Shut up about Barclay Perkins - British-brewed bottled Lager in the 1950's

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Yes, I’m still dodging draught Mild. Look, I’ve still another four posts to bash out so I’ve my trip to the US covered. I haven’t the time to take on anything too complicated.

And you know me and my relationship with British Lager. Never drink the stuff, but keep writing about it. This is a fascinating period for Lager in Britain. When it starts breaking into the mainstream. That’s very evident from a glance at the brewers in the table.

Some are the pre-war pioneers, who went out on a limb to build specialist Lager plant as a time when demand was very limited. I’m thinking here of Tennent, Barclay Perkins and Red Tower. Graham’s probably belongs in that list, too, as I’m pretty sure that was being made at the Alloa Brewery at this point.

Then you’ve got Charrington and Flowers, large regional breweries clearly keen to get in on the Lager act with their own branded products. I’m not so sure either had the equipment to properly bottom ferment at this point.

Carling Black Label is an example of another trend, an emerging national group bringing in a foreign brand. Despite billing itself as Canadian Lager, the example in the table was brewed in Sheffield.

Once again, the examples neatly divide themselves into two groups: 1030º - 1037º and 1040º - 1050º. Interestingly, the whole group comes out with an average OG about identical with the average for all beer consumed in the UK: 1037º.

British-brewed bottled Lager in the 1950's
Date	Brewer	Beer	Price	Acidity	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	colour
1957	Graham's Golden Lager	Pilsner Lager		0.04	1030.4	1007.3	3.00	75.99%	11
1956	Red Tower	Pilsner Lager	32	0.03	1031.2	1005.9	3.29	81.09%	10
1954	Steel Coulson	Lager Beer	30	0.04	1032	1004.3	3.60	86.56%	11
1957	McEwan & Younger	"MY" Export Lager	30	0.04	1033.6	1006.3	3.55	81.25%	13
1957	McEwan & Younger	"MY" Export Lager	42	0.02	1033.8	1010.9	2.96	67.75%	13
1958	McEwan & Younger	MY Export Lager	50	0.05	1034.3	1010.5	2.97	69.39%	9
1957	Barclay Perkins	Pilsner Lager	36	0.02	1034.3	1006.1	3.67	82.22%	6.5
1957	Barclay Perkins	Pilsner Lager		0.04	1035	1006.3	3.73	82.00%	9
1957	McEwan & Younger	"MY" Export Lager		0.04	1035.2	1007.3	3.62	79.26%	13
1957	Charrington	Pilsner Lager	34	0.05	1035.5	1006.2	3.81	82.54%	4.5
1957	Graham's	Pilsener Lager	40	0.04	1035.6	1007.2	3.69	79.78%	9
1957	Charrington	Pilsner Lager	42	0.04	1036	1005.8	3.93	83.89%	5
1955	Tennent	Lager	30	0.04	1036.1	1007.7	3.69	78.67%	9
1959	Carling	Black Label		0.04	1036.5	1004.4	4.18	87.95%	80
1956	Flowers	Lager	36	0.04	1040.4	1014	3.41	65.35%	9
1957	Tennent	Lager Beer	66.7	0.04	1040.6	1008.6	4.16	78.82%	11
1957	Flowers	Lager	36	0.04	1045	1017.9	3.50	60.22%	9
1956	Flowers	Lager	42	0.04	1045.3	1014	4.05	69.09%	9
1957	Flowers	Flowers Lager		0.04	1050	1017.5	4.20	65.00%	14
	Average		36.7	0.04	1036.9	1008.9	3.6	76.67%	13.4
Sources:
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/002.

It’s hard to say much about attenuation, other than that the ones specifically called Pilsner tend to be more highly attenuated.

In terms of value for money, Lager was very poor. The average OG for this set is about the same as Ordinary Bitter, 1037. But that averaged just 16.8d per pint, as opposed to 36.7d per pint for Lager. Even taking into account the difference in price between bottled and draught beer, Lager was still way more expensive than Bitter.

The very low level of acidity is a dead giveaway that these beers were pasteurised. And dead as a door nail in the bottle. Um, yummy boiled sweets flavour.

Imported Lager next, perhaps.

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