Barclay Perkins Table Beer 1804 - 1869

I've never written much about Table Beer, have I? Just realised that. Not sure why, just haven't. Guess it's time to put that right.

I suppose I should get things rolling with an explanation of exactly what Table Beer was. First though, I'll explain what it wasn't. It wasn't a specific style. As the example from Barclay Perkins wonderfully illustrates.

What Table Beer was, at least initially was a tax class. In the 18th century there were three tax classes. Which class a beer fell into was decide by its wholesale price per barrel. Here's the information in a handy table:

Excise duty on beer
	strong	table	small	explanation
1761	8s	2s	1s 4d
1782	8s	3s	1s 4d	Beer above 11s a barrel strong,  below 6s small beer, inbetween table beer
1802	10s	2s		Beer above 16s a barrel strong, below 16s table beer
Source:
The Brewing Industry in England 1700-1830 Peter Mathias, p.369

The classification Small Beer was abolished in 1802. The whole system disappeared in 1830, when the Beer Act moved all the tax onto malt and hops and beer itself was untaxed.

Its disappearance as a tax category didn't lead to the immediate disappearance of Table Beer. It continued to be brewers, no doubt because there was a demand for a cheap, low-alcohol beer. In the early 19th century, beer was a much safer drink than water, which could often be infected with all sorts of nastiness, including cholera bacteria. Table Beer probably was, as the name suggests, drunk to accompany meals.

Improvements in water supply are probably one of the reasons Table Beer faded away, That and the rise of tea-drinking, couple with the rise of modern, bottled low-alcohol beers such as Dinner Ale.

There's one very important point which is invisible in the table below. After 1860 the character of Barclay Perkins' Table Beer changed completely. Before that date it was a low-gravity Porter, after a low-gravity Pale Mild Ale. That could be a good indicator of when Porter fell from ascendancy in London, replaced by the new favourite Mild Ale.

Wondering why some examples appear to contain no hops? That's because none are recorded on the log. I assume that spent hops from another brew were used.

Barclay Perkins' Table Beer had about 55-60% of the gravity of TT, their full-strength Porter. As this table shows:

Barclay Perkins Table and Standard Porter
year	TT	T	T's % of TT's gravity
1804	1054.8	1029.6	54.01%
1810	1053.5	1031.3	58.50%
1820	1061.5	1025.5	41.46%
1836	1061.8	1033	53.40%
1845	1064.5	1036	55.81%
1849	1060.6	1035.5	58.58%
1857	1059	1037.1	62.88%
1858	1061.2	1036.6	59.80%
Source:
Barclay Perkins brewing records held at the London Metropolitan Archives document numbers ACC/2305/1/525, ACC/2305/1/526, ACC/2305/1/547, ACC/2305/1/550, ACC/2305/1/541, ACC/2305/1/553

Here's the same comparing the Mild-like Table Beer with X Ale:

Barclay Perkins Table and X Ale
year	X Ale	T	T's % of X's gravity
1863	1061.5	1049.3	80.16%
1867	1060.9	1041	67.32%
1869	1060.4	1056.8	94.04%
Source:
Barclay Perkins brewing records held at the London Metropolitan Archives document numbers ACC/2305/1/541, ACC/2305/1/553, ACC/2305/1/546, ACC/2305/1/572, ACC/2305/1/579/1, ACC/2305/1/573

You can see that there was a much smaller difference in gravity between these two. Another point worth making is that while the Porter Table Beer was always single-gyle, the Mild-like version was often parti-gyled with X Ale. The later versions were pretty heavily hopped, in contrast to the Porter-like one.

Note also the very high fermentation temperature of the 1863 and 1866 versions. I've no idea why those particular beers were fermented so hot.

In the next instalment, we'll be looking at the grists.

Barclay Perkins Table Beer 1804 - 1869
Date	Year	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	lbs hops/ qtr	hops lb/brl	boil time (hours)	boil time (hours)	boil time (hours)	Pitch temp	max. fermen-tation temp	length of fermen-tation (days)
28th Jul	1804	1029.6	1009.0	2.73	69.63%	3.49	0.48				67º
25th Aug	1804	1024.9				4.06	0.56				70º
2nd July	1805	1024.1	1012.0	1.60	50.21%	4.15	0.64				68º
14th May	1810	1031.3	1011.0	2.69	64.86%	2.00	0.28				66º
26th Jun	1820	1024.7	1005.0	2.60	79.72%	0.00	0.00				71º
12th Jul	1820	1025.5	1005.0	2.71	80.38%	0.00	0.00				67º
20th Apr	1836	1033.0	1008.0	3.30	75.73%	0.00	0.00				63º	º
20th Apr	1836	1033.0	1008.0	3.30	75.73%	0.00	0.00				63º	72.5º	3 + ?
16th May	1845	1036.0	1009.0	3.57	75.01%	0.00	0.00				64º
16th May	1845	1036.0	1009.0	3.57	75.01%	0.00	0.00				64º	76.5º	3 + ?
21st May	1849	1035.5	1010.0	3.37	71.80%	0.00	0.00				66º
21st May	1849	1035.5	1010.0	3.37	71.80%	0.00	0.00				66.5º	75º	3 + ?
15th Apr	1850	1038.7	1009.0	3.93	76.76%	0.00	0.00				66º
15th Apr	1850	1038.7	1009.0	3.93	76.76%	0.00	0.00				65º	73º	3 + ?
13th Jul	1857	1037.1	1009.0	3.72	75.75%	0.00	0.00				67º	78.25º	3 + ?
9th Jul	1858	1036.6	1009.0	3.65	75.39%	0.00	0.00				66º	77º	3 + ?
2nd Jul	1863	1049.3	1000.5	6.46	98.99%	0.00	0.00				72º	90º	5 + ?
12th Apr	1864	1036.3	1007.0	3.87	80.71%	0.00	0.00				66º	76º	3 + ?
10th May	1866	1044.0	1006.5	4.97	85.24%	0.00	0.00				71º	85º	3 + ?
12th Apr	1866	1036.3	1007.0	3.87	80.71%	0.00	0.00				66º	76º	3 + ?
30th Apr	1867	1041.0	1026.9	1.87	34.46%	0.00		1.5	1.5	3	º	º	4 + 2
3rd May	1867	1058.4	1016.6	5.53	71.56%	15.50	3.97	1.25	1.5	2.5	65º	74.5º	3 + 2
10th May	1867	1055.7	1018.8	4.87	66.17%	15.08	3.98	1.25	1.5	2.5	º	º
30th Aug	1869	1056.8	1016.1	5.39	71.71%	20.00	5.00	1.5	1.75	3	61º	75º	3 + 2
23nd Sep	1869	1056.2	1015.0	5.46	73.40%	20.00	4.98	1.5	1.75	3	61º	75.5º	3 + 3
16th Dec	1869	1056.8	1016.1	5.39	71.71%	15.80	3.99	1.25	1.5	3	61º	74.5º	3 + ?
Sources:
Barclay Perkins brewing records held at the London Metropolitan Archives document numbers ACC/2305/1/525, ACC/2305/1/526, ACC/2305/1/547, ACC/2305/1/550, ACC/2305/1/541, ACC/2305/1/553, ACC/2305/1/546, ACC/2305/1/572, ACC/2305/1/579/1, ACC/2305/1/573

A Bar in Germany

Nothing odd about that, I hear you say. But this is July 1945, when fighting in Europe had only stopped a few weeks before.

I love the way the writer stresses the Hull connection - local journalism at its irritating best. But there's more to enjoy in this short piece.

"A BAR IN GERMANY
Hull Guardsman Says "Time Please"
(By a Military Observer)
It is three minutes to nine in the bar of the "Deutsches Haus Hotel" in Verden, German town on the banks of the River Weser. And though it seems a disgustingly early hour at which to close a bar, the old familiar call of "Time, gentlemen, please" awakens the customers to the necessity of getting in another "quick one " before they are hustled out.

The bar may be German one — as also is the beer - but the customers are British soldiers of the Guards Armoured Division, who are occupying the surrounding area, and the man with the stentorian voice who warns them it "Time"" is Gdsmn. Griffin, whose wife lives at 13, Grant-ter., Scarborough-st., Hull.

The bar is just one department of a divisional canteen, and is under the care of former Berwick-on-Tweed farmer, Sgt. Allastair Forsyth, who is assisted by Gdsn. Griffin and a member of a well-known Normanton family of butchers, Gdsn. Fred Hampson (whose father's trade name is Hammond).

In the case of more adamant customers, loth to leave, Gdsn. Griffin throws etiquette to the winds, says a little more sternly "Drink up and get out." Sgt. Forsyth assists in the ceremony by giving a nearby oxygen cylinder a couple of resounding thwacks with a large spanner, and the stragglers take the hint.

ENGLISH BEER SHORTLY

The beer is generally acclaimed as being "not bad." On the other hand it is never referred to as "good." It is light lager, supplied from Bremen, with a four per cent, alcoholic content. "Our only regret," the staff assured me, "is that it isn't English beer. We hear that English beer is to be brewed in Hamburg, and we hope to get our hands on some of that shortly."

At the moment this German beer is served through German pumps in German half-pint glasses, and is paid for in German money (half a mark or threepence per half-pint). Not quite like the days we knew in the old Fox and Hounds or the Rose and Crown perhaps, but, even though no one has yet to be carried home, the lads feel they have had a drink of beer, out of a glass, in a pub — and that's a step in the right direction.

Altogether, the bar is run smoothly and capably. Gdsmn. Griffin adds nostalgic touch by addressing all his customers as "Sir." "Half a pint, sir. That'll be half a mark. sir. Thank you. sir." His speed of service in the crowded bar is becoming quite professional.

Throughout the campaign he has fought with an armoured battalion of Welsh Guards."
Hull Daily Mail - Wednesday 04 July 1945, page 4.

It's clear from this quote "the lads feel they have had a drink of beer, out of a glass, in a pub" that the ability to drop by a pub was very important for British soldiers. I guess it brought a sense of normalcy to a pretty odd situation. After six years of fighting against Germany, there they were suddenly occupying it.

They were pretty lucky to get German beer in 1945. In many parts of the country they weren't brewing at all. Though, now I think about it, the occupying forces probably had first dibs on whatever was being brewed.

4% ABV is also a pretty decent strength. You'd have been lucky to find Bitter as strong as that.

London draught Bitters in 1945
Brewer	Price	size	Acidity	FG	OG	colour	ABV	App. Atten-uation
Barclay Perkins	14d	pint	0.04	1009.3	1038	32.5	3.72	75.53%
Charrington	1/2d	pint	0.07	1009.4	1037	18.5	3.58	74.59%
Courage	1/4d	pint	0.08	1010.4	1043.7	22	4.33	76.20%
Mann Crossman	1/4d	pint	0.11	1010.1	1042.5	27	4.21	76.24%
Meux	1/2d	pint	0.11	1007.4	1032.1	21	3.20	76.95%
Taylor Walker	14d	pint	0.11	1011.2	1037	29	3.34	69.73%
Truman	15d	pint	0.08	1005.9	1041.6	24	4.65	85.82%
Watney	1/2d	pint	0.08	1006.6	1038.3	27	4.12	82.77%
Whitbread	1/2d	pint	0.07	1009.2	1032.8	27.5	3.06	71.95%
Source:
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/002

Er, maybe I'll take that back. One thing's certain - you wouldn't have got a pint for 6d in Britain. The cheapest beer in the table is more than double the price.

Back to those German breweries. I wonder which of the Bremen breweries was making their beer? Haake-Beck perhaps? The irony is, of course, that a century earlier they'd brewed IPA and Porter in Bremen.

What type of beer was the English beer they brewed in Hamburg? Bitter? Mild? Most likely one of those two.

Davenport beers 1931 - 1989

Yes, it's finally come. The last post in my series on Birmingham breweries. About Davenports.

"Beer at home means Davenports,
That's beer, lots of cheer,
Straight from brewery to your home,
Why collect, we'll deliver.
Soon you'll know why folks all say,
Beer at home means Davenports."

What does it say about the power of advertising, that I can remember the Davenports song more than two decades after the brewery closed?

The advertising must have worked on my Dad, too, because he had Davenports delivered. Now I think about it, the first beer I ever tasted was almost certainly Davenports of my Dad. Top Crown Deluxe, perhaps? I think that was the name of the posh Pale Ale they sold. I do know that it was a Bitter of some sort. Too Bitter for my 12-year old self.

It was a bold move of Davenport to sell off some of their pubs and get into the home delivery business. Did it pay off? Difficult to say. As they no longer exist, probably not. But that move was one reason their beers were frustratingly difficult to find in their home city of Birmingham. I can only remember ever going to one of their pubs, somewhere just off Hurst Street in the city centre.

They suffered the brewery equivalent of a fate worse than death: they were bought by Greenall Whitley in 1986 and closed three years later. Drinkers were lucky they closed so quickly. Greenall's quickly turned the beers of their victims over into parodies of themselves. Such poor imitations, that most fans were glad when they were finally put out of their misery and discontinued.

I suppose I should say something about their beers. Specifically the ones in the table. The Best Mild and Traditional Bitter from 1989 were brewed at Shipstone.

The 1949 Brown Ale definitely looks like a bottled Mild. Not sure about the one from 1931. That's a touch strong for a Mild of the day. That's possibly a standalone Brown Ale. If you know what I mean.

It's a shame that there's no pre-war Mild for comparison purposes. The post-war beers have very typical Mild gravities for most of the country, but are a couple of points weaker than other Birmingham Milds.

These a bit more to work with in the Pale Ales. You can see that before the war they made two Bitters, the stronger Best Bitter with a hefty gravity of over 1050º. That's comparable to the Best Bitters of London. The weaker Bitter Beer is a couple of degrees lower in gravity that London ordinary Bitters, which were mostly 1042-1045º. WW II knocked a massive 30 gravity points off Best Bitter. That's a pretty low gravity for a Bitter 1033, even in 1949. From the 1970's on there was very little change in the gravity, which is pretty typical. In general, gravities of many beer remained around their mid-1950's level.

The Stouts present a confusing picture. The Extra Stouts bracketing WW II, with close to 80% attenuation, clearly weren't Sweet Stouts. Again, they nicely demonstrate the effect of WW II on gravities.

Celebration Stout looks like a sweeter replacement for Extra Stout. Not the much lower level of attenuation. Until 1965, when there was a huge change: its gravity doubled and the attenuation went back up. Maybe. Because the two examples from the same year have very different degrees of attenuation.

Not much to say about the Strong Ale, except to point out the high degree of attenuation of the 1931 example.

There. That's Brum done. Any other town take your fancy?

Davenport beers 1927 - 1989
Year	Beer	Style	Price	size	package	Acidity	FG	OG	colour	ABV	App. Atten-uation
1931	Brown Ale	Brown Ale	6.5d	pint	bottled	0.07	1014.2	1044.8		3.96	68.30%
1949	Brown Ale	Brown Ale	1/1.5d	pint	bottled	0.06	1004	1031	5 + 40	3.51	87.10%
1943	Dark Ale	Dark Ale			bottled	0.08	1009	1036.8	7 + 40	3.61	75.54%
1943	Light Ale	Light Ale			bottled	0.07	1007.3	1038	18	3.99	80.79%
1961	Continental Light Ale	Light Ale	15d	half	bottled	0.04	1005.3	1034	8	3.59	84.41%
1949	Mild Ale	Mild	1/1d	pint	draught	0.07	1007.9	1032	4.5 + 40	3.12	75.31%
1977	Mild	Mild		pint	draught			1033
1979	Mild	Mild		pint	draught			1033
1981	Mild	Mild		pint	draught			1034.5
1982	Mild	Mild		pint	draught			1034.5
1983	Mild	Mild		pint	draught			1034.5
1986	Mild	Mild		pint	draught			1034.8
1989	Best Mild	Mild		pint	draught		1010.3	1035		3.20	70.71%
1927	Best Bitter	Pale Ale	7d	pint	bottled			1054.4
1927	Bitter	Pale Ale	5.5d	pint	bottled			1040.5
1929	Best Bitter	Pale Ale	8.5d	pint	bottled	0.07	1014.5	1053.1		5.01	72.69%
1929	Bitter Beer	Pale Ale	5d	pint	bottled	0.05	1008.5	1040.5		4.16	79.01%
1931	Bitter Beer	Pale Ale	6d	half	bottled	0.08	1007.3	1036.7		3.82	80.11%
1931	Best Bitter	Pale Ale	8d	pint	bottled	0.08	1017.9	1053.9		4.66	66.79%
1931	Pale Ale	Pale Ale	5.5d	half	bottled	0.11	1013.2	1055.8		5.54	76.34%
1949	Pale Ale	Pale Ale	9.5d	half	bottled	0.07	1006.6	1039.5	21 brown	4.28	83.29%
1949	Best Bitter	Pale Ale	1/2d	pint	bottled	0.06	1006.5	1032.8	19 brown	3.42	80.18%
1977	Bitter	Pale Ale		pint	draught			1038
1979	Bitter	Pale Ale		pint	draught			1038
1981	Bitter	Pale Ale		pint	draught			1038.9
1982	Bitter	Pale Ale		pint	draught			1038.9
1983	Bitter	Pale Ale		pint	draught			1038.9
1986	Bitter	Pale Ale		pint	draught			1038.9
1989	Traditional Bitter	Pale Ale		pint	draught		1008	1038		3.90	78.95%
1931	Extra Stout	Stout	7d	reputed pint	bottled	0.14	1012.3	1057.9		5.94	78.76%
1949	Extra Stout	Stout	9.5d	half	bottled	0.08	1008.1	1040.2	1 + 15	4.17	79.85%
1953	Celebration Stout	Stout	11d	half	bottled	0.06	1014.7	1041.9	1 + 17	3.52	64.92%
1965	Celebration Stout	Stout	12.5d	half	bottled	0.04	1017.3	1042.1	275	3.10	58.91%
1965	Celebration Stout	Stout	12.5d	half	bottled	0.04	1021	1085	275	8.00	75.29%
1965	Celebration Stout	Stout	12.5d	half	bottled	0.04	1033	1085	275	6.50	61.18%
1927	Strong Ale	Strong Ale	6d	half	bottled			1073.9
1931	Strong Ale	Strong Ale	6.5d	half	bottled	0.08	1012.4	1064.1		6.76	80.66%
Sources:
Good Beer Guide 1978, 1980, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1987, 1990.
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/001
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/002