Bristol Milk

For centuries Bristol was an important wine shipping port bringing in vast quantities of Sherry since Tudor times. It arrived in butts generally as a vintage wine, in the old days anyway, and was matured and blended in cellars in Bristol. The earliest known reference to Bristol Milk is from 1634 in a manuscript at the British Museum, and there are many other references too.

Samuel Pepys enjoyed it in the XVII century when visiting Bristol, and recorded it in his diary: “They did give us… plenty of brave wine… and above all, Bristol Milk.” In the same century Thomas Fuller, a clergyman who wrote “History of the Worthies of England”, was convinced that the wine’s name originated thus: “Some will have called it milk because such wine is the first moisture given to infants in this city.” It was not uncommon to use it on teething babies. It is said that Manuel María González Ángel, founder of González Byass, being a rather sickly child received from his mother a daily spoonful of Sherry, and he then lived to 75, founding a Sherry empire on the way. The Price of Wales (later Edward VII) remarked that Bristol “must have damn’ fine cows.” This style of Sherry was extremely popular, being mainly drunk in the morning, and was as likely as not a direct descendant of Sack.

(foto:bristolreads.com)

Bristol Milk was, naturally, mainly produced in Bristol, though its Amoroso characteristics were not unique. Bristolians had no legal protection for the name and others did produce it, for example González Byass had a “Sedoso Bristol Milk” and Eduardo Delage had a “London Milk”.  The only protection for the wine in the earlier days was a 1651 order that sledges be used to carry goods through the streets lest the vibrations of wagons disturb the Bristol Milk! The principal producers were Harveys (est. 1796), JR Phillips (est. 1739), Howells (est. 1786) and Averys (est. 1793), none of whom sell Bristol Milk any longer. In fact nobody does.  

A beermat from brewery-owned JR Phillips (foto:ebay.ie)

The main reason it has disappeared, of course was the arrival in the 1880s of a much more complex blend which Harveys came up with and registered as a trademark: “Bristol Cream.”  It could thus not be produced by anyone else. One can see the wisdom of this as it went on to become the world’s best- selling Sherry. They did not register the word “Cream”, however, and a new style of Sherry was born, open to all.

 It is quite simply an Oloroso of no great age blended with PX to form a sweet golden amber wine. In those days the wines were aged separately and blended before sale, but the longer the blend spent in its butt, the better it became. Harveys Bristol Milk was labelled “Extra Superior Golden Sherry” and they went one step further by bottling the wine unfiltered and with a two inch driven cork so that it could be matured in bottle. It was magnificent but difficult to sell and they ceased bottling it in the 1970s, selling much off at auction. Bristol Milk itself ceased in the 1980s. What a shame!

Advert for Harveys Bristol Milk (foto:uk.storeslider.com)

Jan Read quotes a wonderful story about John Harvey & Sons. In 1949 the Ministry of Food wrote to them reminding them that under the regulations it was an offence to mislead the public as to the nature or nutritional value of food. This implied that Bristol Milk was not in fact milk. Harveys replied courteously if slightly mischievously that Bristol Milk had been in existence for 300 years longer than the Ministry and presumed that the same objection must logically be applied to Bristol Cream and thus to shaving cream, hair cream, shoe cream etc. suggesting that they too have a nutritional value.

So there it is: a historic tradition of nearly 350 years: gone.  None of the few surviving Bristol wine merchants blend Sherry there now, but at least Bristol Cream survives, now produced in Jerez.

Ruth Rendell and Sherry

The famous novelist Ruth Rendell who sat in the House of Lords and who won countless awards for her murder mystery books died recently aged 85. Like any civilised person she was a Sherry fan. In no fewer than 23 books she refers to Sherry, using the type of Sherry preferred as a character trait: Oloroso, Amontillado, Dry, Cream, and even specific brands: Bristol Cream and Tio Pepe. 

Many thanks to Jose Luis Jimenez for his research.

Bodegas: Harveys

The name Harveys is synonymous with Sherry, and their Bristol Cream was once the biggest selling brand. Times and tastes have changed and now Tio Pepe is the biggest selling brand. Bristol Cream is still a big seller however and a high quality wine, though most of their other brands are long forgotten. Does anyone remember Merienda, Isabelita, Club Amontillado, Bristol Dry, Reina Victoria, Shooting Sherry, Bank, Gran Solera, Tico, Luncheon Dry, Copper Beech, Bristol Fino, Bristol Milk (of which there used to be a fantastic driven-cork version for laying down like Port)?

The firm was established at 12, Denmark Street, Bristol in 1796 by one William Perry in cellars on the site of what was once a XIII century monastery and later a medieval wine cellar known as Gaunt House. From the beginning, Perry specialised in the shipping of Sherry and Port, but also dealt in Madeira and wines from the Rhine and the Canaries. Naturally he sold Bristol Milk, a sweetened oloroso which was very popular in Bristol, the earliest written record (in the British Museum) of which goes back to 1634.

John Harvey (1806-78) whose father and grandfather were celebrated seafarers, joined the firm in 1822 at only 16 years of age. William Perry died about this time. In 1829, John joined an associated firm in Kidderminster, ten miles or so distant. He moved there, married and lived above the shop, while his younger brother Charles took over his post in Bristol. The cellars were extended to reach Bristol docks from where butts of Sherry and Port were trundled along tunnels to their cellars. The mainly oloroso and PX Sherry was imported in butts and aged in Bristol till deemed ready for sale or blending.

The early 1860's were important years for the company. John, with his other brother Edward had been perfecting a new blend which included an even older oloroso than that in Bristol Milk. No name had been decided for it, however. One day in 1882, an aristocratic lady who was visiting the cellars, tasted their Bristol milk and comparing it to the latest blend declared that "If the first is Bristol Milk, then this must be the Cream!" Bristol Cream was born, and went on to phenomenal success throughout the "sweet Sherry era".

John Harvey, having taken over the firm, decided to re-name it John Harvey & Sons in 1871, and his two sons, John and Edward worked with him, taking over after his death in 1878. The firm remained in family hands through their sons till 1966. Bristol Cream was registered as a trademark in 1882, and in 1895 they received the Royal Warrant. The XX century saw a younger generation join the firm and much needed modernisation was undertaken. Their first publicity campaign took place.

The original cellars in Denmark Street 1916

The Second World War hit Harveys hard. Not only were the (by now more extensive) premises at Denmark Street bombed in 1940 destroying all but the cellars, but their London offices were hit as well - twice. In the 1950s they moved to new premises in the outskirts of Bristol at Whitchurch. The last of the Harveys retired in 1956. Up till 1960, all Harveys Sherries were still matured and blended in Bristol, but it was decided to start investing in vineyards to secure supplies. In the meantime the old Denmark Street cellars were converted into a successful restaurant (by Sir Terence Conran) with a wine museum attached. The cellars have been completely refurbished and are now an upmarket Sherry bar and restaurant, still with a little museum, supported but no longer owned by Harveys. The firm's collection of glass bottles was largely auctioned off but some are still to be seen here and much was transported to exhibition space in Spain.

Part of the restored Harveys Cellars wine bar

Bristol Cream had reached the number 1 sales spot by the early 1950's, it had launched with great success in America, and Harveys were doing well. Then in 1956 they began to receive letters, written with the aid of a dictionary,which were short and to-the-point. Thirty-three letters were received in all, each with a proposal that someone they had never heard of enter into an exclusive wine supply contract with them. (Harveys needed 96,000 butts per year!) Naturally Harveys refused. But the letters kept coming, and eventually Harveys sent two executives - chairman George Edward McWatters and his right-hand-man, a Mr Cox - to Jerez to silence the writer. They returned having signed a 99 year supply contract with Jose Maria Ruiz Mateos! This contract effectively launched the Rumasa empire.

The wave of mergers and acquisitions which was the 1960s did not leave Harveys unscathed. Showerings, who had made a fortune with Babycham bought the firm at the end of 1965. Aware of a need to be based in Jerez, they went on to buy MacKenzie, whose bodegas Harveys then occupied, and 50% of Barbadillo. The Rumasa contract was terminated giving Rumasa three years' grace.

Showerings were in turn taken over by Allied Breweries in 1968. In 1973, Harveys founded two jointly owned businesses; one, Vinarvey, with Garvey and the other, Gibalbin, with Barbadillo, giving Harveys access to large areas of vineyard. 1978 saw the merger of Allied Breweries with Lyons forming Allied Lyons. In 1979 Harveys bought Misa from Rumasa, and after the expropriation of Rumasa in 1983, they bought Terry and Palomino & Vergara. During this period Harveys lost the way a bit with some odd brand launches (eg Tico) and suffered a lack of investment from their parent companies, but during the 1990s they did relaunch Bristol Cream in the Bristol Blue bottle, which remains today. 

Allied Lyons then merged with Pedro Domecq in 1994, and Allied Domecq was taken over by Pernod Ricard in 2005. They went on to dismember Domecq, selling bits to different companies, and Harveys went to Fortune Brands' drinks division Beam Global, along with Terry and Domecq's Fundador brandy. Beam went on to merge with Japanese distiller Suntory, and in 2015 Harveys, along with Fundador was sold to the Philippine distiller Emperador.

Since 1970, Harveys have operated entirely in Jerez from various bodegas:  El Brigadier which contains 6,000 butts destined for Bristol Cream, La Mezquita, La Molina 1730, and La Luz (Fundador Brandy) the latter 3 all ex Domecq.

The current range consists of:

Extra Dry Fino                                                        Harveys Palo Cortado VORS (solera 1906)

Pale Cream                                                             Amontillado VORS (solera 1914)
Amontillado Medium                                               Rich Old Oloroso VORS (solera 1909)
Bristol Cream                                                          PX VORS (solera 1919)
Reserve

The VORS wines were launched as recently as 2008 and in 2016 a new Premium range was launched.

Visits can be arranged by appointment:
Contact
C/ San Ildefonso, 3
11403 Jerez de la Frontera, Cadiz
Tel: (+34) 956 151 500
Web: www.grupoemperadorspain.com

Bodega La Mezquita