Shut up about Barclay Perkins - Lager ca 1955
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I'm just about at the end of Andrew Campbell's description of 1950's styles. ("Hurray!", I hear you say.) We've got to Lager.
It was very much a minority style, though there was probably at least as much choice of different brands as in Britain today. Though, as I recently posted, lager accounted for about 20% of Barclay Perkins output. The bigger profit margin Lager offered was beginning to attract the attention of the larger brewers.
"Lager
Although more popular on the continent of Europe and in the United States, there are several well-known brands of British lager - Barclay's, Graham's, Red Tower and others. With the return to normal trading, the leading Czech, German, Danish and Dutch lagers are available in those bars that hold varied stocks. Important differences in brewing practice have already been noted. A fairly high percentage of maize flakes and a more light cured pale ale barley malts are used for light lagers, whilst dark lagers of the Munich type have many qualities of light stouts. The decoction method of mashing and very light hopping with bottom fermentation are the general rule. After the first stages of fermentation the beer is left to mature in 'lagers' or storage tanks for as long as a year. Attenuation is as high as eighty percent.
The treatment results in a beer of subtle flavour, and sometimes of deceptive alcoholic strength. The very light mild flavour is popular with the ladies. Lagers are refrigerated, most carefully filtered and can be served ice-cold without any risk of clouding or hazing.
Strengths vary. Some lagers are weak, others appear to be, their lighter flavour misleading the drinker. An average of four per cent alcohol is common. Some British lagers are rather below the average, some German lagers well above. The famous Danish Carlsberg and Tuborg brands are near the average, and some of the popular Dutch types, Oranjeboom and Heinekens, and the French beers from Alsace are of fair body and flavour."
"The Book Of Beer" by Andrew Campbell, 1956, page 94.
It just so happens that I have details of pretty much every Lager Campbell mentions:
Lager in Britain in the 1950's
Year
Brewer
Country
Beer
size
package
Atten-uation
1957
Amstel
Holland
Lager
half
bottled
1956
Artois Brewery
Belgium
Sparta Special Lager
half
bottled
1957
Artois Brewery
Belgium
Stella Lager
half
bottled
1957
Barclay Perkins
UK
Pilsner Lager
half
bottled
1957
Bierbrouwerij De Wereld
Holland
Piraat Lager Beer
16 oz
bottled
1957
Brasseries Artois, Louvain
Belgium
Stella Lager
half
bottled
1957
Carlings
Canada
Black Label
half
bottled
1957
Carlings Brewery
Canada
Black Label
half
bottled
1957
Carlsberg, Copenhagen
Denmark
Danish Pilsner
half
bottled
1956
Carlton & United Breweries Ltd.
Australia
Export Lager
half
bottled
1957
Carlton United
Australia
Fosters Export Lager
half
bottled
1957
Dortmunder Union
Germany
Pilsener
0.25 litre
bottled
1956
Flowers
UK
Lager
half
bottled
1957
Flowers
UK
Lager
half
bottled
1957
Flowers Breweries Ltd.
UK
Flowers Lager
half
bottled
1956
Frydenlunds Brewery, Oslo
Norway
Peak Lager
half
bottled
1957
Graham's
UK
Pilsener Lager
half
bottled
1957
Graham's Golden Lager
UK
Pilsner Lager
half
bottled
1957
Heineken's
Holland
Lager
half
bottled
1957
Holsten Brewery, Germany
Germany
Holsten Pilsner
half
bottled
1955
Liebmann Breweries
USA
Rheingold Extra Dry Lager
can
1957
Löwenbräu
Germany
Pale Bock
0.33 litre
bottled
1956
Miller, Milwuakee
USA
High Life (as sold to US forces in UK)
13 fl. oz
can
1955
National Brewery [USA]
USA
Beer
bottled
1956
NV Bierbrouwerij, Holland
Holland
Breda Lager
half
bottled
1957
Oranjeboom Brewery, Holland
Holland
Dutch Pilsener
half
bottled
1955
Pabst [USA]
USA
Blue Ribbon
can
1957
Pilsner Urquell
Czech Republic
Pilsener
half
bottled
1956
Red Tower Lager Brewery
UK
Red Tower Pilsner Lager
half
bottled
1955
Ringnes
Norway
Export Pilsener
pint
bottled
1957
Schous Brewery, Norway
Norway
Norwegian Beer
half
bottled
1954
Steel & Coulson
UK
Lager Beer
half
bottled
1955
Swedish Beer Export Co. Gothenburg
Sweden
Three Crowns Beer (Lager)
half
bottled
1955
Tennent
UK
Lager
half
bottled
1957
Tennent
UK
Lager Beer
12 oz
bottled
1957
Tuborg
Denmark
Export Beer
half
bottled
1957
Tuborg
Denmark
Lager
half
bottled
1957
Vandenheuvel, Belgium
Belgium
Ekla
half
bottled
1957
Wm. McEwan & Wm. Younger
UK
"MY" Export Lager
half
bottled
1957
Z.H.B.
Holland
Export Pilsner Lager
half
bottled
Source:
Whitbread Gravity Book
Intriguing stuff, eh? Especially as many of today's brands are in there: Stella, Fosters, Heineken, Tennents, Skol (then still called Graham's) and Amstel.
There appears to have been little direct correlation between price and strength. For 1s 9d a half pint bottle you could get Lagers of 3.06%, 3.25%, 3.3%, 3.31%, 3.86%, 4.61%, 4.75% and 4.96% ABV. A bottle of Three Crowns Lager, weighing in at 5.77% ABV, was just 1s 3d. You explain the logic to me. Looks like they were just charging whatever they could get away with. Since, as Campbell states, it was hard for British drinkers to estimate the strength of Lager, it would have been easy for a brewery to take advantage.
Campbell wasn't far off on the alcoholic strengths. Foreign-brewed Lager averaged (at least the examples I have) 4.27% ABV. British-brewed Lagers 3.57% ABV.
Well that's the chapter on beer types finished. Now onto the one on specific beers.https://blogger.googleusercontent.co...s.blogspot.com
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