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13-07-2014, 07:14
Visit the Shut up about Barclay Perkins site (http://barclayperkins.blogspot.com/2014/07/watney-pale-ale-quality-1922-1925.html)
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I continue to stumble on in the dark, hoping I'm not going to bang my shin on the furniture. Yes, we're at letter W. Oddly quite common as the first letter of London breweries.
The W's start with Watney, probably the most notorious of the capital's breweries. In the 1920's it was one of Britain's largest breweries. The company in its then form had been created in 1898, when Watney merged with Combe and Reid. It was the first big brewery merger I can recall. The Combe and Reid breweries closed pretty much immediately with production being concentrated at Watney's Stag Brewery close to Victoria station.
Watney's fondness for cask in the 1960's and 1970's made them a hate figure for CAMRA. Whose constant mockery eventually poisoned the Watney brand. Their name got so bad that they removed from the outside of their pubs.
One of the biggest mistakes when looking at the past is to project the present onto it. To assume that little has changed. What am I leading up to? It would be easy to assume Watney's beers had always been shit. Their Mild placed second of seventeen, with an average score of 1.25. Their Burton was only ninth of fourteen, but still had a decent average score of 0.77. How will their Bitter do? We'll see in a minute.
Let's look at this particular beer first. It's a 9d/8d Best Bitter and is about bang on spec-wise for this type of beer: 1054 OG, 5.5% ABV, 80% apparent attenuation..
Here's how it scored:
Watney Pale Ale quality 1922 - 1925
Year
Beer
FG
OG
ABV
App. Atten-uation
Appearance
Flavour
score
Price
1922
PA
1011.2
1054.2
5.60
79.34%
brilliant
v good
3
9d
1922
PA
1010.5
1052.5
5.47
80.00%
brilliant
v good
3
9d
1922
PA
1011.4
1053.9
5.54
78.85%
hazy
good
2
9d
1922
PA
1007.2
1052.5
5.92
86.29%
bright
v good
3
9d
1923
PA
1012
1055
5.60
78.18%
bright
good
2
9d
1923
PA
1012
1055.5
5.67
78.38%
brilliant
good
2
9d
1923
PA
1012
1056
5.73
78.57%
brilliant
good
2
9d
1923
PA
1011.6
1053.1
5.40
78.15%
grey
good
2
9d
1923
PA
1011.6
1053.6
5.47
78.36%
brilliant
good
2
9d
1923
PA
1012.8
1053.8
5.33
76.21%
bright
good
2
8d
1923
PA
1012.8
1053.8
5.33
76.21%
fairly bright
v fair
2
8d
1924
PA
1053.2
hazy
v fair
2
8d
1925
PA
1011.2
1054.2
5.60
79.34%
fairly bright
v fair
2
8d
1925
PA
1011.6
1052.4
5.31
77.86%
bright
good
2
8d
Average
1011.4
1053.8
5.54
78.90%
2.21
Source:
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/001
That's damn impressive. The lowest score is a two. Nine of fourteen samples were bright, which, if you've been paying attention, you'll realise isn't bad. Only two of those sound like they had real problems. But look at those flavour scores. No surprise that the average score is a very high 2.21.
This feels really weird, but it's my genuine advice: seek out Watneys pubs next time you're visiting 1920's London.
More... (http://barclayperkins.blogspot.com/2014/07/watney-pale-ale-quality-1922-1925.html)
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-f96BGUuzsYA/U74-8zsytmI/AAAAAAAAUBU/fDkJRPps7lQ/s1600/Watneys_Red_Barrel_Belgium_1966.jpg (http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-f96BGUuzsYA/U74-8zsytmI/AAAAAAAAUBU/fDkJRPps7lQ/s1600/Watneys_Red_Barrel_Belgium_1966.jpg)
I continue to stumble on in the dark, hoping I'm not going to bang my shin on the furniture. Yes, we're at letter W. Oddly quite common as the first letter of London breweries.
The W's start with Watney, probably the most notorious of the capital's breweries. In the 1920's it was one of Britain's largest breweries. The company in its then form had been created in 1898, when Watney merged with Combe and Reid. It was the first big brewery merger I can recall. The Combe and Reid breweries closed pretty much immediately with production being concentrated at Watney's Stag Brewery close to Victoria station.
Watney's fondness for cask in the 1960's and 1970's made them a hate figure for CAMRA. Whose constant mockery eventually poisoned the Watney brand. Their name got so bad that they removed from the outside of their pubs.
One of the biggest mistakes when looking at the past is to project the present onto it. To assume that little has changed. What am I leading up to? It would be easy to assume Watney's beers had always been shit. Their Mild placed second of seventeen, with an average score of 1.25. Their Burton was only ninth of fourteen, but still had a decent average score of 0.77. How will their Bitter do? We'll see in a minute.
Let's look at this particular beer first. It's a 9d/8d Best Bitter and is about bang on spec-wise for this type of beer: 1054 OG, 5.5% ABV, 80% apparent attenuation..
Here's how it scored:
Watney Pale Ale quality 1922 - 1925
Year
Beer
FG
OG
ABV
App. Atten-uation
Appearance
Flavour
score
Price
1922
PA
1011.2
1054.2
5.60
79.34%
brilliant
v good
3
9d
1922
PA
1010.5
1052.5
5.47
80.00%
brilliant
v good
3
9d
1922
PA
1011.4
1053.9
5.54
78.85%
hazy
good
2
9d
1922
PA
1007.2
1052.5
5.92
86.29%
bright
v good
3
9d
1923
PA
1012
1055
5.60
78.18%
bright
good
2
9d
1923
PA
1012
1055.5
5.67
78.38%
brilliant
good
2
9d
1923
PA
1012
1056
5.73
78.57%
brilliant
good
2
9d
1923
PA
1011.6
1053.1
5.40
78.15%
grey
good
2
9d
1923
PA
1011.6
1053.6
5.47
78.36%
brilliant
good
2
9d
1923
PA
1012.8
1053.8
5.33
76.21%
bright
good
2
8d
1923
PA
1012.8
1053.8
5.33
76.21%
fairly bright
v fair
2
8d
1924
PA
1053.2
hazy
v fair
2
8d
1925
PA
1011.2
1054.2
5.60
79.34%
fairly bright
v fair
2
8d
1925
PA
1011.6
1052.4
5.31
77.86%
bright
good
2
8d
Average
1011.4
1053.8
5.54
78.90%
2.21
Source:
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/001
That's damn impressive. The lowest score is a two. Nine of fourteen samples were bright, which, if you've been paying attention, you'll realise isn't bad. Only two of those sound like they had real problems. But look at those flavour scores. No surprise that the average score is a very high 2.21.
This feels really weird, but it's my genuine advice: seek out Watneys pubs next time you're visiting 1920's London.
More... (http://barclayperkins.blogspot.com/2014/07/watney-pale-ale-quality-1922-1925.html)