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21-07-2023, 07:16
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I'm back with the draught beers from 1972. Yes, I'm going to squeeze the last few drops of blood from these analyses.
Just look at how many Big Six breweries there still were in the capital. Courage, Whitbread, Watney are all represented here. And two others - Charrington and Mann - aren't. Then there's Truman, who weren't quite yest in the big boys club. Only Watney's Mortlake was still in operation in 1990.
All the beers have gravities in a pretty narrow range: 1035.1º to 1039.3º. Together, they average out to almost exactly the national average of 1036.9.* Fairly classic Ordinary Bitters, then. Other than Courage Best Bitter, which is just about strong enough for that classification.
While we're talking of gravities, that of Whitbread Tankard looks too low. In the brewing records, it's more than 2º higher, at 1039.8º. And had been brewed at that strength for a decade or more. So how come it was analysed at 1037.3º? If it were a cask beer, I'd conclude that it had been watered or had weaker slops added to it. But I'm pretty sure it was a keg-only beer. Meaning it couldn't easily be tampered with. Bit of a mystery, that.
Worst value by quite a margin are the two Truman's beers. Though the gravities are so similar, I can't help wondering if they are, in fact, the same beer. They're the two most expensive beers as well. And also the most highly attenuated.
Best value is the surprisingly cheap Courage Best, which is almost 1p per pint cheaper than the average. Yet has the highest gravity and ABV.
I never tried most of these beers. For the simple reason that they were evil keg. The only ones I drank were Young's Ordinary and Courage Best. The latter was a decent enough beer in its London and Bristol incarnations. When you could find it on cask and well looked after. It's only a couple of years since I last drank it. When it was inoffensively bland. Who knows where it was brewed.
London Bitter in 1972
Brewer
Beer
Price per pint (p)
º gravity per p
% ABV per p
OG
FG
ABV
App. Atten-uation
Truman
Titan
16
2.28
0.25
1036.5
1005.8
4.00
84.11%
Truman
Special
15
2.38
0.26
1035.7
1005.7
3.90
84.03%
Whitbread
Tankard
14.5
2.59
0.27
1037.6
1007.6
3.90
79.79%
Watney
Red
14
2.66
0.26
1037.2
1009.5
3.60
74.46%
Courage
Tavern
14
2.66
0.26
1037.3
1008.8
3.70
76.41%
Whitbread
Trophy
13
2.70
0.28
1035.1
1006.6
3.70
81.20%
Young
Ordinary Bitter
13
2.73
0.27
1035.5
1008.5
3.50
76.06%
Watney
Special
12.5
2.90
0.27
1036.2
1010
3.40
72.38%
Courage
Best Bitter
13
3.02
0.32
1039.3
1007.8
4.10
80.15%
Average
13.9
2.66
0.27
1036.7
1007.8
3.76
78.73%
Source:
Daily Mirror July 10th 1972, page 15.
* Statistical Handbook of the British Beer & Pub Association 2005, p. 7.
More... (http://barclayperkins.blogspot.com/2023/07/london-bitter-in-1972-ipa.html)
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I'm back with the draught beers from 1972. Yes, I'm going to squeeze the last few drops of blood from these analyses.
Just look at how many Big Six breweries there still were in the capital. Courage, Whitbread, Watney are all represented here. And two others - Charrington and Mann - aren't. Then there's Truman, who weren't quite yest in the big boys club. Only Watney's Mortlake was still in operation in 1990.
All the beers have gravities in a pretty narrow range: 1035.1º to 1039.3º. Together, they average out to almost exactly the national average of 1036.9.* Fairly classic Ordinary Bitters, then. Other than Courage Best Bitter, which is just about strong enough for that classification.
While we're talking of gravities, that of Whitbread Tankard looks too low. In the brewing records, it's more than 2º higher, at 1039.8º. And had been brewed at that strength for a decade or more. So how come it was analysed at 1037.3º? If it were a cask beer, I'd conclude that it had been watered or had weaker slops added to it. But I'm pretty sure it was a keg-only beer. Meaning it couldn't easily be tampered with. Bit of a mystery, that.
Worst value by quite a margin are the two Truman's beers. Though the gravities are so similar, I can't help wondering if they are, in fact, the same beer. They're the two most expensive beers as well. And also the most highly attenuated.
Best value is the surprisingly cheap Courage Best, which is almost 1p per pint cheaper than the average. Yet has the highest gravity and ABV.
I never tried most of these beers. For the simple reason that they were evil keg. The only ones I drank were Young's Ordinary and Courage Best. The latter was a decent enough beer in its London and Bristol incarnations. When you could find it on cask and well looked after. It's only a couple of years since I last drank it. When it was inoffensively bland. Who knows where it was brewed.
London Bitter in 1972
Brewer
Beer
Price per pint (p)
º gravity per p
% ABV per p
OG
FG
ABV
App. Atten-uation
Truman
Titan
16
2.28
0.25
1036.5
1005.8
4.00
84.11%
Truman
Special
15
2.38
0.26
1035.7
1005.7
3.90
84.03%
Whitbread
Tankard
14.5
2.59
0.27
1037.6
1007.6
3.90
79.79%
Watney
Red
14
2.66
0.26
1037.2
1009.5
3.60
74.46%
Courage
Tavern
14
2.66
0.26
1037.3
1008.8
3.70
76.41%
Whitbread
Trophy
13
2.70
0.28
1035.1
1006.6
3.70
81.20%
Young
Ordinary Bitter
13
2.73
0.27
1035.5
1008.5
3.50
76.06%
Watney
Special
12.5
2.90
0.27
1036.2
1010
3.40
72.38%
Courage
Best Bitter
13
3.02
0.32
1039.3
1007.8
4.10
80.15%
Average
13.9
2.66
0.27
1036.7
1007.8
3.76
78.73%
Source:
Daily Mirror July 10th 1972, page 15.
* Statistical Handbook of the British Beer & Pub Association 2005, p. 7.
More... (http://barclayperkins.blogspot.com/2023/07/london-bitter-in-1972-ipa.html)