Sunday 10 March 2019

Boddington output by beer in 1939

Boddington’s output was totally dominated by XX Mild Ale. Their brewing records handily contain monthly totals, saving me the trouble of counting adding up all the individual brews.

Compared to the big London breweries Boddington were brewing on a pretty small scale. Based on the 3,200 barrels they brewed in April 1939, they must have brewed around 40,000 barrels. In the same year, Whitbread brewed 590,695 barrels. 

Looking at Boddington’s output in detail, around 71% was XX, 23% IP (Bitter), while Stout and CC (Strong Ale) amounted to 3% each. It’s pretty clear what was getting knocked back the most in Boddies’ pubs

Down South at Whitbread, Mild was also the most popular beer, but the two Milds (X and LA) combined only accounted for around 40% of production. The two Pale Ales (PA and IPA) clocked up 33%, while the Porter and Stouts held a very respectable 22%. Though it’s worth pointing out that just three beers – X, IPA and LS (London Stout) – made up around three-quarters of Whitbread’s production.


Boddington output by beer April 1939
Beer OG barrels tax per barrel total tax % of total
XX 1033      2,090.58 36      3,763.05 64.34%
XX 1034        212.92 38        404.28 6.55%
IP 1044        753.39 58      2,184.83 23.19%
Stout 1047          93.83 64        300.27 2.89%
CC 1055          98.33 80        393.32 3.03%
Total     3,249.06     7,045.75
Source:
Boddington brewing record held at Manchester Central Library, document number M693/405/129.


Whitbread output by beer in 1939
Beer OG barrels % of total
LA 1028.4 5,747 0.97%
X 1034 232,453 39.35%
33 1059.7 17,073 2.89%
DB 1054.5 8,663 1.47%
PA 1048.2 50,740 8.59%
IPA 1037 147,177 24.92%
P 1029.3 3,810 0.65%
LS 1046.3 67,177 11.37%
ES 1055.5 6,037 1.02%
MS 1057 50,890 8.62%
SSS 1110.3 928 0.16%
Total 590,695
Sources:
Whitbread brewing record held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/01/107.
Whitbread brewing record held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/09/126.

3 comments:

Martyn Cornell said...

No surprise that mild dominated, but it's interesting that London Stout and Mackeson make up 20 per cent of Whitbread's output … I am guessing that a large majority of that is in the off-trade - any figures on that? Though "stout and mild" (or "granny") was a thing, of course …

Thom Farrell said...

Was this output anomalous against the rest of the country (outside London) though? I'm pretty sure mild was the dominant beer style in Britain until the 1950s.

Thom Farrell said...

I'd say the 40,000 barrel a year production estimate is probably a little on the low side. April is hardly a peak time for brewers, who would normally expect to sell more beer during the warmer summer months and during the Christmas period.