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09-06-2016, 09:40
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I’ve been on a price list binge recently. I blame the newspaper archive. And the fact that that adverts are about the only place Mild Ale ever gets mentioned.

Today’s is from a brewery that’s still very much around: Charles Wells. This is the price list in question:


https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-UGknAcmU4Mk/V1AUJPrdswI/AAAAAAAAZ8E/782dqd1Pogw7ofpYTiEbJ3djpzdt3gJtACLcB/s640/Charles_Wells_1952a.jpg (https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-UGknAcmU4Mk/V1AUJPrdswI/AAAAAAAAZ8E/782dqd1Pogw7ofpYTiEbJ3djpzdt3gJtACLcB/s1600/Charles_Wells_1952a.jpg)
Bedfordshire Times and Independent - Friday 13 June 1952, page 8.

You might well ask what the point of publishing this is. It’s quite simple: to show how slimmed down breweries’ product ranges became as a result of WW II. London brewers dropped many of their less popular beers in the early years of the war. That’s what finally did for Porter.

The advert shows about the minimum range a pub could get away with. Draught Mild and Bitter; bottled Pale Ale, Brown Ale, Stout, Strong Ale and Guinness. Not even Bass or Worthington, which were available in lots of pubs, just like Guinness.

I suppose you’d like to know more about these beers. So would I. Wonder if they have any brewing records preserved? Be interesting to take a look at them. Failing that, I do have a few analyses of their beers.



Charles Wells beers 1950 - 1979


Year
Beer
Style
Price per pint d
package
OG
FG
ABV
App. Atten-uation
colour
price per gravity point


1950
X
Mild
12
draught
1030.4



104
0.3947


1951
Mild Ale
Mild
14
draught
1028.6
1005
3.07
82.52%
75
0.4895


1960
Stout
Stout
24
bottled
1040.9
1015.3
3.20
62.59%
200
0.5868


1960
Bitter
Pale Ale
18
draught
1034.4
1006.6
3.48
80.81%
18
0.5233


1966
Charter Ale
Pale Ale
38
bottled
1055.4
1009
5.80
83.75%
27
0.6859


1968
Mild XX
Mild
19
draught
1029.8
1003.6
3.27
87.92%
70
0.6376


1968
Nogger (Keg)
Pale Ale
28
draught
1040.4
1004
4.55
90.10%
25
0.6931


1968
IPA Bitter
IPA
22
draught
1036.3
1003
4.16
91.74%
20
0.6061


1979
Fargo
Pale Ale

draught
1050







1979
Bombardier
Pale Ale

draught
1042







1979
IPA or Eagle Bitter
IPA

draught
1035







Sources:


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


Truman Gravity Book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number B/THB/C/252


1980 Good Beer Guide


You can see that their IPA didn’t change a great deal between 1950 and 1979, nor their Mild between 1950 and 1968. Though by 1979 their Mild no longer existed in cask form.

For comparison purposes, here’s Guinness from the same period:



Guinness Extra Stout 1951 - 1960


Year
Beer
Style
Price per pint d
package
OG
FG
ABV
App. Atten-uation
colour
price per gravity point


1951
Extra Stout
Stout
30
bottled
1049.1
1007.5
5.43
84.73%
1 + 8
0.611


1951
Extra Stout
Stout
31
bottled
1047.7
1008.1
5.16
83.02%
1 + 8.5
0.6499


1952
Extra Stout
Stout
28
bottled
1047.4
1007.5
5.20
84.18%
1 + 8
0.5907


1953
Extra Stout
Stout
31
bottled
1047.4
1008.7
5.04
81.65%
1 + 11
0.654


1953
Extra Stout
Stout
36
bottled
1046.3
1002.8
5.70
93.95%
1 + 8
0.7775


1960
Extra Stout
Stout
29
Bottled
1046.0
1007.7
5.00
83.37%

0.6304


1960
Extra Stout
Stout
36
Canned
1046.1
1007
5.10
84.82%

0.7809


Sources:


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


Which Beer Report, 1960, pages 171 - 173.





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