Burned!

Why so crispy? This was salvaged from the burnt-out wreck Of Barclay Perkins after the fire in 1832.

This is a Porter log. For some reason, the brewhouse name at Barclay Perkins was TT. As you can see, they were early adopters of black malt. That's what the Rd means in that column on the left. OG 1060, FG 1016.

Notes on Changes in Trade

Whitbread kept a spreadsheet of their sales. In old-fashioned pen and ink form. I wish I'd had time to photograph it all.  The first few pages are text. Entitled "Notes on Changes in Trade".

Here's a snippet:

For the lazy:

July 1931 Liverpool started clear ale.
July 1931 Birkenhead started clear ale.
July 1931 Manchester started clear ale.
Sept 1931 Economy Budget. Duty increased by 31/- per barrel
Sept 1931 W & Co. [Whitbread & Co.] Bottled Beer prices increased by 1/- per doz. pints; 6d per doz. half pints; & 8d per crate, except LS & LOS which are not changed in price, but the gravity reduced from 1055º to 1047º
Sept 1931 Bass Bottled Beer increased by 1/4d per doz. pints; 8d per doz. half pints
Sept 1931 Guinness Bottled Beer increased by 1/4d per doz. pints; 8d per doz. half pints
Sept 1931 Cask Beer. X.A. started at 118/- per barrel. K.K. & Stout withdrawn. Replaced by X.X.X. & L.S.

This is what happened when there was a sudden rise in beer duty. In some cases, the prices went up, in others the gravity went down. Net result: less tax income for the government.

This was the end of the road for Whitbread's KK and Stout. Beers that had been around since the early 19th century.

I don't know what XA was. I haven't seen it in their brewing records. Weird.

The clear ale stuff is, I believe, when various bottlers went over to carbonated rather than naturally-conditioned bottled beer.

News from the archives

I'll tell you this. Because when I tried to talk about to my wife and kids they immediately turned into zombies. Or maybe they were just sleeping with their eyes open.

I got two days in the archives this week. But I only managed to take 1,700 photos. Here's one I particularly like:

It's from a notebook the gives details of the Barclay Perkins Lager brewery. But also has stuff about other bits of the brewery. Including the above diagram of fermenting vessels.

Bitter!

Mackeson adverts

When I visit the archives there are always a few minutes to fill before the first batch of documents appears. I use them to search their paper catalogues.

I'm always well-prepared, because my time is so short. And every minute I save is one extra minute in the Gunmakers. So I have a whole wodge of request forms already filled in. But, because life would be bland dish without the spice novelty, I fill in one set there. For non-brewing records of some sort.

I'd never looked at anything in the Whitbread archive other than brewing logs. There are so many, I still haven't got anywhere near through the lot. A right bunch of hoarders, Whitbread. Their archive is huge. Including such things as newspaper clippings of their newspaper ads. I picked the book with ads from more exotic countries.

Like the Philippines.

Funny. I always thought of Mackeson as a drink for grannies. Not fit young women.

Indian Pale Ale

Ever wondered what old-time American IPA was like? Go on. You must have. Your wish has been granted. Sort of.

In Bill Schwarz's papers there were a couple of other recipes. Most notably, one for something called Indian Pale Ale. There's no indication of a date or even of the brewery. My guess is that it's from around the same period as the dated items. So 1940's.

Take a look:

Nice detailed mashing instructions. But unfortunately there's one piece of information missing: the hopping.

The gravity is given: 17 Balling. Which is around 1068º. Quite a bit stronger than the Lager. Could explain why Americans think IPA is a strong beer.

Train!

Bitter!

Random brewer of the week : Beasley

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

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

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

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

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

Price fixing 1943

An illegal cartel. That's what they'd call it now.

These are the prices per hectolitre of draught beer:



Translation:

"2nd: Article 1.A of Chapter VII is replaced by:

Beer prices per barrel
----------------------
1.A The binding prices for member breweries for the beers mentioned in Chapter VI for draught beer are as follows:

Lager 24.80 guilders per hl
Pilsener or Münchener 34.65 guilders
Stout 51.30 guilders

with the understanding that the prices of the other types of beer mentioned in Article 1 of Chapter VI will be agreed on later, when it is necessary.

3rd: Article 3 of Chapter VII is read as follows:

Agent discount.
---------------
3.A this is:
per hl Lager a maximum of 4.15 guilders
per hl Pilsener or Münchener a maximum of 4.15 guilders
per hl Stout a maximum of 4.15 guilders

with the understanding that the discounts of the other types of beer mentioned in Article 1 of Chapter VI will be agreed on later, when it is necessary."

These are the breweries that agreed to it:

They'd never dare pull such a trick nowadays, would they?

Almost forgot the beer types featured. Beer styles, sorry. Must get my terminology right. Lager, Pilsener, Münchener, Stout. Interesting mix.

I must share the same brewers' proposals for introducing Märzen as a spring seasonal beer. Fascinating stuff. But I can't be arsed tot translate it at the moment. I'll do it later. Remind me if I forget. It's great stuff.

London!

Kilderkin logo

Lexie has drawn me a logo for my publishing empire, Kilderkin.

Take a look:

You can buy my books here. Go on. Buy a couple. Then the kids can have shoes.

Bitter!

Beer Ignorance

Unwisely, I've looked at some more of the Beer Genie site. Oh dear. Oh dear.

One section is called "Beer Knowledge". Beer Ignorance would be more accurate. Here's one of the best bits:

"Stout

A drier, darker, fuller-bodied and, some would say, stouter descendant of porter. Born in London as "stout porter" and raised in Ireland, it soon lost its surname and become synonymous with a brand founded in 1759 by Arthur Guinness. Having drunk imported porters and stouts from Britain, the Irish brewer decided to brew his own "dry Irish" version using unmalted roasted barley instead of dark malts - producing a more acrid, astringent and thicker interpretation. London Stouts, in contrast, were made with 100% malt grist including the original brown malt and with no roast barley. When the British government imposed restrictions on malting and beer strength during the First World War, the dry Irish style stole a march on its British counterpart and, aided by both canny advertising and the missionary zeal of Irish Diaspora, it's become the benchmark for stouts."

Yeah, Arthur Guinness used roast barley. Despite the fact that it wasn't invented until after his death. And if the excisemen had caught him with unmalted barley on his premises he would have received a big fine and possibly had his brewing equipment confiscated. Beers brewed in Britain and Ireland were all-malt by law. Why do people keep repeating this bollocks? Guinness only started using roast barley in the 20th century. Well after some London breweries, like Barclay Perkins.

Oh, and dry "Irish-style" Stout only appeared in the 1950's. But who cares about boring things like facts?

The irony is that BBPA publications (and those of its predecessor the Brewers' Society) have provided me with many of the facts that I use. They should get the writers of their website to look through some old editions of the Brewers' Alamanack.

Barclay Perkins K Ales 1914 - 1931

More K Ales from Barclay Perkins.

I'm even more dubious about whether this table will work in a blog. Barclay Perkins just used too many different types of malt in their K Ales

Barclay Perkins K Ales 1914 - 1931
Year	Beer	OG	FG	ABV	App. Attenuation	lbs hops/ qtr	hops lb/brl	lbs hops	qtrs malt	dry hops (oz / barrel)	colour	pale malt	crystal malt	MA malt	SA malt	PA malt	no. 2 sugar	no. 3 sugar	caramel	glucose	other sugar	flaked maize	malt extract
1914	KK	1073.1	1023.3	6.59	68.17%	12.00	3.56	3095	258	8.00		30	12		138			36	2.22	18		24
1914	KK	1073.2	1023.5	6.57	67.83%	11.97	3.61	2058	172	8.00		20	8		61		24	12	1.22			16
1914	KK	1073.1	1023.8	6.52	67.41%	11.99	3.58	2062	172	8.00		20	8	31	61		24	12	1.22			16
1915	KK	1073.0	1021.9	6.76	70.02%	11.96	3.54	2057	172	8.00		20	8		92		24	12	1.33			16
1915	KK	1072.8	1022.2	6.70	69.56%	12.98	3.90	1739	134	8.00		18	7		83		18	8	1.13
1915	KK	1072.9	1024.4	6.42	66.56%	11.99	3.60	3094	258	8.00		30	12		138		28	26	2.22			24
1915	KK	1072.9	1023.8	6.49	67.32%	11.95	3.67	2055	172	8.00		24	8		88		18	18	1.38			16
1916	KK	1072.9	1024.1	6.46	66.94%	12.00	3.70	2064	172	8.00		53	8		59		18	18	1.38			16
1916	KK	1075.6	1024.4	6.78	67.76%	12.00	3.78	2184	182	8.00		112	8				24	22	1.38			16
1916	KK	1075.7	1024.9	6.72	67.07%	13.01	4.00	3513	270	12.00		168	12				44	22	1.22			24
1916	KK	1075.5	1025.5	6.62	66.25%	12.01	3.75	3243	270	6.00		124	12		44		34	32	2.22			24
1917	KK	1075.5	1022.7	6.98	69.92%	11.99	3.70	3236	270	6.00		102	12				18	24	2.22	24		24
1917	KK	1075.5	1025.5	6.62	66.25%	11.99	3.73	3141	262	6.00		102	12		66		20	20	2.22	20		22
1917	KK	1075.5	1026.0	6.54	65.51%	12.99	4.08	3404	262	8.00		168	12					60	2.22			22
1917	KK	1075.6	1022.7	7.00	69.96%	13.00	4.01	3406	262	8.00		168	12					60	2.22			22
1917	KK	1070.5	1020.5	6.61	70.92%	11.00	3.19	1716	156	4.00		129	9					18
1919	KK	1061.2	1021.1	5.31	65.60%	9.99	2.53	1419	142	4.00	64	58	6		38		14	14	1			12
1920	KK	1061.4	1022.4	5.15	63.46%	11.01	2.75	1564	142	4.00		22	6		68	6		28	1.25			12
1920	KK	1058.4	1018.0	5.34	69.17%	11.00	2.62	2244	204	4.00		33	9		102			42	2			18
1920	KK	1055.4	1017.7	4.98	68.00%	10.96	2.57	1425	130	6.00		21	6	35	34			22	1.25			12
1920	KK (for bottling)	1070.1	1025.5	5.90	63.62%	12.67	3.76	494	39	8.00	66	5	3		20		8		0.34			3
1921	KK (for bottling)	1070.2	1024.5	6.05	65.10%	13.00	3.78	507	39	8.00			2.25	7	20.75		6		0.32			3
1921	KK	1055.2	1016.1	5.18	70.89%	9.47	2.08	1846	195	3.00		60	9	51		30			2.75		28	17
1921	KK	1055.2	1015.0	5.32	72.83%	9.60	2.12	1037	108	3.00	76	17	5	47		16			1.5		14	9
1922	KK	1055.2	1016.0	5.19	71.01%	10.00	2.24	340	34	3.00	92	7	1.5		16.5				0.58		6	3
1924	KKK	1082.1	1028.0	7.16	65.90%	14.00	4.75	560	40	8.00	108	8.5	2		23.5		6		1.47
1924	KK (bottling)	1070.3	1023.5	6.19	66.57%	14.00	4.24	252	18	8.00	92	3	1		9		4		0.16			1
1924	KK (bottling)	1070.0	1019.0	6.75	72.86%	14.00	3.95	644	46	8.00	92	8	2.75		24.25		8		0.5			3
1924	KKK	1082.4	1027.0	7.33	67.23%	14.00	4.59	560	40	8.00	104	8.5	2		23.5		6		0.47
1924	KKK	1082.4	1028.5	7.13	65.41%	14.00	4.71	560	40	8.00	104	8.5	2		23.5			6	0.47
1926	KK	1055.5	1015.0	5.35	72.96%	9.00	1.91	387	43	3.00	92	11	2	10	10				0.89		6	4
1928	KKKK	1078.6	1027.0	6.82	65.64%	11.00	3.45	220	20	4.00	112	5.625	1.375		10			3	0.22				0.5
1928	KKKK	1078.4	1025.5	7.00	67.49%	11.00	3.58	77	7	4.00	130	2	0.5	1.75	1.75		1		0.10				0.1161
1928	KK bottling	1069.5	1020.0	6.55	71.21%	11.00	2.97	429	39	8.00	90	7	2.25	6.75	12		8		0.56			3	1
1928	KK bottling	1069.4	1021.5	6.34	69.04%	11.00	2.99	429	39	8.00	96	7	2.25	6.75	12		8		0.56			3	1
1928	KKKK	1079.0	1024.0	7.27	69.61%	11.00	3.44	440	40	4.00	120	11.25	2.75		20			6	0.5				1
1929	KKKK	1078.8	1027.5	6.79	65.11%	11.00	3.41	440	40	4.00	112	11.25	2.75	10	10			6	0.5				1
1929	KKKK	1078.8	1025.5	7.06	67.66%	11.00	3.38	440	40	4.00	112	11.25	2.75	10	10			6	0.5				1
1929	KKKK	1078.7	1028.0	6.71	64.44%	11.00	3.42	220	20	4.00	115	5.625	1.375	3	7			3	0.22
1931	KK	1055.7	1014.0	5.52	74.86%	9.00	1.98	378	42	3.00	88	10	2	9	10			7	0.75			4
Source:
Barclay Perkins brewing records

Are you beginning to see any patterns? No? look bloody harder then.

There'll be another installment tomorrow. Most likely. Unless something more interesting comes my way.