I remember in the 80s working with a few "Oldies", Blokes who were in their 40s and 50s and to a 20 plus like me, they seemed ancient.

We were in a pub one lunch time and we were discussing various beers that were sold in and around Sheffield such as Wards and Magnet and John Smiths, and one of the old `uns piped up and told me about a beer that was known by heavy drinkers as Jungle juice.

According to this 45 year old walking fossil, the drink was called jungle juice because one pint would have the most decent and staid of individuals swinging from the light fittings and gibbering like a monkey, two pints would have him bellowing like a freshly gelded hippopotamous and any more than about five pints would have him promptly arrested and thrown into the nearest nick, to be held there until a zoo would accept him into its ape enclosure.

He also went on to tell me that the drink was banned because of the trouble it caused and after the drink stopped being available, the doctors surgerys became full of middle aged blokes with extreme constipation.

The beer was said to be an excellent laxative and after years on the stuff, peoples bottys became so accustomed to passing what was basically liquids that when the "laxative" was stopped, their bum-bums were unable to deal with "Solid" waste.


Sadly I was too young to have experienced Jungle juice or be party to any of the interesting side effects that it brought, but is there anyone out there who remembers it? Have you had the pleasure of this beverage? Were you locked away in the local nick because of it?

Did you have the extreme constipation when it was banned....?

No - I can't remember it but mine's a pint....:hihi: I seem to remember that Stones' "Queens" ale had a similar effect....

I can recall my male family members referring to such a drink back in the 1940-50's but, I never saw anyone actually drink the stuff. To be quite honest, because they spoke of it in a humourous manner I thought it was to describe any of the beers around Sheffield at the time which had the strong laxative effect which blokes always seemed to think funny.
I remember the look on my father's face when he took a sup of a newly-pulled pint and he'd remark, "It's like b****y Jungle Juice that b****r".

Duffems.

I think we called Barley Wine jungle juice.

I think we called Barley Wine jungle juice.

Well a pint of that would have anybody ranging and ranting about the place like a maniac!

Trust me, Ive done it! :D

Well a pint of that would have anybody ranging and ranting about the place like a maniac!

Trust me, Ive done it! :D

Me too ............

I think we called Barley Wine jungle juice.

Eh, lass, weve had some drunken nights on that !!! :rolleyes:

Eh, lass, weve had some drunken nights on that !!! :rolleyes:

I can still feel the hangovers today :headbang:

I can still feel the hangovers today :headbang:

I can only describe it as drinking, thick, black treacle. You didnt know wether you were coming or going afterwards !!! :rolleyes:

If I remember rightly wasn't Barley Wine and Gold Label the same type of drink?
I recall my mother being confused that she felt "off" when she'd "only had a couple of Barley Wines and 3 Gold Labels".
Needless to say, I don't drink any alcohol at all, I've seen the effects of it.

If I remember rightly wasn't Barley Wine and Gold Label the same type of drink?
I recall my mother being confused that she felt "off" when she'd "only had a couple of Barley Wines and 3 Gold Labels".
Needless to say, I don't drink any alcohol at all, I've seen the effects of it.

Im wondering if the Brand name was Gold Label then Barley Wine. It tasted like the urine sample of someone gravely ill !! God it was worth it though! :rolleyes:

If I remember rightly wasn't Barley Wine and Gold Label the same type of drink?

Gold Label is the brand name of a type of barley wine brewed by Whitbread. Being 8.5% alcohol by volume it certainly packs a punch..:) Bass used to brew their "No 1 Barley Wine" while John Smiths brewed "Magnet Old Ale" which was similar in strength but darker in colour.

Bass also had a ' No.2', which was the first run of a porter style beer or stout and was just as potent as 'No.1'.

The old lags were possibly referring to the old fashioned Draught Bass which I used to call '9 o'clock lights out' 'cos I often couldn't remember a thing that happened after 9pm. Never woke up in a cell though :hihi: It went out of fashion because it was a bit thick on the tongue and you couldn't get a 'head' on it.

Most of the old unpasturised beers were a useful laxative.

Barley wine was always served in a short stemmed galss wasn't it ? funny how we remember the important thing in life :D

Gold Label is barley wine. Used to be 10.9% ABV, now it's a little weaker, about 9% i think.

Hey Jabberwocky, regarding the term 'Jungle Juice. It was used as a general term for Stone's Best. I dont know if the quality deteriorated over the years but back in the 50's it was a powerful brew and that's how it got the name.

I remember in 1979 being in a pub in Ecclesfield and I had a bad cold and someone suggested I had a couple of Barley wines... I ended up having about six.

Next thing I remember clearly was being in a night club in the middle of Sheffield- I dont even remember the name of it- and I was utterly sober as a judge. Id actually drank myself sober, something I always thought was impossible.

Hey Jabberwocky, regarding the term 'Jungle Juice. It was used as a general term for Stone's Best. I dont know if the quality deteriorated over the years but back in the 50's it was a powerful brew and that's how it got the name.

Thanks for that! That sounds about right, I remember the bloke mentioning something like Stones best and according to him it was an absolute killer!

No - I can't remember it but mine's a pint....:hihi: I seem to remember that Stones' "Queens" ale had a similar effect....

Queen's Ale was brewed by Tennants, and then for a short time (I think) by Whitbread. I believe it was brewed again for a very short time in the early 80s by Whitbread, but all of it was before my time!

As for laxatives, Ward's Sheffield Best Bitter was the finest of the lot ...... God(TM) I miss the proper stuff ......

That's right - I was thinking of Stones' "Keg" bitter. When ordinary Stones' bitter was about 1/9 a pint, "Keg" was two bob. Ooops..... showing my age.:sad:

YOUR ALL WRONG ABOUT JUNGLE JUICE. JJ was what some john smiths landlords added to their beer throughout the 70s and 80s. Outside the licensed trade its also known as "Water"

YOUR ALL WRONG ABOUT JUNGLE JUICE. JJ was what some john smiths landlords added to their beer throughout the 70s and 80s. Outside the licensed trade its also known as "Water"

I remember getting booted out of a boozer because I tried the trick of putting an empty pint glass into a half full one of beer to show how much water there was in it.

It was the Freemasons at Hillsborough and I had to wait for almost two years before he let me back in again.

I can recall my male family members referring to such a drink back in the 1940-50's but, I never saw anyone actually drink the stuff. To be quite honest, because they spoke of it in a humourous manner I thought it was to describe any of the beers around Sheffield at the time which had the strong laxative effect which blokes always seemed to think funny.
I remember the look on my father's face when he took a sup of a newly-pulled pint and he'd remark, "It's like b****y Jungle Juice that b****r".

Duffems.

I don't remember Jungle Juice, but remember the T'owd Lads back in the sixties talking about it, and It's potency, and in pubs over the years listening to people younger than myself waxing lyrically of it's virtues; as if they had been brought up on it, the only thing they would have been on at the time would have been the teat. As I remember being told, Jungle Juice was a extra strong bitter made by stones as for It's laxative effect I don't know, but I can attest to the laxative effect of Wards best bitter sold at the Wentworth House Hotel in the sixties and early seventies, during that time I never saw a George.:thumbsup:

"Stones" Jungle Juice. did'nt need a mix it was the best around

I remember drinking Stones Jungle Juice in the Sheffield Arms on Upwell street. It was produced at the brewery on Rutland Road.

It didn't last long as the brewery changed the copper tanks which it was made in after a mergeror was it a takeover of the brewery.

At the time there was a lot of controversy about the beer. It affected many drinkers who weren't used to drinking the stuff. There were many stories going the rounds at that time.

Many claimed there was chemicals in the brew others said it was from the residue when they cleaned out the old tanks

Happy Days!

Thanks for the info PopT, that answers Jabbers question, there was such an ale!
As I said previously, my family members always referred to any strong drink as "Jungle Juice" so I was never sure if it was just a term for strong ale.
You learn something every day.

Try this to warm you up when its freezing cold.A bottle of Gold Label in a half pint glass toppe up with Port.Marvellous,really warms the cockles!!

yea,!!i remember jungle juice,but my mother had a special name for it,when mi dad fell into the front door...LUNATIC BROTH,,any body can remember that name ,,then shake hands with an old alfred road walking fossil....baza..123

when I started dring beer, 60 yrs ago Jungle Juice was Stone´s best bitter and Queens was brewed by Whitbreads

JUNGLE JUICE WAS sTONE´S BEST BITTER, AND qUEENS WAS BREWED BY WHJTBREADS

JUNGLE JUICE WAS sTONE´S BEST BITTER, AND qUEENS WAS BREWED BY WHJTBREADS

So I guess you've found a place that is still selling it.

Jungle juice isn't a local term nor even a British concoction. It has been used internationally for probably three centuries or more. You'll hear it used in America, Australia and several other countries to describe all sorts of different things - not just drinks.

Basically, it relates to strong alcoholic mixes with a mish-mash of ingredients; a bit like punch only much stronger.

There are many theories as to its origins, but the most likely to my mind is that sailors of yore, when in the Tropics, would go ashore and brew up all manner of tropical plants, which after a few days fermenting, followed by a few sample flagons, would have them doing cartwheels along the yardarms.
T.

When I was sixteen in '63 I went with the blokes to the pub at dinnertime, one single pint of Tenant's (one N not two) Queens and I was legless for the rest of the day.

who's was the beer/wine they called King of ale's had a tartan front to the little 1/4 pint bottle i know the "lady's "would drink in a little wine glass had one hell of a punch(said my mum)the name Younger's just came tto mind

what can i say never liked English beer ,apart from Everhards best bitter quite fair,but I did have a liking for I.P.A, back in the 50s the bars kept a little 12by12 fridge with a sm amount just for the lady's (real men drink pints) and I got my share of very strange looks when getting my bottle, so I had a choice order with a limp wrist or move to Canada where 95% of beer is bottled and ice COLD being a bit of a chicken I took the easy way & the beer is just great

JUNGLE JUICE WAS sTONE´S BEST BITTER, AND qUEENS WAS BREWED BY WHJTBREADS

the starter of this thread said one pint of jungle juice "would have the most decent and staid of individuals swinging from the light fittings and gibbering like a monkey ..." so I'd be surprised if Stone's bitter is what he had in mind :confused: Maybe gold label barley wine perhaps?

what can i say never liked English beer ,apart from Everhards best bitter quite fair,but I did have a liking for I.P.A, back in the 50s the bars kept a little 12by12 fridge with a sm amount just for the lady's (real men drink pints) and I got my share of very strange looks when getting my bottle, so I had a choice order with a limp wrist or move to Canada where 95% of beer is bottled and ice COLD being a bit of a chicken I took the easy way & the beer is just great

the beer here is way better now than it was 40 years back, and you wouldn't get funny looks drinking from a bottle nowadays :D

The world's finest beer was English pre First World War, spoilt by new strains of high yield crops which necessitated legalising the adding of sugar to maintain strength and clarity without resorting to expensive continental decoction brewing methods. To remove cloudiness in beer brewed with inferior barley it was stored for a long time to enable it to settle. Lager is the German verb for 'store'

William Stones head brewer in 1968, when I left them to join James Hole's of Newark, was a man called Bert Smout.
Bass Charrington had recently taken over and Bert from then on had to brew with flaked maize which didn't meet with his approval. After that date Stones Best Bitter took on a distictly different taste.

The last thing to go into wooden barrels of beer before being loaded up for delivery were 'finings' made from isinglass i.e. dried fish bladders.
When the barrels were gantry mounted in pub cellars they were tapped then spiled with a porous wooden peg to allow the finings to clear the cloud and let the sediment settle to the bottom of the cask. This took about twenty four hours, prior to the beer going on sale. Casks not yet in use were hard pegged until they were needed.
T.

The world's finest beer was English pre First World War, spoilt by new strains of high yield crops which necessitated legalising the adding of sugar to maintain strength and clarity without resorting to expensive continental decoction brewing methods. To remove cloudiness in beer brewed with inferior barley it was stored for a long time to enable it to settle. Lager is the German verb for 'store'

Are there any beers around today that are similar to pre First World War ones? I would imagine that there are considering the number of small breweries and ever growing interest in real ale.

William Stones head brewer in 1968, when I left them to join James Hole's of Newark, was a man called Bert Smout.
Bass Charrington had recently taken over and Bert from then on had to brew with flaked maize which didn't meet with his approval. After that date Stones Best Bitter took on a distictly different taste.

The last thing to go into wooden barrels of beer before being loaded up for delivery were 'finings' made from isinglass i.e. dried fish bladders.
When the barrels were gantry mounted in pub cellars they were tapped then spiled with a porous wooden peg to allow the finings to clear the cloud and let the sediment settle to the bottom of the cask. This took about twenty four hours, prior to the beer going on sale. Casks not yet in use were hard pegged until they were needed.
T.

I wonder how it was discovered that you could clarify beer by adding fish's bladders and how many other things were tried before.

who's was the beer/wine they called King of ale's had a tartan front to the little 1/4 pint bottle i know the "lady's "would drink in a little wine glass had one hell of a punch(said my mum)the name Younger's just came tto mind

I remember a "Younger's Tartan Bitter", but I doubt that is the same stuff, though..

( ;) odd thing was, YTB was the same colour as my dad's Magnet and Stones' bitter, and not Tartan at all ;) *scratches head* ;) )

Are there any beers around today that are similar to pre First World War ones? I would imagine that there are considering the number of small breweries and ever growing interest in real ale.

Don't think so as I doubt the old grain crops are available now. Any beer that relies on added sugar to get alcohol levels up is a bit of a con really. English methods of brewing in open vats were only really possible in this country because of our superior grain, since they disappeared beer brewed with sugar has lost it's character. Nowadays it's chilled, filtered, aerated and buggered about with to make it commercially viable, or should I say cheap?

There's some really interesting stuff on this thread, especially about the additives, 'fish bladders, flaked maize etc; etc.' Nothing to do with beer, but I remember reading somewhere that there hadn't been any decent cider brewed in England since we stopped going to war with the French. The reason being, a dead Frenchman in a vat of cider added a certain refinment to the brew. Whether that's true or not, I don't know, but what I do know is that I told the above anecdote to an old friend of mine one time. He used to dabble in home brewing, beers, ciders, still liquer, a real piece of work he was. He loved the story. I'd forgotten about it, and months later on the '****' with the above mentioned friend, a gang of us went back to his gaff to partake of some of his home brews. One of them was cider. I had some, and it tasted fine. He told me later that he'd put a dead rabbit in the mix. What can you say, some people eh?

... I remember reading somewhere that there hadn't been any decent cider brewed in England since we stopped going to war with the French. The reason being, a dead Frenchman in a vat of cider added a certain refinment to the brew... Dead right - Old English cider was a drink with body in it..;)

Dead right - Old English cider was a drink with body in it..;)
1950 Devon cider was 4p a pint and you could never drink two,in fact the landlord's was told never to sell anyone in uniform more than two, if you was going into battle that was another story two made you fighting mad:hihi::hihi::hihi::hihi:

P.S poor mans black velvet half rough Cider and half stout, knew a girl in Colchester knock them back like water, I'd be staggering at one

William Stones head brewer in 1968, when I left them to join James Hole's of Newark, was a man called Bert Smout.
Bass Charrington had recently taken over and Bert from then on had to brew with flaked maize which didn't meet with his approval. After that date Stones Best Bitter took on a distictly different taste.

The last thing to go into wooden barrels of beer before being loaded up for delivery were 'finings' made from isinglass i.e. dried fish bladders.
When the barrels were gantry mounted in pub cellars they were tapped then spiled with a porous wooden peg to allow the finings to clear the cloud and let the sediment settle to the bottom of the cask. This took about twenty four hours, prior to the beer going on sale. Casks not yet in use were hard pegged until they were needed.
T.

Yes I remember Bert from when I worked there in the late 60s till the early 70s, and the assistant brewer Glynn Bradshaw. And Eddy Kidger the cooper, Ernest Murray the chief engineer and many more.

Do you remember alpine Albert?

1950 Devon cider was 4p a pint and you could never drink two,in fact the landlord's was told never to sell anyone in uniform more than two, if you was going into battle that was another story two made you fighting mad:hihi::hihi::hihi::hihi:
I remember that stuff when we got demobbed in Newton Abbot, down Torquay way. There was this big one story boozer right down on the harbour, you could walk around it. They sold this cider, never had nothing like it before or since, it was a light green in color, as rough as a bears ass, and as flat as a pancake. I think it was about sixpence (old English money) then, for a pint. Two was the limit, after that you didn't function right.

Do you remember alpine Albert?

No, but why did he get the name 'alpine'; that was a Sam Smith's draught lager around that time.

My connection was with the Free Trade and Working Men's Clubs. Harold Killingbeck, Gerald Calderbank, Arthur Kirbyshaw, Ken Waite, Harry Bamforth, Harold Jackson and Jack Smith - ex Sheffield United goalkeeper and others, including Edna on the switchboard and Tony her pump fitter husband.
T.

I remember that stuff when we got demobbed in Newton Abbot, down Torquay way. There was this big one story boozer right down on the harbour, you could walk around it. They sold this cider, never had nothing like it before or since, it was a light green in color, as rough as a bears ass, and as flat as a pancake. I think it was about sixpence (old English money) then, for a pint. Two was the limit, after that you didn't function right.

It was called 'Scrumpy'!
T.

When I first went to live in Poole in Dorset in '66 'scrumps' was 9d a pint, lovely stuff brewed by Bulmers 3 or 4 pints and you were done for, not surprising really as it has the strength of wine which is what it is basically.The stuff I drank was orangy in colour and medium sweet. Should be drunk in smaller glasses really.

when I started dring beer, 60 yrs ago Jungle Juice was Stone´s best bitter and Queens was brewed by Whitbreads

Hi All
Jungle Juice wasnt Stones Best bitter it was called something like Stones special bitter and was brewed BEFORE the second world war, there was no surviving recipe at stones brewery but what they told me after enquiring about there "Jungle Juice" i was told it was just there strong beer ie if there best bitter was a 1040 there "Jungle Juice" may well have been 1055-60 so if a person was used to drinking four pints of best bitter and one Saturday night drank four pints of "Jungle Juice" he may well be swinging from the rafters,

Percy 60yrs ago Queens beer was brewed by Tenents which was my favorite beer the reason i am saying this is that apart from Gold Label Whitbreads in Sheffield could not brew a cup of tea with a typhoo T bag and hot water

No disrespect to the brewer Whitbread policy

Queens was brought back in the 80's and was difficult to keep. When it was off it was fish and chips vinegar. When it was on, it was really on and as a laxative it was up there with Sam Smiths and Senna. Lovely drink.

Queens was brought back in the 80's and was difficult to keep. When it was off it was fish and chips vinegar. When it was on, it was really on and as a laxative it was up there with Sam Smiths and Senna. Lovely drink.

Hi
I know it tasted nothing like the original though mores the pity i tasted it in Whitbreads before it went on sale it was tasteless and i told them so but i think they knew that