Friday 30 May 2014

The decline in Stout brewing at Truman 1924 - 1940

There are still many documents I've photographed but never processed. Like a certain handy Truman document about costs.

Why so handy? Because it covers the 1920's and 1930's operations at Brick Lane. I've none of the Truman London brewing records for this period and it provides a glimpse of their beers, ingredients and brewing practices. It's indirect evidence, but better than nothing.

But that's not what I'm serving you up today. It's one of the other statistics the book contains: output of Brick Lane broken down by Ale and Stout. It's a poignant demonstration of the decline in the importance of Porter and Stout after WW I. Remember that this is a brewery that up until the 1830's only brewed Porter and Stout.

The percentage of output that was Porter or Stout, a tiny increase in 1928 excepted, fell every year between 1924 and 1940. It dropped from 30% to less than 10% between 1924 and 1940. In volume terms, Stout output more than halved. By 1940, it was a marginal product.

If you factor in Truman's other brewery in Burton, where no Stout was brewed, it would look even more marginal. There are some figures about that in the document, but I can't be arse to transcribe those just now. It's Sunday afternoon, I've just had my dinner and the dishwasher needs unloading

Here's the table.


Truman Brick Lane brewery output 1924 - 1940
Ale Stout Total
barrels % barrels %  barrels
1924 188,026 70.91% 77,134.5 29.09% 265,160.5
1925 217,775 71.56% 86,531 28.44% 304,306
1926 224,057 72.39% 85,475 27.61% 309,532
1927 231,040 73.91% 81,574 26.09% 312,613.5
1928 232,685 73.26% 84,910 26.74% 317,595
1929 227,432 74.45% 78,060.5 25.55% 305,492
1930 258,659 77.14% 76,666 22.86% 335,325
1931 256,063.5 79.43% 66,306 20.57% 322,369
1932 274,183 83.11% 55,732.5 16.89% 329,915.5
1933 240,208 84.58% 43,804 15.42% 284,011.5
1934 280,984 85.87% 46,241 14.13% 327,225
1935 300,169 86.77% 45,775 13.23% 345,943.5
1936 319,721.5 88.05% 43,383.5 11.95% 363,105
1937 324,352 88.69% 41,358 11.31% 365,710
1938 342,062 89.80% 38,868 10.20% 380,930
1939 344,291 90.69% 35,342 9.31% 379,633
1940 344,475.5 91.17% 33,373.5 8.83% 377,849
Source:
Document B/THB/C/256c held at the London Metropolitan Archives

More to come from this neglected document.

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