Monday 24 December 2018

Bottled Foreign Lager after WW II

What could be more Christmasy than imported Lager just after WW II? Just about anything, I suppose. But here goes, anyway.

In 1947, supplies of foreign Lager reappeared, initially principally from Denmark and Holland.  Those from Germany would take longer to arrive, for the simple reason that in the parts of West Germany occupied by the British and Americans commercially brewing wasn’t allowed for several years.

One thing is very obvious when looking at the Lagers imported after WW II: many foreign breweries were making beers specifically for the UK market. How do we know that? Because of the low gravity. No continental brewery, other than in Czechoslovakia, brewed Lagers under 1040º.

You can see here how the post-war style of Lager is starting to coalesce: a pale beer with a gravity in the low-1030ºs. This is the type of beer that became the nation’s favourite in the 1980s. Though by the 1970s, most Lager, even things like Carlsberg and Heineken, were being brewed locally.

More surprising are the German Bocks, which must have been hideously expensive, being both very strong and imported. There can’t have been a huge market in the UK for such beers.

The two Pilsner Urquell beers are clearly the 12º and the 10º. Quite odd to see the latter being exported, though I suppose it fitted in better with UK strength expectations.

A lot of Lager was still being sold in bottled form immediately after the war. But as the 1950s progressed, draught Lager would become increasingly more common. By the early 1960s, draught Lager was the norm rather than the exception.


Bottled Foreign Lager after WW II
Year Brewer country Beer Style OG FG ABV App. Atten-uation colour
1951 Artois Belgium Stella Lager Lager 1052.4 1011.1 5.38 78.82% 10.5
1950 Ekla (Brussels) Belgium Lager Lager 1037.5 1009.6 3.62 74.40% 10
1950 Lamot Belgium Lux Lager Lager 1048.9 1009 5.20 81.60% 7
1950 Lamot Belgium Lager Lager 1037.4 1010.2 3.53 72.73% 6
1950 Pilsner Urquell Czechoslovakia Lager Lager 1049 1013.5 4.61 72.45% 10.5
1950 Pilsner Urquell Czechoslovakia Lager Lager 1038.9 1010.3 3.71 73.52% 11
1947 Carlsberg Denmark Pilsner Lager 1035.6 1008.5 3.52 76.12% 13.5
1950 Carlsberg Denmark Lager Lager 1031.8 1010.9 2.70 65.72% 13
1947 Tuborg Denmark Pilsner Lager 1036.6 1009.1 3.57 75.14% 11.5
1950 Tuborg Denmark Lager Lager 1032.9 1006.1 3.48 81.46% 11.5
1952 Holsten Germany Bock (Light) Bock 1067.8 1020.4 6.16 69.91% 28
1952 Holsten Germany Bock (Dark) Bock 1045.2 1010.5 4.51 76.77% 59
1950 Lowenbrau Germany Atomator Bock 1076.6 1025.7 6.60 66.45% 85
1950 Lowenbrau Germany Pale Bock Beer Bock 1067.9 1013.9 7.06 79.53% 7.5
1950 Spatenbrau Germany Doppel Spaten Bock 1076.7 1029.6 6.09 61.41% 80
1950 Tucher Germany Tucher Pils Lager Lager 1055.1 1014.4 5.29 73.87% 15
1950 Amstel Holland Lager Lager 1033.6 1008.1 3.31 75.89% 15.5
1950 Breda Holland Lager (light) Lager 1036.9 1007.8 3.78 78.86% 13.5
1947 Z.H.B. Holland Lager Lager 1032.4 1008.2 3.14 71.91% 11.5
1950 Z.H.B. Holland Lager Lager 1033.7 1008.4 3.28 75.07% 12
Sources:
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/002.

1 comment:

qq said...

One thing re the bocks - if everything is getting stupidly taxed, then the expensive stuff is relatively better value. And I guess there's always people who can afford the expensive option, even during austerity.