The FG of Pale Ale

I promised you some more details about attenuation. It seems like just yesterday. Oh, it was yesterday. That explains things.

The following is taken from the report of the Analytical Sanitary Commission set up to investigate allegations of strychnine in Pale Ale. It was published in The Lancet. Of course they didn't find any strychnine in Bass or Allsopp beer. They did uncover some rather more useful information about the constituents of Pale Ale.

"Analyses Showing The Composition And Strength Of Messrs. Allsopp And Sons, And Messrs. Bass And Co.'s Bitter Beers.

No. 1.
Analysis of Beer brewed March, 1851, by Messrs. Allsopp and Sons, for Exportation to India. Selected from the Stores at Blackwall of Messrs. Friend and Co.
(Contents of Imperial Gallon.)

	grains
Sugar	200
Gum	2,080
Bitter extract	810
Total solid exrtract	3,090
Alcohol, of spec.grav .794	3540
Water	63,370
	70,000
Per-centage of alcohol, 5.05

No. 2.
Analysis of Beer brewed March 20th, 1851, by Messrs. Allsopp and Sons, for Exportation, selected from the Stores at Blackwall of Messrs. Byass and Co.
(Contents of Imperial Gallon.)

Sugar	320 grains
Gum	2,110
Bitter extract	750
Total solid extract	3,180
Alcohol, of spec.grav .794	3820
Water	63,000
	70,000
Per-centage of alcohol, 5 46.

No. 3.
Analysis of Beer brewed March 3rd, 1852, by Messrs. Bass and Co., for home consumption. From the Stores at Blackwall.
(Contents of Imperial Gallon.)

	grains
Sugar	390
Gum	3,930
Bitter extract	760
Total solid extract	5,080
Alcohol, of spec. grav. .794	3,983
Water	60,937
	70,000

Per-centage of alcohol, 5.69.


No. 4.
Analysis of Beer brewed November 25th, 1851, by Messrs.Bass and Co., for home consumption. From the Stores at Blackwall.
(Contents of Imperial Gallon.)

	grains
Sugar	420
Gum	2,660
Bitter extract	800
Total solid extract	3,880
Alcohol, of spec. grav. .794	3,744
Water	62,376
	70,000
Per-centage of alcohol, 5.34

The different ages of the beers sufficiently explain the slight variations in the results of the preceding analyses. The above general analyses are important. They show—

1st.—That the bitter beers of Messrs. Allsopp and Sons, and of Messrs. Bass and Co., contain only a moderate amount of alcohol; and

2nd.—That they contain an unusually large quantity of bitter extract, consisting of the extract of hops.

In estimating the quality and condition of beer, it is of great importance to ascertain its specific gravity, since this indicates to a considerable extent the amount of solid contents or extractive matter in the beer, which, as a rule, is in the newest and strongest beers.

It should be remembered, however, that alcohol, lighter than water, conceals in some measure the extract as estimated by the hydrometer, rendering the beer by so much the less dense as the proportion of alcohol is greatest.

It should also be borne in mind that the sugar, as the beer ages, gradually becomes converted into alcohol, and this again into acetic acid, and hence old beers usually possess a low specific gravity.

The effect of age in diminishing the density of beer is clearly shown in the following tables of specific gravities:—

Table showing the Specific Gravities of different Samples of Beer of various ages brewed by Messrs. Allsopp and Sons.

    Specific grav.

1. —From the Stores at Blackwall, for home trade, brewed March 23rd, 1852     1020
2. —From the Stores at Blackwall, for home trade, brewed Dec. 1851     1017
3. —From the Stores at Blackwall, for exportation, brewed February 27th, 1852     1019
4. —From the Stores at Blackwall, for exportation, brewed March, 1852     1019
5.—From the Stock of Messrs. Wallis and Co., agents for home trade, brewed October, 1851     1019
6. —From the Stock of Messrs. Child and Co., agents for home trade     1015
7. —From the Stock of Messrs. Findlater, Mackie, and Co., agents for home trade     1016
8. —From the Stock of Messrs. Daukes and Rodick, agents for home trade     1015
9. —From the Stock of Messrs. Foster and Sons, agents for home trade     1014
10. —From the Stock of Mr. Bovill, agent, brewed Nov. 1851     1015
11. —From the Stock of Mr. Bovill, agent, brewed Jan. 1851     1009
12. —From the Stock of Mr. Bovill, agent, brewed Dec. 23, 1850     1006
13. —From the Stock of Messrs. Hibbert, agents for exportation     1007
14. —From the Stock of Messrs. Friend and Co., at Blackwall, agents for exportation, brewed March, 1851     1008
15. —From the Stores of Messrs. Byass and Co., at Blackwall, agents for exportation, brewed March 1851    1009


Table showing the Specific Gravities of different Samples of Beer of various ages, brewed by Messrs. Bass and Co.

1. —From the Stores at Blackwall, for home trade, brewed April 27th, 1852    1024
2. —From the Stores at Blackwall, for home trade, brewed April 28th, 1852    1024
3.—From the Stores at Blackwall, for home trade, brewed March 3rd, 1852    1019
4.—From the Stores at Blackwall, for home trade, brewed November 25th, 1851    1013
5. —From the Stores at Blackwall, for exportation, brewed February 18th, 1852    1021
6. —From the Stores at Blackwall, for exportation, brewed February 19th, 1852    1021
7.—From the Stores at Blackwall, for exportation, brewed March 25th, 1852    1022
8. —From the Stock of Messrs. Saunders and Cameron, agents for home trade    1015
9. —From the Stock of Messrs. Daukes and Rodick, agents for home trade    1016
10. —From the Stock of Mr. Favenc, agent for home trade    1015
11.—From the Stock of Messrs. Kinahan, agents for home trade    1012
12.—From the Stock of Messrs. Crimp and Ward, export agents, brewed January, 1852    1015
13. —From the Stock of Messrs. Crimp and Ward, agents for exportation, brewed December, 1851    1009
14. —From the Stock of Mr. Dalston, agent, brewed 1850    1006


The above tables prove that the density of beers differs remarkably with age."
"The Lancet 1852, vol.1", 1852, pages 474 - 475.

To begin, I'll emphasise that the chemists analysing Pale Ale didn't consider it strong: "the bitter beers of Messrs. Allsopp and Sons, and of Messrs. Bass and Co., contain only a moderate amount of alcohol". You know what's coming now. IPA was not a strong beer. The percentages given are by weight, but after converting them to ABV, the strongest is still only just over 7%. And that wasn't for export, but home consumption.

The analyses also confirm the large quantity of hops used. Not a real surprise, but nice to see numbers to back it up.

Finally lets get to the point of this post. Final gravities. Examples 3 and 4 from Allsopp, brewed in February and March 1852 have a significantly higher gravity than examples 14 and 15, brewed a year earlier. All were meant for export. The younger beers are both 1019, the older beers 1008 and 1009.

There's the same pattern with the Bass samples. The two oldest, examples 4 and 14, have the lowest gravity. The two youngest, examples 1 and 2, the highest gravity.

That looks like proof to me that during the extended storage of Pale Ale before sale a secondary fermentation took place. One that approximately halved the gravity of the beer.

Mr. Bass chips in

It wasn't just Mr. Allsopp who got pissed by the allegations about strychnine in Pale Ale. His great competitor, Mr. Bass, was equally peeved. Quite understandably, really. Suspicions of your beer being laced with poison aren't likely to boost sales.

"BITTER BEER.

[To the Editor of the Medical Times and Gazette.]

Sir,—In your Number of the 3rd instant you are pleased to express your approbation of the letters from Mr. Ind and myself, which have been followed by one equally explicit from Mr. Allsopp, "denying in indignant terms the alleged falsification of bitter beer with strychnine;" but you add, "it is the middlemen who are the guilty parties, if any be guilty." I apprehend that the drinkers of bitter beer would not give one farthing for choice whether they are to be poisoned by the brewers or the "middlemen," and that this last suggestion is scarcely less mischievous than the original insinuation. Like many other allegations, however groundless and unreasonable, it may be difficult to demonstrate its absolute impossibility; yet I am perfectly persuaded the public will not yield to suspicions so improbable, and resting on no tangible foundation.

You suggest, that the "middlemen" may, by adulteration, make one bottle of stale beer into two. How can that be accomplished ? Certainly not with strychnine, which would be a substitute for the hop only, according to your theory ; what is to represent the malt ? But permit me to assure you, that the idea of making pale ale of presentable appearance and flavour by means of stale beer is preposterous,—the characteristics of tolerably good pale ale absolutely forbid it; it must be pale and quite brilliant in colour, and of pure and delicate flavour: how can such a metamorphosis be made from stale beer? I aver that there is no brewer of experience, whether ale or porter brewer, who will venture to deny, that pale ale is of all malt liquor the most difficult to adulterate. I believe it to be quite impossible, preserving at the same time the ordinary features of pale ale, to adulterate it.

In your original article on this subject, on the 20th of March, you state, that the strychnine manufactured in Paris was "discovered to be intended for exportation to England in order to fabricate bitter beer." How was it so discovered ? What proof have you offered to the public of the truth of so astounding an assertion ? Have you, as has been done in the case of many suspected articles, caused analyses to be made of bitter beer? Have you even made any inquiries as to its adulteration ? Have you thought it incumbent upon you to ascertain by any investigation the destination of the strychnine imported into this country ? Then, if you have not traced the employment of strychnine in "bitter beer," why should you fix your aspersions upon that article?—why not on other beer, on ale, on porter? Are the "middlemen," as you call them, who sell those beers, supposing it possible there should be one single retailer so profoundly vile as to justify your suspicions,—are they to confine their poison to bitter beer and leave the competing articles untouched ? Where are your dead men—the victims of the wholesale slaughter your ingenuity has conceived ?

I am assured by sensible men, or I would not have believed it, that there may be some people so nervous, or so unreasonable, as to attach importance to this "fable." I regard it as one of the most unjustifiable attacks on the interests of an important trade that ever appeared in print. But on the part of the entire trade, brewers, and "middlemen " too, I undertake to offer every possible facility for testing the truth or falsehood of the allegations you have published to the world. 

I am, &c.

M. T. Bass."
"Medical Times and Gazette, Volume 4", 1852, page 402.

Mr. Bass makes the perfectly reasonable complaint that the magazine had made no effort to find any evidence of adulteration of beer with strychnine. Nor to discover where French strychnine went to in Britain. But had just repeated a vague accusation without any research of their own.

The editors had tried to wriggle out of their accusations of reputable brewers like Bass by blaming shadowy "middlemen". Though, as Mr. Bass rightly points out, it would make no sense to use strychnine to revitalise stale beer. Of course, for the business of Bass and Allsopp, it made little difference if they are some third party were the culprit. Drinkers would still be suspicious their beer might be poisoned, even if they trusted the brewer. The revised accusation was potentially just as damaging.

I can't resist one final remark. Note the way Mr. Bass uses the terms "bitter beer" and "pale ale" interchangeably in his letter. Who better to know if there was a difference between Bitter and Pale Ale than the owner of the world's most famous Pale Ale brewery?

The editor's response is pretty predictable: he makes a personal attack on Mr. Bass. Very much as an editor today would likely do when he realises he's published a crap story but won't lose face by admitting it.

[Mr. Bass is as bitter as his own beer, and, like most men in a passion, has written a letter which can do him no service. Mr. Bass professes to have read our original article on this subject, and yet he puts several questions to us, with the answers to which he should be well acquainted. We will, however, answer the questions once more. The author of the statement, that strychnine has been made in Paris, and exported to England to give bitterness to beer, is M.Payen, who has delivered a course of lectures on public hygiene in Paris, which, we understand, has been reported in the Constitutionnel. The paragraph relating to this falsification was inserted in a well-known medical periodical, L'Union Médicale, of the 6th of March. In our usual reading of the foreign journals, we met with this statement, and it appeared to us to be of the greatest importance. We had not then, and we have not now, any reason to believe that this deliberate statement of M. Payen was a "fable." We gave it publicity because it was our duty to do so, and, until the Government have examined into the matter, we shall not let it drop. If we find a statement in a respectable journal which concerns the health of thousands of our countrymen, it is our business to make it known ; but it is not our business to analyse beer. It is not our business, but that of the Government, to ascertain the destination of the strychnine which is imported into England. Mr. Bass appears to have most indefinite notions of the duties of the public press, when he puts such questions to us. We must, also, say, that Mr. Bass has written his letter very disingenuously, when he leaves it to be inferred, that we made this statement without authority. On the contrary, in our first article, which he has read, we gave most explicitly the source from whence we derived the information. With regard to one of Mr. Bass's remarks, we must state, that we never understood M. Payen's assertion to refer only to the beverage called by the trade "pale ale," but to all sorts of bitter beer. If Mr. Bass wishes this question sifted to the bottom, and we do not hesitate in believing that he does so, let him call with us on the Government to cause inquiries to be made of the French Government as to M. Payen's assertion, to learn what quantity of strychnine was manufactured, when and by what channels it was imported into England, and what led the French police (for we presume M. Payen derived his information from them) to suppose that it was intended for the adulteration of beer. The result of these inquiries may satisfy the public, but it can never content any one to have a deliberate statement met simply by a brewer's assertion, that it is a "fable." For ourselves we disregard the offensive tone of Mr. Bass's letter. We only advise him, if he writes to us again, to show his letter to some judicious friend.—Ed. Medical Times and Gazette.]
"Medical Times and Gazette, Volume 4", 1852, page 402.

The editor's defence is pretty feeble. Which is probably why he began with a personal attack on Mr. Bass. He admits having repeated the remarks of the French chemist without further investigation as being in the public interest. That's a typical journalist's cop out. He's adamant the story wasn't a "fable", despite having no real evidence to back it up. Isn't that the definition of a fable? A story unsupported by facts.

Moving on from century and a half old arguments, there's an interesting statement: "we never understood M. Payen's assertion to refer only to the beverage called by the trade "pale ale," but to all sorts of bitter beer." This is different to Mr. Bass's use of the two terms. It implies that Pale Ale was a subset of Bitter Beer. It's a shame he doesn't expain the difference between the two more fully.

Allsopp defends himself again

Henry Allsopp wasn't a man to let go easily. And he appears to have been quite a prolific letter-writer, judging by the number that turn up in the medical press.

"BITTER BEER.

[To the Editor of the Medical Times and Gazette.] Sir,—Referring to an article in your Journal of last week, I will not stop to inquire, as you do not appear to have done so, whether it be a fact, that the large quantities of a drug called strychnine, manufactured in Paris, are intended for this country, and devoted to the poisoning of the English drinkers of bitter beer, but will at once respond to your call upon "the honest manufacturers of bitter beer to take up this subject, and satisfy the public that this atrocious falsification is limited."

I will not appeal as the senior partner of a firm which, for nearly half a century, has been one of the most eminent in the pale ale trade,— I will not appeal, I say, to the millions of our customers who have grown grey in the consumption of our ales, to prove that such an insinuation cannot by possibility apply to us; but, on behalf of ourselves and the trade, I will at once challenge the very largest and strictest inquiry. The surveillance you allude to we court to the utmost. Our vats, mash-tubs, coppers, and all the apparatus of our breweries are from this day open to you.

A "commission" has been threatened, and a public report as if upon an already proved delinquency ! Let such commission be at once appointed. Let it consist of the most acute investigators. We offer to defray the charges of it. Let it at once proceed to examine our stock in course of manufacture in our stores and in the docks; nay, more, that there may be no possible contrivance, let this "commission" test the thousands of barrels and hundreds of thousands of dozens lying in our customers' cellars, whose names we are prepared to give, that the examination be complete as well of the past as the present.

Will this, Sir, suffice ? Can more be suggested,—for all that is required shall be done. But, when this is over, and the public, and the Medical Profession, and the men of science are quite satisfied, I trust we may then be permitted to request from medical gentlemen and men of science, that, before throwing out suggestions in the public Press likely to lead to "a belief in the universality of a fraud that would absolutely destroy the sale of their beer, and ruin a large and deserving class," they would be good enough to make such previous inquiries as may put it in their power to exempt such " large and deserving class from such ruin."
I am, &c. Henry Allsopp.
The Brewery, Burton-on-Trent."
"Medical Times and Gazette", Volume 4", 1852, pages 377-378.

Offering to throw open his brewery for investigation is a sign of how potentially damaging the strychnine scare could have been to Allsopp's business. And let any of his beer be analysed. He was even prepared to pay for the investigation himself

The letter seems to have convinced the editors of Allsopp's honesty. Though, being in the position to have the last word, they couldn't resist trying to vindicate their actions. By saying that while Bass, Allsopp and Ind might not be poisoning their customers, who knows what less reputable firms were up to. The implication is that the working class couldn't afford to buy their beer and had to rely on the products of less honest brewers.

"BITTER BEER. In another column we insert a letter from Mr. Allsopp, the substance of which has already appeared in the Times. It is a frank, honest declaration, and quite satisfies us that Mr. Allsopp has been no party to any falsification; and that he, in common with the other great brewers, have really supplied the public with what they profess to do, viz., good, genuine, wholesome bitter beer. When we pointed out, on a former occasion, the importance of the great brewers coming forward and making the statements now tendered by Messrs. Allsopp, Bass, and Ind, it was not so much to clear their own characters as to prevent a general panic arising among their consumers, which would doubtless have rapidly and completely ruined their trade. The general question, however, remains much as it did. Tt has been stated, that strychnine has been imported into England in large quantities for a certain purpose. Is it true that there has been such importation ? is it true that there has been such application? Messrs. Allsopp, Bass, and Ind do not, unfortunately, make up the total of our brewers and retailers; and their assertions, satisfactory as regards their own productions, leave the point, as far as the small vendors and middlemen are concerned, unsettled.

Mr. Allsopp is not likely to have paid much attention to the subject of the adulteration of food. The probability is, that he has no conception of the frauds which are practised by the traders of the poor classes, nor of the total want of anything like prevention on the part of the authorities. Adulteration is not practised to any great extent among the rich. Their tradesmen know that it is their interest as well as their duty to supply a good article. The bread, the butter, the meat, the coffee, the tea, and the beer of our upper classes are, for the most part, unexceptionable. If any common article of diet bo much adulterated, it is wine. But among the poor it i» very different; the demand is more than the supply ; the suppliers more numerous than the amount of their stock, justifies; the purchasers are clamorous for cheapness, and consider abundance more than quality. All the incentives to care and discrimination which act upon the higher tradesman are absent here; and the result is, that between a careless public and an unscrupulous trade, the amount of falsification of food is almost incredible. It is only by glimpses that we get a knowledge of what is going on, but those glimpses-disclose to us a state of things which demand prompt and instant investigation. If we wished to investigate the bread or the meat which is sold in Ratcliff-highway or Whitechapel, we should not go to a baker or a butcher of Belgravia or Hyde Park-square; and it would be just as absurd to admit the " bitter beer" of our eminent brewers as a proper sample of the beverage of the poorer class.

There is one part of Mr. Allsop's letter in which he almost reproaches us for having brought this matter forward. But he will see, on a little reflection, that it was our bounden duty to make those statements public in this country which had been publicly proclaimed in Paris, and published in the leading political journal of the day, and in one of the most eminent of the medical periodicals. As medical men, and guardians of the public health, it was impossible for us to let the matter pass over without comment. Put the question to any sensible man in the kingdom, as to what course we should have pursued, and there can be but one answer. It is absurd to call upon us to prove M. Payen's assertion. It is not in our power to do so ; but it is in our power to call upon those whom it concerns to disprove it; and we conceive that, if we did not do this, we should be doing our duty neither to the public nor to the Profession."
"Medical Times and Gazette, Volume 4", 1852, page 376.

So it was perfectly reasonable for them to scare the public and potentially ruin the business of Burton brewers based on a few remarks of a foreign chemist. And without anything as dull as evidence or facts. Just a bunch of hearsay and wild supposition. Not much different from today's press, with all their horror stories of an "epidemic" of "binge drinking".

"You may not be adulterating your beer, but we're sure others are" is the gist. A combination of supposition and suspicion that is very difficult to refute because it's so vague. I wonder if they published an apology when it became clear that the whole story was pure fantasy and that no beer had ever been bittered with strychnine?

The Great Bitter Beer Puff

I was tempted to make a tasteless joke about the title. But managed to refrain when I couldn't think of a funny one. Not that that's bothered me much in the past.

In case you hadn't already guessed, we're still with the Pale Ale strychnine scare of the 1850's. It seems ridiculous now that anyone could have believed this outrageous claim. Yet 50 years later dozens were killed or made seriously ill by arsenic-laced beer. At a time when inspection of food and drink had become much more rigorous.

The medical press was full of stuff about the scare. Some of it in the form of advertisements by Allsopp, which was keen to clear its name. And perhaps more. This article is critical of  the methods and motives of the brewery's response.

"THE GREAT BITTER BEER PUFF.

In the beginning of the year we happened to notice, in a leading article, the statement of a French chemist, that large quantities of strychnine were manufactured in Paris for the purpose of adulterating bitter beer in England. Our remarks were immediately seized hold of by one of the great Burton brewers, who indignantly protested against a statement so much calculated to do serious injury to his trade. With this counter-statement, which, we doubt not, the Profession and the public in general thought perfectly satisfactory, we imagined the subject at an end, and that a man might henceforth enjoy his glass of bitter beer without fear or reproach. Not so, however; our little statement has gradually given rise to a fierce controversy. Scientific men, whilst calmly pursuing the even tenor of their way, have been suddenly seized upon and dragged into the arena to do battle for the beer barrel; the newspapers have been overshadowed with gigantic advertisements, and Allsopp's Pale Ale, in the largest type, floats like the banner of a triumphant conqueror, in every broad-sheet of the three Kingdoms. And what is it all about? asks our reader. Really we can hardly tell ourselves. As in the great Whistonian controversy, the original point in dispute has long been lost sight of. It is no longer asked, whether the public stands in danger of being narcotised and jactitated* by strychnine; but—Who brews the best bitter beer?

To settle this point, which might have been deputed to a tapster, Messrs. Allsopp have thought proper to have recourse to a philosopher. It used to be the boast of a celebrated blacking-maker, that he "kept a poet;" and Allsopp, in like manner, parades his retention of a natural philosopher. The illustrious chemist, whose genius aims at revolutionising the agriculture of the world, is degraded into the position of Bacchus bestriding an ale-cask. The headings, "Allsopp's Pale Ale and Baron Liebig," or "Professor Liebig on Allsopp's Pale Ale," meet the eye so constantly on every advertising sheet, that the mind cannot separate the two ideas.

And how does all this come about? asks the innocent reader. Why the Baron has given a testimonial, and here it is :—

"FROM BARON LIEBIG TO MR. ALLSOPP.

"The specimens of your pale ale sent to me afford me another opportunity of confirming its valuable qualities. I am myself an admirer of this beverage; and my own experience enables me to recommend it? in accordance with the opinion of the most eminent English physicians, as a very agreeable and efficient tonic, and as a general beverage, both for the invalid and the robust.

"Giessen, May 6,1852." Justus Liebig.

This testimonial might have passed as the good-natured opinion of a savant after having been warmed by "specimens of your pale ale;" but there are many celebrated brewers besides the Messrs. Allsopp, who either—as the latter gentlemen assert—acting from "an unworthy jealousy," or from a natural dislike of seeing other people's wares unduly puffed, thought fit to put themselves in communication with the Baron, and a second letter from Giessen was the result. This letter, which is said to be at the Jerusalem Coffee-house**, where any person might inspect it, contains the following passage:—

"If I wished to associate with any individual brewery my remarks on the alleged adulterations of bitter beer with strychnine, it would have been only natural to have mentioned another brewery, in which alone, and not in Mr. Allsopp's, I was engaged in investigating the Burton mode of brewing; and it was also in that brewery, and not in Mr. Allsopp's, that the Bavarian brewers acquired all the instructions they obtained at Burton. The admiration I expressed of this beverage in my letter to Mr. Allsopp, is advertised in such a manner as to lead to the inference, that my praise was exclusively confined to Mr. Allsopp's beer; this was not the case; my remarks referred to that class of beer.
"July 24, 1852. "(Signed) Justus Liebig."

This extract, as chance would have it, generally appeared as an advertisement close to the original letter, and formed, we must confess, a very damaging postscript to it. At all events, the Messrs. Allsopp seem to have felt it as a dreadful thorn in their side, and the poor Baron was accordingly put under contribution for another letter from his original tormentors, extracts from which have been diligently advertised in the most prominent manner as a triumphant rejoinder. Here they are:—

"To my great astonishment and concern my attention has lately been called to several anonymous articles and advertisements headed by my name, such as in the —, whose author altogether misrepresents the motives of my remarks, and even goes so far as to say, 'that I had never analysed your beer, nor, perhaps, ever tasted it in my life,' and to allege a retraction on my part of the original statement. I emphatically declare, that I had not the slightest knowledge of these anonymous articles, the contents of which I entirely disapprove of, and that, in every respect, I adhere to the statement made in my letter to you, which certainly you were and are at perfect liberty to publish.

"(Signed) Justus Liebig.
"Munich, Sept. 15, 1852."

From these extracts, it is clear that the Baron does not deny the authenticity of the Jerusalem Coffee-house letter; on the contrary, by not referring to it he would seem to endorse its genuineness. What, then, are we to think of such a contradictory correspondence?—how account for such a melancholy exhibition? Really one half suspects that "the specimens of your pale ale sent to me" must have possessed an extra stroke of malt, and that the Baron must have taken up his pen while under the influence of John Barleycorn. Be this as it may, however, one thing is certain, the incautious gift of a testimonial has caused a dispute which has ended in placing in a very undignified position a very eminent man. We should not have wasted one moment's time upon the quarrel respecting the relative merits of different brewers' pale ale, but we have gone into this correspondence at some length, in order to show how adroitly the trading spirit can turn to account a great name, and, by this instance, to warn others against the chance of having theirs bespattered with the dirt in a similar manner. Messrs. Allsopp, not content with one victim, drag at their dray-wheels a score of physicians and chemists who have thoughtlessly given them testimonials, and who are now doomed to see themselves day by day paraded before the world as pendents to a very unseemly controversy. The great bitter beer puff is, however, only a bloated likeness of hundreds of others, to the of which medical men have thoughtlessly lent It is positively painful for any high-minded member of the Profession to skim over the advertisement sheet of the Times, and see how his brethren demean themselves and their art by testifying, right and left, to anything that is brought under their notice, from British brandy down to digestive bread,—from pulmonic wafers to patent water-closets. In some instances, we are aware, these so-called testimonials are impudent forgeries.

In all such cases it is the hounden duty of the medical man whose name has been so unwarrantably employed, to expose the deception in the most public manner possible. A little moral courage expended in this way would go far to abolish a practice which has become a reproach to our Profession."
"Medical times and gazette, Volume 5", 1852, page 439-440.

To kick off, I'll again point out that Bitter Beer is used as a synonym for Pale Ale. Just in case there's still someone out there whose dense skull this fact hasn't yet penetrated.

Those crafty devils at Allsopp used Liebig's remarks out of context as a recommendation for their particular Pale Ale. When it turns out Liebig had studied the Burton brewing method in "another brewery" and it was really this brewery's Pale Ale that he had praised in his initial letter. I wonder which brewery that might have been?

This remark gives it away: it's where "the Bavarian brewers acquired all the instructions they obtained at Burton". Does he mean Sedlmayr and Lederer by Bavarian brewers? If he does, then the brewery he means is Bass. Allsopp's biggest competitor in the Pale Ale business. A bit naughty then to use Liebig's remarks as an endorsement of their beer.

"the newspapers have been overshadowed with gigantic advertisements" for Allsopp, article says. We've seen one of those in an earlier post. It takes the form of testimonials from various medical men saying that their beer isn't poisoned with a handy reminder at the end of where their Pale Ale can be bought. The same advert appears in just about every issue of "Medical times and gazette" of 1852.

In a way, you have to admire Allsopp's nous. Turning adversity to their own advantage.




* jactitate: to move or stir about violently. Not I word I can remember coming across before.

** I wondered at first if this might be what's now the Jerusalem Tavern. I know it was once a coffee house. It wasn't. It was somewhere East India Company men gathered.

"JERUSALEM  COFFEE-HOUSE, 1, Cowper's-court, Cornhill, is one of the oldest of the City news-rooms, and is frequented by merchants and captains connected with the commerce of China, India and Australia:
    "The subscription room is well furnished with files of the principal Canton, Hong Kong, Macao, Penang, Singapore, Calcutta, Bombay, Madras, Sydney, Hobart Town, Launceston, Adelaide and Port Philip papers, and Prices Current; besides shipping-lists and papers from the various intermediate stations or ports touched at, as St. Helena, the Cape of Good Hope, &c. The books of East India shipping include arrivals, departures, casualties, &c. The full business is between two and three o'clock P.M. In 1845, John Tawell, the Slough murderer, was captured at the Jerusalem, which he was in the habit of visiting, to ascertain information of the state of his property in Sydney." The City, 2nd edit., 1848."
"Curiosities of London" by John Timbs, 1866, page 202.

Allsopp reassures the public again

You can see what a storm the strychnine allegations caused by the effort Allsopp put into refuting them. This is from slightly later in the year and seems to be a response to a letter published in "The Lancet" by a certain Dr. Glover.

"ALLSOPP's PALE ALE and DR. GLOVER

The circulation given to a statement tending to invalidate the expression of Dr. Glover's opinion in favour of Pale Ale, compels Messrs. ALLSOPP and SONS to connect this remarkable distribution of a calumny with other insidious attacks upon their firm, which they have reason to know proceed from an unworthy and unneighbourly jealousy.

Messrs. ALLSOPP and SONS, in reply, deem it their best course to adopt the same line of conduct as in the case of the similar perversion and mutilation of Baron Liebig's meaning, so indignantly repudiated by that eminent man himself. They publish, therefore, without abridgement, the letter they received from Dr. Glover (having his permission to do so)—a letter the more valuable because it was not intended for publication, and is an unpremeditated evidence of that learned Chemist's Just appreciation of Pale Ale.

DR. GLOVER TO MR. ALLSOPP.

"Newcastle-On-Tyne, April 11.

"Sir,—It was not my intention, in writing the hasty note to the 'Lancet' to cast any reflections upon, or to implicate in any way, respectable brewers of Pale Ale.

"When I first saw the statement about the alleged use of strychnine in bittering ale, I looked upon the assertion as incredible, both on account of the price of the drug and the symptoms it would create; but, on experiment, I found that strychnine possesses such wonderful bitterness, that it might, perhaps, be used as An Adjutant, at least by Unprincipled Persons. In short, my object was simply to show that the thing was not altogether so impossible as it appeared at first sight to be.

"My opinion is, that hops should not enjoy the exclusive privilege of being used for bittering beer; but I do not pretend to discuss the point with practical men.

"I know there are bitters which might be used beneficially, in a medical point of view.

"With regard to analysing your beer, my time is taken up, so far as analysing and chemistry are concerned, with two kinds of inquiries— 1st, those which are purely scientific; and 2nd, those which are profitable. If you wish me, in the latter capacity, to analyse and report on your beer, I, of course, can have no objection.

"I have to prepare for an absence of three or four days to-morrow, and so beg you to excuse me replying to the letter of Mr. Bottinger, for which I am much obliged. Yours, &c,

"H. Allsopp, Esq." (Signed) "R. M. GLOVER.

"P.S.—I presume you will hardly expect me to write to the "Lancet." However, I shall be at home on Thursday evening, and moat assuredly I have no desire to say anything which could weaken the confidence of the Public in your beer. But That I Am Not Now In The Habit Of Drinking Bitter Beer, I Should Be glad To Show My Confidence By Drinking Plenty Of It."

Messrs. ALLSOPP and SONS beg to refer to the Letter of Mr. HENRY ALLSOPP on the subject, in the "Monthly Journal of Medical Science" for October, in the concluding paragraph of which it is said—

"I inserted Dr. Glover's good natured remark on my Bitter Beer as an 'incidental testimonial' — no more. I never called it 'a certificate,' nor did I apply to him, or any other medical gentleman, for one. I am not responsible that such a construction has been placed upon the off-hand expressions of good opinion which have been sent to me from all quarters."

Messrs. ALLSOPP and SONS, in conclusion, wish to draw the attention of the public and the trade to the fact, that, by this disingenuous system of attack, and the perversions of facts gratuitously adopted, they are unwillingly drawn into that publicity the courting of which is made an accusation against them.
Burton-on-Trent, October 8, 1852."
"Medical times and gazette, Volume 5", 1852, page 428.

More stuff to ponder. Dr. Glover seems to have confirmed that it would be possible to use strychnine to bitter beer. He doesn't say it was or should be used as a bittering agent, but he concedes the possibility.

The fact that these accusations were taken seriously demonstrates the (often rightly) suspicious attitude of the public to the contents of their food and drink. Though in this case their suspicions proved to be unfounded.

Is it me, or is the post script a thinly-disguised attempt to score some free beer off  the brewery? Isn't he saying, bring me round a load of your beer on Thursday and I'll be happy to demonstrate my confidence in it not being laden with poison? And in the penultimate paragraph of his letter Dr. Glover seems to be tarting for some analytical work. What a cheeky rascal.

Allsopp reassures the public

That its beers aren't laced with strychnine. With this advertisement placed in a medical journal. What with all the killjoys currently in the medical profession, I doubt they would accept an ad like this.

The pesky French published stories claiming that the bitterness of Pale Ale was not derived from hops but from strychnine. The seriousness with which Allsopp took the adulteration allegations is demonstrated by the string of eminent doctors they wheeled out to reassure the public.

"ALLSOPP'S PALE OR BITTER ALE.

In consequence of the reported adulteration of Bitter Beer, Messrs. Samuel ALLSOPP and SONS have received numerous incidental TESTIMONIALS to the excellence, purity, and salutary effects of their ALES. They consider it due to the Medical Profession who have so long recommended ALLSOPP'S PALE ALE in all cases where dietetic regimen is required, to give publicity to these Testimonials, as a means of disabusing the public mind of any possible prejudice on the subject.

By the following extracts among a number from the most eminent Medical Men, the Profession throughout the country will have the satisfaction of finding their Just appreciation of the remedial advantages of ALLSOPP'S PALE ALE amply confirmed by the concurring testimony of the most able Physicians and Surgeons, as well as the most illustrious Chemists of the time :—

FROM BARON LIEBIG. "The specimens of your Pale Ale sent tome have afforded me another opportunity of confirming Its valuable qualities. I am myself an admirer of this beverage, and my own experience enables me to recommend it, in accordance with the opinion of the most eminent English physicians, as a very agreeable and efficient tonic, and as a general beverage both for the invalid and the robust. "Glessen, May 6."

FROM PROFESSOR GRAHAM, F.R.S., UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, LONDON; AND PROFESSOR HOFMANN. Ph.D., F.R.S.. COLLEGE OF CHEMISTRY, LONDON. 11 The sifting nature of the chemical examination which the Beers of Messrs. Allsopp's manufacture for many months past have been subjected to, fully establishes their incontestable purity. The process of brewing Pals Ale is one in which nothing but Water and the best Malt and Hops of the first quality are used: it is an operation of the greatest delicacy and care, which would be entirely ruined by any tampering with the materials employed.  —" London, April 26."

FROM SIR CHARLES M. CLARKE, BART., PHYSICIAN TO HER LATE MAJESTY THE QUEEN DOWAGER. "I have frequently recommended Bitter Ale medicinally, and when my home-brewed Ale has been exhausted, I have been supplied with Ale 'from your brewery.'—" Wigginton Lodge, May 2."

FROM THOMAS WATSON, M.D. "In the genuineness and salubrity of Pale Ale and Bitter Beer, as manufactured at Burton, my confidence remains unshaken." —" Henrietta-street, Cavendish-square, May 5."

FROM GEORGE BUDD. M.D., SENIOR PHYSICIAN OF KING'S COLLEGE HOSPITAL. "I did not want any testimony to satisfy me of the perfect purity of the Pale Ale manufactured by you. A close observation of Its effects upon myself and upon many others to whom I have prescribed it long ago, convinced me, as much as the most searching chemical analysis could do, that it contains nothing more than malt and hops, and that it is a first-rate beverage.——" Dover-street, May l."

FROM MARSHALL. HALL.. M.D., F.R.S. "My confidence in the purity of your Pale Ale remains unshaken, and my opinion of its great value in a dietetic and remedial point of view, is entirely confirmed by long time and experience. "Grosvenor-street, April 30."

FROM BENJAMIN TRAVERS, ESQ., F.R.S. "I do not hesitate to affirm, that no deleterious substance is employed In Allsopp's Pale Ale and Bitter Beer, and that my confidence In its wholesomeness as a beverage remains unshaken. "Green-street, April 50."

FROM PROVINCIAL MEDICAL JOURNAL, JUNE 23. "Liebig's letter to Mr. Allsopp will satisfy any remaining doubts as to the purity of an article which is now so generally recommended by the Profession. We are bound to consider that that recommendation is founded in truth. That it is so, there can now be no doubt whatever."

Messrs. ALLSOPP and SONS cannot refrain from reminding the public. that it is entirely owing to the exertions of their House that Burton-on-Trent possesses its present important trade in Pale Ale. Messrs. ALLSOPP and SONS first introduced this article to the Indian markets thirty years ago, since which period its great popularity has remained unshaken. These circumstances have induced Messrs. ALLSOPP and SONS to come forward in defence of the peculiar manufacture in which they are engaged, and they cannot but refer with satisfaction to the triumphant refutation which has been given to the attacks recently made on this universal beverage."

ALLSOPP'S PALE OR BITTER ALE

May be obtained in Casks of not less than 18 gallons from the BREWERY, BURTON-ON-TRENT ; and from the BRANCH ESTABLISHMENTS:— London, at 61, King 'William-street, City; Liverpool, at Cook-street; Manchester, at Ducie-place; Dudley, at the Royal Brewery; Glasgow, at 115, St. St. Vincent-street: Dublin, at Ulster-Chambers, Dame-street; Birmingham, at Market-hall; at either of which places a list of respectable parties who supply the Beer in Bottles, (and also in Casks at the same prices as from the Brewery,) may at any time be seen."
"Medical times and gazette, Volume 5", 1852, page 155.

There are a couple of points to which I'd like to draw your attention. Firstly, the names used for their beer: Pale Ale, Bitter Beer and Bitter Ale all appear in the text, used as if they were synonyms. Another one in the eye for those that persist in claiming that Pale Ale and Bitter were two different types of beer.

Then there's the use of Pale Ale as a tonic. "I have frequently recommended Bitter Ale medicinally" that's something no doctor would do today. Prescribe a patient a few pints of Gary Glitter. Sometimes I can't help thinking that the world has become a much duller place.

And finally there's tthe modesty of Allsopp, claiming that they alone are responsible for Burton's Pale Ale trade.And the first to sell (I suppose they mean Burton) Pale Ale in India.