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24-04-2013, 09:53
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I spent most of last weekend drinking keg. A terrible admission, I know. I drank a couple of bottles, but mostly pints of luvverly keg.

None of this "craft" keg shit. I wouldn't go within a million miles of that filth. No, I was drinking proper, traditional Keg Bitter. The sort of stuff your grandfather might have drunk back in the 1960's. Pedigree, Old Speckled Hen and John Smiths Extra Smooth. There was Tetley's on offer, too, but I refuse to drink that since the closure of the Leeds brewery.

I was surprised how easily the stuff went down. Two or three pints an hour, no problem. From dawn till dusk, almost. And without getting that drunk, because, let's face it, the stuff isn't that strong. Not like that horrible modern keg that's stuffed with alcohol and other nastiness. No, with traditional Keg Bitter you need a double whisky with every other round if you want to have any impact on your ability to stand and speak. Either at the same time or separately.

Perhaps you're wondering why I spent a weekend on keg. Where is a better question. A place full of pubs, but with only keg beer: Gibraltar.

All this talk of Keg Bitter is making me thirsty. Thirsty for some cool, refreshing numbers. I just happen to have an apposite set. mostly courtesy of Whitbread's wonderful Gravity Book.

I suppose I should discuss the numbers a bit. All the beers are generally similar: OG 1037-1040º, attenuation averaging 80%. They're slightly above the average gravity for all beer brewed in the UK (1037º) but incredibly over-priced for their strength. The one outlier - 1972 Greene King King Keg - is the only one that's a reasonable price. Why did people drink it? Because it was fasionable.

Over-priced, trendy, processed beer - surely that could never become popular again?

The Keg Bitter in Gibraltar was a pretty reasonable 3 quid a pint.




Keg Bitter 1957 - 1972


Year
Brewer
Beer
Price
size
package
Acidity
FG
OG
colour
ABV
App. Atten-uation


1961
Arkells
King Keg
24d
pint
draught
0.04
1007.2
1040.5
20
4.16
82.22%


1967
Bass, Burton
Bass Keg
28d
pint
draught
0.04
1007
1038
23
4.03
81.58%


1961
Birkenhead Brewery
Keg Gold
20d
pint
draught
0.11
1006.5
1043.1
23
4.57
84.92%


1966
Campbell, Hope & King
Crown Keg


bottled
0.04
1010.9
1036.2
16
3.16
69.89%


1968
Charles Wells
Nogger (Keg)
28d
pint
draught
0.06
1004
1040.4
25
4.55
90.10%


1966
Charrington
Toby Keg
27d
pint
draught
0.03
1008
1038.2
25
3.92
79.06%


1966
Courage
Tavern Keg
26d
pint
draught
0.05
1007.3
1038
22
3.99
80.79%


1966
Courage
Tavern Keg
28d
pint
draught
0.04
1009.1
1038
24
3.75
76.05%


1957
Courage & Barclay
Keg Bitter
22d to 24d
pint
draught
0.06
1006.6
1042.8
22
4.72
84.58%


1967
Courage & Barclay
Tavern Keg
28d
pint
draught
0.03
1007.8
1038.3
27
3.96
79.63%


1961
Courage, Barclay
Keg Bitter
20d to 22d
pint
draught
0.06
1003.3
1041.2
19
4.95
91.99%


1961
Dryborough
Keg
19d
pint
draught
0.08
1006.8
1037.6
10
3.85
81.91%


1959
Flowers
Keg Bitter
22d
pint
draught
0.04
1010.7
1039
23
3.54
72.56%


1961
Flowers
Keg
24d
pint
draught
0.04
1012.5
1039.3
27
3.35
68.19%


1961
Fremlin
Keg
24d
pint
draught
0.04
1005.8
1040.4
23
4.33
85.64%


1960
Gibbs Mew
Blue Keg Bitter
18d
pint
draught
0.05
1007.6
1036
25
3.55
78.89%


1961
Gibbs Mew
Anchor Keg
21d to 24d
pint
draught
0.06
1004.4
1040.6
24
4.52
89.16%


1961
Gibbs Mew
Red Keg
22d
pint
draught
0.11
1003.7
1040.4
21
4.59
90.84%


1968
Greene King
King Keg
28d
pint
draught
0.02
1006.8
1038.4
20
3.95
82.29%


1972
Greene King
King Keg
14p
pint
draught

1008.5
1037

3.20
77.03%


1968
Hall & Woodhouse
Keg Bitter
25d
pint
draught
0.04
1007
1035.1
22
3.51
80.06%


1967
Harvey's (Lewes)
Keg
26d
pint
draught
0.05
1009.2
1038
24
3.60
75.79%


1961
John Smith
Golden Keg Ale
22d to 24d
pint
draught
0.04
1009
1039.1
19
3.76
76.98%


1964
John Smith
Golden Keg
24d
pint
draught
0.05
1009.4
1039.1
23
3.71
75.96%


1961
Lacon
Keg Bitter
24d
pint
draught
0.06
1007.1
1040.1
17
4.12
82.29%


1960
Marston
Burton Keg
21d
pint
bottled
0.05
1006.8
1036
20
3.65
81.11%


1968
Mew Langton
Island Keg
27d
pint
draught
0.05
1006.6
1037.6
19
3.87
82.45%


1968
Ridley
Keg
27d
pint
draught
0.04
1005.7
1034.3
24
3.57
83.38%


1967
Scottish Brewers
Tartan Keg
29d
pint
draught
0.03
1008.8
1036.9
25
3.51
76.15%


1967
Shepherd Neame
Top Hat Keg
28d
pint
draught
0.04
1006.7
1038.4
19
3.96
82.55%


1959
Simonds
Keg Bitter
22d
pint
draught
0.04
1007.3
1037.4
19
3.76
80.48%


1961
Starkey, Knight & Ford
Star Keg
23d
pint
draught
0.07
1008
1042.3
27
4.29
81.09%


1968
Strongs
Barley Corn Keg
27d
pint
draught
0.08
1007.8
1037.4
45
3.70
79.14%


1961
Tennant Bros.
Keg Bitter
21d
pint
draught
0.05
1005
1036.8
15
3.97
86.41%


1961
Threllfalls
Keg Bitter
17d to 18d
pint
draught
0.04
1004.9
1038.5
17
4.20
87.27%


1961
Tollemache
Tolly Keg
24d to 26d
pint
draught
0.05
1006.9
1038.1
26
3.90
81.89%


1967
Tollemache
Keg
27d
pint
draught
0.04
1010.8
1034.6
33
2.97
68.79%


1959
Truman
Keg Bitter
22d
pint
draught
0.04
1008.8
1040.5
22
4.12
78.27%


1961
Truman
Keg Bitter
21d
pint
draught
0.06
1006.2
1039
16
4.27
84.10%


1966
Truman
Keg Bitter
28d
pint
draught
0.24
1006.4
1038.6
21
4.19
83.42%


1968
Truman
Keg Bitter
27d
pint
draught
0.05
1004.6
1039.9
21
4.61
88.47%


1961
Vaux
Keg Beer
20d
pint
draught
0.08
1002.2
1034.8
14
4.07
93.68%


1957
Watney
Keg Bitter
24d to 26d
pint
draught
0.06
1007.6
1039.4
23
4.14
80.71%


1961
Yates's Castle Brewery, Ardwick
Keg
20d
pint
draught
0.05
1006.8
1037.8
16
3.88
82.01%


1959
Younger, Wm. & Co
Keg Bitter
19d
pint
draught
0.04
1007.8
1043.7
55
4.68
82.15%


Sources:


Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/002


Daily Mirror July 10th 1972, page 15





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