Pub History: A 'Summut' - Plain, Stick & Hinion ...

One aspect of pub snacking that I have a minor issue with is the pairing of a pint of stout with a packet of cheese and onion crisps, with the implication that one makes the other better. The cheese is perfectly acceptable of course but onion with a nice stout - or any good beer - clearly ruins the flavour profile of the beverage, changing it completely as your palate is assailed and altered by the harsh onion compounds. Admittedly this is less of an issue with one of the blander of the macrobrewed stouts, and it does not mean I have never partaken of such a combination, but it is certainly not a mix that any 'Craft Beer & Food Pairing Guru' would be happy with I assume - or at least not if they are being entirely honest about how such a strong flavour is workable with any fine and flavoursome stout or porter.

But it appears this combination of onions and stout is not new, so let me transcribe here a report that appeared in a couple of newspapers in May of 1837:

DUBLIN POLICE - Henry-street Office.

Pleasant Salute. — Thomas Mulvey preferred a charge of assault against Thomas Pleasant and Ellen Beverly. He stated, after having performed his daily business, and received his daily hire, he stepped into a public house to get pint of summut.

Mr. Blacker — What do you call a pint of summut?

Mulvey — Lord, your worship! not know what that is! My eyes! Every one knows that — a pint of porter with a stick in it, and a raw hinion.

Mr. Blacker — Mercy on me! — you beast! What you want the onion for, and what do you call a stick in it? 

Mulvey — Blessed are the ignorant, for they know nothing! A stick means a crapper of strong water, and the hinion to give it flavour.

Mr. Blacker — Very well, Sir; go on with your charge. 

Mulvey — Well, after taking a drop of natheral refreshment, I was coming out, when this here man and this here woman came up, and without any more ado, set on me and beat me in the manner you see; the female little devil got stones in her hand, and beat my head with them.

Ellen Beverly — No, your worship, it was only a key. 

Mr. Blacker — I will fine you and your husband 10s. 

Pleasant — She is not wife — she is better off; she is under my protection. 

Mr. Blacker—How dare you, Sir! It makes your crime worse. Get out of my sight.

There is quite a bit to take on board here. Both a 'stick' and a 'crapper' are terms for a measure of spirits - usually whiskey but a 'summut' is a new term for me, and I am assuming the word is an alternative version of 'something' as common in certain northern English dialects. How it appeared in Dublin I do not know and perhaps it has a separate meaning.

Leaving all of that aside the big thing here is an onion being served in a pint of porter and whiskey - or at least that is implied by the comments of Mr. Mulvey. This seems odd to the extreme and I can find no other reference to either a 'summut' or the practice of serving onion in a beer anywhere else - as of yet.

We have all probably had IPAs that certainly had a garlicky flavour from the hops, so maybe this is not as bizarre as it sounds - providing it is true of course, and Mr. Mulvey our witness was not making up the drink for comical reasons, although it would be a strange place and situation in which to do so. 

There are also onions that are quite mild and can be eaten a little like apples, and perhaps they were less 'oniony' in the early 19th century anyway. Certainly pickled onions are still acceptable in certain places as a pub snack but the act of pickling does tend the mute the onion flavour, and they are usually a special variety too.

I think we need to take the whole reference with a pinch of salt - to introduce another savoury element - and it is certainly not a recipe I plan to recreate, but it is certainly a thought-provoking , or perhaps stomach-churning, combination.

Perhaps I have discovered the origin of the need for some of you to have that packet of cheese and onion flavour crisps with your pint of stout!?

Liam K.

All written content and the research involved in publishing it here is my own unless otherwise stated and cannot be reproduced elsewhere without permission, full credit to its sources, and a link back to this post. Newspaper image © The British Library Board - All rights reserved. With thanks to The British Newspaper Archive (www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk) from whom I have received permission to display this image on this site.

Irish Pub History: Mulled Porter on Tap...?

Mulled porter, ale or especially wine are not exactly an unknown concept to most people, as these types of drinks have indeed been around for centuries - I even wrote about them here and listed some recipes - and I would think that very few of you are unaware that the 'mulling' refers to the spicing and heating of an alcoholic beverage. (Incidentally there seems to be no agreement in any online dictionary sources as to where the term ‘Mull’ comes from in this context but surely it comes from a contraction of muddle meaning to mix? Or at least comes from the same original source.) But while looking up references on how beer was served in Irish public houses, I came across repeated references to 'Porter Mulling Machines' right through the second half of the 19th century which got me thinking what form these could have taken, how they would have been heated, and how they worked. The word ‘machine’ can be a bit a little confusing, but my belief is that during this period it did not mean what we think of in our heads these days, of something filled with gears, axles and cogs, it – like engine – was just a general 'something' that replaced a manual form of doing a job or helped someone with that task. A ‘beer engine’ used for serving cask ale is a good and appropriate example of the use of these type of words.

Those mentions I found in newspapers – often for the sale of contents of a public house – often listed the name ‘Merry’ as the supplier or maker. More research uncovered a ‘Lawrence & Richard Merry’ as manufacturers of beer engines, bottling equipment and other barware in this period. They were proficient in a variety of metals such as copper, pewter and brass, and were also gasfitter and plumbers. They had won a gold medal at the Irish National Exhibition in 1883 for the quality of their wares, and I believe they enterprise may have started off as pewter manufacturers. (There is also a Martin Merry mentioned in the 1840s supplying similar equipment and based on Aungier Street, not very far away from where Lawrence and Richard were based at 25 Bride Street.)

Sadly, I can find no mention of their specific ‘Porter Mulling Machine’ but I have found a few English patents and designs for beverage mulling machines which used gas as their heat source, and given the Merry’s expertise with metals and gas, I think it is not unreasonable to assume that the ‘machines’ they supplied were quite like these?

Here is one such design in an Advertisement by Smith & Phillips - Gas Engineers in 'A Shilling Cookery for the People' by Alexis Soyer which was published in 1854. This one appears to have four sections for different drinks and four taps.

There were other patents during that decade too such as this one from Henry Remington from 1856 (English Patent No. 1783) which was gas heated too and contained two chambers for holding the heated beverages as well as a reservoir of hot water that heated the beer and maybe wine or ale, each with separate taps. (I have seen mention of similar in the sale of contents of a spirit grocer in Wicklow in 1873, which mentions that the mulling equipment also had three taps and in 1877 there is an advertisement in The Belfast Telegraph for 'a first class porter muller, all pure copper, well tinned inside, three apartments[sic], for porter, ale and water,' which certainly sounds like the boiler shown here.)

I have no proof that the Merry’s machine was anything like these (so I could be completely wrong) but I think it is reasonable enough to assume it was at least similar in design – like a heated copper barrel with the gas heat source below although if it was just for porter then it may have had just one - or two - compartments. As I stated above, the Merrys were gas fitters too and some of those mentions of the sale of the contents of public houses even list gas fittings with the bar items for sale. I also found a newspaper reference of a fire having been caused by a faulty porter mulling machine in Glasgow in 1881, which would point to gas being the likely heat source for this type of bar equipment. Also, slightly earlier in 1877 a spirit grocer in Newry is selling a 'copper keg, with brass hoops, in two divisions, heated by gas, for mulling porter, and boiling water' according to the town's Reporter newspaper. This seems to confirm that the heat source is indeed gas, and also that these boilers were quite ornate in appearance like the images above.

There other mentions of mullers elsewhere too, The Belfast News-Letter in November of 1867 has a timely advertisement from Bloomfield's in John Street which invites publicans to look at their prize-winning and improved mullers so that said publicans can give their customers 'a pot of mulled porter this winter.' A London maker - Byron - is also mentioned in an advertisement in 1880 in The Belfast Telegraph, and Dublin's Freeman's Journal lists two for sale in 1882, one made by Merrys complete with stand and another three compartment version from a maker called Curtis. James Campbell & Co. of Mary Street and Jervis Street in Dublin had a new design of porter muller back in 1859 according to The Advocate too, so we can see that there were a number of suppliers and makers of porter mullers.

As well as the fire in Scotland mentioned above there was a fire in Dublin in 1884 according to the city's Daily Express, as in April it was reported that

'About twelve o'clock noon yesterday a fire broke out at the publichouse Nos 1 and 2 Wood Quay, the property of Mr O'Kelly. The Fire Brigade were quickly on the scene and within half an hour the fire was extinguised. It is beleived to have originated through a leakage of the gas pipe used for heating the porter muller, the shop flooring thus becoming ignited. The damage done to the property was slight.'

(It is probably worth mentioning that this property is the long gone and much lamented The Irish House ...)

Mulled porter appears to have been relatively popular in public houses Ireland at this time – perhaps less so elsewhere - and there were even specific lemon and spice extracts and liquid spiced syrups available to the publican to quickly and easily spice their porters. It would be great if some of the dispensers still existed in public houses somewhere in the country – if you spot one please send me a photo, as it would be great to see that at least one has survived – ideally with an ‘L & R Merry’ stamp.

It would also be nice to be able to walk into a pub in Ireland now and get a glass of spiced porter in a nice pewter mug on a cold winter’s evening, served from a shiny brass and copper barrel on the bar – perhaps we need to campaign for the reinstatement of porter mulling machines?

Liam K.

All written content and the research involved in publishing it here is my own unless otherwise stated and cannot be reproduced elsewhere without permission, full credit to its sources, and a link back to this post. Images are via Google Books and newspaper research via The British Newspaper Archive.