Austrian beer exports

Her's an interesting quote. Really. One that demonstrates how hard it is to predict the future.

It's about Austrian beer exports in the 1860's. And especially . . . . hang on. I'll let you read it yourself first:

"The export of Austrian beer is done by breweries in two regions in an outstanding manner, namely the establishments of Vienna and region around it and in the border districts of northern Bohemia. Exports from the former region to Trieste and from this marketplace to Egypt, Turkey, etc., directed, exports from the latter mostly to Saxony and Prussia.
. . . .

Currently, almost all beer exported from Austria is in barrels, with the great advances and indefatigable zeal of most Austrian brewers, if they turned to producing strong export bottled beer, such as: Porter, Pale, Mild Ale and Bitter Ale, this could become a very important trade with all parts of the world. The agricultural situation of Austria, to which we owe the best malting barley and the choicest hops, offers us a guarantee that, by paying the proper attention to all the factors important in this type of beer production, we would be able to produce such export beers, which not only would be in no way be inferior to those brewed Great Britain, but would likely surpass them due to the extraordinary fineness of Bohemian hops. The Bohemian glass industry would experience a significant expansion from the great need for bottles and it would create a new branch for the local coopering industry, since for the export of bottled beer the English method of packing the filled bottles in barrels made of soft wood could be adopted. In the production of such export beers you would have to retain the British brewing process completely, firstly because it gives Porter and Ale their particular taste, and secondly because the method of top-fermentation generally used by the brewers of England means their beers can pass through hot regions with a loss of quality, which is not easily possible with our Austrian beers, since, as a result of the very low temperatures during production, the quality of our beers will be altered."
"Bericht über die Welt-Ausstellung zu Paris im Jahre 1864", 1865, page 128.

It's the last couple of sentence that jumped out at me. About how Austrian brewers should try to brew British-style strong Ales. Because that's what certain markets demanded. And because you couldn't ship bottom-fermented beer through the tropics. A few decades later, after the introduction of artificial refrigeration, bottom-fermenting beers began to drive Ales out of tropical markets.

A good example of how unforeseen technological advances can make fools of us all.