Blog Tracker
28-10-2021, 08:10
Visit the Shut up about Barclay Perkins site (http://barclayperkins.blogspot.com/2021/10/porter-history-same-old-bullshit.html)
https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-G3q5Znfh9Fw/YXgGr7pzjGI/AAAAAAAAjrw/r5CLGJNhe9UQb7PNGyDPgxkzckfnm3oDACLcBGAsYHQ/w326-h400/Fullers_London_Porter.jpg (https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-G3q5Znfh9Fw/YXgGr7pzjGI/AAAAAAAAjrw/r5CLGJNhe9UQb7PNGyDPgxkzckfnm3oDACLcBGAsYHQ/s600/Fullers_London_Porter.jpg)
I thought that after more than a decade of Martyn Cornell and I putting the record straight on the history of Porter that the myths about its history had finally been laid to rest. How wrong I was.The latest edition of CAMRA's Beer magazine contains an article on Porter by Roger Protz. Where he repeats all of the most egregious tales of the style's origin and decline. It's incredibly frustrating that I'm still having to refute this bullshit after demonstrating years ago just how wrong it was.
Here we go again.
"The brewers called porter entire butt, as it was served from just one cask or butt. It replaced a beer that was a blend of pale, brown and stale ales."The early name for Porter was Starting Butt Beer, not Entire Butt. Entire Butt doesn't refer to it being served from a single cask. It means that it was brewed "Entire gyle", that is, all the worts were cobined to make a single beer. As op[posed to parti-gyling multiple beer from one brew. Entire later came to refer to Keeping Porter, beer which had been aged.
Porter didn't replace blend of pale, brown and stale ales. That was made up in the early 19th century by someone who totally misinterpreted Obadiah Poundage's letter to a magazine outlining the history of Porter. In any case Porter was a Beer, not an Ale. In the early 18th century Beer and Ale were two distinct drinks, brewed at different breweries and even coming in different-sized casks.
"But production came to an abrupt stop in World War I, when the government banned the use of dark roasted malts. It said the additional energy, in the shape of gas, coal and electricity, used to produce roasted malts should go into munitions and baking."
I've looked very carefully through the Food Controller's orders in WW I and I can find no ban on the roasting of malt. All through the war London brewed used large quantities of roasted malts, even including brown malt in some Mild Ales.
Production of Porter didn't stop in London during WW I. Neither of Stout. Even in the darkest days of 1918 and 1919, Whitbread brewed over 100,000 barrels of Porter and Stout. Production of Porter did fall dramatically in 1917 and 1918, but only because gravities had become so reduced that Stout, for a while, replaced it.
Here are the details:
Whitbread Porter and Stout production 1914 - 1929
Year
P
S
CS
LS
ES
Total Port
1914
123,085
190
198,806
382,984
1915
65,216
208,733
282
314,169
1916
80,298
244,889
369,130
1917
8,493
241,280
286,163
1918
7,136
95,882
110,695
1919
21,602
4,797
89,165
117,284
1920
24,910
47,789
137,533
234,413
1921
15,688
58,452
133,563
30,920
238,623
1922
16,562
47,530
84,703
15,340
28,582
192,717
1923
14,165
39,960
68,326
20,866
26,660
169,977
1924
15,948
37,834
74,258
23,442
26,710
178,192
1925
14,943
35,396
62,357
22,262
28,974
163,932
1926
13,511
34,567
20,721
69,724
29,990
168,513
1927
10,708
30,087
86,569
22,361
149,725
1928
10,105
30,017
85,992
16,039
142,153
1929
5,558
17,284
51,624
11,313
85,779
Sources:
Whitbread brewing records held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document numbers LMA/4453/D/01/079, LMA/4453/D/01/080, LMA/4453/D/01/081, LMA/4453/D/01/082, LMA/4453/D/01/083, LMA/4453/D/01/084, LMA/4453/D/01/085, LMA/4453/D/01/086, LMA/4453/D/01/087, LMA/4453/D/01/088, LMA/4453/D/01/089, LMA/4453/D/01/090, LMA/4453/D/01/091, LMA/4453/D/01/092, LMA/4453/D/01/093 and LMA/4453/D/01/094.
WW I did have a negative impact of Porter in London. But that wasn't the result of a ban on roasted malts. More it was fault of London brewers post-war for brewing Porter as a 5d per pint beer, which meant it had a watery gravity of not much over 1030ยบ. It seems many drinkers switched over to Stout.
It wasn't just Whitbread. Fullers were brewing 250 barrel batches of Porter in 1918 and 1919.
More... (http://barclayperkins.blogspot.com/2021/10/porter-history-same-old-bullshit.html)
https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-G3q5Znfh9Fw/YXgGr7pzjGI/AAAAAAAAjrw/r5CLGJNhe9UQb7PNGyDPgxkzckfnm3oDACLcBGAsYHQ/w326-h400/Fullers_London_Porter.jpg (https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-G3q5Znfh9Fw/YXgGr7pzjGI/AAAAAAAAjrw/r5CLGJNhe9UQb7PNGyDPgxkzckfnm3oDACLcBGAsYHQ/s600/Fullers_London_Porter.jpg)
I thought that after more than a decade of Martyn Cornell and I putting the record straight on the history of Porter that the myths about its history had finally been laid to rest. How wrong I was.The latest edition of CAMRA's Beer magazine contains an article on Porter by Roger Protz. Where he repeats all of the most egregious tales of the style's origin and decline. It's incredibly frustrating that I'm still having to refute this bullshit after demonstrating years ago just how wrong it was.
Here we go again.
"The brewers called porter entire butt, as it was served from just one cask or butt. It replaced a beer that was a blend of pale, brown and stale ales."The early name for Porter was Starting Butt Beer, not Entire Butt. Entire Butt doesn't refer to it being served from a single cask. It means that it was brewed "Entire gyle", that is, all the worts were cobined to make a single beer. As op[posed to parti-gyling multiple beer from one brew. Entire later came to refer to Keeping Porter, beer which had been aged.
Porter didn't replace blend of pale, brown and stale ales. That was made up in the early 19th century by someone who totally misinterpreted Obadiah Poundage's letter to a magazine outlining the history of Porter. In any case Porter was a Beer, not an Ale. In the early 18th century Beer and Ale were two distinct drinks, brewed at different breweries and even coming in different-sized casks.
"But production came to an abrupt stop in World War I, when the government banned the use of dark roasted malts. It said the additional energy, in the shape of gas, coal and electricity, used to produce roasted malts should go into munitions and baking."
I've looked very carefully through the Food Controller's orders in WW I and I can find no ban on the roasting of malt. All through the war London brewed used large quantities of roasted malts, even including brown malt in some Mild Ales.
Production of Porter didn't stop in London during WW I. Neither of Stout. Even in the darkest days of 1918 and 1919, Whitbread brewed over 100,000 barrels of Porter and Stout. Production of Porter did fall dramatically in 1917 and 1918, but only because gravities had become so reduced that Stout, for a while, replaced it.
Here are the details:
Whitbread Porter and Stout production 1914 - 1929
Year
P
S
CS
LS
ES
Total Port
1914
123,085
190
198,806
382,984
1915
65,216
208,733
282
314,169
1916
80,298
244,889
369,130
1917
8,493
241,280
286,163
1918
7,136
95,882
110,695
1919
21,602
4,797
89,165
117,284
1920
24,910
47,789
137,533
234,413
1921
15,688
58,452
133,563
30,920
238,623
1922
16,562
47,530
84,703
15,340
28,582
192,717
1923
14,165
39,960
68,326
20,866
26,660
169,977
1924
15,948
37,834
74,258
23,442
26,710
178,192
1925
14,943
35,396
62,357
22,262
28,974
163,932
1926
13,511
34,567
20,721
69,724
29,990
168,513
1927
10,708
30,087
86,569
22,361
149,725
1928
10,105
30,017
85,992
16,039
142,153
1929
5,558
17,284
51,624
11,313
85,779
Sources:
Whitbread brewing records held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document numbers LMA/4453/D/01/079, LMA/4453/D/01/080, LMA/4453/D/01/081, LMA/4453/D/01/082, LMA/4453/D/01/083, LMA/4453/D/01/084, LMA/4453/D/01/085, LMA/4453/D/01/086, LMA/4453/D/01/087, LMA/4453/D/01/088, LMA/4453/D/01/089, LMA/4453/D/01/090, LMA/4453/D/01/091, LMA/4453/D/01/092, LMA/4453/D/01/093 and LMA/4453/D/01/094.
WW I did have a negative impact of Porter in London. But that wasn't the result of a ban on roasted malts. More it was fault of London brewers post-war for brewing Porter as a 5d per pint beer, which meant it had a watery gravity of not much over 1030ยบ. It seems many drinkers switched over to Stout.
It wasn't just Whitbread. Fullers were brewing 250 barrel batches of Porter in 1918 and 1919.
More... (http://barclayperkins.blogspot.com/2021/10/porter-history-same-old-bullshit.html)