Thursday 3 September 2015

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

1 comment:

K Pope said...

Is there any indication how oyster-y those oyster stouts were? I've read a little bit suggesting whole oysters were used by then, but I'm fairly suspicious that was a regular practice, and I know it may well have been just a marketing term, sort of like Nut Browns didn't have any nuts in them.