Friday 15 April 2016

History: Adulterated Porter - Fine ... or Dandy?


While looking through some old papers in the local library in Carlow, as part of my ongoing research into a couple of long closed breweries in the town, I came across this article from The Carlow Morning Post dated October 22nd 1818.

On one hand it shows that the quality of beer in the early 19th century probably left a lot to be desired, and might have added to the demise of certain breweries when something cleaner or better came along. On the other hand it shows that experimentation with adjuncts in beer is nothing new, although perhaps not for purely experimentation sake.

I'll leave it up to you to decide whether Mr. Gernon with his Liquorice & Molasses Beer, and Mr. Codd with his Bitter Orange & Cayenne Porter were ahead of their time ... or not.



Although I think that the green vitriol is probabaly best left to treating moss in lawns...

Liam

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