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I've been very busy. Doing primary research. Scouring brewing records, transcribing Whitbread Gravity Book entries. That sort of exciting stuff.

I tried to persuade Andrew to help: "It'll be good practice for when you study history at university."

"Do your own work, dad. Anyway, I've decided to study film editing."

It was the first I'd heard of his change in plans. Damn. I'd hoped to get him as a free research assistant. And he doesn't need money, so bribery is out of the question. No alternative but to do it myself.

If I weren't such an obsessive, it would be a daunting task. I reckon it'll take another two or three weeks to finish off the Whitbread Gravity Book. And two to three months to finish extracting details from brewing records. Finished for the time being. I'll photograph a load more in May.

But enough of my complaining. Time for numbers. Lovely old, dusty numbers, fresh from the number mine.


Porter in the 1920's
Year
Brewer
Beer
Price
size
package
FG
OG
ABV
attenuation
1921
Charrington
Porter
7d
pint
draught
1009.6
1041.1
4.09
76.64%
1922
Barclay Perkins
Porter
6d
pint
draught
1011.5
1035.5
3.10
67.61%
1922
Barclay Perkins
Porter
6d
pint
draught
1013.2
1040.2
3.49
67.16%
1922
Cannon Brewery
Porter
6d
pint
draught
1010.2
1036.2
3.37
71.82%
1922
City of London
Porter
6d
pint
draught
1008.8
1037.3
3.70
76.41%
1922
Courage
Porter
6d
pint
draught
1010.2
1037.7
3.56
72.94%
1922
Hoare
Porter
6d
pint
draught
1011
1037.3
3.41
70.51%
1922
Lion Brewery
Porter
6d
pint
draught
1008.2
1040.2
4.16
79.60%
1922
Mann Crossman
Porter
6d
pint
draught
1007
1034
3.51
79.41%
1922
Mann Crossman
Porter
6d
pint
draught
1009.6
1040.3
3.99
76.18%
1922
Taylor Walker
Porter

pint
draught


1038.5




1922
Truman
Porter

pint
draught


1037.5




1922
Watney
Porter

pint
draught


1036.8




1923
Barclay Perkins
Porter
6d
pint
draught
1012.8
1039.8
3.49
67.84%
1923
Cannon Brewery
Porter
5d
pint
draught
1009.4
1034.9
3.30
73.07%
1923
City of London
Porter
6d
pint
draught
1012.4
1038.4
3.36
67.71%
1923
Courage
Porter
6d
pint
draught
1013.2
1043.2
3.89
69.44%
1923
Courage
Porter
5d
pint
draught
1012.2
1036.7
3.17
66.76%
1923
Hoare
Porter
6d
pint
draught
1009.8
1034.5
3.20
71.59%
1923
Lion Brewery
Porter
6d
pint
draught
1010
1039
3.76
74.36%
1923
Mann
Porter

pint
draught


1039.9




1923
Mann
Porter

pint
draught


1037.2




1923
Truman
Porter

pint
draught


1038.8




1923
Watney
Porter

pint
draught


1035.8




1923
Wenlock
Porter

pint
draught


1035.2




1923
Whitbread
Porter

pint
draught


1034.2




1926
Barclay Perkins
Porter
5d
pint
draught


1038.1




1926
Cannon
Porter
5d
pint
draught


1038.8




1926
Charrington
Porter
5d
pint
draught


1036.2




1926
City of London
Porter
5d
pint
draught


1037.6




1926
Hoare & Co
Porter
5d
pint
draught


1039.8




1926
Huggins
Porter
5d
pint
draught


1040.8




1926
Mann Crossman
Porter
5d
pint
draught


1041.2




1926
Meux
Porter
5d
pint
draught


1037.4




1926
Smith Garrett
Porter
5d
pint
draught


1035.1




1926
Taylor Walker
Porter
5d
pint
draught


1039.9




1926
Truman
Porter
5d
pint
draught


1038.7




1926
Whitbread
Porter
5d
pint
draught


1038.6




1927
Cannon
Porter
5d
pint
draught


1040.1




1927
Charrington
Porter
5d
pint
draught


1035.6




1927
Courage
Porter
5d
pint
draught


1037.6




1927
Truman
Porter
5d
pint
draught


1038.4




1927
Whitbread
Porter
5d
pint
draught


1031.9




1928
Courage
Porter
5d
pint
draught
1013.2
1038.3
3.24
65.54%
1928
Hoare
Porter
5d
pint
draught
1013.4
1037.9
3.17
64.64%
1929
Courage
Porter
5d
pint
draught
1012.8
1037.4
3.18
65.78%
1929
Hoare
Porter
5d
pint
draught
1009.2
1038.3
3.78
75.98%
1929
Wenlock
Porter

pint
draught


1039.2






Average OG










1036.4




Sources:
Whitbread Gravity Book
Truman Gravity Book

Before some smartarse points out the average doesn't tally with the rest of the table, I'll point out that it's for all 283 examples in the full table. It was a bit much for a blog post, so I slimmed it down.

The 1920's were the last time when Porter was a mainstream beer. And only then in London. It had already disappeared from the public bars of the rest of Britain. Cheap, weak and probably only drunk by old blokes, it was in terminal decline.

Cheap. Could that have hastened its end? Before WW I Porter had been about average gravity, between 1050 and 1055. In the 1920's it was well below. Average gravity was around 1043. As you can see from above, Porter was typically about 1036.

Something similar happened to Mild a few decades later. When it became barely alcoholic as a result of WW II. I wonder if a down-market image always hastens a style to oblivion?

One other small point: all the breweries represented in the table were in London.It's hard to imagine now that Londonm ever had so many breweries.


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