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29-03-2010, 08:10
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This is working perfectly. I'm spinning a whole month's worth of posts out of Andrew Campbell's "The Book Of Beer". Today I finish off Burton beers.

First off, Truman. Who were both a London and Burton brewer. They were incredibly proud of their Burton brewery. Which is why you can still see references to it plastered all over former Truman pubs.



http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_CHrKKDU9290/S6sj3wrwz9I/AAAAAAAAGvg/Hv4jTvId9BA/s320/Truman_Trubrown_1957.jpg (http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_CHrKKDU9290/S6sj3wrwz9I/AAAAAAAAGvg/Hv4jTvId9BA/s1600/Truman_Trubrown_1957.jpg)
"Truman, Hanbury, Buxton & Co's origins are the oldest in London, beginning with a certain Mr. Thomas Bucknall who established a brewhouse in Losworth Field, Spitalfields, about 1666, and which was bought by a Joseph Truman in 1694. In 1800, Samuel Hanbury joined in partnership with the Truman family and Thomas Fowell Buxton. It was not until 1873 that they bought a brewery in Burton, but as they brew their pale and bitter beers at Burton, they must be included in the Burton group of breweries. Their milds and stouts are brewed in London.

As we write, an intensive advertising campaign is in course to establish their beer Ben Truman as a national beer. Of similar strength to Bass, Double Diamond, and Worthington, it is a good solid beer, with a strong flavour. Another strongly publicized line for which a major campaign is being conducted and a mutual marketing agreement made with Whitbread's and Tollemache, is Trubrown, a brown ale of higher than usual gravity, sweet and well carbonated."
"The Book Of Beer" by Andrew Campbell, 1956, pages 204-205.Let's take a look at those beers in more detail:


Truman Burton beers in the 1950's
Year
Beer
Style


Price
size
package


FG


OG


Colour


ABV
attenuation
1950
Bitter
Pale Ale


16d
pint
draught


1005.6


1035.3


22


3.86


84.14%
1951
PA
Pale Ale


16d
pint
draught


1006


1038.2


21


4.19


84.29%
1951
Bitter
Pale Ale


17d
pint
draught


1003.8


1038.8


23


4.57


90.21%
1954
PA
Pale Ale


17d
pint
draught


1006.8


1036.9


19


3.91


81.57%
1954
PA
Pale Ale


17d
pint
draught


1006.4


1036.7


18


3.94


82.56%
1955
PA
Pale Ale


17d
pint
draught


1005.9


1037.7


17


4.14


84.35%
1957
PA
Pale Ale


17d
pint
draught


1007.1


1037.2


18


3.91


80.91%
1959
Keg Bitter
Pale Ale


22d
pint
draught


1008.8


1040.5


22


4.12


78.27%
Source:
Whitbread Gravity Book

Unfortunately, the Whitbread Gravity Bookonly lists their ordinary Bitter, not Ben Truman. But don't despair. I can check Truman's brewing records to find out moret.


Truman Burton beers in 1953
Beer
Style
OG
FG
ABV
App. Attenuation
lbs hops/ qtr
hops lb/brl
pale malt
crystal malt
no. 1 sugar
no. 3 sugar
other sugar
flaked maize
high dried malt
I.M. Co.
P1 B
Pale Ale


1050.7


1014.7


4.76


71.04%


7.21


1.39


90


1


4






7


15


3
P1 B
Pale Ale


1050.7


1017.7


4.36


65.03%


7.15


1.38


90


1


4






7


16


3
No. 7
Mild


1032.7


1006.6


3.44


79.66%


5.00


0.61


21


3






3




21


P1
Pale Ale


1044.6


1013.3


4.14


70.19%


6.14


1.04


112






4






20


4
P2
Pale Ale


1036.8


1008.6


3.74


76.69%


6.14


0.86


112






4






20


4
XX
Mild


1030.7


1005.8


3.30


81.08%


6.14


0.72


112






4






20


4
No. 7
Mild


1032.7


1009.1


3.11


72.03%


4.90


0.85


41


7






7




42


XXX
Mild


1035.7


1007.5


3.74


79.07%


4.90


2.21


41


7






7




42


P1 B
Pale Ale


1051.2


1013.3


5.02


74.05%


7.16


1.42


51




4






4


7


2
Source:
Truman brewing records.

P1 is Ben Truman, P1 B the bottling version. P2 is ordinary Bitter. None of these Pale Ales was particularly heavily hopped. The grists are what you would expect: mostly pale malt with some crystal malt, maize and sugar. I'm not quite sure what they mean by high dried malt. I suspect something like mild malt.

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_CHrKKDU9290/S6sllYU9ijI/AAAAAAAAGvo/dFZovGZsV-Y/s200/Marstons_Owd_Roger_1958.jpg (http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_CHrKKDU9290/S6sllYU9ijI/AAAAAAAAGvo/dFZovGZsV-Y/s1600/Marstons_Owd_Roger_1958.jpg)Finally a brewery that still exists: Marston's. And still brews in Burton. Incredible, eh? Here's an admission: I like Marston's Pedigree. Especially the farty smell, the sign of a true Burton Pale Ale. I'm not quite sure why it gets so much hate. Too ubiquitous, I guess. Sometimes I feel the beer world is getting like Northern soul: obscure just for the sake of it.


"Marston, Thompson and Evershed had a somewhat later start than some of the Burton breweries, and in fact are technically not in Burton-on-Trent at all, but are at Horninglow, a nearby village where they have been since 1834. Among their important brews is a barley wine type, of considerable strength and mellow character, Old Roger."
"The Book Of Beer" by Andrew Campbell, 1956, page 205.
Unfortunately, I don't have details of the one Marston's beer Campbell mentions, Owd Roger. He got the name slightly wrong, but I'll forgive him that. Instead of details, I've an Owd Roger anecdote. The Old Kings Arms in Newark used to have draught Owd Roger in the winter. I can remember Mogg drinking 5 pints of it one night and being carried out because his legs had stopped working. Served him right for drinking an 8% ABV beer by the pint. Proof that it's impossible to session a beer of that strength.

Here are the Marston's beers I do have information on:


Marston's beers in the 1950's
Year
Beer
Style


Price
size
package


FG


OG


Colour


ABV
attenuation


1950
Pale Ale
Pale Ale


17d
pint
draught




1040.9


28






1952
Extra Stout
Stout


1/3d
half pint
bottled


1011.4


1042.1


1 + 13.5


3.98


72.92%


1954
PA
Pale Ale


1/7d
pint
bottled


1005.1


1044.3


20


5.12


88.49%


1959
Mello Sweet Stout
Stout


15d
halfpint
bottled


1013.6


1040.3


325


3.45


66.25%
Sources:
Truman Gravity Book
Whitbread Gravity Book

Not much I can say about that. Except that Mello is a great name for a Sweet Stout.https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5445569787371915337-253310171994453641?l=barclayperkins.blogspot.com


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