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UNDERSTANDING THE NUMBERING ON GUINNESS LABELS
The numbering was introduced with the "official"
trade mark label issued from 1862 and was intended to identify the
batch number of the beer. Earliest examples of the TM label issued
1st October 1862 in fact show the number A 85702. This does not seem
to relate to a recognisable date.
The UK and Irish Extra Stout and the export Foreign Extra Stout labels carried the codes which were the precursor for modern day code edge or laser printed codes. The code number in red became an intrinsic part of the trade mark label. The date was read in reverse, i.e. L/36 361014 was Extra Stout bottled on the 14th October 1936 (the year appeared again beneath the letter L). Examples also exist with the letter M, the significance of which is not known. In the Guinness brewery an example of an Extra Stout label for the bottler George Smith Ltd, Midland Goods Station, NW London, has a code H051115, being issued in 1905.
All FES was brewed in Dublin and prior to the opening of Park Royal Brewery in 1936 all ES was supplied by Dublin (in either wooden hogsheads or butts). Not only the beer but also the labels preprinted with the batch number were supplied, which was supposed to relate to bottling date (the two dates did not always coincide). To denote that the brewery had supplied the label, the words "printed and issued by us" were found at the top of the label around the harp trade mark. If the bottler also supplied another Stout then the TM label was not made available and the bottler had to supply his own (approved by the brewery) label. These labels do not appear to carry any date coding.
In 1953 Guinness decided to update the Extra Stout label and drop the apostrophe S from the name. The date code was also dropped as drinkers had by now recognised how to read and understand it's meaning.
From 1953 the situation with FES remained as before. If a bottler sold only Guinness Stout then the trade mark label was allowed to be used and this was date coded as with Extra Stout. However, the consistency of codinf seems to have started to break down from about 1913. E & J Burke of Liverpool were issuing beer labelled L/14 101350, L/25 102665 and L36/103965. The numbers under the L still relate to the year of bottling but the code does not refer to the bottling date. They in fact appear just to be batch numbers. Read Bros., Blood Wolfe and Robert Porter seem to have kept the correct label coding going through the 30's, but by the time they amalgamated to form Export Bottlers Ltd in 1936, they started using an unconventional code i.e. L39/ 100002, L/38 104052, L40/ 103607. The year still remains beneath the L correctly. By 1937 only two companies bottled FES for export, namely Export Bottlers Ltd and A. Macfee of Liverpool. Macfee, who were bought out by Guinness in 1932, stayed true to the original numbering convention on the label until the takeover of EBL in 1950 to form Guinness Exports Ltd. GEL export labels all obeyed the proper convention up until 1958. Interestingly, Export Bottler's Ltd labels appear dated in late 1960 despite the takeover of their trade.
In 1954 Guinness began brewing Ale and Lager under license in the Goebel Brewery, Detroit, USA. They started using codes such as L10/ 44103.
In 1949 Guinness began brewing stout in the taken over E & J Burke Brewery on Long Island, New York. Examples of labels exist showing adherence to the conventional code, i.e. N/50 500822, 22nd August 1950. Examples of L, M and N exist on these labels.
In 1956 it was decided to alter the code so that the batch date could not be easily deciphered. So L/A10 702112 was in fact 1st October 1959. It is unclear as to the meaning of A10 (possibly a bottler reference) but the date is read by dividing the code into pairs of numbers and deducting 11 from each pair and then reading in reverse. The earliest such date code found is L/A5 691612 from 1958. Examples of the A(number) beneath the L range from A1 through to A15.
This would seem to be where the story stops, except that nothing is quite that simple. The Dublin brewery printing department progressively lost control of the numbering on the labels for the different markets around the world and it all ended up as rather a mess until a decision was taken in the early 1990's to start using a new design uncoded label. The use of these modern labels which use laser printed best before dates, has now almost completely replaced the latter.
In 1990 Grenada was using a label coded L/A1 921812 (supposedly bottled in 1981). In 1993 a label coded L/A1 911212 was on sale in Grenada. With the increasing complexity of the labelling for all the different countries around the world, it was decided to simplify the code to give just the first day of the year of bottling, i.e. 911212 should be 1st January 1980. FES has such a long shelf life that such coding was adequate to control stocks.
Some markets, such as Nigeria, adopted a label code which related to the opening of the trade, brewing or bottling in that country. Ikeja brewery in Nigeria opened in December 1962 and used labels coded L/A10 732312. By 1990 in Nigeria the code was still L/A1 732312. However, labels exist with 762312 for some reason. Liberia changed it's date code each year and in 1976 was using L/A1 871212. However, in 1990 the code had changed to L/A1 801212.
Tooheys in Australia, who bottled Guinness Export Stout from 1975 to 1986, always used the same code number L/A1 861533. SAB in Australia bottled from 1964 to 1975 and used a different code for each year.
Labatt in Canada seem to reverse the label code to read forwards, for example L/G 122276 is 1st November 1965. This date was used on labels up to 1990 but there is also a label coded L/G 121977. Malaysia has used a series of codes denoting the year, month and day, but then in the late 80's and early 90's they break from convention to use L/A8 122523 and L/A 8901312.
From the mid 80's the picture is so complex that the label codes cannot be relied upon at all to date the beer.
In Belgium, John Martin uses the code 571012, which denotes the date of birth of John Anthony Martin on 12th October 1957!
Back in the UK in the late 90's, FES was launched as a product for sale and a new "lot" coded label has been produced. The code L/11 189504 refers to the date Guinness decided that all export bottlers of FES (who bottle no other brown stout) would use the Trade Mark Label. We seem to have come a full circle!
The UK and Irish Extra Stout and the export Foreign Extra Stout labels carried the codes which were the precursor for modern day code edge or laser printed codes. The code number in red became an intrinsic part of the trade mark label. The date was read in reverse, i.e. L/36 361014 was Extra Stout bottled on the 14th October 1936 (the year appeared again beneath the letter L). Examples also exist with the letter M, the significance of which is not known. In the Guinness brewery an example of an Extra Stout label for the bottler George Smith Ltd, Midland Goods Station, NW London, has a code H051115, being issued in 1905.
All FES was brewed in Dublin and prior to the opening of Park Royal Brewery in 1936 all ES was supplied by Dublin (in either wooden hogsheads or butts). Not only the beer but also the labels preprinted with the batch number were supplied, which was supposed to relate to bottling date (the two dates did not always coincide). To denote that the brewery had supplied the label, the words "printed and issued by us" were found at the top of the label around the harp trade mark. If the bottler also supplied another Stout then the TM label was not made available and the bottler had to supply his own (approved by the brewery) label. These labels do not appear to carry any date coding.
In 1953 Guinness decided to update the Extra Stout label and drop the apostrophe S from the name. The date code was also dropped as drinkers had by now recognised how to read and understand it's meaning.
From 1953 the situation with FES remained as before. If a bottler sold only Guinness Stout then the trade mark label was allowed to be used and this was date coded as with Extra Stout. However, the consistency of codinf seems to have started to break down from about 1913. E & J Burke of Liverpool were issuing beer labelled L/14 101350, L/25 102665 and L36/103965. The numbers under the L still relate to the year of bottling but the code does not refer to the bottling date. They in fact appear just to be batch numbers. Read Bros., Blood Wolfe and Robert Porter seem to have kept the correct label coding going through the 30's, but by the time they amalgamated to form Export Bottlers Ltd in 1936, they started using an unconventional code i.e. L39/ 100002, L/38 104052, L40/ 103607. The year still remains beneath the L correctly. By 1937 only two companies bottled FES for export, namely Export Bottlers Ltd and A. Macfee of Liverpool. Macfee, who were bought out by Guinness in 1932, stayed true to the original numbering convention on the label until the takeover of EBL in 1950 to form Guinness Exports Ltd. GEL export labels all obeyed the proper convention up until 1958. Interestingly, Export Bottler's Ltd labels appear dated in late 1960 despite the takeover of their trade.
In 1954 Guinness began brewing Ale and Lager under license in the Goebel Brewery, Detroit, USA. They started using codes such as L10/ 44103.
In 1949 Guinness began brewing stout in the taken over E & J Burke Brewery on Long Island, New York. Examples of labels exist showing adherence to the conventional code, i.e. N/50 500822, 22nd August 1950. Examples of L, M and N exist on these labels.
In 1956 it was decided to alter the code so that the batch date could not be easily deciphered. So L/A10 702112 was in fact 1st October 1959. It is unclear as to the meaning of A10 (possibly a bottler reference) but the date is read by dividing the code into pairs of numbers and deducting 11 from each pair and then reading in reverse. The earliest such date code found is L/A5 691612 from 1958. Examples of the A(number) beneath the L range from A1 through to A15.
This would seem to be where the story stops, except that nothing is quite that simple. The Dublin brewery printing department progressively lost control of the numbering on the labels for the different markets around the world and it all ended up as rather a mess until a decision was taken in the early 1990's to start using a new design uncoded label. The use of these modern labels which use laser printed best before dates, has now almost completely replaced the latter.
In 1990 Grenada was using a label coded L/A1 921812 (supposedly bottled in 1981). In 1993 a label coded L/A1 911212 was on sale in Grenada. With the increasing complexity of the labelling for all the different countries around the world, it was decided to simplify the code to give just the first day of the year of bottling, i.e. 911212 should be 1st January 1980. FES has such a long shelf life that such coding was adequate to control stocks.
Some markets, such as Nigeria, adopted a label code which related to the opening of the trade, brewing or bottling in that country. Ikeja brewery in Nigeria opened in December 1962 and used labels coded L/A10 732312. By 1990 in Nigeria the code was still L/A1 732312. However, labels exist with 762312 for some reason. Liberia changed it's date code each year and in 1976 was using L/A1 871212. However, in 1990 the code had changed to L/A1 801212.
Tooheys in Australia, who bottled Guinness Export Stout from 1975 to 1986, always used the same code number L/A1 861533. SAB in Australia bottled from 1964 to 1975 and used a different code for each year.
Labatt in Canada seem to reverse the label code to read forwards, for example L/G 122276 is 1st November 1965. This date was used on labels up to 1990 but there is also a label coded L/G 121977. Malaysia has used a series of codes denoting the year, month and day, but then in the late 80's and early 90's they break from convention to use L/A8 122523 and L/A 8901312.
From the mid 80's the picture is so complex that the label codes cannot be relied upon at all to date the beer.
In Belgium, John Martin uses the code 571012, which denotes the date of birth of John Anthony Martin on 12th October 1957!
Back in the UK in the late 90's, FES was launched as a product for sale and a new "lot" coded label has been produced. The code L/11 189504 refers to the date Guinness decided that all export bottlers of FES (who bottle no other brown stout) would use the Trade Mark Label. We seem to have come a full circle!