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21-08-2014, 10:11
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If I'd realised how long this series was going to take to complete, I doubt I'd have started it. Andrew was still wearing nappies back then. Now he can legally drink.

I'm not surprised by the overall results. Porter was a drink just slipping over the edge of the cliff and about to plunge to extinction. It's own logical that a lot of it would be dodgy as falling demand had it sitting around in the cellar too long. Seventeen of the 92 samples (18.5%) were described as sour or going off. That certainly makes it sound like old beer was the problem.

The average scores are easily the worst so far. Fewer than half the breweries - five from eleven - finished above zero. The bottom three all performed dreadfully, Cannon the worst of the bunch averaging -2.56 and without a single good sample. Of the 29 samples from the three bottom-placed breweries only three were sound. You deifinitely wouldn't want to drink Porter in a City of London, Cannon or Hoare pub, The irony is that both City of London and Hoare had made their names in the 18th century as Porter breweries. The average for all Porters was negative, the first time that's happened, except for watery MA.

Whitbread and Watney have again scored well. If you take akk the beers so far into account, they're no. 1 and no. 2. Truman and Courage have also acquitted themselves well again, though Mann's performance is somewhat disappointing this time out.

Once again the beer specs are pretty simialr across the different breweries: OG 1034 - 1039, 3 - 3.9% ABV, around 70% apparent attenuation. From the relatively high finishing gravities I'd deduce that they were trying to leave some body in the beer.

Here's the main league table:



League table of 1920s London Porters by score


Brewery
FG
OG
ABV
App. Atten-uation
score


Watney
1010.0
1035.0
3.24
71.28%
1.44


Whitbread
1011.9
1034.7
2.95
65.87%
1.33


Truman
1010.5
1037.0
3.43
71.62%
0.67


Lion
1009.6
1037.7
3.64
74.35%
0.63


Courage
1010.9
1037.5
3.45
70.88%
0.22


Mann
1009.2
1038.8
3.83
76.23%
-0.25


Wenlock
1011.3
1034.3
2.97
66.94%
-0.33


Barclay Perkins
1011.6
1037.5
3.35
68.98%
-0.63


Hoare
1010.4
1034.0
3.06
69.38%
-1.56


City of London
1008.9
1036.1
3.54
75.56%
-2


Cannon
1009.6
1034.6
3.25
72.38%
-2.56


average
1010.2
1036.1
3.35
71.60%
-0.42


Source:


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




Ordering it by percentage with a good flavour gives pretty much the same result:



League table of 1920s London Porters by good flavour


Brewery
No. examples
no. good flavour
% good flavour
score


Watney
9
8
88.89%
1.44


Truman
9
7
77.78%
0.67


Lion
8
6
75.00%
0.63


Whitbread
3
2
66.67%
1.33


Mann
8
5
62.50%
-0.25


Courage
9
5
55.56%
0.22


Barclay Perkins
8
4
50.00%
-0.63


Wenlock
9
4
44.44%
-0.33


Hoare
9
2
22.22%
-1.56


City of London
11
1
9.09%
-2


Cannon
9
0
0.00%
-2.56


average
92
44
47.83%
0.32


Source:


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




Cannon's 100% bad for flavour score is impressive in a perverse way. It makes me almost want to go out and give it a try. To see if it could really always be in such poor condition.

Comparing all the styles so far, Porter is easily last, quite a way behind even MA and well below the average of 0.32.



Averages per beer type


beer type
No. examples
no. bright
% bright
no. good flavour
% good flavour
average score


Burton Average
138
61
44.20%
92
66.67%
0.72


Mild Average
188
112
59.57%
112
59.57%
0.16


X Average
170
104
61.18%
106
62.35%
0.23


MA Average
18
8
44.44%
6
33.33%
-0.18


PA Average
167
85
50.90%
109
65.27%
0.62


8d PA Average
118
62
52.54%
76
64.41%
0.52


9d PA Average
49
23
46.94%
33
67.35%
0.88


Porter
92


44
47.83%
-0.42


Average
585
258
44.10%
357
61.03%
0.32


Source:


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




Once again, I'm struck by the fact that the top six breweries all survived until the 1960's, with the exception of Lion. the bottom three all left brewing in the 1920's. That surely can't be a coincidence?

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