British beer exports by destination 1890 - 1910

One comment on my post about brewing export Pale Ale asked where the beer might have been heading. A very good question. Which is why I looked for the answer.

A numbers collector like me always has some relevant statistics lying around somewhere. Sure, enough, I've ones for British exports by destination for the years around 1903.

Unfortuantely, the "other countries" row cover s a big percentage of the totals. Which conceals a lot of detail. The principal named export destinations were the USA, India and Australasia. Were Pale Ales sent to all three of those? Australia and India are a definite yes. The USA? Probably. Bass Pale Ale was definitely exported there.

Malta is almost certainly another destination for Pale Ale. I know Simonds sold so much that they started brewing their Hop Leaf Pale Ale there. In fact thye beer still exists. Egypt I really don't know about. It's a possibility, though I think by 1900 it might well have been mostly Lager that got shipped there.

What I know about beer exports to the West Indies has me doubting whether Pale Ale was sent there. It was mostly Stout or strong Scotch Ale that was sent to the Caribbean.

I've honestly not the faintest idea of what type of beer might have been sent to South Africa.

Here's the table with the numbers:

British beer exports by destination (standard barrels)
	1890	1900	1910
USA	48,991	47,700	69,688
Egypt	6,591	18,597	20,600
Malta & Gozo	20,390	22,932
British S. Africa	25,582	31,446	5,937
British India	97,196	94,918	96,914
Australasia	147,014	96,785	90,416
Brit. West India Islands	26,882	18,794	21,726
Other Countries	150,565	202,605	285,065
Total	502,921	510,845	590,346
Source:
Brewers' Almanack 1928, page 115.