vocabulary - Regarding は数あれど (or possibly just あれど )

The following sentence is from a newspaper article メレンゲ菓子は数あれど、これほど繊細なものは珍しい。

1. あれど　＝　あるけど makes sense to me in the context, and this seems to be supported by my searches so far - is it simply a written form?


2. The full phrase "は数あれど" appears extremely common on google - is 数 here read しばしば, and is this a set phrase?

Answer

1. 
   

   Yes, basically. It's a literary construction (and indeed the origin of けど); basically you take the conditional stem (仮定形) of a verb (or other conjugable) and instead of attaching 〜ば you attach a 〜ど: so あれど、言えど、思えど、よけれど etc.

   
   
   

   Note for pedants: Technically, it's the perfective stem (已然形) we attach a 〜ど to.

   
   


2. 
   

   数 is pronounced かず here. The collocation 数ある means ‘many’.　The first half of your sentence may be translated as follows: ‘Although there are many meringues, ...’