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I've completed another bit of my Imperial Stout research and thought I'd pester you with it.
I say finished, but the information here is information I'd already collected. The second part will be the new stuff. And will refer specifically to Imperial Stouts advertised in Scottish newspapers. While all of these were beers on sale in England.

Finding so many examples of draught Imperial Stout did rather surprise me. Even in the 19th century, it was a type of beer mostly found in bottled form.
More confirmation that Imperial Stout was a thing in London. Four of the nine examples in the table were brewed there. Though there are also two from Ireland. I'm not sure if that's how they were described within the brewery or for the Irish market.
Most don't look to be full Imperial Stout strength. Something like Barclay Perkins version, being about double the strength of their X Ale, you would expect to cost about double the 36 shilling price. So around 72 shillings. Only the Caffrey's beer gets anywhere near that.
60 shillings a barrel implies a beer of around 1090º, 54 shillings 1082º and 48 shillings just 1073º. The latter two look more like a Double Stout and a Single Stout, respectively. Clearly there was a very wide interpretation of what constituted and Imperial Stout.

Draught Imperial Stout 1880 - 1889
year Brewery Place beer price per barrel price (per gallon)
1880 Bentley Woodlesford, Yorkshire Imperial Stout 54 18
1882 J Caffrey & Sons Dublin Dublin Imperial Stout 70 23.33
1882 Manns London London Imperial Stout 60 20
1882 Smithwick Kilkenny Imperial Export Stout 48 16
1885 Joseph Wyles & Co. Bourn IS Imperial Stout 48 16
1886 RH Jenner & Sons London IS Imperial Stout 58 19.33
1889 A. Gordon & Co. London IDS Imperial Double Stout 60 20
1889 Allsopp Burton Imperial Stout 60 20
1889 Wimbeldon Brewery London Imperial Double Stout IDS 56 18.67
Sources:
Various newspaper advertisements.



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