The inspiration for this book comes from a few pages of that most wonderful of documents, the Whitbread Gravity Book. For, in a few years in the early 1920Õs, in addition to recording OG, FG, acidity and colour, they also included comments of the appearance and flavour of the beers being analysed.
ItÕs only a very specific subset that received treatment: the draught beers of their main London competitors. What it provides is a unique window into the public bars of 1920Õs London. Allowing us to see how good Ð or bad Ð draught beer was back then. The results are sometimes surprising, others disappointing. One thing they never fail to do is fascinate. At least they fascinate me. Maybe IÕm not normal.