Tuesday 21 April 2015

War and austerity (part two)

Just a few more tables and I’m done. All posted out in advance for the whole of my US trip, plus a day to recover when I get back.

This time there are some numbers to demonstrate how hard the years immediately after WW II were.  Because what works better than numbers? Especially when you’ve used up all the day’s supply of words. I don’t know about you, but I don’t have an infinite quantity of them. I often stop mid-sentence in the evening when they’re all used up.

The numbers show the remarkable success of British brewing during WW II.  Output rose. Surprisingly both in terms of bulk and standard barrels. That the latter rose, means it was a genuine rise, because the standard barrel takes gravity out of the equation. But note the sharp drop in 1947 – 3.3 million standard barrels. The result, as we’ve already heard, of shortages in raw materials, which prompted the government to lower production quotas.

Keeping average gravity at a little under 1035º for the final years of the war was quite an achievement. Only possible because of a massive increase in British-grown barley during the war. But in 1947 average OG fell more than two points. It must have been depressing for both brewers and drinkers.

Home-made Beer :  Quantities charged with duty, Average Gravities and Net Receipts
Year (ended 81st March) Quantities charged with duty Net quantities duty-paid
Bulk Barrels Standard Barrels Average Gravity Bulk Barrels Standard Barrels Net Receipts £
1939 24,674,992 18,364,156 1,040.93 24,187,883 17,935,568 62,370,034
1940 25,366,782 18,738,619 1,040.62 25,092,090 18,495,567 75,157,022
1941 26,203,803 18,351,113 1,038.51 25,773,766 18,121,618 133,450,205
1942 29,860,796 19,294,605 1,035.53 29,351,341 19,018,940 157,254,430
1943 29,296,672 18,293,919 1,034.34 28,971,014 18,044,678 209,584,343
1944 30,478,289 19,193,773 1,034.63 30,129,031 18,945,565 263,170,703
1945 31,332,852 19,678,449 1,034.54 31,031,814 19,475,061 278,876,870
1946 32,650,200 20,612,225 1,034.72 32,698,011 20,580,907 295,305,369
1947 29,261,398 17,343,690 1,032.59 29,226,070 17,427,961 250,350,829
1948 30,408,634 18,061,390 1,032.66 30,007,139 17,744,616 264,112,043
1949 26,990,144 16,409,937 1,033.43 27,048,281 16,319,126 294,678,035
Source:
Brewing Trade Review, 1950, page 51.

Home-made Beer : Quantities of Materials used and of Beer produced
Year (ended with Sept.) Malt Unmalted Corn Rice, Rice Grits, Flaked Rice, Maize Grits, Flaked Maize and other similar Preparations Sugar including its Equivalent of Syrups, Glucose and Saccharum Hops Preparations of Hops Hop Substitutes Beer Produced
Cwt. Cwt. Cwt. Cwt. Cwt. Cwt. Cwt. Bulk Barrels
1939 9,884,803 9,910 734,771 1,986,478 285,715 113 13 25,691,217
1940 9,857,838 7,912 363,588 1,532,776 265,512 132 108 24,925,704
1941 10,988,413 11,897 246,757 1,397,642 251,354 186 166 28,170,582
1942 10,918,102 52,646 382,207 1,411,422 223,007 246 71 29,584,656
1943 10,287,322 40,592 1,238,181 1,400,573 231,589 250 96 29,811,321
1944 10,621,168 143,183 1,241,121 1,458,647 243,900 277 137 31,180,684
1945 10,435,212 245,751 1,332,032 1,784,064 244,822 714 139 31,990,344
1946 9,976,998 137,750 1,132,748 1,790,021 226,197 1,414 168 31,066,950
1947 9,454,253 92,974 614,335 1,601,186 217,759 1,423 191 30,103,180
1948 9,499,294 69,939 606,881 1,443,558 231,470 630 547 28,813,725
Source:
Brewing Trade Review, 1950, page 51.

Looking at the second table, we can see that malt usage peaked in 1941, after which considerable amounts of unmalted grain and maize products were used. Only to fall back again after 1946. Sugar shows a complicated trajectory, its use falling in the early war years, increasing at the end, then dropping again post-war.

All those changes would have had an impact on brewers’ grists. One over which they had no control. Given reliable supplies, the raw materials used wouldn’t have changed anything like as much. Each of those sudden changes in materials would have presented considerable challenges for brewers. How depressing must it have been for that still to be going on several years after the end of hostilities?

I’m sure that I’ll have plenty more austerity tales to come.

1 comment:

Doug Warren said...

I believe it was 1947 when George Orwell moved to Jura. He wrote to a distiller asking if he might purchase a case of whisky. The response apologized that there was not a drop available for domestic sale. The letter then went on to point out that the UK government had sent 20,000 tons of malting barley to "NEUTRAL EIRE" (capitals in the original).

Scottish distillers were obviously annoyed. I wonder how English brewers felt about Guinness being supplied at their expense.