Imported bottled Lager in the 1950's

Mmm. I’ve already written this once, but somehow managed to lose the text. I hate doing that.

Continuing with my look at the beers on sale in Britain in the 1950’s, I’ve come to imported Lager. Back then there were only two types of beer imports: Stout from Ireland and Lager from the Continent. Lager brewing was still in its infancy in Britain, at least outside of a few specialists like Tennent’s, Barclay Perkins and the Welsh Lager Brewery. Only towards the end of the decade did other brewers start dipping their toes in the Lager pool.

Once again, I’ve arbitrarily divided the beers into random groups, this time with highly scientific names: watery stuff (1030-1035º), not quite to watery stuff (1035-1040º), normal-strength stuff  (1040-1050º) and strong stuff  (>1050º).  The groups are just for my own convenience and have no real significance.

The origins of the beers is revealing. Holland delivered the most samples, but almost a third came from Scandinavia. Germany scores quite poorly, though that could be a lingering effect of the war. I don’t believe the American samples were on general sale. The lack of a price is a sign. The one which did have a price was listed as being sold on a US base.

Here’s that information in a handy table form:

Country	no. samples	%
Australia	2	4.00%
Belgium	7	14.00%
Canada	3	6.00%
Czechoslovakia	2	4.00%
Denmark	7	14.00%
Germany	6	12.00%
Holland	10	20.00%
New Zealand	1	2.00%
Norway	7	14.00%
Sweden	1	2.00%
USA	4	8.00%
Total	50

Let’s start with the watery stuff. These all look like beers specifically brewed for the UK market. The Dutch ones for sure, as all domestic Dutch Pilsners were 5% ABV. Carlsberg and Tuborg were both over 4% in Denmark. Foreign brewers weren’t always that keen on making such weak beer, but it was largely what the UK market demanded. Partly because Continental-strength beers would be too expensive.

Even these watery beers were eye-wateringly expensive, averaging over 3 bob a pint. A pint of draught Mild – about the same in terms of strength - would cost just 12-14d. The high rate of attenuation of some of the lowest-gravity examples seems designed to wring as much alcohol out as possible.

Imported bottled Lager in the 1950's - watery stuff
Year	Brewer	country	Beer	Price per pint (d)	Acidity	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	colour
1957	Tuborg	Denmark	Lager	40	0.05	1030.7	1005.8	3.23	81.11%	10
1959	Tuborg	Denmark	Tuborg Lager	42	0.05	1030.7	1005.8	3.23	81.11%	13
1959	St. Pauli\	Germany	B.B. Lager		0.02	1030.7	1010.3	2.64	66.45%	7
1957	Amstel	Holland	Lager	42	0.02	1030.8	1007.2	3.06	76.62%	9.5
1957	Carlsberg	Denmark	Danish Pilsner		0.02	1030.9	1009.7	2.74	68.61%	10
1957	Carlings	Canada	Black Label	42	0.05	1031	1006	3.25	80.65%	4.5
1959	Bierbrouwerij "De Wereld"	Holland	Piraat King Size Ale	27.5	0.02	1031.1	1005.6	3.31	81.99%	10
1959	Vanderheuvel	Belgium	Ekla Lager	32	0.02	1031.2	1006.1	3.26	80.45%	10
1957	Tuborg	Denmark	Tuborg Lager		0.04	1031.2	1007.4	3.09	76.28%	13
1957	Carlsberg	Denmark	Danish Pilsner	40	0.04	1031.5	1008.4	2.99	73.33%	9
1957	Z.H.B.	Holland	Export Pilsner Lager	42	0.02	1031.6	1006.2	3.30	80.38%	10
1957	Amstel	Holland	Amstel Lager		0.04	1031.9	1006.9	3.24	78.37%	12
1957	Z.H.B.	Holland	Export Pilsner Lager		0.05	1032.3	1005.8	3.44	82.04%	13
1957	Bierbrouwerij De Wereld	Holland	Piraat Lager Beer	30	0.04	1032.8	1005.7	3.52	82.62%	9
1956	NV Bierbrouwerij	Holland	Breda Lager	48	0.04	1033.2	1005.3	3.63	84.04%	7
1957	Oranjeboom	Holland	Dutch Pilsener	42	0.02	1033.3	1007.8	3.31	76.58%	9
1956	Frydenlund	Norway	Peak Lager	30	0.04	1034.3	1005.7	3.72	83.38%	12
	Average			38.13	0.03	1031.7	1006.8	3.23	78.47%	9.88
Source:
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/002.

Moving on to the slightly less watery, the next group also looks like beers solely for the UK market. With the exception of Pilsner Urquell. That beer looks like the 10º version. Something that would have been on sale back home, unlike the others. That so many foreign brewers were prepared to brew something just for the British market a demonstration of the money to be made.

I’m surprised Heineken is in this group. Because I know from their brewing records of the early 1950’s that the version for the UK was brewed to 8º Plato, or 1032. They must have beefed it up during the decade.

A few of these beers – Heineken, Carling and Stella – are currently big players in the UK Lager market.

The price is even more scary for this set – 4 shillings a pint for Carling and Urquell. You’d need plenty of cash to get pissed at that price. They must have been fairly exclusive drinks. Lager continues to be more expensive than Ale in Britain, though the price differential has become much smaller. Price was one of the reasons I never drank Lager. It seemed like just throwing money away for no good reason.

I have my doubts about the colour given for Black Label. It wasn’t ever a Dark Lager, was it?

Imported bottled Lager in the 1950's - not quite so watery stuff
Year	Brewer	country	Beer	Price per pint (d)	Acidity	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	colour
1957	Oranjeboom	Holland	Dutch Lager		0.04	1035.4	1007.5	3.62	78.81%	10
1957	Carlings	Canada	Black Label	48	0.05	1036.3	1007.7	3.71	78.79%	75
1957	Pilsner Urquell	Czechoslovakia	Pilsener	48	0.04	1036.3	1010	3.41	72.45%	9
1957	Pilsner Urquell	Czechoslovakia	Pilsener		0.04	1036.4	1010.1	3.41	72.25%	12
1959	Frydenlund	Norway	Peak? Lager		0.02	1036.6	1007.5	3.78	79.51%	17
1957	Carlings	Canada	Black Label		0.04	1037.5	1007.8	3.86	79.20%	10
1957	Heineken	Holland	Lager	42	0.04	1038.7	1009	3.86	76.74%	5
1957	Artois	Belgium	Stella Lager		0.05	1039.7	1006.5	4.32	83.63%	9
	Average			46.00	0.04	1037.1	1008.3	3.75	77.67%	18.38
Source:
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/002.

We now get to beers which do look like standard domestic versions, what I’ve called normal-strength stuff. Again, there are a couple of familiar beers: Stella, Fosters, Holsten, Miller and Pabst.

You’ll notice that prices are fairly random. Some beers in this set are the same price or cheaper than ones in the watery group. It’s a trick that’s easy to pull when drinkers have no idea of your beer’s strength. It seems any strength of Lager cost 3 to 4 shillings a pint. There’s a simple explanation why Miller High Life is an exception: that was sold on a US base .

Note the very high degree of attenuation of these samples. Only a couple are under 80%.

Imported bottled Lager in the 1950's - normal-strength stuff
Year	Brewer	country	Beer	Price per pint (d)	Acidity	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	colour
1959	Schous Brewery	Norway	Norwegian Beer	36	0.03	1041.2	1005.5	4.66	86.65%	8.5
1957	Schous Brewery	Norway	Norwegian Beer		0.05	1042.2	1006.6	4.64	84.36%	12
1957	Dortmunder Union	Germany	Pilsener	42	0.04	1042.8	1007.4	4.61	82.71%	8
1959	Pilsor	Belgium	Lamot Lager	42	0.04	1043.8	1003.2	5.31	92.69%	7.5
1957	Artois Breweries	Belgium	Stella Lager	40	0.06	1044.3	1007.6	4.78	82.84%	8
1957	Holsten	Germany	Pilsner		0.05	1044.7	1007.4	4.86	83.45%	8
1957	Holsten	Germany	Pilsner	42	0.04	1044.7	1008.2	4.75	81.66%	8
1959	Vanderheuvel	Belgium	Ekla Lager	42	0.04	1045.6	1009.6	4.68	78.95%	10
1956	Miller	USA	High Life	20	0.04	1045.7	1012.3	4.33	73.09%	6
1957	Carlton United	Australia	Fosters Export Lager	48	0.05	1046	1005.8	5.25	87.39%	8.5
1956	Carlton United	Australia	Export Lager	48	0.05	1046.2	1004.5	5.45	90.26%	8
1957	Vanderheuvel	Belgium	Ekla	42	0.05	1046.3	1008.2	4.96	82.29%	7
1955	Pabst	USA	Blue Ribbon		0.05	1048.9	1011.7	4.84	76.07%	9
1958	New Zealand Breweries	New Zealand	Steinecker Lager		0.04	1049.1	1006.5	5.57	86.76%	85
1955	Liebmann	USA	Rheingold Extra Dry Lager		0.04	1049.8	1011.6	4.97	76.71%	6
	Average			40.20	0.04	1045.4	1007.7	4.91	83.06%	13.30
Source:
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/002.

The final group would have been pretty strong by UK standards in the 1950’s. These, too, look like Continental-strength beers. Though the Löwenbräu Bock looks a bit weak. I thought Bock had to have a gravity of at least 16º Plato by German law. That’s about 1064º.

Tuborg are most confusing. They were selling both a watered down version and a full-strength one. And the stronger one was actually cheaper. Weird. How would drinkers have been able to work out what was good and what was bad value? Impossible, unless you had the beers analysed.

Imported bottled Lager in the 1950's - strong stuff
Year	Brewer	country	Beer	Price per pint (d)	Acidity	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	colour
1955	National Brewery	USA	Beer		0.04	1050.9	1011	5.19	78.39%	10
1957	Tuborg	Denmark	Export Beer	40	0.06	1052.3	1011.5	5.31	78.01%	7
1957	????brau	Germany	Light Beer	60	0.04	1052.3	1014.4	4.92	72.47%	9
1957	Tuborg	Denmark	Export Tuborg Beer		0.06	1052.4	1006.9	5.95	86.83%	7
1957	Ringnes	Norway	Export Lager Beer		0.05	1052.5	1006.9	5.96	86.86%	13
1955	Swedish Beer Export Co. Gothenburg	Sweden	Three Towns Beer (Lager)	30	0.05	1052.9	1008.7	5.77	83.55%	9
1956	Artois Breweries	Belgium	Sparta Special Lager		0.06	1053.2	1015.2	4.93	71.43%	20
1955	Ringnes	Norway	Export Pilsener	48	0.04	1053.8	1010.9	5.59	79.74%	11
1957	Ringnes	Norway	Export Lager	48	0.05	1054.5	1008.8	5.97	83.85%	9.5
1957	Löwenbräu	Germany	Pale Bock	52	0.05	1061.9	1014.3	6.20	76.90%	6
	Average			46.33	0.05	1053.7	1010.9	5.58	79.80%	10.15
Source:
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/002.

Maybe Brown Ale next. But it’s a long set and I’m very lazy.