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09-04-2023, 07:11
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After looking at draught Mild the next logical step is to take a gander at Bitter. King of the public bar, at the time.
I'm using the same Daily Mirror article as a source. It's hard to convey just how secret beer strengths were in the past. That's why brewers like Whitbread spent so much effort analysing their rivals' beers. It was the only way of finding out how strong they were. For ordinary drinker? Well, it was just bad luck. Short of analysing beers yourself, you could only guess.
Did brewers take advantage of their customers' ignorance? Of course they fucking did. In the table their are beers called "Best Bitter" with gravities that are very much ordinary. I'd expect a Best to be at least 1040º and 4% ABV.
I drank far fewer of the Bitters than the Milds. Just because I was essentially a Mild drinker. Bathams, Vaux Sampson, Adnams, Courage Best, Theakson and Jennings are the only ones I'm pretty certain that I tried. It was, after all, a very long time ago.
There was a considerable difference in value for money. Three Tuns Bitter was 55% better value than Truman Titan, in terms of gravity. Irinic as Three Tuns was a homebrew pub and so one of the smallest breweries in the country. Blue Anchor, another homebrew house, is third in terms of value for money. And at number two is Bathams, a brewery with just a handful of pubs.
This time the worst value isn't momopolised by Big Six breweries. True, there a lot of them there. This time, eleven of the twelve worst value were keg beers. The only exception being the watery Devenish Bitter, which was a mere 2.7% ABV.
In general, keg Bitter was 1p per pint more expensive than the cask version. You can see this clearly in the table where both are represented. Devenish, for example has Bitter at 11.5p and Saxon, which looks like the same beer kegged, was 12,5p. Greenall Whitley have Bitter at 13p and Festival at 15p. Again, they look like the same beer. Hall & Woodhouse: Badger Best 13p and Forum 14p.
Note that keg beers tended to be named, while cask versions were often simply called Bitter or Best Bitter.
Draught Bitter prices in 1972
Brewer
Beer
Price per pint (p)
º gravity per p
% ABV per p
OG
FG
ABV
App. Atten-uation
Three Tuns
Bitter
12
3.42
0.35
1041
1008.7
4.20
78.78%
Batham
Bitter
13
3.32
0.36
1043.2
1007.1
4.70
83.56%
Blue Anchor
Spingo
16
3.24
0.26
1051.9
1019.4
4.20
62.62%
Vaux & Co
Sampson
13
3.17
0.30
1041.2
1011.1
3.90
73.06%
Hall & Woodhouse
Badger Best
13
3.12
0.31
1040.5
1009.7
4.00
76.05%
Courage
Best Bitter
13
3.02
0.32
1039.3
1007.8
4.10
80.15%
Adnam
Best Bitter
12
3.02
0.29
1036.2
1009.2
3.50
74.59%
Blue Anchor
Ordinary
12
2.98
0.23
1035.8
1014.1
2.80
60.61%
Hall & Woodhouse
Forum
14
2.92
0.28
1040.9
1010.8
3.90
73.59%
Banks
Bitter
13
2.91
0.29
1037.8
1009.3
3.80
75.40%
Watney
Special
12.5
2.90
0.27
1036.2
1010
3.40
72.38%
Jennings
Castle
12
2.87
0.31
1034.4
1006
3.70
82.56%
Theakston
Best Bitter
13
2.83
0.28
1036.8
1009.1
3.60
75.27%
Vaux & Co
Gold Tankard
14
2.81
0.26
1039.4
1011.6
3.60
70.56%
Ind Coope
Best Bitter
13
2.81
0.26
1036.5
1010.3
3.40
71.78%
Young & Co
Ordinary Bitter
13
2.73
0.27
1035.5
1008.5
3.50
76.06%
Greenall Whitley
Bitter
13
2.72
0.30
1035.4
1005.4
3.90
84.75%
Whitbread
Trophy
13
2.70
0.28
1035.1
1006.6
3.70
81.20%
Ind Coope
Double Diamond
14
2.69
0.24
1037.6
1011.4
3.40
69.68%
Courage
Tavern
14
2.66
0.26
1037.3
1008.8
3.70
76.41%
Watney
Red
14
2.66
0.26
1037.2
1009.5
3.60
74.46%
Greene King
King Keg
14
2.64
0.23
1037
1008.5
3.20
77.03%
Whitbread
Tankard
14.5
2.59
0.27
1037.6
1007.6
3.90
79.79%
Devenish
Bitter
11.5
2.57
0.23
1029.6
1008.8
2.70
70.27%
Younger, Wm.
Tartan
14
2.56
0.26
1035.9
1007.4
3.70
79.39%
Devenish
Saxon
12.5
2.47
0.22
1030.9
1010
2.70
67.64%
Bass, Burton
Worthington E
15.5
2.44
0.26
1037.8
1007.1
4.00
81.22%
Greenall Whitley
Festival
15
2.40
0.24
1036
1008.3
3.60
76.94%
Truman
Special
15
2.38
0.26
1035.7
1005.7
3.90
84.03%
Truman
Titan
16
2.28
0.25
1036.5
1005.8
4.00
84.11%
Average
13.5
2.79
0.27
1037.5
1009.1
3.68
75.80%
Source:
Daily Mirror July 10th 1972, page 15
More... (http://barclayperkins.blogspot.com/2023/04/looking-back-part-seven-draught-bitter.html)
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After looking at draught Mild the next logical step is to take a gander at Bitter. King of the public bar, at the time.
I'm using the same Daily Mirror article as a source. It's hard to convey just how secret beer strengths were in the past. That's why brewers like Whitbread spent so much effort analysing their rivals' beers. It was the only way of finding out how strong they were. For ordinary drinker? Well, it was just bad luck. Short of analysing beers yourself, you could only guess.
Did brewers take advantage of their customers' ignorance? Of course they fucking did. In the table their are beers called "Best Bitter" with gravities that are very much ordinary. I'd expect a Best to be at least 1040º and 4% ABV.
I drank far fewer of the Bitters than the Milds. Just because I was essentially a Mild drinker. Bathams, Vaux Sampson, Adnams, Courage Best, Theakson and Jennings are the only ones I'm pretty certain that I tried. It was, after all, a very long time ago.
There was a considerable difference in value for money. Three Tuns Bitter was 55% better value than Truman Titan, in terms of gravity. Irinic as Three Tuns was a homebrew pub and so one of the smallest breweries in the country. Blue Anchor, another homebrew house, is third in terms of value for money. And at number two is Bathams, a brewery with just a handful of pubs.
This time the worst value isn't momopolised by Big Six breweries. True, there a lot of them there. This time, eleven of the twelve worst value were keg beers. The only exception being the watery Devenish Bitter, which was a mere 2.7% ABV.
In general, keg Bitter was 1p per pint more expensive than the cask version. You can see this clearly in the table where both are represented. Devenish, for example has Bitter at 11.5p and Saxon, which looks like the same beer kegged, was 12,5p. Greenall Whitley have Bitter at 13p and Festival at 15p. Again, they look like the same beer. Hall & Woodhouse: Badger Best 13p and Forum 14p.
Note that keg beers tended to be named, while cask versions were often simply called Bitter or Best Bitter.
Draught Bitter prices in 1972
Brewer
Beer
Price per pint (p)
º gravity per p
% ABV per p
OG
FG
ABV
App. Atten-uation
Three Tuns
Bitter
12
3.42
0.35
1041
1008.7
4.20
78.78%
Batham
Bitter
13
3.32
0.36
1043.2
1007.1
4.70
83.56%
Blue Anchor
Spingo
16
3.24
0.26
1051.9
1019.4
4.20
62.62%
Vaux & Co
Sampson
13
3.17
0.30
1041.2
1011.1
3.90
73.06%
Hall & Woodhouse
Badger Best
13
3.12
0.31
1040.5
1009.7
4.00
76.05%
Courage
Best Bitter
13
3.02
0.32
1039.3
1007.8
4.10
80.15%
Adnam
Best Bitter
12
3.02
0.29
1036.2
1009.2
3.50
74.59%
Blue Anchor
Ordinary
12
2.98
0.23
1035.8
1014.1
2.80
60.61%
Hall & Woodhouse
Forum
14
2.92
0.28
1040.9
1010.8
3.90
73.59%
Banks
Bitter
13
2.91
0.29
1037.8
1009.3
3.80
75.40%
Watney
Special
12.5
2.90
0.27
1036.2
1010
3.40
72.38%
Jennings
Castle
12
2.87
0.31
1034.4
1006
3.70
82.56%
Theakston
Best Bitter
13
2.83
0.28
1036.8
1009.1
3.60
75.27%
Vaux & Co
Gold Tankard
14
2.81
0.26
1039.4
1011.6
3.60
70.56%
Ind Coope
Best Bitter
13
2.81
0.26
1036.5
1010.3
3.40
71.78%
Young & Co
Ordinary Bitter
13
2.73
0.27
1035.5
1008.5
3.50
76.06%
Greenall Whitley
Bitter
13
2.72
0.30
1035.4
1005.4
3.90
84.75%
Whitbread
Trophy
13
2.70
0.28
1035.1
1006.6
3.70
81.20%
Ind Coope
Double Diamond
14
2.69
0.24
1037.6
1011.4
3.40
69.68%
Courage
Tavern
14
2.66
0.26
1037.3
1008.8
3.70
76.41%
Watney
Red
14
2.66
0.26
1037.2
1009.5
3.60
74.46%
Greene King
King Keg
14
2.64
0.23
1037
1008.5
3.20
77.03%
Whitbread
Tankard
14.5
2.59
0.27
1037.6
1007.6
3.90
79.79%
Devenish
Bitter
11.5
2.57
0.23
1029.6
1008.8
2.70
70.27%
Younger, Wm.
Tartan
14
2.56
0.26
1035.9
1007.4
3.70
79.39%
Devenish
Saxon
12.5
2.47
0.22
1030.9
1010
2.70
67.64%
Bass, Burton
Worthington E
15.5
2.44
0.26
1037.8
1007.1
4.00
81.22%
Greenall Whitley
Festival
15
2.40
0.24
1036
1008.3
3.60
76.94%
Truman
Special
15
2.38
0.26
1035.7
1005.7
3.90
84.03%
Truman
Titan
16
2.28
0.25
1036.5
1005.8
4.00
84.11%
Average
13.5
2.79
0.27
1037.5
1009.1
3.68
75.80%
Source:
Daily Mirror July 10th 1972, page 15
More... (http://barclayperkins.blogspot.com/2023/04/looking-back-part-seven-draught-bitter.html)