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19-03-2018, 15:31
Visit the Boak and Bailey's Beer Blog site (https://boakandbailey.com/2018/03/ashburton-pop-what-we-know/)
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This lost Devon beer style came to our attention flipping through*A Scrapbook of Inns (https://boakandbailey.com/2018/03/books-scrapbook-inns-1949/) a few weeks ago and we’ve since done a bit more digging. Here’s what we’ve got so far. The best single description of Ashburton Pop comes from John Cooke, born in Ashburton in 1765, whose autobiographical pamphlet*England Forever*was published in 1819 (https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Devonshire_Characters_and_Strange_Events/John_Cooke). We can’t find a copy of the original but fortunately is quoted at length in William Hone’s*Table Book (https://archive.org/stream/cu31924103708214#page/n603/mode/2up)*from 1827. Cooke wrote:
I recollect its sharp feeding good taste, far richer than the best small beer, more of the champagne taste, and what was termed a good sharp bottle. When you untied and hand-drew the cork it gave a report louder than a pop-gun, to which I attribute its name; its contents would fly up to the ceiling if you did not mind to keep the mouth of the stone bottle into the white quart cup; it filled it with froth, but not over a pint of clear liquor. Three old cronies would sit an afternoon six hours, smoke and drink a dozen bottles, their reckoning bit eight-pence each,*and a penny for tobacco. The pop was but twopence a bottle.
A footnote to the 1817 edition (https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=x3tsITC01nQC&dq=%22ashburton%20beer%22&pg=PA100#v=onepage&q&f=false) of Sir John Sinclair’s*The Code of Health*confirms that high carbonation was a defining feature:
There is a particular kind of beer brewed at Ashburton in Devonshire, very full of fixed air, and therefore known by the name of Ashburton pop, which is supposed to be as efficacious in consumptions as even the air of Devonshire itself.
For what it’s worth J. Henry Harris speculated in 1907 (https://archive.org/stream/mydevonshirebook00harr#page/42/mode/2up/search/ashburton) that “it was probably some concoction intended to rival white-ale”, another famous Devon oddity.
https://boakandbailey.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/swanky_in_glass.jpgOur attempt at Cornish swanky beer, which we reckon is in the same family. Ashburton Pop was said to have died out between 1785 (Cooke, via Hone (https://archive.org/stream/cu31924103708214#page/n603/mode/2up/search/ashburton)) and 1804, the latter date being given by an 1816 source (https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=De_VAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA830&lpg=PA830&dq=%22ashburton+pop%22&source=bl&ots=an17u1hwqZ&sig=2OePyU_99x7Gbn9HvctTTnIe4ac&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi15rqEv_jZAhVMBsAKHXBVBPYQ6AEIajAN#v=on epage&q&f=false). Cooke also says that the recipe was lost with the death of the brewer. Later sources mention surviving Ashburton Pop bottles bearing the name of what was probably the brewer, Richard Halse, and dates of 1771 (https://www.oldashburton.co.uk/bread-and-ale.php) or 1773 (https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=clEDAAAAMAAJ&dq=%22richard+halse%22+ashburton&focus=searchwithinvolume&q=1773). It was apparently revived in some form by William Michelmore, landlord of The Royal Oak at Ashburton, no later than 1835. He died in September 1846 aged 68. (Western Times, 12/09/1846.)
In the later 19th century references to Ashburton Pop only turn up in political commentary, like this from the Western Times for 03/06/1881…
Sir Stafford Northcote delivered his long-bottled speech at Manchester on Wednesday…. [He] was primed accordingly; but a more flat and vapid effusion was never poured forth in public than the oration of the Conservative Leader, on Wednesday. “Ashburton Pop” is a brisk potation, taken at the right moment, but a brief exposure to the air takes all the life out of it. Sir Stafford’s “pop” won’t stand the open air of public utterance.
… or this coded satire from the*Exeter & Plymouth Gazette from 17/07/1852, signed ‘John Barleycorn’ and addressed to the town’s voters ahead of an upcoming election:
By the bye they say, good ale is drunk at Barnstaple, but his Lordship’s brewery turns out tipple too bitter even for his family circle there, and certainly would not suit the taste of you my friends, accustomed to excellent Ashburton Pop, of which with your permission, I will now drink to our next merry meeting, never ceasing to reiterate the common-sense patriotic principle that “England and every English Interest ought to be protected against the rivalry of the rest of the world.”
Assuming that, even referenced jokingly, these are accurate descriptions of the beer itself, we might gather that it (a)*foamed quickly but didn’t retain a head; (b) was sweet rather than bitter; and (c) was to some degree still a topical reference, i.e. still in production as late as 1881, or at least generally remembered.
After*this references to Ashburton Pop only appear in the context of historical notes and queries columns, often repeating the Cooke quotation above, and sometimes suggesting that it was a precursor to modern bottled beers.
So, for now, we don’t have much solid advice for those wanting to recreate Ashburton Pop, but as none of the sources mention unusual ingredients, e.g. ginger or raisins, you could probably do worse than this:
Brew something along the lines of a fairly basic golden ale.
Then follow the method for Cornish swanky beer given here (https://www.beeradvocate.com/articles/10674/swanky-beer-the-strange-history-and-surprising-diaspora-of-a-lost-style/): ferment with baker’s yeast; allow a short fermentation in a larger vessel before bottling with corks; when the corks start wanting to escape, after a day or two more, drink it, while it’s fresh.
Ashburton Pop: What We Know (https://boakandbailey.com/2018/03/ashburton-pop-what-we-know/) originally posted at Boak & Bailey's Beer Blog (https://boakandbailey.com)
More... (https://boakandbailey.com/2018/03/ashburton-pop-what-we-know/)
https://boakandbailey.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/ashburton_pop.jpg
This lost Devon beer style came to our attention flipping through*A Scrapbook of Inns (https://boakandbailey.com/2018/03/books-scrapbook-inns-1949/) a few weeks ago and we’ve since done a bit more digging. Here’s what we’ve got so far. The best single description of Ashburton Pop comes from John Cooke, born in Ashburton in 1765, whose autobiographical pamphlet*England Forever*was published in 1819 (https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Devonshire_Characters_and_Strange_Events/John_Cooke). We can’t find a copy of the original but fortunately is quoted at length in William Hone’s*Table Book (https://archive.org/stream/cu31924103708214#page/n603/mode/2up)*from 1827. Cooke wrote:
I recollect its sharp feeding good taste, far richer than the best small beer, more of the champagne taste, and what was termed a good sharp bottle. When you untied and hand-drew the cork it gave a report louder than a pop-gun, to which I attribute its name; its contents would fly up to the ceiling if you did not mind to keep the mouth of the stone bottle into the white quart cup; it filled it with froth, but not over a pint of clear liquor. Three old cronies would sit an afternoon six hours, smoke and drink a dozen bottles, their reckoning bit eight-pence each,*and a penny for tobacco. The pop was but twopence a bottle.
A footnote to the 1817 edition (https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=x3tsITC01nQC&dq=%22ashburton%20beer%22&pg=PA100#v=onepage&q&f=false) of Sir John Sinclair’s*The Code of Health*confirms that high carbonation was a defining feature:
There is a particular kind of beer brewed at Ashburton in Devonshire, very full of fixed air, and therefore known by the name of Ashburton pop, which is supposed to be as efficacious in consumptions as even the air of Devonshire itself.
For what it’s worth J. Henry Harris speculated in 1907 (https://archive.org/stream/mydevonshirebook00harr#page/42/mode/2up/search/ashburton) that “it was probably some concoction intended to rival white-ale”, another famous Devon oddity.
https://boakandbailey.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/swanky_in_glass.jpgOur attempt at Cornish swanky beer, which we reckon is in the same family. Ashburton Pop was said to have died out between 1785 (Cooke, via Hone (https://archive.org/stream/cu31924103708214#page/n603/mode/2up/search/ashburton)) and 1804, the latter date being given by an 1816 source (https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=De_VAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA830&lpg=PA830&dq=%22ashburton+pop%22&source=bl&ots=an17u1hwqZ&sig=2OePyU_99x7Gbn9HvctTTnIe4ac&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi15rqEv_jZAhVMBsAKHXBVBPYQ6AEIajAN#v=on epage&q&f=false). Cooke also says that the recipe was lost with the death of the brewer. Later sources mention surviving Ashburton Pop bottles bearing the name of what was probably the brewer, Richard Halse, and dates of 1771 (https://www.oldashburton.co.uk/bread-and-ale.php) or 1773 (https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=clEDAAAAMAAJ&dq=%22richard+halse%22+ashburton&focus=searchwithinvolume&q=1773). It was apparently revived in some form by William Michelmore, landlord of The Royal Oak at Ashburton, no later than 1835. He died in September 1846 aged 68. (Western Times, 12/09/1846.)
In the later 19th century references to Ashburton Pop only turn up in political commentary, like this from the Western Times for 03/06/1881…
Sir Stafford Northcote delivered his long-bottled speech at Manchester on Wednesday…. [He] was primed accordingly; but a more flat and vapid effusion was never poured forth in public than the oration of the Conservative Leader, on Wednesday. “Ashburton Pop” is a brisk potation, taken at the right moment, but a brief exposure to the air takes all the life out of it. Sir Stafford’s “pop” won’t stand the open air of public utterance.
… or this coded satire from the*Exeter & Plymouth Gazette from 17/07/1852, signed ‘John Barleycorn’ and addressed to the town’s voters ahead of an upcoming election:
By the bye they say, good ale is drunk at Barnstaple, but his Lordship’s brewery turns out tipple too bitter even for his family circle there, and certainly would not suit the taste of you my friends, accustomed to excellent Ashburton Pop, of which with your permission, I will now drink to our next merry meeting, never ceasing to reiterate the common-sense patriotic principle that “England and every English Interest ought to be protected against the rivalry of the rest of the world.”
Assuming that, even referenced jokingly, these are accurate descriptions of the beer itself, we might gather that it (a)*foamed quickly but didn’t retain a head; (b) was sweet rather than bitter; and (c) was to some degree still a topical reference, i.e. still in production as late as 1881, or at least generally remembered.
After*this references to Ashburton Pop only appear in the context of historical notes and queries columns, often repeating the Cooke quotation above, and sometimes suggesting that it was a precursor to modern bottled beers.
So, for now, we don’t have much solid advice for those wanting to recreate Ashburton Pop, but as none of the sources mention unusual ingredients, e.g. ginger or raisins, you could probably do worse than this:
Brew something along the lines of a fairly basic golden ale.
Then follow the method for Cornish swanky beer given here (https://www.beeradvocate.com/articles/10674/swanky-beer-the-strange-history-and-surprising-diaspora-of-a-lost-style/): ferment with baker’s yeast; allow a short fermentation in a larger vessel before bottling with corks; when the corks start wanting to escape, after a day or two more, drink it, while it’s fresh.
Ashburton Pop: What We Know (https://boakandbailey.com/2018/03/ashburton-pop-what-we-know/) originally posted at Boak & Bailey's Beer Blog (https://boakandbailey.com)
More... (https://boakandbailey.com/2018/03/ashburton-pop-what-we-know/)