UK Lager 1835 -1914

Lager has been present in the UK market for longer than you might imagine. The first bottom-fermenting beer was brewed as early as 1835, though it didn’t hang around for long.

When Gabriel Sedlmayr returned to Munich in 1835 after his research trip to the UK, he sent John Muir, an Edinburgh brewer he had befriended, bottom-fermenting yeast. Muir, using instructions from Sedlmayr, brewed Lager in his brewery at 28 North Back of Canongate. . Problems propagating the yeast meant the experiment didn’t last long.

The first commercial imports of Lager arrived in the UK in 1868 . Bottom-fermenting beer, mostly in the form of Vienna Lager or Mïnchener quickly gained a toehold in the British market.

Though available, sales of Lager were tiny compared to indigenous styles, mostly because of the high price. Imported Lager cost around three times as much as a British beer of a comparable strength.

Lager imports increased throughout the late 19th century. I don’t have figures specifically for Lager, but I do know that it was almost all the beer imported to the UK.

British beer imports 1860 - 1914
year	barrels
1860	3,592
1870	5,058
1880	10,742
1890	35,081
1895	44,399
1900	50,875
1905	51,944
1900	50,927
1914	74,205
Source:
Brewers' Almanack 1928, p. 115
Brewers' Almanack 1955, p. 51.

The high price Lager demanded drew the attention of local brewers, who reckoned there was money to be made brewing it in the UK. Several brewers tried brewing Lager in the 1870s, but with little commercial success. It was only in the 1880s that anyone was to have lasting success with UK-brewed Lager.

The brewers to achieve lasting success were those that invested in specialist Lager-brewing plant. For example, Tennant who built a state of the art brewery in 1889  and Wrexham Lager Brewery whose first beer was brewed in 1883 .

There were, however, several spectacular failures in the 1880s and 1890s, which seems to have put off most others from entering the Lager market. When imports were cut off during WW I, interest was revived in brewing Lager in the UK, but, other than a few experimental beers, nothing much came of it until peace returned.

OK then

By popular demand, Drinkalongathon will return this year.

Here are the things you'll need if you want to take part:

1 bottle Lagavullin
1 crate St. Bernardus Abt
1 bottle dry sherry
1 boiled egg
2 pickled eggs
3 coddled eggs
4 bottled eggs
1 pint of brandy
2 bottles red wine
3 pieces of string*
16 pistacchio nuts
1 cm. cube of ginger
1 pinch of snuff3 picks of peppercorns
1 pick
2 noses (picked)
4 peppers (picked)
1 eel
1 ell of elbows
1 bow
1 tube of vaseline
1 tub of vases
1 throw rug
2 grow bags
1 murder of crows
3 murdered crows
1 Viz Christmas edition
1 icepick
a cellar with a concrete floor
3 cranberries
2 blueberries
120 scranbernes
4 regretberries
bleach, disinfectant and other cleaning materials
3 pairs surgical gloves
2 socks (white)
1 truss (used)
7 heavy duty bin bags
1 oak tree (leaning dangerously)
Affrikkaa
1 hole, 115 cm square, half a cubit deep
cream, frightened, not whipped
25 beer mats**
25 cl sugar-free cola
1 lemon (optional)


If you remember one thing, make it the string. The Drinkalongathon doesn't work without it.




* Don't get caught out by this year's increased string requirement.
** Why do London pubs never have beer mats? I hate that.

Bitter choice

Did you notice that Twitter poll? The one that asked which beer you would pick if you went into a pub and they four handpumps serving London Pride, Landlord, Harvey's Best and Batham's Bitter? Well Dolores sort of got to do that last weekend.

Not that we were lucky enough to find that set on offer in a single pub. But we did have the chance to try all but Batham's in a variety of pubs. And Dolores tried all of them. Any guesses as to which was her favourite?

It all kicked off at the Friend at Hand. Even before we'd checked into our hotel. Dolores was hoping for London Pride. But since Greene King took ove Taylor Walker, who used to own the pub, that's diappeared. Initially replaced by London Glory. The first time Dolores took a sip of that I could see diappointment flush her face. I won't make the mistake of getting her one again.

My little face shone when I spotted the Landlord pumpclip. I'd been dispatched to the bar with the instruction: "Get me a nice cask Bitter, Ronald." Surely Landlord would satisfy that requirement.

"How's your beer, Dolores?" I asked when she was a couple of gobfulls in.

"Quite nice."

"Quite nice? That's one of the top-rated casks Bitters." I'd expected a little more enthusiasm.

We only stayed for the one.

Checked in and bags dumped, we headed to the supermarket for bits and bobs to munch and slurp in our hotel. Just essential things for me, beer, crisps and whisky. On the way back we walked past another pub, The Marquis Cornwallis.

"Do they sell London Pride here?" Dolores asked, impressively interested in more early-afternoon beer.

"I'll take a look." I said and poked my head around the door. "No, but they do have Landlord."

"Let's not bother then."

Damn. No more beer for me quite yet then. Just as well I'd invested in some drinks for our room.

A curry later, I ask Dolores: "Fancy another beer?"

"Yes, if it's London Pride."

"No problem. We're close to Euston Road and the Euston Flyer. It's a Fullers pub. They're bound to have it."

It was around 6:30 when we trolled up at the Euston Flyer. Not a great time to arrive at this specific pub on a Friday. It was full of the fucking off back up North for the weekend crowd. Dolores isn't usually keen on standing in pubs. She made an exception in this case. We found a corner towards the toilets.

I could tell Dolores was enjoying it by the way her glass was emptying. A good bit quicker than my pint of ESB. When she'd necked the first pint, Dolores was ready for another. Praise indeed, given the awkward corner we were crammed into.

We were up early on Saturday. I needed a new pair of shoes. I was going to say Doc Martin's, but they aren't strickly speaking that. They're another brand that are like the old DMs. Camden is where we were headed. To the British Boot Company. It didn't take me long to find what I wanted. I always buy exactly the same shoes.

It wasn't yet 11 AM by the time we were done.

"What about a beer?" Dolores asked.

"It's a bit early yet."

Indeed all the pubs around were still closed. Instead we had a wander down Camden High Street to gawp at the shops. As we were nearing the end, I spotted something.

"Ooh, look. The Elephant's Head is open. Let's have a pint here."

It's surprisingly crowded behind the door, where there's a large group of middle-aged men in sill cchristmas outfits. But Dolores's attention is drawn to the bar. Where there's the reassuring red pumpclip of London Pride.

"I won't bother asking what you want."

We stay for two rounds. Though I buy them both. Never seems to be her shout.

The British Museum is next on the list. Except when we get there, the queue outside is enormous. And it's cold. And raining.

"We could wait in the Museum Tavern until the queue is shorter." I suggested helpfully.

"OK."

I knew there would be no Pride inside for Dolores. But there would be Old Peculier for me. Bound to be something to to suit the taste of Dolores. Cask Ordinary Bitter is all she seeks. I ordered her a Sanbrook Junction without asking what she wanted.

"How's your beer?"

"It's OK." I could read on her face that she wanted to add "But not as good as London Pride."

My Old Puke was as stonking as ever. It's always good in the Museum Tavern. Unfortunately, I didn't have the chance of a second as the museum queue had become just about reasonable.

When we were done in the museum our feet are aching something rotten. Time for beer to soothe our poor limbs.

"We could go back to Tottenham Court Road tube and head South." I suggested. "There's another pub on the Northern Line we could drop by."

"As long as there's not too much walking."

It was a short walk from Borough tube to our destination. But it was pissing it down "Don't worry. Another 20 minutes and we'll be there." I teased.

"Very funny, Ronald."

Considering the weather and time of day, the Royal Oak was fairly lively.

"I know what I'm having. Do you want a Mild, too?" I asked Dolores.

"Do they have a nice Bitter?"

"It's Harveys pub. Of course they do."

"How's your beer?"

"OK." Dolores didn't look that enthusiastice about her Sussex Best.

Next we both had an Old. "It's like a strong Mild."

"How strong?"

"It's just 4.3% ."

She seemed to quite like it. But swapped back to Sussex Best for her next pint. Which I suppose says something.

We ended the weekend in the Euston Flyer, whiling away the time before nipping over the road to catch the Eurostar back home. No prize for getting what Dolores was drinking: London Pride.





Friend at Hand
2 - 4 Herbrand Street,
Bloomsbury,
London WC1N 1HX.


The Marquis Cornwallis
31 Marchmont St, Bloomsbury,
London WC1N 1AP.
https://www.themarquiscornwalliswc1.co.uk/


The Euston Flyer
83-87 Euston Rd,
London NW1 2RA.


Museum Tavern
49 Great Russell St,
Bloomsbury,
London WC1B 3BA.


The Royal Oak
44 Tabard St,
London SE1 4JU, UK
http://www.royaloaklondon.co.uk/

Drinkalongathon 2018

Should I bother this year?

Let's Brew - 1939 Tetley F

Tetley entered the war with quite an impressive range of Mild Ales, three in total. Four if you count the pale version of X1.

Weakest of the bunch was the oddly-named F. Which, at 1035º, was a pretty typical 5d per pint beer. If you think F is an strange name, what it’s short for might be more shocking: Family Ale. Which usually signifies a beer of fairly modest gravity to be consumed at home.

In 1939, it wasn’t that old of a product, only having appeared at around the end of WW I. It did have legs, mind you. I can still remember it in Leeds off-licence in the early 1980s. When it was basically a bottled version of their Mild. I’m guessing that this was a bottled beer, too.

The grist is pretty simple: pale malt (50% English, 50% Californian), a stack of grits and sugar. The latter is where things get tricky, as I’ve no real idea what the two sugars were. One is described as “A Dem”, where I assume the DEM stands for Demerera. Which I’ve interpreted as brown sugar.  The other is even vaguer: “G & S”. Given the tiny amount, I’ve guessed that it’s some type of caramel. I can’t see what the point of such a small quantity would be otherwise.

The hops were a combination of 1937 Worcesters and 1937 and 1938 Kents. I’ve guessed at them all being Fuggles.

1939 Tetley F
pale malt	4.00 lb	55.10%
grits	1.75 lb	24.10%
brown sugar	1.50 lb	20.66%
caramel 2000 SRM	0.01 lb	0.14%
Fuggles 120 mins	0.33 oz
Fuggles 90 mins	0.33 oz
Fuggles 30 mins	0.33 oz
OG	1035
FG	1011.5
ABV	3.11
Apparent attenuation	67.14%
IBU	13
SRM	5
Mash at	150º F
Sparge at	165º F
Boil time	120 minutes
pitching temp	62º F
Yeast	Wyeast 1469 West Yorkshire Ale

Christmas in wartime

I can imagine that during wartime Christmas celebrations were a welcome relief from the war. And a rare chance to get more to eat than just rations.

The authorities made great efforts during WW II to make Christmas as cheery as possible. Especially in 1940 when UK citizens didn't have a great deal to smile about as the Germans rmapaged at will across Europe and boms fell nightly on British cities.

Here's how some lucky evacuees spent their Christmas in 1940:

"EVACUEES' FAMILY PARTY
The activities of " that man over there" did not deter the staff and inmates of the Public Assistance Institution from spending a really jolly Christmas. After breakfast on Christmas Day, a service, conducted by the Rev. F. Ashworth, Vicar of Wall, was held in the dining hall, Mrs. T. L. Robinson presiding at the organ. During dinner, which consisted of pork, vegetables, the conventional Christmas pudding and beer and minerals, the institution was visited by the Mayor and Mayoress (Councillor and Mrs. C. H. Averill), Miss J. Fuller (Chairman of the Committee), Mr. F. Foster (a member of the Committee), Mr. G..P. Stock (District Clerk), and Mr. H. Harris (Relieving Officer).

In a short speech His Worship wished the inmates and staff the compliments of the season, to which the Master (Mr. J. A. L. Standing) suitably responded.

The Mayor and Mayoress then presented tobacco and cigarettes to the male inmates and chocolates to the women. Further gifts of sweets, apples and nuts for the women and tobacco, cigarettes, nuts and apples for the men, were also distributed. Following their visit to the dining hall, the Mayor and party made a tour of inspection of the various hospital blocks and the nursery.

During the afternoon, the whole house assembled in the Dining Hall, which had been gaily decorated with bunting and balloons, and reflected great credit on the Master, the Matron, and the Staff, for a Punch and Judy show, kindly given by Mr. Hewitt.

Tea brought to a close the festivities of the day, and the inmates retired to the day rooms to enjoy a pipe or cigarette in the case of the men, and a few hours of radio entertainment in the case of the women.

But for the London evacuees, Christmas Day at the institution meant something more than jollity and good fare. To many of the married inmates who are now billeted there, it meant reunion with husbands or wives. Since they were evacuated to the city, the males have lived in one section of the institution and their wives in another, and as a special Christmas treat, the men and women were allowed to spend the day together, serving their own meals, and having a "family party."
Lichfield Mercury - Friday 27 December 1940, page 7.

I was scratching my head about what the "Public Assistance Institution" was. When I searched on the internet, my suspicions were confirmed: it was a rebranding of the workhouse. It was the bit about married couples being separated that got me thinking it might be a workhouse. Splitting up couples was one of the inhuman aspects of workhouses.

A special Christmas rteat spending a day together? I'm not sure Dolores would see it that way.

At least they gave the inmates beer. I've seen newspaper reports from the 19th century where temperance twats voted down proposals to let workhouse inmates have a pint of beer at Christmas. The miserable bastards.

The December newspapers had plenty of adverts for Christmas booze. I found this random one interesting because of the brewery names mentioned:

"BEERS and STOUT. We stock at our Irongate Branch the following brands Beers, etc.— Whitbreads, Duncan Gilmour's, Mansfield Brewery Co.'s, Truman's, Younger's, Guinness's, Mackeson's Milk Stout, Oatmeal Stout, Bass, Worthington, Bass's Barley Wine, Lagers."
Derbyshire Times and Chesterfield Herald - Friday 13 December 1940, page 8.

At this point, before beer zoning was introduced - you can see that beer from all over the country was available. The shop advertising was in Chesterfield, which is around 15 km south of Sheffield. Only two of the breweries mentioned are relatively local: Duncan Gilmour of Sheffield and Mansfield Brewery of, er, Mansfield.

Whitbread was from London, obviously, Truman from London and Burton, Younger from Edinburgh, Guinness probably from Dublin, but possibly from London, then Bass and Worthington both from Burton. That's quite a spread.

I'm intrigued by the two specific beers mentioned Mackeson Milk Stout and Bass Barley Wine. The latter probably wasn't around from that much longer. While Mackeson was starting to become extremely popular. Ths example sold in Chesterfield was probaly brewed by Whitbread in London, who, by that time, had taken over Mackeson.

Let's Brew Wednesday - 1939 Barclay Perkins XLK (trade)

Filling the Ordinary Bitter slot in Barclay’s pubs was the exotically-named XLK (trade). If you’re wondering about the name, LK stands for London Keeping, i.e. London Bitter, and X to indicate the strength.

Truman brewed a similar beer which was called simply LK. It was the only Pale Ale brewed at Brick Lane. All the others were brewed in Burton.

XLK had been around somewhat longer than IPA: since at least 1886, when it had an OG of 1053º. It was split into versions, trade (draught) and bottling, at 1050º and 1045º, respectively, just a few months before the outbreak of WW I. A third weaker version, crate, was introduced in 1917, but dropped in the early 1920s. Crate indicated a beer that was sold in crate holding four quart bottles.

The recipe, unsurprisingly enough, is almost identical to IPA. With the one exception that XLK was dry hopped. And had an OG 1 degree higher.

1939 Barclay Perkins XLK (trade)
pale malt	7.25 lb	74.28%
flaked maize	1.00 lb	10.25%
No. 3 invert sugar	1.50 lb	15.37%
caramel 1000 SRM	0.01 lb	0.10%
Fuggles 150 mins	0.75 oz
Fuggles 60 mins	0.75 oz
Goldings 30 mins	0.75 oz
Goldings dry hops	0.50 oz
OG	1046
FG	1014.5
ABV	4.17
Apparent attenuation	68.48%
IBU	29
SRM	11.5
Mash at	150º F
After underlet	154º F
Sparge at	170º F
Boil time	150 minutes
pitching temp	150º F
Yeast	Wyeast 1099 Whitbread ale

Bottled Scotch Ale after WW II

You must be sick of Scotch Ale by now. You're not the only one. But I feel obliged to continue my death march until I lie by the roadside like a crumpled heap of rags.

On the face of it, WW II seems to have had little impact on the character of Scotch Ale. Unlike most styles, it seems to have bounced back to pre-war like gravities soon after the end of hostilities.

The majority of examples retained a gravity of somewhere around 1080º. Which in the immediate post-war years counted as super strong. Why was that, when other styles were emasculated?

Partly, I assume it’s because some were genuine export beers. Scotch Ale was popular in Belgium and they expected it to be full strength. Belgian drinkers wouldn’t have stood for a 5% ABV Scotch Ale. But some was probably just due to Scotch Ale being an expensive treat: if it wasn’t pretty strong, why bother with it?

Though there had been some reductions is strength. Fowler’s Twelve Guinea Ale, for example. Pre-war it had an OG of over 1100º. In the late 1940’s, that was down to just 1080º. Still strong, but not crazily so.

There are a few quite weak examples, beers under 1060º. McEwan Double Scotch Ale is a good example. I suspect that’s really a Double Brown Ale. Especially as it’s eerily similar in gravity to William Younger’s Double Century Ale. The two firms had merged by this point and my guess is that Double Scotch was just a rebadge of the William Younger beer.

The eagle-eyed amongst you may have noticed one odd brewery in the table: John Smith. Which is very much an English brewery. They brewed a Scotch Ale exclusively for the Belgian market. I doubt they could have got away with selling it in the UK. I think Scottish brewers would have got pretty annoyed had they done so.

Bottled Scotch Ale after WW II
Year	Brewer	Beer	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	colour
1950	Aitchison	Scotch Ale	1080	1020.8	7.73	74.00%	55
1948	Aitken	Strong Ale	1067.5	1021	6.04	68.89%
1948	Ballingall	"Angus" Strong Ale	1073.5	1023.5	6.49	68.03%
1948	Calder Alloa	Scotch Strong Ale	1065.5	1019	6.04	70.99%
1950	Campbell	Royal Scotch Ale	1080.1	1014.2	8.66	82.27%	77
1948	Dryborough	Strong Ale	1060	1019.5	5.25	67.50%
1947	Fowler	Heavy Ale	1081.4	1025.5	7.27	68.67%
1948	Fowler	Twelve Guinea Ale	1080	1021.5	7.63	73.13%
1949	Fowler	Twelve Guinea Ale	1077.7	1030.3	6.13	61.00%	100
1948	Gordon & Blair	"Unique" Scotch Ale	1043.5	1016.5	3.49	62.07%
1948	Jeffrey	Strong Ale No. 1	1067	1025	5.43	62.69%
1950	John Smith	Scotch Ale	1080.3	1025.6	7.11	68.12%	65
1948	Maclachlan	Strong Ale	1070.5	1024.5	5.96	65.25%
1948	McEwan	Strong Ale	1078	1022.5	7.23	71.15%
1950	McEwan	Double Scotch Ale	1057.7	1018.4	5.09	68.11%	80
1950	McEwan	Scotch Ale	1088	1022.6	8.56	74.32%	65
1947	Murray	Heavy Ale	1066.3	1017.25	6.38	73.96%
1948	Steel Coulson	Strong Ale	1063	1026	4.77	58.73%
1947	Usher	Old Scotch Ale	1073.5	1020.5	6.90	72.11%
1948	Usher	Strong Ale	1090.5	1024.5	8.63	72.93%
1950	Younger, Geo.	Gordon Xmas Ale	1090.7	1032.3	7.58	64.39%	50
1948	Younger, Robert	Strong Ale	1048	1014.5	4.34	69.79%
1947	Younger, Wm.	No. 1 Strong Ale	1074	1022	6.76	70.27%
1950	Younger, Wm.	No. 1 Scotch Ale	1087.6	1017.5	9.21	80.02%	60
Sources:
Thomas Usher Gravity Book held at the Scottish Brewing Archive, document TU/6/11.
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/002.

Where next?

It's time to start planning next year's US travel. As usual, I aim to visit at least one new state,

Fancy hearing me talk or, if you have a brewery, brewing a beer? Then get in touch and I'll see whether I can fit you in.

The Backdoor Method

More about beer shortages, pub oipening times and beer rationing.It was clearly a hot topic in 1941, given the number of articles I've found dedicated to it.

One response to the shortage of beer was for pubs not to open. You can the the landlord's point. If yuou didn't have any beer to sell, why would you bother opening? Beer made up the bulk of a pub's trade, especially in wartime when the supply of wine and spirits was even more limited than that of beer.

Sometimes it was the publicans themsleves who decided not to open. But in some areas it was the licensing authorities that tried to restrict pub opening hours. The reasoning was simple: if pubs are open for fewee hours, the limited supply of beer would last longer.

Brewers and publicans often weren't happy with this latter approach. They alreadt resented the limited hours they were allowed to open. And probably worried that, as in WW I, supposedly temporary reduced opening hours would eventually became fixed by law.

"LEAMINGTON BEER SHORTAGE.
CHIEF CONSTABLE AND "BACKDOOR SERVING."
LICENSED TRADE REJECTS JUSTICES’ SUGGESTION.
The efforts of Leamington Licensing Justices to remedy conditions resulting from the beer shortage have broken down. On Monday. Mr. C. K. Langley, on behalf of the Birmingham and Midland Counties Wholesale Brewers' Association, informed the magistrates that his clients were unable to accept the recommendation that licensed premises in the borough should be open from 12 noon to 2 p.m,. and from 8 to 10 p.m.

Mr. Langley said that his Association represented 73 out of a total of 104 licensed houses in the town — in effect practically all the brewer owners. The statement made by the Chairman of the Leamington Justices on the previous Monday had been regarded as of such importance that a special meeting of his Association was held on Thursday.

Explaining why the Association could not accept the recommendation. Mr. Langley said: "My Association feel very strongly the licensed houses must be ready to serve the needs of the public, and it is the needs of the public which should be the first and only consideration. Further, they hold that the question of an alteration in the permitted hours is a national and not a local matter.

"They feel that any local arrangement is impracticable. In the first place, it would lead to border difficulties, and quite possibly a rush of customers to and from neighbouring licensing divisions. It could not be made legally binding on any individual licensee, nor on any club, and incidentally, it must be remembered that Excise licences granted under the Licensing Act (i.e.. bottle shops) are not licensed premises within the meaning of that Act.

MIGHT WORK UNFAIRLY.
"They are not, therefore, subject to the Justices' supervision, and are not subject to the right of police entry. I think there are some establishments of this nature In the town, but even if not. there are at any rate a number in other parts of the county.

"To fix hours arbitrarily, therefore, might work unfairly as between one licensee and another, and as between one brewer and another, and would not, we think, lead to what believe to be the desire of the Justices. It seems, therefore. to those whom I represent, that the abnormal position with regard to supply and demand which undoubtedly exists at the present time, is a matter for Internal arrangement amongst the Trade itself, and it is for the Trade so to allocate their supplies to serve the public in the best possible manner.

"Differing conditions apply to every house, and the carrying out of the business of a particular house must be a matter for each individual licence-holder having regard to his particular problems.

"Put quite shortly, as servants of the public, those whom I represent cannot concur in anything which might take away from the public the rights which Parliament has given to them, and cannot therefore agree to curtailment of hours. They know that the public are at present suffering from a shortage of beer.

"They are of opinion that its proper supply is a matter of great importance to the public. Finally, they desire to give assurance through me to this Court, and through this Court to the public, that they are sparing, and have spared, no efforts to give the best service that their brewing capacity allows.”

The Justices' Clerk (Mr. S. Simmonds) remarked that during the last war the Liquor Control Board made a similar order, and it worked satisfactorily. On behalf of the Licensed Victuallers' Association. Mr. W. A. Coleman said they felt there was a great deal of force in Mr. Langley’s statement. At the same time members of the Association had always done their best to fall In with the Justices' wishes as far as they reasonably could. The licensed victuallers had certain contractual obligations, which must be fulfilled.

METHOD MUST CEASE.
It was impossible for the Association's committee to lay down any general or specified rule, but far as was consistent with the wishes of the Justices his clients would advise their members to comply as far as possible.

The Chief Constable (Mr. A. E. Young) said he appreciated the difficulty under which the brewers and publicans were suffering, and he would do all he could to assist them. To get a true perspective one had to recall the position as it was before the Justices' recommendation was made. Individual licensees were effecting their own forms of curtailment of hours. They were frequently shutting their premises, and were introducing their own rationing system which resulted in a "backdoor method.”

Regular customers were served at backdoor. He deprecated this most strongly, because it did not allow of fair distribution, and, what was more important, police supervision was almost entirely counteracted. The Chief Constable wished it to known that he strongly objected to this, and that he hoped it would not recur in whatever system was adopted. Did he understand that the licensees would

undertake to keep open during permitted hours in future, and not close when stocks ran out?

The Chairman (Mr A. H Swadling): Or when they please.

Mr. Langley said his clients deprecated the backdoor method, and would give an indication of their wishes to individual licensees. Mr. Coleman remarked that the licensees would advised that this method must cease. The Chairman said that the Justices' recommendation was intended to secure a fair distribution among the public. On Sunday. June 29. personally inspected 18 licensed houses, and 15 were

closed. The three which remained open were packed to the doors. The licensee had no supervision of any description, and, further, drinks were being handed out to people on the footpath.

There was much unseemly conduct, and he was sure that the Police were not in a position to carry out proper supervision of the licensed premises in such circumstances. Next day he made a similar tour, and found that some houses which he had found closed on Sunday were now open. Regular customers were being served, such as members of sick and dividend societies. etc., but there was no beer for the general public.

CHIEF CONSTABLE'S STATEMENT.
In such conditions, the Justices felt it essential to make a recommendation in an attempt to improve matters. There was not the slightest doubt that when publicans obtained their supplies they would find that it spreading them over seven days there would not be sufficient to warrant opening for 8.5 hours day. The Justices felt it should have been possible to effect some rationing by opening for four hours a day only.

They had no power, however, to enforce their recommendation, and must therefore leave it to the licensees to carry on as best they could. It must be made clear that a repetition of recent unseemly scenes would not be tolerated.

Mr. Langley: We are only too anxious that the licensed houses should be conducted in the best way. and that the best possible service should be available to the public. In our considered view the suggestions you made would not lead to that "best service.”

In a statement made on Tuesday, the Chief Constable said he desired to remove misconceptions as to the attitude of the Police regarding the Justices' abortive attempt to remedy conditions arising from the beer shortage in the borough by recommending a curtailment of opening hours.

Mr. Young said appreciated the difficulty under which the brewers and publicans were operating, and intended to do all in the power of the police to assist them. In order to get a true perspective. however, one had to recall conditions as they were before the Justices made their recommendations.

Individual licensees were effecting their own form of curtailment of hours and were frequently shutting their premises. In many cases they acted commendably in attempting to ease the position by some form of rationing.

"However." Mr. Young continued. " I deprecate most strongly a particular form of rationing known as the "backdoor method." In carrying out this method, front doors of premises were closed, and favoured customers allowed to go to private entrances where they were supplied with beer.

Not only does this prevent the exercise of proper police supervision, but it adds to the problems of an already difficult situation. I wish to repeat that the police are anxious to help the brewers and publicans in effecting a fair distribution of beer, but it is necessary that some of the undesirable features which manifested themselves in recent experiences in Leamington should eliminated."
Warwick and Warwickshire Advertiser - Friday 11 July 1941, page 1.

It's not strange that landlords would give preferential treatment to their regulars. That's where they earned their living, selling to repeat customers. Were they entering by the back door and drinking on the premises, or were they taking the beer away? It's not totally clear from the article.

A severe beer shortage doesn't seem to have been a problem for all the war. Articles about it are mostly from 1941 and 1942 and then after the war ended, in 1946 and 1947. When, once again, some pubs didn't bother opening when they had no beer.

Draught beer prices 1939 - 1948

As with every conflict since the English Civil War in the 17th century, WW II saw a big increase in the tax on beer. It’s the traditional war for British governments to pay for warfare.

WW I must have been a big shock for beer drinkers. Beer prices, which had been constant for four or five decades, increased dramatically. A pint of Mild, which had been 2d in 1914 was 6d in 1920. And for a beer of much lower gravity.

In 1939, gravities and prices were pretty much as they had been in 1921. The war soon changed that, with the first tax increase hitting brewers just a few months in. But it wasn’t quite the shock it had been during WW I. Further tax increases followed, even past the end of the war.

As in WW I, the effect of the war was an approximate trebling of draught beer prices. Though, once again, a pint was considerably weaker in 1948 than in 1939.


If you’re wondering why Best Bitter became cheaper in the later war years, it’s because there was a big reduction in gravity. Larger than that Burton and Stout endured. Though I had trouble finding numbers because some of the breweries I was using a yardstick, for example, Barclay Perkins, stopped brewing Best Bitter early on in the war.

Still, I’ve lived through just a bad beer price inflation. In the mid-1970s beer increased in price several times a year when inflation was running at 25-30% annually.

Draught beer prices per pint (d) 1939 - 1948
Month	Year	Ale	Mild	Best Mild	Ordinary Bitter	Best Bitter	Burton	Stout
Sept	1939	4	5	6	7	8	8	8
April	1940	5	6	7	8	9	9	9
April	1941	7	8	9	10	12	12	12
April	1942	9	10	11	12	15	15	15
April	1943	10	11	12	13	17	17	17
April	1944		11		13	15	17	17
April	1945		11		13	15	17	17
April	1946	11	12		13	16	17	17
April	1947	11	12		13	16	17	17
April	1948	12	13		14	19	19	19
Sources:
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/001.
Barclay Perkins Circular Letters held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number ACC/2305/01/521/1.

Let's Brew - 1936 Barclay Perkins BS

Between the wars, Barclay Perkins brewed a confusing range of Stouts. LS, BS, OMS, IBS, RNS and BBS Export, plus their Porter, TT. That’s far more than most breweries, even traditional London Porter breweries.

In the 19th century, “BS” stood for Brown Stout, but at some point around the time of WW I it seems to have changed to meaning Best Stout. It was Barclay’s draught Stout, retailing at 8d per pint, the same as their Burton Ale. Making it their level most expensive regular draught beer. Only the seasonal KKKK was stronger.

You can’t accuse their Stout recipe of being overly simple. BS has no fewer than four malts and three adjuncts. Which is one of the reasons the percentage of base malt is so low – a little under 50%.

On the other hand, the sugars are quite simple, just two. One isn’t specified, but based on other Stout brewing records from around the same time, it’s probably something called BS. I’ve substituted No. 4 invert. The No. 2 invert is there to take account of the two gallons per barrel of primings added at racking time. They raised the effective OG by 5.5 points.

The hops were all pretty local: Kent Fuggles (1935), Mid-Kent Goldings (1935), all kept in a cold store.

1936 Barclay Perkins BS
mild malt	6.00 lb	47.06%
brown malt	0.50 lb	3.92%
amber malt	1.25 lb	9.80%
crystal malt 60 L	0.75 lb	5.88%
roast barley	1.25 lb	9.80%
flaked maize	0.50 lb	3.92%
No. 2 invert sugar	1.00 lb	7.84%
oats	0.125 lb	0.98%
No. 4 invert sugar	1.25 lb	9.80%
caramel 1000 SRM	0.125 lb	0.98%
Fuggles 150 mins	1.00 oz
Fuggles 60 mins	1.00 oz
Goldings 30 mins	0.75 oz
OG	1057
FG	1017.5
ABV	5.23
Apparent attenuation	69.30%
IBU	35
SRM	46
Mash at	147º F
After underlet	153º F
Sparge at	170º F
Boil time	150 minutes
pitching temp	60.5º F
Yeast	Wyeast 1099 Whitbread ale

Drybrough 60/- grists 1938 - 1947 (part two)

Not quite finished with Drybrough's wartime 60/- recipes. Though they're really Drybrough's recipes for all their beers. Like many Scottish brewers, they made their whole beer range from a single recipe.

There wasn’t a huge change in the sugars used in Drybrough 60/- throughout the war. It consisted almost always of four elements: malt extract (DCL), Fison, Avona and invert sugar. Sadly, the records aren’t specific about which kind of invert, only specifying the producer – either Manbré or Martineau.

The proportion of sugar didn’t vary much, either, remaining between 9% and 10% all through the war. Unlike in WW I, the type of sugars available to brewers weren’t limited. Meaning brewers could continue to employ much the same types, in particular proprietary sugars like Fison and Avona.

Once the war kicked off, foreign hops disappeared from Drybrough’s recipes and they went over to 100% English hops. If you look back to the first table, you’ll see that the quantity of hops used fell as the war progressed, dropping from 5 lbs per quarter (336 lbs) of malt to about 3.5 lbs. This wasn’t exactly voluntary, as, the government restricted the quantity of hops available. For example, in June 1941 the quantity of hops available for brewers was reduced by 20%.

The hops Drybrough used were mostly quite new. Again, this wasn’t an accident. The reserve supplies of older hops were mostly used up in the war years.

Drybrough 60/- grists 1938 - 1947 sugar and hops
Date	Year	OG	malt extract	Fison	Avona	invert	hops
14th Oct	1938	1038	0.88%	1.76%	3.51%	3.51%	Oregon (1936), English (1936, 1937)
19th Oct	1939	1038	0.88%	1.76%	3.53%	3.53%	English (1938)
3rd Jan	1940	1036	0.94%	1.88%	3.75%	3.75%	English (1938)
3rd Feb	1941	1037	0.97%	2.59%	3.89%	3.89%	English (1939, 1940)
11th Jul	1941	1034	1.00%	2.40%	2.40%	2.40%	English (1939)
2nd Feb	1942	1032	1.04%	2.77%	2.77%	2.77%	English (1940)
3rd Feb	1943	1032	0.96%	2.56%	2.56%	2.56%	English (1941)
14th Oct	1943	1032	1.28%	2.56%	2.56%	2.56%	English (1942)
17th Jan	1944	1032	1.46%		3.34%	4.17%	English (1942)
13th Jul	1944	1032	0.99%	2.65%	2.65%	2.65%	English (1942)
8th Feb	1945	1032	1.59%	2.12%	2.12%	2.12%	English (1943)
8th Oct	1946	1029	1.44%	0.82%	3.29%	2.47%	English (1945)
23rd Oct	1947	1029	0.70%	1.41%	2.81%	4.22%	English (1945, 1946)
Sources:
Drybrough brewing records held at the Scottish Brewing Archive, document numbers D/6/1/1/4 and D/6/1/1/5.