Shut up about Barclay Perkins - Brown Ale in the 1950s
Visit the Shut up about Barclay Perkins site
It's hard to imagine now, but Brown Ale was a really big deal in the 1950's.
As the Mann's advert below states: "Brown Ale is cbecoming more and more popular with Britain's beer drinkers".
Thouigh I'm sure that "no finer malts" stuff is guff. It implies that the colour came from the malt, whuich it almost certainly didn't.
Mann's weren't the only brewery to use the adjective "rich" to describe their Brown Ale:
This is one of the few Brown Ales that have survived:
Interesting the way the advert emphasise that it's good value for money. As you can see in the table below, it was more expensive than most other Brown Ales. Though it was much stronger than the average of about 3% ABV.
I've included this advert, just because it's weird:
Here's what 1950's Brown Ale was really like. Actually quite diverse:
Brown Ale 1952 - 1954 |
Year |
Brewer |
Beer |
Price per pint |
OG |
FG |
ABV |
App. Atten-uation |
colour |
1954 |
Barclay Perkins |
Doctor Brown Ale |
19 |
1032.6 |
1010.6 |
2.85 |
67.48% |
110 |
1954 |
Charrington |
Brown Ale |
19 |
1033.1 |
1009.1 |
3.11 |
72.51% |
120 |
1954 |
Courage |
Nut Brown Ale |
19 |
1032.1 |
1008 |
3.12 |
75.08% |
110 |
1953 |
Duttons |
Nut Brown Ale |
18 |
1031 |
1006.1 |
3.23 |
80.32% |
52 |
1954 |
Gibbs Mew |
Moonraker Brown Ale |
16 |
1034.8 |
1009.5 |
3.28 |
72.70% |
135 |
1954 |
Ind Coope |
Nut Brown Ale |
19 |
1030.7 |
1009.7 |
2.72 |
68.40% |
80 |
1956 |
Mann |
Brown Ale |
22 |
1035.5 |
1013.2 |
2.88 |
62.82% |
115 |
1955 |
Mitchell & Butler |
Sam Brown |
23 |
1036.9 |
1011.2 |
3.33 |
69.65% |
85 |
1954 |
Newcastle Breweries |
Brown Ale |
26 |
1048.9 |
1010 |
5.06 |
79.55% |
51 |
1952 |
Samuel Smith |
Taddy Ale |
15.5 |
1034.5 |
1008.5 |
3.37 |
75.36% |
90 |
1952 |
Shipstone |
Nut Brown Ale |
15 |
1033.3 |
1006.7 |
3.45 |
79.88% |
60 |
1952 |
Simonds |
Berry Brown Ale |
19 |
1032 |
1005.5 |
3.44 |
82.81% |
60 |
1952 |
St. Anne's Well |
Brown Ale |
19 |
1034.1 |
1005.1 |
3.77 |
85.04% |
100 |
1952 |
Steward & Patteson |
Brown Ale |
23 |
1032.5 |
1010.3 |
2.87 |
68.31% |
67 |
1952 |
Tamplin |
No.1 Ale |
20 |
1034.1 |
1009.7 |
3.16 |
71.55% |
80 |
1952 |
Taylor Walker |
Nut Brown Ale |
19 |
1032.6 |
1011.7 |
2.70 |
64.11% |
80 |
1952 |
Tennant Bros. |
Brown Ale |
20 |
1032.5 |
1012.2 |
2.62 |
62.46% |
100 |
1952 |
Tetley |
Family Ale |
15 |
1035.5 |
1009 |
3.44 |
74.65% |
53 |
1954 |
Tollemache |
Country Brown Ale |
19 |
1032.5 |
1011.2 |
2.75 |
65.54% |
90 |
1954 |
Truman |
Trubrown |
19 |
1034.7 |
1011.9 |
2.95 |
65.71% |
110 |
1952 |
Ushers Trowbridge |
Brown Ale |
17 |
1033.6 |
1007.7 |
3.36 |
77.08% |
80 |
1953 |
Ushers Trowbridge |
Triple Brown |
36 |
1063.4 |
1013.6 |
6.50 |
78.55% |
85 |
1953 |
Vale of Neath |
???? Brown Ale |
30 |
1070.6 |
1019.3 |
6.68 |
72.66% |
34 |
1952 |
Vaux |
Double Maxim Ale |
23 |
1049 |
1009.8 |
5.10 |
80.00% |
48 |
1954 |
Watney |
Brown Ale |
30 |
1032.8 |
1010.2 |
2.92 |
68.90% |
120 |
1952 |
Wenlock |
Nut Brown Ale |
19 |
1032.5 |
1012.5 |
2.58 |
61.54% |
80 |
1954 |
Whitbread |
Forest Brown |
21 |
1034.8 |
1012.2 |
2.92 |
64.94% |
95 |
1953 |
Young & Son |
Chestnut Brown Ale |
26 |
1055.1 |
1016.5 |
5.01 |
70.05% |
250 |
Source: |
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/001. |
More...