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Shut up about Barclay Perkins - The condition of Burton Ale in the 1920's
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What sort of condition was Burton Ale in down the pub in the 1920's? It's the sort of answer I wouldn't expect to get an answer to. Yet, courtesy of the Whitbread Gravity Book, some evidence does exist.
Because in the early years it also included information about the appearance and flavour of the beer being analysed.
Let's begin with Watney's Burton:
Watney's Strong Ale condition 1922 - 1924 |
Year |
Beer |
FG |
OG |
ABV |
App. Atten-uation |
Appearance |
Flavour |
1922 |
KK |
1012.5 |
1058.5 |
6.00 |
78.63% |
cloudy |
v fair |
1922 |
KK |
1012.2 |
1057.2 |
5.87 |
78.67% |
bright |
fairly full |
1922 |
KK |
1013.9 |
1055.9 |
5.46 |
75.13% |
v bright |
good |
1922 |
KK |
1010.8 |
1056.3 |
5.94 |
80.82% |
bright |
unpleasantly bitter |
1923 |
KK |
1012.9 |
1059.4 |
6.06 |
78.28% |
fairly bright |
good |
1923 |
KK |
1013.6 |
1056.6 |
5.60 |
75.97% |
bright |
poor |
1923 |
KK |
1015 |
1059.5 |
5.79 |
74.79% |
hazy |
only fair |
1923 |
KK |
1015 |
1059 |
5.72 |
74.58% |
bright |
good |
1923 |
KK |
1014.2 |
1058.2 |
5.73 |
75.60% |
bright |
going off |
1923 |
KK |
1014.8 |
1061.8 |
6.12 |
76.05% |
bright |
fair |
1923 |
KK |
1010.6 |
1061.6 |
6.67 |
82.79% |
not bright |
fair |
1924 |
KK |
1014.1 |
1059.5 |
5.91 |
76.30% |
bright |
fair |
1924 |
KK |
1015.1 |
1060 |
5.84 |
74.83% |
bright |
v good |
Source: |
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/001. |
Only three of the 13 examples weren't bright. Not too bad at all. Perhaps the other three pubs were marketing it as "unfined" beer. The beers came out a little worse in terms of flavour, with 4 examples not up to snuff.
The Burtons from other London brewers were much more of a mixed bunch:
London Strong Ale condition in 1922 |
Brewer |
Beer |
FG |
OG |
ABV |
App. Atten-uation |
Appearance |
Flavour |
Barclay Perkins |
KK |
1011.7 |
1056.2 |
5.80 |
79.18% |
cloudy |
fair |
Beasley |
KK |
1014.4 |
1056.6 |
5.49 |
74.56% |
|
|
Cannon Brewery |
KK |
1015.4 |
1054.4 |
5.06 |
71.69% |
not bright no head |
v poor |
Charrington |
KK |
1015.6 |
1055.9 |
5.23 |
72.09% |
bright |
American cask |
City of London |
KK |
1008.5 |
1056.7 |
6.30 |
85.01% |
cloudy |
fair |
Courage |
KK |
1013.2 |
1053.7 |
5.27 |
75.42% |
bright |
v good |
Hoare |
KK |
1015.5 |
1056.5 |
5.33 |
72.57% |
cloudy |
fair |
Huggins |
KK |
1012.6 |
1056.1 |
5.67 |
77.54% |
bright |
good |
Lion Brewery |
KK |
1010.7 |
1056.7 |
6.00 |
81.13% |
cloudy |
fair |
Mann |
KK |
1013 |
1057 |
5.73 |
77.19% |
bright |
not good too sweet |
Meux |
KK |
1007.4 |
1058.4 |
6.68 |
87.33% |
cloudy |
good |
Truman |
KK |
1013.8 |
1052.8 |
5.07 |
73.86% |
|
rather bitter |
Wenlock |
KK |
1010 |
1054 |
5.74 |
81.48% |
cloudy |
poor |
Whitbread |
KK |
1016.3 |
1054 |
4.89 |
69.81% |
almost bright |
fair |
Source: |
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/001. |
Only four out of 14 were properly bright, though for a couple of examples the clarity isn't noted. On the upside, 8 of 14 didn't taste bad. But what really struck me was what is said about Charrington KK: "American cask".
I know exactly what that refers to. It means that the cask was made of American oak and its tainted the beer. Although they usually used unlined casks, the last thing British brewers wanted was any wood flavour in their beer. That was seen as a fault.
Overall, the condition of Burton Ales wasn't that bad. If you entered a random set of London pubs today, what percentage of their cask beers would be in good condition? Probably lower than the percentage of well-kept Watney's Burton in the table above.
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