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03-05-2013, 08:11
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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 >11s a barrel strong,


1802
10s
2s

Beer >16s a barrel strong,


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





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