… and the Stirrup-Cup
Cyril Ray was an English wine specialist and writer, fairly long-lived (1908-1991). A good bio at Wikipedia explains his background. His name lives on, apart his writings, via his son Jonathan Ray, long-time wine editor of The Spectator.
The image below is of Ray père, from the biographical entry mentioned. Reminds me of Patrick Macnee of The Avengers TV series.
In 1967 Ray issued his In a Glass Lightly, which collected many of his magazine pieces and other occasional writings on drink.* These mainly deal with wine, but other drinks as well. There is a chapter on beer, in which he makes some interesting remarks on pale ale, pubs, and porter.
Image below is via the book’s Amazon listing.
Cyril Ray and Imperial Stout
In today’s beer scene some know his impactful appreciation of Russian Imperial Stout, now an established datum in craft brewing culture. It was originally written for Queen magazine, apparently in the mid-1960s.
I first saw it as reprinted in Michael Weiner’s The Taster’s Guide to Beer (1978), a book I bought over 40 years ago more or less concurrently with Michael Jackson’s more famous The World Guide to Beer (1977).
In the years before I created the Beer et Seq site in 2015, I contributed commentary in other forums. I must have mentioned Ray’s Russian stout remarks to Ron Pattinson as he mentioned me in 2009 when he reprinted the Queen article.
A useful service to beer studies that was. Of the many things Michael Jackson did for Russian stout – a lot – one thing he did not do was reference Ray’s remarks, which seem to have eluded him.
Ray characterized the beer in romantic-historical terms not dissimilar to how Jackson later did it. Therefore, one must credit Ray – and Weiner – in some part with transforming what was simply extra-strong porter into the craft darling Imperial Stout.
In a Glass Lightly incorporates the same Queen passages, so I won’t add anything further on that account.
Ray on Stout Generally
Ray also discusses other stout, some of which revolves around Guinness heir Bryan Guinness, aka Lord Moyne, evidently a friend and confidant. One anecdote states Bryan offered house guests a special drink, a “stirrup-cup”, at homegoing – Ray evidently stayed with him at his estate outside Dublin.
This was:
Guinness Foreign [Extra Stout] and Guinness Porter, mixed and matured to his own taste, and deliciously crisp yet full.
I take it Guinness prepared this special blend in bottles for Bryan, then its Vice-Chairman. One wishes more detail was available on the drink. But the logic is impeccable. (This blending thing for porter does seem to go back a long way, from early origins of porter. Off and on Guinness gets the blending treatment certainly. I’ve done it myself forever).
Ray states of stout that it goes well with jugged hare, Extra Stout in particular. Whereas he likes Guinness draught more with bone marrow and toast. As between Guinness Foreign Extra, then sent to “tropical” countries, and Guinness Special Export Stout, then sent to Europe, he thought the latter richer, a burgundy he says to the claret of the other. Fair enough.
Ray in general preferred Extra Stout (bottled) to draught Guinness, stating he liked the “prickle” of Extra Stout and it was “fresher”. Clearly the draught in the UK by then was the pasteurized keg beer. Extra Stout in 1960s England was still naturally-conditioned.
Ray, Pale Ale, Gold Triangle
Ray preferred naturally-conditioned bottled ale to the filtered, pasteurized stuff coming from the breweries in ever increasing quantities. He mentions Bass Red Triangle and Worthington White Shield in this regard, but – a sign of where the market was going – for home use even he bought the “keg” versions, Blue Triangle and Green Shield.
The bottled beer he had most regard for was the rare Bass Gold Triangle, on which he has much to say.** It was “admirably bitter, mellow, and rather strong”, sold in nips, or 2/3rds of a half-pint. He says it was perfect for a mid-morning or pre-luncheon drink, and by all rights should have been preferred by many to a gin-and-tonic, except for its price: two shillings a nip.
To be clear, this was too cheap, not too dear. He states he told Bass’ chairman to raise the price, so a higher echelon would buy it, but this did not occur. He states that later, when German Lowenbrau gained cachet in London, it could have been Bass Gold Triangle in its place. This puts a different spin on the usual story of lager’s unceasing, inevitable rise in the British Isles.
Assessing Ray as a Beer Critic
All this makes Ray sound like a true beer person, but really he wasn’t. Perhaps strategically, he states at the outset of the chapter that he really doesn’t know much about beer. He understood, and explained well, brewery- and pub-conditioned beer, say, but his heart seemed not really in it.
Perhaps he intended to assure his wine audience he remained on the grape side of the equation. He acknowledged that many in that constituency considered wine the socially superior drink. While he calls the attitude “snobbery”, I think by and large he shared the view.
For example, he states he gave his share of beer dinners but they seemed to make little impact on his guests. On one occasion he served Bass’s King’s Ale, brewed and bottled for the coronation of Edward VII, only to be told it tasted like “a tired old Madeira”.
Even Ray’s wife thought the beer reminiscent of “Parrish’s Chemical Food”. It is not beyond my research abilities to check what that was, or is, but I think I’ll refrain.
Image below is via this Worthpoint auction item.
It would take much independence of mind to stand against such attitudes, especially then, and I think in the end he too, raised two cheers for beer. The confirming point was his professed lack of interest in pubs. “Wet and smelly stand-up places” he called them, even likening the pub to a “public convenience”. Unfair, but there it is.
And so draught beer, really the star of the pub then and now, of the English brewing heritage, seemed to impress Ray only minimally. To the extent he embraced beer, it was the bottled form. This perhaps had its origin in class-based attitudes.***
It puts me in mind that flying officers in the prewar R.A.F. also preferred bottled beer to draught, as I recorded in Part I of my article on beer in British Malaya. During World War II Ray served as officer in a balloon squadron, so it all ties in, you see.
Note re images: images are sourced as identified and linked in the text. All intellectual property therein belongs solely to the lawful owner, as applicable. Used for educational and research purposes. All feedback welcomed.
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*The edition I used, but it seems a version of the book was published earlier, in 1960.
**Ron Pattinson has a few words, see here. Note the strength he records.
***See further in Comments.
