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21-08-2012, 08:14
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Nailing together information from different sources is great fun. And can generate fascinating new data. That's why I enjoy doing it so much.

This all started when I stumbled across a wine merchant's price list from 1932. This one:


http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-iJTPJbzuS7Q/UC4-MfPxAUI/AAAAAAAAKYE/9FVhUJ3nzaY/s640/Grahams_Barclay_Tennent_Wrexham_Lager_1932_2.jpg (http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-iJTPJbzuS7Q/UC4-MfPxAUI/AAAAAAAAKYE/9FVhUJ3nzaY/s1600/Grahams_Barclay_Tennent_Wrexham_Lager_1932_2.jpg)
Cheltenham Chronicle - Saturday 18 June 1932, page 1.

It's like a roll call of Britain's most famous beers of the time. And what did it remind me of? The Whitbread Gravity Book. Because that's full of famous beers from the 1930's. A quick check of my mega gravity spreadsheet confirmed what I suspected: I'd got the gravity of most of the beers.

This where it gets really exciting: working out the relative cost of each. That is, the price per gravity point per dozen pints. The results are intriguing and not quite what I had expected in every case.




Brewery

Place

year

beer

OG



date OG

size



price per dozen (pence)

price per gravity point (pence)



Truman

Burton

1932

Pale Eagle Ale



1038



1932

half pint



48



2.53



Truman

Burton

1932

Pale Eagle Ale



1038



1932

pint



90



2.37



Truman

Burton

1932

Pale Eagle Ale



1038



1932

quart



168



2.21



Flower's

Stratford

1932

Light Bitter Ale



1041



1936

half pint



48



2.34



Flower's

Stratford

1932

Light Bitter Ale



1041



1936

pint



90



2.20



Whitbread

London

1932

Pale Ale



1046.1



1932

half pint



54



2.34



Whitbread

London

1932

Pale Ale



1046.1



1932

pint



96



2.08



Mitchell & Butler

Birmingham

1932

All Bright Ale



1044



1932

pint



102



2.32



George

Bristol

1932

Home Brewed Ale



1055.6



1936

quart



204



1.83



Worthington

Burton

1932

Pale Ale



1055.4



1933

half pint



72



2.60



Worthington

Burton

1932

Pale Ale



1055.4



1933

pint



132



2.38



Bass

Burton

1932

Pale Ale



1054.7



1932

half pint



72



2.63



Bass

Burton

1932

Pale Ale



1054.7



1932

pint



132



2.41



William Younger

Edinburgh

1932

Scotch Ale



1051.5



1932

half pint



78



3.03



Wrexham

Wrexham

1932

Welsh Lager Beer









half pint



72






Tennent

Glasgow

1932

Lager Beer



1043.1



1933

half pint



72



3.34



Tennent

Glasgow

1932

Lager Beer



1043.1



1933

pint



138



3.20



Barclay Perkins

London

1932

Lager Beer



1049.4



1934

half pint



72



2.91



Alloa Brewery

Alloa

1932

Graham's Golden Lager Beer



1044.5



1933

half pint



72



3.24



Whitbread

London

1932

London Stout



1044.3



1932

half pint



66



2.98



Whitbread

London

1932

London Stout



1044.3



1932

pint



114



2.57



Raggett

London

1932

Nourishing Stout



1056.3



1935

half pint



72



2.56



Raggett

London

1932

Nourishing Stout



1056.3



1935

pint



132



2.34



Simmond

Reading

1932

Milk Stout



1049



1933

half pint



72



2.94



Simmond

Reading

1932

Milk Stout



1049



1933

pint



132



2.69



Guinness

Dublin

1932

Extra Stout



1055.2



1933

half pint



66



2.39



Guinness

Dublin

1932

Extra Stout



1055.2



1933

pint



126



2.28



Sources:



Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/001



Whitbread brewing records held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document numbers LMA/4453/D/01/098 and LMA/4453/D/01/099



Barclay Perkins brewing record held at the London Metropolitan Archives document number ACC/2305/1/641



Cheltenham Chronicle - Saturday 18 June 1932, page 1.





Here, for clarity's sake, are just the half pints, sorted in descending order of price:




Brewery

Place

year

beer

OG



date OG

size



price per dozen (pence)

price per gravity point (pence)



Tennent

Glasgow

1932

Lager Beer



1043.1



1933

half pint



72



3.34



Alloa Brewery

Alloa

1932

Graham's Golden Lager Beer



1044.5



1933

half pint



72



3.24



William Younger

Edinburgh

1932

Scotch Ale



1051.5



1932

half pint



78



3.03



Whitbread

London

1932

London Stout



1044.3



1932

half pint



66



2.98



Simmond

Reading

1932

Milk Stout



1049



1933

half pint



72



2.94



Barclay Perkins

London

1932

Lager Beer



1049.4



1934

half pint



72



2.91



Bass

Burton

1932

Pale Ale



1054.7



1932

half pint



72



2.63



Worthington

Burton

1932

Pale Ale



1055.4



1933

half pint



72



2.60



Raggett

London

1932

Nourishing Stout



1056.3



1935

half pint



72



2.56



Truman

Burton

1932

Pale Eagle Ale



1038



1932

half pint



48



2.53



Guinness

Dublin

1932

Extra Stout



1055.2



1933

half pint



66



2.39



Whitbread

London

1932

Pale Ale



1046.1



1932

half pint



54



2.34



Flower's

Stratford

1932

Light Bitter Ale



1041



1936

half pint



48



2.34



Sources:



Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/001



Whitbread brewing records held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document numbers LMA/4453/D/01/098 and LMA/4453/D/01/099



Barclay Perkins brewing record held at the London Metropolitan Archives document number ACC/2305/1/641



Cheltenham Chronicle - Saturday 18 June 1932, page 1.





I wasn't surprised that the two most expensive beers were Lagers. They were marketing as premium beers and priced accordingly. What interested me more was that the top three were all Scottish, with Younger's No. 3 almost as expensive as the Lagers. I guess that must have been marketed as a premium beer, too. Come to think of it, I have come across dozens of adverts for it. (In case you're wondering how I know that the beer in the price list is No. 3, I've another price list where explicitly says Younger's No. 3 and the price is exactly the same. Plus Younger only marketed two beers as Scotch Ale: No. 1 and No. 3. The price is too cheap for it to possibly be No. 1.)

I hadn't expected Stouts to come in at numbers four and five. Especially not those types of Stout. Which brings me to the biggest shock: how relatively cheap Guinness was. Remarkably good value, in fact. I've no explanation. I would have expected it to be dearer than Whitbread's London Stout.

The Burton Pale Ales are nicely grouped together in the middle. I'm not surprised that Bass and Worthington had almost identical gravities and were the same price. I would have expected the weaker Truman Pale Ale to be cheaper.

Getting back to the price of Lager (it is the title, after all), let's see exactly how much more expensive it was in percentage terms. I make Tennent's and Graham's Lagers 27% more expensive than Bass Pale Ale and a whopping 43% more expensive than Whitnbread Pale Ale. If we look at cheaper beers, the difference is even bigger - almost double the price of Whitbread's draught X Ale.




Draught Beers



Brewery

Place

year

beer

OG



date OG

size



price per dozen (pence)

price per gravity point (pence)



Guinness

Dublin



1933

Extra Stout



1054.6



1933

pint



11



2.42



Whitbread

London



1932

Pale Ale



1045.3



1932

pint



8



2.12



Truman

Burton



1932

Pale Ale



1045.5



1932

pint



8



2.11



Flower

Stratford



1935

Pale Ale



1047.2



1935

pint



8



2.03



Whitbread

London



1933

Stout



1047.8



1933

pint



8



2.01



Worthington

Burton



1936

Pale Ale



1046.9



1936

pint



7



1.79



Whitbread

London



1933

X



1034.9



1933

pint



5



1.72



Sources:



Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/001





The moral of all this? Drink Mild not Lager!https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5445569787371915337-1196647713787133855?l=barclayperkins.blogspot.com


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