect the establishment under the personal guidance of Mr. Joseph Stirk, the head brewer. The brewhouse and its attendant union and racking-rooms are fine specimens of brick-constructed edifices, are of handsome elevation, and have a greater capacity than those of any single brewery in England. They were erected 1859, under the direction of the engineer and building staff of the firm, and the brewery has been aptly designated by those in the trade as one of the model English breweries, not only because of its structural arrangements and adaptability to the uses of the art of brewing, but for possessing all the modern appliances, machinery, and vessels which have from time to time appeared and been invented."
"The Noted Breweries of Great Britain and Ireland, vol. 1" by Alfred Barnard, 1889, page 133.

The date at which the new brewery was built is significant: 1859. That's just when the sales of pale Ale really started to take off. Remember that Pale Ale brewing started in 1822, when Allsopp started looking for a new export market to replace Russia. But it was only in the 1840's and 1850's that Burton brewers began to expand in a big way.

There's significance, too, in Barnard being most impressed not by Bass, but by Allsopp. In the 19th century, the two breweries were equally famous and of a similar size. It's what happened in the 20th century that makes the Bass name more familiar today. Bass led one of Britain's large brewing groups. Allsopp was subsumed into someone else's, its name soon removed from the copper plate outside the head office.

Irish Mild Ale?

My post about Irish Red Ale's lack of pedigree prompted some useful responses. Which have me once again contemplating the history of Irish Ale brewing. And questioning the assumptions I'd made.

I'd never seen any evidence for the brewing of Mild Ales in Ireland. You know, the things designated by a number of X's. Thanks to my readers I know have. And it's raised a whole new set of questions. I like questions, on the whole. They give me a reason to do more research. And unearthing stuff no-one knew is so satisfying.

Let's recap on what we know so far. First, there's an advert from 1867 for Fitts of Limerick:

So they were brewing an XX Ale in the 19th century.

Getting more recent, Perry's brewery in Rathdowney, county Laois were brewing this range of beers in the 1950's: Perry's India Pale Ale, Perry's Pale Ale, Perry's XX Ale, Perry's X Ale.

Something called XX Ale was brewed in both the 19th century and the 1950's. I think it's safe to assume that it was around in the intervening years, too. The next question is: what was it like? Was it similar to the X Ales brewed in England? Did it, like the English versions change colour around 1900? What was its gravity? How was it served?

That's enough questions to be going on with. It's now time to start searching for the answers.

Messrs. Ind Coope and Co. Limited (part two)

As promised, here's what Barnard had to say about the fermenting and cleansing rooms at Ind Coope's Burton brewery.

"We next bent our steps to the fermenting department, and first entered the No. 1 room, under the great malt receiving floor, which latter is supported by eighteen cast iron columns. This room contains twenty-eight fermenting squares, to which the liquor is conveyed from the refrigerators by means of copper pipes coated with tin. Passing along, we reached No. 2 and 3 rooms; the former contains sixteen and the latter twenty fermenting vessels, all of a similar size and style as in the other Burton breweries. After proper fermentation, the beer is discharged  from these squares into cleansing casks or unions, of which there are as many as 1,424 in this brewery, with a total content of 205,000 gallons.

Following our guide down a narrow staircase, we reached the first of the rooms wherein they are placed. It is a noble saloon, well-lighted, beautifully clean, and contains 304 unions or sparging casks, each holding four barrels; we then crossed over a pretty latticed iron bridge to a second building, containing four large rooms, all on same level, and devoted to the same purpose, containing together 1,120 unions of same capacity. The barm or yeast, which rises to the top of the unions, is collected into troughs, and then passed through two of Musto and Co.'s patent improved yeast presses, each divided into thirty-six chambers ; after which it is sold in the usual way.

These beautiful rooms should be a model  for every brewery, both as to their form, construction, and  arrangement. They are sustained by iron girders running transversely and longitudinally, from wall to wall, filled in with concrete and supported underneath by iron columns as thick as a man's body. They are all, of course, perfectly watertight, and easily kept clean and sweet by a simple process. All round the walls are laid pipes, from which runs cold water, so arranged that there is always a thin stream of water flowing over the floors in summer time, keeping the place beautifully clean and cool. When properly cleansed, the beer is run into large settling backs through copper pipes, also coated with tin, whither we followed it.

In the rooms below, we found twelve large settling, or depurating backs, each holding 150 barrels. When the beer is sufficiently clear, it is drawn off from these vessels and racked into casks of various sizes, which are then conveyed by railway waggons to the various stores or depots.

Before leaving this department, we entered the ice machine room, situated on this floor, beneath the fermenting room—there being no special room constructed to receive it—and were much surprised at seeing the massive iron cylinders, with the numerous pipes, covered with frost, caused by the moisture of the atmosphere condensing on their cold surfaces.   This machine cools a large square room, 80 feet by 60 feet, down to 52 degrees Fahrenheit in the summer, also a union room, 150 feet by 50 feet, and a yeast room, 20 feet by 20 feet; it is also proposed to extend the cooling power to the other union and square rooms, and to a refrigerator for cooling 100 barrels of liquor through 10 degrees Fahrenheit per hour, for attemperating and refrigerating purposes."
"Noted Breweries of Great Britain and Ireland, vol. 2", Alfred Barnard, 1889, page 58 - 61.

I'm coming to realise that Burton breweries were all kitted out in a very similar way, with regards to mash tuns, coppers, fermenting squares and union rooms. Presumably everyone followed the lead of the larger brewers, that is Bass and Allsopp.

Assuming Bass to the archetypal Burton brewery, if you recall they had relatively small fermenting squares, holding just 45 barrels. Salt's were slightly smaller, at just 40 barrels. Allsopp had 140 holding just 15 barrels and 70 holding 110. It's now compare and contrast time. London brewers seem a good choice, as they were operating on a similarly large scale to those in Burton.

Let's look at Whitbread's fermenters. These sizes are approximate, because they are based on the amount of wort put into them in brewing records. The fermenters would have had a slightly larger maximum capacity than given:

Whitbread's fermenting vessels circa 1890
vessel number	contents (barrels)
1	753
2	839
3	818
4	211
5	200
6	216
7	56
8	60
10	73
11	203
12	88
13	195
14	141
15	448
17	195
18	195
19	174
20	160
21	292
22	292
23	270
24	270
25	269
26	286
Source:
Whitbread brewing records held at the London metropolitan Archives.

You'll see that only a couple have a capacity of fewer than 100 barrels. Most held 200-300 barrels and the largest over 800 barrels.

Remembering that at this time Bass was producing three times as much beer as Whitbread, this raises an obvious question. Why were Bass's (and other Burton brewers') fermenting vessels so small? There has to be a reason. Commonsense would prompt brewers to scale their fermenting vessels according to the amount of beer produced. This clearly wasn't the case for Burton brewers. What could the reason be? I've never seen this question asked before. Everyone has been hypnotised by the unions.

Like everyone else in Burton, Ind Coope had union sets. And lots of them. As you can see from the illustration, they were an imposing sight. Once again, I'll remind you that these were not fermenting but cleansing vessels. Yes, there was some fermentation activity in them, but their main purpose was to remove yeast, a particular obsession of Victorian brewers. Sparging cask is not a term I've come across before. I can't find it mentioned anywhere on the web.

The size of union casks seems pretty constant across Burton breweries, too. Bass's, according to Barnard, contained 160 gallons. Ind coope's hes says were 4 barrels, or 144 gallons. Another point I've just thought of. The fermenting squares, at 40 to 45 barrels, had about 10 times the capacity of a union cask. So, for 28 squares you'd expect there would be about 300 union casks. Yet there were more than four times that number. That implies that the beer spent much longer in the unions than in the squares.

Constantly dribbling cold water into the union room is another novelty. I'm sure it would have been reasonably effective in keeping down the temperature of the room and keep the floor nice and clean as a bonus. Though Barnard does reveal that they were planning on moving to a more modern way of cooling the union rooms: a giant cooling machine. It seems to have been a pretty versatile and powerful machine, as it was also cooling the water for the attemperators. I won't repeat what they are. If you can't remember, just do a search. But their invention is one of the most important but most little remembered technological developments of the 18th century.

That's me done with Ind Coope. Except for one last number. According to Barnard, their Burton brewery turned out 200,000 barrels a year. Their Romford brewery produced a similar amount, giving a total of 400,000 barrels. This is how that compared with the big London brewers:

Output of the largest London brewers in 1889 (barrels)
Barclay Perkins	502,656
Whitbread	336,052
Truman	426,140
Meux	350,000
Combe	450,000
Sources:
The Red Barrel Hurford Janes, page 132
The British Brewing Industry, 1830-1980 T. R. Gourvish & R.G. Wilson, pages 610-611

Ind Coope weren't in the same league as Bass or Guinness (who both brewed over 1 million barrels), but were definitely in the second division promotion race.

Beer output by UK region in 1849

Hooray! Today's the last part of my rambling series about the geographical distribution of brewing in 1849.

It's hard to imagine now the dominance of London brewers in the early part of the 19th century. As you can see in the table below, more than a fifth of the UK's beer came from London. More than three times as much beer was brewed in Britain's capital than in Ireland and Scotland combined.

Of course, this is just a snapshot. The situation changes significantly as the century progresses. With other brewing centres such as Burton and Dublin rivalling London in size. When Bass in Burton and Guinness in Dublin went past the 1 million barrel mark, the days of London's supremacy were over. Its went into a long, slow decline that only ended a couple of years ago.

You may have noticed that I've separated out Wales from England. While its beer output lagged a quite bit behind England's relative to population,it was way ahead of Scotland and Ireland. See, I can understand why Ireland would do poorly in such a comparison. It was the least developed part of the UK. But Scotland and Wales had industrialised. Why were their beer industries doing so relatively badly?

The relative contribution of Ireland and Scotland increased during the second half of the 19th century. I'm started to assemble some figures to demonstrate this change. I'll publish them as soon as I've finished, but it may take a while.

UK beer output and population, year ending October 1849
	output (barrels)	% of output	population in 1851	% population	barrels per head of population
London	3,144,954	21.50%	2,362,200	8.63%	1.33
England	13,223,059	90.40%	16,769,400	61.26%	0.79
Wales	365,299	2.50%	1,163,000	4.25%	0.31
Scotland	435,792.5	2.98%	2,889,000	10.55%	0.15
Ireland	602,437.5	4.12%	6,554,000	23.94%	0.09
total	14,626,587	100.00%	27,375,400	100.00%	0.53
actual beer output	14,691,734
Sources:
"Statistics of British commerce" by Braithwaite Poole, 1852, pages 5 and 6.
http://www.populstat.info/

London! revised

Tinkering. I can't help tinkering. Especially with my books.

Material is a big problem. I keep piling up new piles of it. Seems such a shame to waste it. That's why I've spent this week updating "London!". To unpile that pile.

"Guess how many pages it's got now, Andrew"

"I can't hear you dad, I've got headphones on."

"Go on, guess."

"I still can't hear you."

More than 600, that's how many. I'll tell you, as it doesn't seem to interest Andrew much. "London!" has more than doubled in size. But not in price. Super duper value.

What's been added? Lots more ludicrous detail. Armies of numbers, all neatly arranged in rows. More, more, more of everything.

Stuff, shedloads of stuff, about London breweries: Barclay Perkins, Beasley, Cannon, Charrington, City of London, Combe, Courage, Fullers, Hoare, Lovibond, Mann, Meux, Noakes, Raggett, Reid, Smith Garrett, Taylor Walker, Watney, Wenlock, Whitbread. And a few more I can't remember now.






Buy the updated "London!" now. You'll only regret it if you don't.

Messrs. Ind Coope and Co. Limited (part one)

Time to resume my never-ending series on Burton breweries, as described by Barnard in the 1890's. I just can't get enough of this stuff.

Ind Coope, in case you aren't aware, were originally based in Romford in Essex. Their brewery there didn't close all that long ago. When I were a lad, it was Allied Breweries main southern plant. It seems they led the dash of southern firms to establish a brewing facility in Burton.

"The brewery at Burton, the property of Messrs. Ind and Coope, Limited, of Romford and Burton, was acquired in the year 1856, when it had only been partially erected, by a Mr. Middleton, from one of the large breweries in the town. On taking possession, they immediately completed the buildings, and fitted up the brewery in a modern style. This was the first instance of what may be termed a London firm opening an establishment in the famous town of Burton; for then, as now, Messrs. Ind and Coope carried on an extensive brewery business at Romford, near London, which will be described hereafter.

So rapid was the progress of the business under able management, that in a few years Messrs. Ind and Coope attained the position of the third largest brewers in Burton. The premises—which are close to the railway station, and adjoin those of Messrs. Allsopp and Son, Limited, and others—cover upwards of twenty-three acres, and are everywhere intersected by private lines in connection with the Midland system. They are grouped together in three sections, the brewery itself being on the north side of Station Street, the stores and cooperage on the south side, and the maltings on the west side of the railway station. From any point of view the brewery has an imposing appearance, as will be seen from our illustrations. The buildings, which are constructed of red brick, and most substantially built, are of lofty elevation, and are fitted up with every modern appliance and machine known to the trade."
"Noted Breweries of Great Britain and Ireland, vol. 2", Alfred Barnard, 1889, pages 53 - 54.

I wonder what happened to the Ind Coope Burton brewery? When they merged with Allsopp in the 1930's, they would have had a spare brewery in Burton. It seems that the two breweries were next to each other, so I assume they just knocked them through into one.

That aside, let's get on with a description of the gubbins inside the buildings.

"From this place, we bent our steps to the brewery, and commenced our inspection at the malt stores, which are very capacious, passing on to the mill-rooms, where there are two sets of steel malt-rollers for crushing the malt. After this, we took a peep at four large heating tanks, and, then, proceeded downstairs to the mashing department, which occupies two rooms right and left, of the building, containing, in both apartments, eight mash tuns, fitted with most approved  machinery and sparging apparatus.

These vessels,  which possess the usual draining plates, are each 11 feet in diameter and hold 100 barrels, and, it is here, that the crushed malt is mixed with water of a proper temperature, and mashed by the powerful stirring rakes within the tun, the hot water being admitted from the bottom at first, but, at certain stages of the mashing process, from the top also. The six underbacks connected with these tuns are on the basement level of the brewery, and the wort, which since its arrival in these vessels has been kept at a proper temperature, is pumped therefrom, by a three-throw pump which delivers at the rate of 300 barrels per hour to the wort boiling coppers. The grains left behind are afterwards discharged, by means of sluice valves, direct into railway trucks. Before folllowing the process, to save the trouble of retracing our steps, we crossed a short wooden bridge into the water tower before referred to.

This building, the roof of which is covered by a water tank, is 42 feet by 32 feet, and consists of several floors, whereon are placed as many as six water tanks, the whole storing 85,200 gallons, all being available, at any time in case of fire. Below, we observed six other tanks, for hot water, provide with sluice valves, and divided into two compartments.

Resuming our peregrinations, we followed our guide across the mashing rooms, and then passed, under a brick archway, to the copper stage, a long and narrow paved gallery, extending upwards of 150 feet. Here are placed six copper vessels, beautifully clean and bright, for boiling the worts, each of which holds 150 barrels, and the aggregate boiling capacity is over 24,000 gallons. The hops are added whilst the liquor is being boiled, and, when the process is completed, the wort is discharged into two hop straining backs, constructed of copper, fitted with gun-metal strainers. The hops left behind are then compressed by two powerful hydraulic presses, and the liquor pumped into the receiver, and, from thence, to the refrigerators. Continuing our walk, we came to the cooling room, containing two spiral refrigerators, which consist of a series of coils placed on a cast-iron circular frame, 8 feet high and 12 feet in diameter; each frame contains upwards of a mile of 1.25-inch copper pipe (covered with canvas to prevent corrosion), placed on bearers, or open shelves, about a foot apart. Over the top, there is a revolving cold water apparatus, exactly like a sparger, only on a larger scale, containing a set of 2-inch pipes, which rain a heavy shower of cold water over the coils, breaking it up into the finest of rain, and reaching every bit of pipe in the machine, making the contents as cold as necessary, even in the hottest weather."
"Noted Breweries of Great Britain and Ireland, vol. 2", Alfred Barnard, 1889, pages 56 - 58.

Eight mash tuns, each with a capacity of 100 barrels. That size of tun would produce 150 to 200 barrels of wort per brew. Taking the lower figure, that gives an annual capacity of 360,000 barrels. Or pretty damn big. Not quite at the same level as Bass or Allsopp, but still one of the largest breweries in country. You'll note that their mash tuns were fitted with internal rakes. I'm assuming that they also had an external Steel's masher. That was pretty standard by this time. Unfortunately, you can't see on the illustration if there is one there or not.

I'd forgotten that water in a brewery could be used for purposes other than brewing and cleaning. Breweries were big fire risks. Which is why many had their own fire brigade. And obviously you'd need plenty of water to put out an industrial-size fire.

I can see from the illustration that Ind Coope, like all the other Burton breweries we've looked inside, had open coppers. I'm starting to believe that stuff about Pale Ale being served better by an open copper.

That refrigerator sounds a bit odd. I'll be honest. I'm having trouble visualising it. It sounds weird, with that giant sparging arm. Anyone heard of this type of device? Or better still, anyone have a picture of one?

Next we stroll over to the fermentation room. Any guesses as to what we'll find there?

Messrs. Salt and Co. (part four)

If you think I'd forgotten about the last part of my series about Messrs. Salt and Co. you'd be right. It completely slipped my mind. I've been getting too excited about Bolton.

There was more to the Pale Ale business than just brewing. The stuff had to be shipped all over the world. This required stores and places to bottle. Some of this was under the control of the brewers, others in the hands of third parties. There were independent bottlers and exporters, who bought Pale Ale in barrels, matured it, bottled and sold it. But that's not what we're looking tat here. This is Salt's own beer store and bottling plant.

"On arriving at St. Pancras from Burton, we had only to pass down a flight of stone steps, and walk a few yards to reach Messrs. Salt & Co.'s stores, which are situated immediately under the station, and face Pancras Road and King's Cross. The extensive frontage of these great stores is divided off into three large apartments, one for the manager's private room, and for the use of the partners when in town, an intermediate one for the collectors, and a larger one for the general office and counting-house, with a safe room, sample room and lavatories at the back.



As will be seen from our illustration, these stores occupy a great number of arhes under the terminus of the Midland Railway, and have been internally lined and fitted for the purpose. They have also been carefully ventilated, and are lighted throughout with gas.

In the absence of Mr. Leversage, the manager, we were most courteously shown over the place by Mr. Moody, who first took us to the manager's room, which is a very light and handsome apartment, the walls and ceiling being lined with polished pine. The furniture is of solid oak, and the cupboards and wall fittings correspond. Next in order comes the collectors' room similarly fitted, and after that, the counting-house, which is most conveniently furnished with rows of mahogany desks and brass rails over for ledgers; the walls  of the building being coloured pale blue. Passing from thence through a doorway we came to one of two sample rooms, the walls of which are lined throughout with white glazed tiles, and on one side is fixed a marble counter This room forms a lobby entrance to the stores for customers, and to the right of it there is an office and entering-room for the superintendent.

Leaving this department, we found ourselves in the largest of the stores stretching out right and left from the doorway as far as the eye could reach At the extreme corner is the stock sample room, where a cask of every gyle is kept for examination, and where the temperature is always maintained at 52° Fahr. Here customers come to sample the beer before they purchase it, and are thus able to ascertain its condition, strength and quality. These extensive stores, covering nearly half an acre, are divided by a double line of railway, in the centre of which is a turn-table for two waggons. This railway is in direct communication with the high level service, and a train laden with beer arrives from Burton daily.

The first division, which is called the No. 1 store, and will hold 20,000 barrels, is entered from the street by two spacious and lofty arches, which are used for loading out the beer. It measures 350 feet by 100 feet, the height is 16 feet, and the arches above are supported by no less than 126 massive iron columns. The premises, which are well ventilated, are paved with brick and drained by a thorough system of double trap drains. Walking to the north end of the No. 1 store we came to a large vaulted apartment, used as a bottling store by Messrs. Moody & Co., who bottle Messrs. Salt's ales in London, for the home and export trade. It is well arranged for the purpose, being fitted up with all the usual bottling appliances and machines. Extending in front of it there is a large space covered with casks of ale reserved for Messrs. Moody's use.

Leaving the bottling stores behind us, we crossed the railway track, and entered the second division referred to. At the entrance, numbers of workmen were busy unloading the trucks and rolling the casks of ale into the stores, whilst others were taking the numbers and re-marking the casks. This store is scarcely as large as the other, and has an exit on the opposite side into the Midland Road, so it will be seen that the two places take up the whole width of St Pancras Station. A short distance higher up the road, under some more arches of the railway, are the stables and dray sheds of the firm, where fifteen horses are stabled and seven vehicles housed. As most of the carting is done by contract, especially in distant parts of London, these horses are used principally for delivering ale in the immediate locality. Returning the office we refreshed ourselves with a glass of Messrs. Salt's best pale ale, and once more set out on our travels."
"Noted Breweries of Great Britain and Ireland, vol. 2", Alfred Barnard, 1889, pages 131 - 133.

As soon as I saw the illustration, I recognised where it was. And realised that the building still stands, built along one side of St. Pancras station. If you know little of Britain's railways, I'll explain why the stores were at St. Pancras: it was the London terminus of the Midland Railway, the company serving Burton.

20,000 barrels? That's a huge amount of beer. Presumably, in addition to beer intended for bottling, this also contained draught beer for sale in the London area. It's still an awful lot of beer. Shame Barnard doesn't supply any more details as to how long it rested there.

One last remark. Do you see what it says above the stores? "Salt and Company East India Pale and Burton Ale Stores" They're making a clear distinction again between Pale Ale and Burton Ale. Just thought I'd point that out.

Beer output by Irish region in 1849

Part three: Ireland. I find this stuff fascinating. Pieceng together the pattern of the mid-19th century brewing.

There's one big surprise in this table. See if you can spot it:

Estimated beer output in Ireland, year ending October 1849
Collections	Bushels of malt consumed	estimated output (barrels)	% of output
Athlone	3,346	1,673.0	0.28%
Bandon	18,911	9,455.5	1.57%
Belfast	42,720	21,360.0	3.55%
Birr	16,122	8,061.0	1.34%
Coleraine	13,430	6,715.0	1.11%
Cork	197,932	98,966.0	16.43%
Drogheda	77,080	38,540.0	6.40%
Foxford	11,138	5,569.0	0.92%
Galway	8,772	4,386.0	0.73%
Limerick	9,627	4,813.5	0.80%
Londonderry	12,770	6,385.0	1.06%
Naas	30,809	15,404.5	2.56%
Newry	34,632	17,316.0	2.87%
Sligo	8,694	4,347.0	0.72%
Waterford	58,420	29,210.0	4.85%
Wexford	39,976	19,988.0	3.32%
Dublin	620,496	310,248.0	51.50%
total	1,204,875	602,437.5	100.00%
Source:
"Statistics of British commerce" by Braithwaite Poole, 1852, page 5.

Unsurprisingly, Dublin comes out on top. Guinness had already started its ascent to world mega-stardom. And Cork, whose two large Porter breweries were almost as famous as Guinness.

But look at Belfast. Producing just over 20,000 barrels of beer. That's shockingly low, considering its size. And that it was the only Irish town to have industrialised. I wonder why that is? Were they imposting beer from England or Scotland?

There's one last part coming up. Where I compare the three countries: England, Scotland and Ireland.

Suggestions for checking the Hurtful Use of Alcoholic Beverages by the Working Classes

 Bit of a mouthful, that title. It's not of my invention, I might add. It came with the article I'm about to quote.

I cringe whenever I read one of these condescending pieces about the working classes. About the need to protect them from themselves. Like children. Educationally sub-normal children. I'm sure the motives of the posh blokes writing this guff were good, but they seem to have little understanding or empathy with those at the other end of the social scale. Probably because they rarely ever spoke to anyone working class, save to give them orders.

See what you make of Mr. Andrews proposals for stopping the plebs drinking themselves to death.

"Suggestions for checking the Hurtful Use of Alcoholic Beverages by the Working Classes. By Thomas Andrews, M.D., F.R.S.

It is not my object to discuss fully in this paper the question whether alcoholic beverages, taken in moderate quantity and properly diluted, are on the whole useful, or injurious, or simply innocuous. The high value of human life among the upper and middle classes of society in Great Britain, who are unquestionably large but not immoderate consumers of alcohol in one form or another, may perhaps be regarded as affording a strong presumption that such beverages taken within due limits are not very, if they are at all, injurious to health. It is difficult, indeed, to refuse assent to the opinion that a certain allowance of beer or cider or genuine wine cannot be otherwise than useful to the hard-worked man. But the ruinous consequences of the abuse of alcohol admit of no doubt. Among the working classes three causes especially aggravate this evil—insufficient food, impure air, and strong forms of alcohol. Even the skilled artizan of intemperate habits is rarely able, or, if able, inclined to purchase proper food ; and during a drinking carouse he usually takes no food whatever. In this way, intoxication and subsequently disease are produced by an amount of alcohol which would be comparatively harmless in the case of a well-fed man. The impure air of the confined apartments in which many trades are carried on acts, to some extent, like deficient nourishment, and by depressing the tone of the system renders it less capable of resisting the hurtful action of an excess of the alcoholic stimulant.

The third source of aggravation, or the use of undiluted alcoholic beverages, is even more important than the others to which I have referred. Alcohol, taken in the form of brandy, gin, or whisky, unmixed with water, all of which contain about 50 per cent, of pure spirit or absolute alcohol, is a great deal too strong. It produces, when habitually used of this strength, a morbid craving which cannot be resisted, a state of disease from which recovery is hopeless.

No one will be inclined to dispute that the public-house and gin palace, as they now exist, are an outrage to society and a disgrace to the country, and that the mischief they do to the working classes, as dens of intemperance, is incomparably greater than any advantage they afford as places of refreshment. With the view of abating this great evil, I propose, in the first place, to have them changed into places truly of refreshment, the only purpose for which they ought to be licensed. No house should, according to my view, be licensed as a public-house for the sale of alcoholic beverages, unless it be provided with ample appliances for cooking and serving food, and the licence should be withdrawn, if it be found that these appliances are not made use of, and that the public house is devoted solely to the sale of stimulants.

My second proposal rests on the assumption that no one should be allowed to sell, for consumption on his premises, anything which is positively ruinous to the population. Gin, brandy, or whisky, taken undiluted, are fatal to a town population, very hurtful to any population. They contain, as commonly sold, from 50 to 55 per cent, of pure alcohol, and few men take them for any length of time undiluted with water, without falling eventually into intemperate habits. Madeira, sherry, and port, as they occur in this country, contain from 17 to 20 per cent, of pure alcohol; burgundy from 12 to 12.5 ; claret, from 9.5 to 10.5; and bitter ale and porter, about 6.75 per cent. Claret is, therefore, one-half stronger than ale or porter; burgundy nearly twice as strong, and madeira, sherry, and port, about three times as strong. No alcoholic beverages ought to be used habitually of greater strength than burgundy ; but they may be taken without injury of the strength of sherry, if the quantity be very moderate.

My second proposal is, that no licensed publican should be allowed to sell, or keep in store, any liquor containing more than 17 per cent, of alcohol. I have taken the limit of 17 per cent, as being the strength of sherry, but 1 should hope to see the burgundy standard, or 12 per cent., eventually adopted. The police ought to have power to seize any spirit or wine of greater strength than 17 per cent, found in the public-house, or in any store-house connected with it.

It may be right for me here to state that it is to alcohol, and not to its adulterations, that nearly all the mischief arising from the use of stimulating beverages in these countries is due. Nor is it important whether the alcohol has been formed in the process of fermentation, or has been subsequently added.

The object of my last proposal is not to put any undue restriction on the enjoyment or gratification of the working classes, but to prevent others from placing before them a dangerous beverage—one unfit for human use. No one, it appears to me, would have any valid ground for complaint, because he was restricted in the public house to the use of a beverage of the strength of sherry, or even of burgundy. I have little doubt that the skilled artizan, as well as the poor labourer, would soon give a hearty assent to such a measure.
"Transactions of the National Association for the Promotion of Social Science", 1868, pages 659 - 661.

Looking at it positively, at least he didn't recommend banning alcohol altogether and converting pubs into temperance tea rooms.

"No one will be inclined to dispute that the public-house and gin palace, as they now exist, are an outrage to society and a disgrace to the country" I'm sure there were plenty of people who would have argued that point. Amongst regular pub-goers. But I don't get the impression that Mr. Andrews spent much time in pubs. I suppose he was getting pissed on claret over an agreeable dinner.

I don't share his confidnce that the working man would welcome the banning of spirits from pubs.  It's another demonstartion of how out of touch he was with the labouring classes.

But there's something, not mentioned, that makes the whole article seem a little ridiculous. There already were pubs that sold nothing stronger than beer: beerhouses. In some areaes these made up as much as 50% of the pubs. Yet the author talks as if all pubs sold all strengths of drinks. And do you what the general opinion of beerhouses was? That they were dens of vice, full of criminals, prostitutes and drunks. But I guess that scuppers his argument. So no surprise he doesn't mention beerhouses.