Shut up about Barclay Perkins - Cannon Brewery Mild Ale quality 1922 - 1925

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Yes, I've not got distracted this time. I'll be stumbling through London's brewers in alphabetical order, scoring their Mild Ales. Why alphabetical order? Because I can't be arsed to think up something cleverer.

According to Norman Barber (A Century of British Brewers Plus, 2005, page 83) the Cannon Brewery was bought by Taylor Walker in 1930, but continued to brew until 1955.

Which is surprising, given the brewery's location in Clerkenwell on a very cramped site. Even more surprisingly, part of the brewery is still standing at 160 St. John Street. One thing that does live on is their Cannon logo, which was knicked by Taylor Walker.

I'm continually amazed at just how long some breweries clung on in very hemmed in central London locations. It must have been a nightmare getting raw materials in and beer out.

Cannon Brewery Mild Ale quality 1922 - 1925
Year	Beer	FG	OG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	Appearance	Flavour	Score
1922	X	1007	1033.5	3.44	79.10%	not bright
1922	X	1007	1033.1	3.44	80.06%	cloudy	fair	1
1922	X	1008	1034.5	3.44	76.81%	bright	Poor & thin	-2
1922	X	1007	1036.4	3.77	79.67%	bright	v fair	2
1922	X	1007	1034.7	3.64	80.69%	bright	not quite sound	-1
1923	X	1008	1034.8	3.50	77.59%	brilliant	fair	1
1923	X	1007	1034.9	3.57	78.80%	bright	v fair	2
1923	X	1008	1033.7	3.31	75.67%	fairly bright	poor	-1
1923	X	1008	1032.9	3.18	74.47%	bright	v fair	2
1923	X	1008	1034.2	3.37	76.02%	bright	good	2
1924	X		1031.7				sour	-3
1924	X	1009	1038	3.78	76.58%	bright	fair	1
1924	X	1011	1039	3.69	73.08%	brilliant	fair	1
1925	X	1010	1039.8	3.81	73.87%	bright	v fair	2
	Average							0.54
Source:
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/001

Straight off you can see that they didn't have the clarity problems that Barclay Perkins did. All but 2 out of 14 were bright. Or maybe they just trained their landlords better.

Only four have negative scores, which is also pretty good. Though none of the examples was excellent and there was one really bad one. Given that some of the examples are 10 gravity points weaker than Barclay's X Ale, that's fairly impressive. Or are Barclay Perkins negatively impressive?

Whatever, they average out to a positive score. I'd give their pubs a try, possibly. Though I'd prefer something with a little more poke.

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