PDA

View Full Version : Shut up about Barclay Perkins - Porter's last hurrah



Blog Tracker
04-04-2010, 08:42
Visit the Shut up about Barclay Perkins site (http://barclayperkins.blogspot.com/2010/04/porters-last-hurrah.html)

I've been very busy. Doing primary research. Scouring brewing records, transcribing Whitbread Gravity Book entries. That sort of exciting stuff.


http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_CHrKKDU9290/S7Wvy2iLMKI/AAAAAAAAGxw/ArcMkGFHivU/s320/Halle_Porter_1958.jpg (http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_CHrKKDU9290/S7Wvy2iLMKI/AAAAAAAAGxw/ArcMkGFHivU/s1600/Halle_Porter_1958.jpg)
I tried to persuade Andrew to help: "It'll be good practice for when you study history at university."

"Do your own work, dad. Anyway, I've decided to study film editing."

It was the first I'd heard of his change in plans. Damn. I'd hoped to get him as a free research assistant. And he doesn't need money, so bribery is out of the question. No alternative but to do it myself.

If I weren't such an obsessive, it would be a daunting task. I reckon it'll take another two or three weeks to finish off the Whitbread Gravity Book. And two to three months to finish extracting details from brewing records. Finished for the time being. I'll photograph a load more in May.

But enough of my complaining. Time for numbers. Lovely old, dusty numbers, fresh from the number mine.


Porter in the 1920's
Year
Brewer
Beer


Price
size
package


FG


OG


ABV
attenuation
1921
Charrington
Porter


7d
pint
draught


1009.6


1041.1


4.09


76.64%
1922
Barclay Perkins
Porter


6d
pint
draught


1011.5


1035.5


3.10


67.61%
1922
Barclay Perkins
Porter


6d
pint
draught


1013.2


1040.2


3.49


67.16%
1922
Cannon Brewery
Porter


6d
pint
draught


1010.2


1036.2


3.37


71.82%
1922
City of London
Porter


6d
pint
draught


1008.8


1037.3


3.70


76.41%
1922
Courage
Porter


6d
pint
draught


1010.2


1037.7


3.56


72.94%
1922
Hoare
Porter


6d
pint
draught


1011


1037.3


3.41


70.51%
1922
Lion Brewery
Porter


6d
pint
draught


1008.2


1040.2


4.16


79.60%
1922
Mann Crossman
Porter


6d
pint
draught


1007


1034


3.51


79.41%
1922
Mann Crossman
Porter


6d
pint
draught


1009.6


1040.3


3.99


76.18%
1922
Taylor Walker
Porter




pint
draught




1038.5




1922
Truman
Porter




pint
draught




1037.5




1922
Watney
Porter




pint
draught




1036.8




1923
Barclay Perkins
Porter


6d
pint
draught


1012.8


1039.8


3.49


67.84%
1923
Cannon Brewery
Porter


5d
pint
draught


1009.4


1034.9


3.30


73.07%
1923
City of London
Porter


6d
pint
draught


1012.4


1038.4


3.36


67.71%
1923
Courage
Porter


6d
pint
draught


1013.2


1043.2


3.89


69.44%
1923
Courage
Porter


5d
pint
draught


1012.2


1036.7


3.17


66.76%
1923
Hoare
Porter


6d
pint
draught


1009.8


1034.5


3.20


71.59%
1923
Lion Brewery
Porter


6d
pint
draught


1010


1039


3.76


74.36%
1923
Mann
Porter




pint
draught




1039.9




1923
Mann
Porter




pint
draught




1037.2




1923
Truman
Porter




pint
draught




1038.8




1923
Watney
Porter




pint
draught




1035.8




1923
Wenlock
Porter




pint
draught




1035.2




1923
Whitbread
Porter




pint
draught




1034.2




1926
Barclay Perkins
Porter


5d
pint
draught




1038.1




1926
Cannon
Porter


5d
pint
draught




1038.8




1926
Charrington
Porter


5d
pint
draught




1036.2




1926
City of London
Porter


5d
pint
draught




1037.6




1926
Hoare & Co
Porter


5d
pint
draught




1039.8




1926
Huggins
Porter


5d
pint
draught




1040.8




1926
Mann Crossman
Porter


5d
pint
draught




1041.2




1926
Meux
Porter


5d
pint
draught




1037.4




1926
Smith Garrett
Porter


5d
pint
draught




1035.1




1926
Taylor Walker
Porter


5d
pint
draught




1039.9




1926
Truman
Porter


5d
pint
draught




1038.7




1926
Whitbread
Porter


5d
pint
draught




1038.6




1927
Cannon
Porter


5d
pint
draught




1040.1




1927
Charrington
Porter


5d
pint
draught




1035.6




1927
Courage
Porter


5d
pint
draught




1037.6




1927
Truman
Porter


5d
pint
draught




1038.4




1927
Whitbread
Porter


5d
pint
draught




1031.9




1928
Courage
Porter


5d
pint
draught


1013.2


1038.3


3.24


65.54%
1928
Hoare
Porter


5d
pint
draught


1013.4


1037.9


3.17


64.64%
1929
Courage
Porter


5d
pint
draught


1012.8


1037.4


3.18


65.78%
1929
Hoare
Porter


5d
pint
draught


1009.2


1038.3


3.78


75.98%
1929
Wenlock
Porter




pint
draught




1039.2






Average OG












1036.4




Sources:
Whitbread Gravity Book
Truman Gravity Book

Before some smartarse points out the average doesn't tally with the rest of the table, I'll point out that it's for all 283 examples in the full table. It was a bit much for a blog post, so I slimmed it down.

The 1920's were the last time when Porter was a mainstream beer. And only then in London. It had already disappeared from the public bars of the rest of Britain. Cheap, weak and probably only drunk by old blokes, it was in terminal decline.

Cheap. Could that have hastened its end? Before WW I Porter had been about average gravity, between 1050 and 1055. In the 1920's it was well below. Average gravity was around 1043. As you can see from above, Porter was typically about 1036.

Something similar happened to Mild a few decades later. When it became barely alcoholic as a result of WW II. I wonder if a down-market image always hastens a style to oblivion?

One other small point: all the breweries represented in the table were in London.It's hard to imagine now that Londonm ever had so many breweries.https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5445569787371915337-4867052745644813627?l=barclayperkins.blogspot.com


More... (http://barclayperkins.blogspot.com/2010/04/porters-last-hurrah.html)