Tomson & Wotton: Classic Seaside Brewery

Of Ramsgate, I knew it to be in Kent and by the sea, but little more. Making inquiries online, the following magically appeared, under “People ask”:

Of the three towns on Kent’s Isle of Thanet, Ramsgate is often seen as the underdog: somewhat over-shadowed by the time-warped charms of genteel Broadstairs or the gaudy glory of artsy Margate. … By reputation, it’s a bit rough, a bit run-down, but Ramsgate used to be posh.

The term rough, and “posh” for that matter, are not used this side of the Atlantic in quite the same way, but we get the meaning.

The anonymous response forms an apt introduction to Ramsgate. The town had its glory days in the 19th century but was well-frequented in the last, as well. Londoners sapped by the heat took refuge there, into the postwar period.

The travel tome All About Ramsgate and Broadstairs (1864) offered a social grading of the Kent resorts. Ramsgate was typed as a refuge for Russell Square, Broadstairs, for Cadogan Place, while Margate earned the Kennington and Camden Town trade. This complements the primer from the ether.

For a Dickens-like description of a hot London summer, read the page before the one linked. Its cinematic clarity derives from a time when the written word meant everything to convey experience to people.

So hot was it, “warm fingers made marks on the new novel”. And, bitter ale was “iced” in London. (Beer always “warm” over there? Not).

Ramsgate in its Victorian salad days (via Wikipedia):

 

 

The Kent resorts were boosted by the burgeoning South England rail system through the 1800s.

Recently, I mentioned that “seaside” breweries were known for particular trading features. These are brought out in an article on Tomson & Wotton Brewery in a1962 issue of The Brewing Trade Review.

The article described two high seasons for this type of brewery, Christmas and summer, with summer the main peak. It noted that the brewery’s equipment reflected this pattern. Three aluminum, and one steel, glass-lined fermenter supplemented the main stock of Kauri wood fermenters.

We learn that most Tomson & Wotton draught was naturally-conditioned, placed in wood casks for the trade. A little was “keg” beer, the filtered, fizzier form often served chilled. Keg became popular in the ’60s and ’70s, until the rise of lager.

Two bottled “pale ales” were brewed, these would have been Allbright and the stronger Cavalier mentioned in the article.

There were also (per the article) two brown ales, a barley wine, and a stout. The brewery also bottled Guinness, brought by tanker from London where Guinness had a second brewery at the time, at Park Royal.

No lager is mentioned, although the brewery’s pubs in town probably carried a well-known brand or two. Tomson & Wotton had a spirits and wine division, which perhaps distributed some lager. The ability to offer such drinks must have been extra-useful in a summer resort.

This image is via the Brewery History Society Wiki:

 

 

The Brewery History Society Wiki contains a good label selection, from different periods. With draught mild not mentioned in the article, maybe it wasn’t brewed by this time, but I can’t be sure.

Mild ales, regular and strong, were certainly brewed in earlier years. A public bar price list in the Brewery History Society Wiki page shows this.

The brewery did its own malting, as well.

I mentioned Kauri wood. Kauri pine was once favoured around the world for brewery fermentation vessels. It had workability, durability, and resisted decay despite the constant humidity. It came from New Zealand and other parts of the Antipodes, and New Guinea.

A southern conifer, Kauri was extensively felled for construction and industry uses. Although protected today, some is still sold in New Zealand, under controlled conditions.

A few more points, on the brewing. It combined, as many British breweries then, Victorian and modern features. An early-1800s malt mill was still in use although in course of being replaced.

The kettle to boil wort and hops was open to the atmosphere, direct-fired by coal. Not many breweries do open boiling now, even craft breweries. Tomson & Wotton liked the results from its kettle, pictured in the article.

Barley for malt mainly came from nearby Kent fields, as did hops. We call that terroir today.

Fragrant Kent hops were, and are, some of the best in the world. Beer drinkers in Ramsgate had a world-class product in front of them, in those salt-sprayed pubs, but how many knew it?

Tomson & Wotton was a classic regional brewery of particular type, selling largely in its own territory, using old-fashioned methods, with materials mainly locally sourced.*

People in British towns often “drank local” then. To a degree craft brewing brought this back; the circle comes round.

Sadly for Tomson & Wotton trends in beer were moving in the opposite direction. The smart thing increasingly was keg brands and finally lager, abetted by the kind of blanket advertising only large brewers could afford.

Starting in 1957 Tomson & Wotton had an “association” with London giant Whitbread Brewery. That meant Whitbread probably had a stake in the business, of some kind.

Soon Whitbread would buy out Tomson & Wotton lock, stock, and barrel (!), in 1968. The brewery gate forever shut a few months later. If the old copper kettle did its good work after, it was somewhere else.

But in 1962, when things still seemed hopeful, eighth and ninth generation Tomsons presided over the business. The family ran the brewery all the way from 1680 until the year The Beatles’ White Album came out. A pretty fine record, most would agree.

…

*By this time, most U.K. breweries used some sugar in the process to supplement the malt. Probably Tomson & Wotton did as well although sugar is not mentioned in the Review‘s account.