The gold standard and Australian ale

The little editor's note is what caught my eye: "fully equal to the best V. D. Land ale." The beers and ales of Van Diemen's Land were the standard by which Australian brews were judged at least through the first half of the 19th century. I get the impression that this had changed somewhat by the time of federation and I'd like to try and figure that out sometime.

The Sydney Monitor, 25 August, 1830.

It's also an early indication of brewers successfully adapting to Australian conditions. It understandably took time for Australian brewing to develop an identity of its own but it's useful to have a hint of it happening in 1830.

I haven't been able to find out anything meaningful about Eveson and this is the only mention of his brewery. With death and financial ruin pretty constant realities to be contended with, many breweries popped up and then vanished again very quickly.

The first reference to IPA. Just.

About this time last year, beer historian Martyn Cornell posted about the first occurrence of the term 'India Pale Ale', 29 August, 1829. It was 6.5 years before the previous known first usage and was notably from a Sydney newspaper. Australia was into IPA before it was cool. We're just a bunch of beard-wearing hipster convicts.

As I was ferreting around in the depths of Trove today I discovered a reference to IPA from 27 August of the same year, just two days earlier. It's the same ad, run in the same newspaper so it's not really moving the needle in terms of the history but I guess it's worth pointing out.

The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser,
27 August, 1829

The ad is a bit unclear as to whether it's advertising an IPA brewed by Taylor or whether it's referring to Taylor's pale ale and an East India pale ale. The former is a possibility with "Taylor's" referring to their stout or porter. Taylor's brown stout (or porter) and pale ale had been advertised together a number of times in the preceding years. Their stout in particular appears so often in colonial advertising that it's conceivable that it could be referred to simple as "Taylor's". However, the latter seems to make more sense grammatically. Check out the post by Cornell for more discussion about it.

This is the kind of ad I'm talking about. From:
The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser,
25 July, 1828

So there you go, a tiny discovery that doesn't change things at all! That's what I'm all about.

Barclay Perkins in Australia 1821-1840

This time I've got a story about a couple of guys visiting Parramatta from Sydney in 1827 and some details about the availability of Barclay Perkins in Sydney, Hobart and Launceston.

First, the story. A couple of mates set out on horseback for a daytrip from Sydney to Parramatta. I'm not sure why it was worth including in the newspaper but for history's sake I'm glad they did. The part that's relevant to this blog is in the bar at their destination:

A little after 2 p. m. I found myself with my friend

Oddfish in a snug parlour at Walker's Hotel, admiring

the excellence and enjoying the luxury of a glass of

Barclay and Perkins'-ordered corn for the horses

-at 3 p. m. dinner on table-- roast beef, pigeon pye,  

custard, and good madeira. No disagreeable matters

to discuss by two cockneys after a journey of 15 or 16

miles.

The story is relatively long and not very well told but that reference to the 'luxury of a glass of Barclay and Perkins' is interesting. I've reproduced the whole thing at the end of the post for those who are interested and don't begrudge the extra reading.

The particular beer isn't identified. It's likely to have been the Porter although it could also have been the double brown stout that is referenced a number of times in newspapers. I really like the image of these cockney blokes having the chance to sit down after their journey with a beer from home. The luxury might refer to the taste of home but it's likely a comment on the rarity and cost of drinking a London Porter in the colony. There's a sequence following the above quote where they have to find someone to lend them money so they could pay for their beer and meal which suggests it cost them a bit more than they were expecting.

The early colonial newspapers are really useful sources of information. Aside from the occasional narrative like that one, the classifieds list the availability of just about anything that was imported. The first reference I can find to Barclay Perkins in Australia is in the snippet below, in 1821 Sydney. It's certainly possible that Barclay Perkins was available in the 20 years prior to this but at least we know for certain that it was sporadically available in the 1820s.

The Sydney Gazette & NSW Advertiser, December 1, 1821

Looking through the records it seems that ships arrived in November 1821, December 1823, August 1825, April 1828 and then a bit more regularly between 1829 and the 1830s. Mostly the ads are for their double brown stout and porter but in 1832 we get mention of their East India ale and in 1834 their pale ale, and in 1836, their export stout, 1837 their strong ale and 1839 their super strong ale.

The Sydney Gazette and NSW Advertiser, October 30, 1832

The first reference to Barclay Perkins in Hobart is from 1822. There are occasional references to brown stout in advertising prior to that which could be BP in disguise. There's more in 1823 (superior brown stout) and 1828 but like Sydney, the supply wasn't very regular. The fire that destroyed the London Brewery did get a mention in The Hobart Town Courier in 1832.

Imperial Double Stout Porter?!! Barclay & Perkins know
how to sell beer to beer geeks in 2014. Hobart Town 
Gazette and Van Dieman's Land Enquirer,
December 21, 1822

One of the suspicious brown stouts I was referring to.
Hobart Town Gazette and Southern Reporter,
August 21, 1820

Weirdly, I can't find any references to Barclay Perkins being available in Launceston until 1849. I'm not sure why it should be any different to the other colonial outposts of Hobart and Sydney. It's not hard to find references to Taylor's double brown stout in the 1820s and Truman's in the 1830s among others but no Barclay Perkins. Why was that?


Full reproduction of AN EXCURSION TO PARRAMATTA after the jump: