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31-08-2015, 08:25
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Table time again. The words are still rationed, owing to me having spoken too much last weekend. I don’t have an infinite supply of these things, you know.

Having obtained some fresh, juicy numbers, courtesy of Boak and Bailey, I thought I’d do something with them. As 1960 marks the end of the period I’m currently focussing on, it seems a good excuse to take a look at the state of British beer then.

Boak and Bailey’s data came from a Which? Report into beer from 1960. It’s hard to imagine how much in the dark drinkers were about the strength of the beer back then. Brewers were very secretive about how strong their beer was. With good reason. Their reflex reaction to tax increases had long been to cut gravities. By not telling their customers about gravities, they hoped they might not notice their beer was getting weaker.

This report and the occasional newspaper article were the only times beer strengths were ever detailed. I know kicking CAMRA is a modern sport, but it was they who dragged beer gravities out into the open. In the late 1970’s, as brewers wouldn’t say how strong their beers were, CAMRA had them analysed themselves. And published the results in the Good Beer Guide. Once the information was out in the open, some brewers started to publish their gravities. Eventually legislation obliged them to include it on beer labels.

But back in the dark days of 1970, the only way to get an idea of the strength of a beer was its name and price. Though those indicators weren’t 100% reliable. There are plenty of examples of Best Bitter in the tables below that aren’t very best. They range from 1032º to 1048º. As average gravity was around 1037º at this time, I would expect a Best Bitter to be stronger than that.

You’ll notice that several beers appear in both tables. I’m reassured that the prices mostly match, as do the gravities to within a few percentage points.

The bitterness number which appears in the Which? Table is something called “Index of Hop Bitter”. Not sure exactly what that is, but it doesn’t look far off an IBU number to me. Perhaps a touch lower. It amuses me that one of the beers with the highest bitterness is From William Younger, a Scottish brewery. Weren’t they supposed to use almost no hops in Scotland?

There’s a huge variation in value for money, as indicated by the final column, which gives the price in pennies of 1% ABV. I’m pleased to see that the winner of this particular race, by a whisker, is Carlisle State Management. A nationalised brewery. And it’s reassuring to see that by far the worst value for money is a keg beer, Flowers Bitter. You’ll note that the average price per % ABV is very similar for both tables, 4.21d and 4.22d.

That’s me done. I’ll leave you with the lovely tables.



Draught Bitter in 1960


Brewer
Beer
Price per pint d
OG
FG
ABV
atten-uation
bitterness
price per % ABV


Ansells
Bitter
17
1045.3
1010.7
4.50
76.38%
31
3.78


Worthington
"E"
18
1041.8
1006.5
4.60
84.45%
28
3.91


Bass
Red Triangle
18
1043.1
1008.5
4.50
80.28%
34
4.00


Carlisle State Management
Bitter
14
1038.2
1008.2
3.90
78.53%
28
3.59


Charrington
India Pale Ale
19
1044.9
1013.25
4.10
70.49%
37
4.63


Courage & Barclay
Bitter
17
1040.3
1010.25
3.90
74.57%
40
4.36


Flowers
Keg Bitter
22
1039.1
1012.8
3.40
67.26%
33
6.47


Fremlins
Best Bitter
21
1044.7
1009.3
4.60
79.19%
34
4.56


Friary Meux
Bitter
13
1034.9
1007.2
3.60
79.37%
28
3.61


Georges
Bitter
13
1030.9
1004.75
3.40
84.63%
24
3.82


Greenall Whitley
Bitter
14
1034.4
1005.95
3.70
82.70%
40
3.78


Greene King
Bitter
15
1037.0
1006.25
4.00
83.11%
33
3.75


Hammond United
Best Bitter
16
1035.5
1004.05
4.10
88.59%
20
3.90


Ind Coope
Bitter (BB)
15
1037.7
1008.4
3.80
77.72%
36
3.94


John Smiths
Best Bitter
16
1036.8
1010.55
3.40
71.33%
40
4.71


Tennant
Best Bitter
16
1038.3
1006.05
4.20
84.20%
30
3.81


Tennant
Queen's Ale
18
1041.7
1008.6
4.30
79.38%
35
4.18


Thwaites
Bitter
16
1035.8
1006.6
3.80
81.56%
32
4.21


Truman
Bitter
16
1037.6
1007.6
3.90
79.79%
30
4.10


Ushers
Bitter
13
1031.9
1008.75
3.00
72.57%
25
4.33


Vaux
Best Bitter
15
1034.8
1005.6
3.80
83.91%
22
3.95


Watney
Special Bitter
19
1043.1
1014.5
3.70
66.36%
33
5.14


Whitbread
Bitter
17
1037.4
1009.65
3.60
74.20%
35
4.72


Wilson
Bitter
15
1036.1
1006.1
3.90
83.10%
35
3.84


Younger, Wm.
Bitter
18
1043.9
1010.8
4.30
75.40%
40
4.19


Average

16.44
1038.6
1008.4
3.92
78.36%
32.12
4.21


Source:


Which Beer Report, 1960, pages 171 - 173.






Draught Bitter in 1960


Brewer
Year
Price per pint d
OG
FG
ABV
atten-uation
Colour
price per % ABV


Bass
Bitter
21
1044
1009.8
4.45
77.73%
19
4.72


Beasley
Bitter
15
1034.3
1004.5
3.72
86.88%
35
4.03


Blatch Brewery
Bitter
14
1031.8
1003.9
3.49
87.74%
20
4.01


Burt & Co.
Best Bitter
13
1032.6
1004.5
3.51
86.20%
20
3.70


Charles Wells
Bitter
18
1034.4
1006.6
3.48
80.81%
18
5.18


Charrington
Ordinary Bitter
14
1033.8
1008
3.35
76.33%
18
4.18


Charrington
Best Bitter
19
1044.5
1012.9
4.10
71.01%
24
4.64


Clinch
Bitter
13
1034
1006.1
3.49
82.06%
20
3.73


Courage & Barclay
Directors' Bitter
24
1048.8
1008.4
5.27
82.79%
26
4.56


Courage & Barclay
Bitter
17
1040.4
1009.1
4.07
77.48%
23
4.18


Courage & Barclay
Alton Pale Ale
17
1040.4
1009.4
4.03
76.73%
25
4.22


Dunmow Brewery
Bitter
14
1033.6
1006.6
3.37
80.36%
25
4.15


Flowers
Bitter
19
1040.6
1008.8
3.97
78.33%
24
4.78


Fremlin
XXX Bitter
14
1035.5
1005.7
3.72
83.94%
26
3.76


Friary
Bitter
14
1033.8
1005.2
3.57
84.62%
20
3.92


Friary Meux
Treble Gold
18
1042.3
1008.9
4.18
78.96%
23
4.31


Fullers
London Pride
20
1042.3
1010.5
4.13
75.18%
24
4.85


Fullers
Ordinary Bitter
16
1032.2
1005.3
3.50
83.54%
24
4.58


Garne & Sons
Best Bitter
17
1042.9
1009.5
4.18
77.86%
30
4.07


Garne & Sons
Bitter
13
1031.2
1004.3
3.36
86.22%
21
3.87


Gibbs Mew
Blue Keg Bitter
18
1036
1007.6
3.55
78.89%
25
5.07


Gray's
Bitter
13
1033.6
1006.1
3.44
81.85%
21
3.78


Greene King
Abbot Ale
22
1051.3
1007.9
5.43
84.60%
20
4.06


Greene King
Best Bitter
15
1038.4
1007.4
3.88
80.73%
20
3.87


Greene King
Ordinary Bitter
13
1033.9
1005.7
3.53
83.19%
26
3.69


Harvey's
Bitter
14
1033.8
1006.1
3.46
81.95%
22
4.04


Ind Coope
Double Diamond
19
1040.2
1010
3.92
75.12%
22
4.85


McMullen
Best Bitter
16
1041.1
1010.8
3.79
73.72%
25
4.22


McMullen
Ordinary Bitter
15
1037
1008
3.63
78.38%
22
4.14


Mew Langton
Best Bitter
18
1037
1008.6
3.55
76.76%
19
5.07


Morland
Bitter
14
1035.6
1006.1
3.69
82.87%
18
3.80


Morrell
Best Bitter
15
1035.3
1005.3
3.75
84.99%
23
4.00


Morrell
Light Bitter
12
1030.7
1005
3.21
83.71%
17
3.74


Rayments
Best Bitter
14
1035.7
1006.4
3.66
82.07%
22
3.82


Rayments
Bitter
12
1030.3
1004.1
3.27
86.47%
18
3.66


Ridley
Best Bitter
21
1047
1007.8
4.90
83.40%
22
4.29


Ridley
Ordinary Bitter
14
1034.2
1009.8
3.05
71.35%
19
4.59


Simonds
Best Bitter
19
1042.3
1007.5
4.35
82.27%
17
4.37


Simpson & Co.
Bitter
15
1036.2
1008
3.53
77.90%
24
4.26


Star Brewery
SPA
17
1039.5
1005.8
4.21
85.32%
22
4.04


Star Brewery
Bitter
12
1029.5
1003.3
3.28
88.81%
20
3.66


Tamplin
Bitter
14
1034.3
1006
3.54
82.51%
24
3.96


Tetley
Bitter
16
1037.9
1003.7
4.28
90.24%
20
3.74


Tollemache
Bitter
16
1033.3
1003.4
3.74
89.79%
20
4.28


Truman
Best Burton Bitter
18
1042.7
1009.7
4.29
77.28%
19
4.20


Truman
Ordinary Burton Bitter
16
1037.4
1007.6
3.87
79.68%
20
4.13


Usher
Ordinary Bitter
13
1032.5
1007.3
3.15
77.54%
18
4.13


Usher, Trowbridge
Best Bitter
18
1043.6
1010
4.20
77.06%
21
4.29


Watney
Special Bitter
19
1044.2
1009.6
4.50
78.28%
26
4.22


Wells & Winch
Bitter
16
1036
1010.3
3.21
71.39%
12
4.98


Wenlock
Bitter
16
1035
1008.7
3.41
75.14%
26
4.69


Whitbread
Bitter
17
1038.5
1011
3.56
71.43%
20
4.77


Young & Co
Best Bitter
20
1048.4
1011.5
4.61
76.24%
24
4.34


Young & Co
Ordinary Bitter
15
1037.5
1006.6
3.86
82.40%
19
3.88


Average

16.15
1037.7
1007.4
3.818
80.52%
21.81
4.22


Source:


Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/002.



I’ve a few other types of beer to plough through. Unless I get distracted.

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