Just a couple of observations. I'm struck by how high up the list Belgium comes. For such a small country, ranking fifth in the world (as it did in both 1913 and 1934) in terms of beer production is very impressive. Also note how far down the list the Netherlands is, producing not much more than 10% of what Belgium did.
Beer production fell almost everywhere after 1930, doubtless as a result of the worldwide recession. Also in just about every European country output was lower in 1934 than in 1913. One country which did show impressive growth was Japan, going from 100,000 hl in 1913 to almost 1.75 million hl in 1934.
It's weird that in some years more beer was brewed in tiny Luxembourg than in Mexico.
World beer production in 1913, 1920, 1929—1934 (1,000 hl) | ||||||||
Country | 1913 | 1920 | 1929 | 1930 | 1931 | 1932 | 1933 | 1934 |
USA | 76,655 | 9,384 | 8,000 | 28,000 | 25,000 | 25,000 | 39,135 | 50,248 |
Germany | 69,200 | 25,618 | 57,028 | 48,486 | 37,093 | 33,581 | 34,132 | 36,838 |
United Kingdom | 58,805 | 44,822 | 31,789 | 30,770 | 26,788 | 21,639 | 23,414 | 25,388 |
Austria | 22,709 | 600 | 5,275 | 5,083 | 4,385 | 3,058 | 2,522 | 2,419 |
Belgium | 16,727 | 10,407 | 15,377 | 16,662 | 18,377 | 15,558 | 14,400 | 13,800 |
France | 12,844 | 11,548 | 17,555 | 18,314 | 18,577 | 17,627 | 17,700 | 16,743 |
Czechoslovakia | — | 3,874 | 12,162 | 11,410 | 10,380 | 9,648 | 7,964 | 7,990 |
Russia') | 10,138 | — | 2,000 | 3,000 | 4,510 | 3,000 | 3,700 | 3,700 |
Ireland | — | — | 3,480 | 3,663 | 3,129 | 2,779 | 2,941 | 2,924 |
Australia | 2,936 | 2,852 | 3,350 | 3,025 | 2,529 | 2,265 | 2,387 | — |
Switzerland | 2,969 | 1,068 | 2,541 | 2,610 | 2,621 | 2,526 | 2,419 | 2,465 |
Sweden | 2,706 | 2,021 | 2,052 | 2,982 | 2,835 | 2,806 | 2,418 | 2,429 |
Poland | — | — | 2,786 | 2,516 | 1,931 | 1,400 | 1,058 | 1,102 |
Denmark | 2,465 | 2,374 | 2,118 | 2,291 | 2,212 | 2,005 | 2,023 | 2,161 |
Canada | 2,353 | 1,680 | 2,793 | 2,653 | 2,100 | 1,950 | 1,707 | — |
Netherlands | 1,780 | 1,200 | 2,273 | 2,316 | 2,280 | 2,103 | 1,609 | 1,513 |
Argentina | 1,000 | 1,493 | 1,981 | 2,132 | 1,828 | 1,158 | 1,308 | 1,344 |
Brazil | 700 | 819 | 1,766 | 1,766 | 1,456 | 850 | 900 | 925 |
Italy | 673 | 949 | 1,127 | 902 | 718 | 397 | 339 | 372 |
Hungary | — | 491 | 602 | 446 | 312 | 184 | 165 | 167 |
Yugoslavia | — | 600 | 600 | 600 | 540 | 319 | 215 | 210 |
Norway | 515 | 894 | 509 | 525 | 417 | 425 | 398 | 401 |
Mexico | 500 | 300 | 680 | 720 | 719 | 418 | 520 | 673 |
Luxembourg | — | — | 525 | 563 | 496 | 426 | 407 | 423 |
Chile | 490 | 413 | 520 | 494 | 371 | 367 | 390 | 444 |
New Zealand | 454 | — | 582 | 580 | 523 | 444 | 401 | 402 |
Japan | 100 | 1,250 | 1,600 | 1,633 | 1,368 | 1,379 | 1,688 | 1,747 |
Romania | 314 | 169 | 867 | 632 | 418 | 418 | 358 | 433 |
Finland | — | — | 333 | 424 | 335 | 296 | 292 | 346 |
South Africa | 300 | 350 | 349 | 323 | 314 | 273 | 270 | 327 |
Spain | 310 | 302 | 744 | 794 | 744 | 719 | 632 | 749 |
Cuba | 255 | 200 | 402 | 204 | 158 | 160 | 173 | 233 |
Bulgaria | 166 | 139 | 84 | 51 | 48 | 91 | 60 | 46 |
India | 170 | 161 | 118 | 95 | 88 | 81 | 69 | — |
Latvia | — | — | 95 | 89 | 71 | 62 | 62 | 76 |
Lithuania | — | — | 101 | 115 | 113 | 72 | 70 | 60 |
Turkey | 97 | 100 | 40 | 41 | 36 | 32 | 23 | 22 |
Estonia | — | — | 89 | 69 | 58 | 52 | 60 | 51 |
China | 80 | 61 | 60 | 96 | 83 | 101 | 98 | 105 |
Uruguay | 79 | 89 | 190 | 152 | 147 | 120 | 103 | 116 |
Peru | 65 | 156 | 130 | 144 | 104 | 70 | 69 | 88 |
Ecuador | 55 | 57 | 82 | 80 | 60 | 47 | 53 | 65 |
Colombia | 55 | 85 | 315 | 200 | 130 | 142 | 200 | 375 |
Egypt | 52 | 70 | 73 | 57 | 49 | 39 | 45 | 53 |
Bolivia | 50 | 98 | 82 | 66 | 49 | 42 | 46 | 46 |
Gdansk | — | — | — | — | 48 | 77 | 74 | 81 |
Portugal | 40 | 56 | 100 | 83 | 59 | 56 | 59 | 55 |
Philippines | 38 | 54 | 40 | 40 | 40 | 40 | 40 | 35 |
Algiers | 35 | 35 | 100 | 140 | 140 | 108 | 113 | 91 |
Venezuela | 35 | 30 | 150 | 111 | 118 | 65 | 71 | 55 |
Panama. | 30 | 50 | 75 | 81 | 91 | 88 | 75 | 68 |
Belgian Congo | — | — | 22 | 32 | 22 | 13 | 13 | 13 |
Paraguay | 28 | 24 | 19 | 19 | 12 | 10 | 10 | 7 |
Greece | 25 | 30 | 69 | 95 | 85 | 66 | 54 | 77 |
San Salvador | — | — | 20 | 20 | 16 | 22 | 24 | 24 |
Costa Rica | — | — | 18 | 15 | 12 | 10 | 14 | 11 |
Guatemala | 15 | 10 | 30 | 11 | 10 | 7 | 9 | 8 |
Source: | ||||||||
Przegląd Piwowarsko-Słodowniczy: organ Związku Piwowarów w Polsce 1935 wrzesień R.1 Nr1, page 14. |
5 comments:
How come so much beer produced in the USA during Prohibition?
Brian Callaghab -- they were allowed to sell super-low alcohol beer. They could also sell malt syrup to people alledgedly for baked goods, although it was widely known to be for home brewing.
Whether that accounts for all of that amoount, I don't know.
Non-alcoholic beer maybe?
It looks like there might be a problem with the US statistics. The relative stability from 1920 to 1929, and then a factor of 3 increase to 1930 and 31 looks suspicious. The criteria for beer produced might have changed. Real beer could only be for export or medicinal purposes. It's not clear whether the statistics include unfermented wort and/or near beer. Production from Dutch Schultz (Allentown), Al Capone (Chicago), and other underworld sources probably aren't well accounted for.
Actually, the US production figures for the entire Prohibition era are (1920-1932) suspect. According to the Master Brewers Association of America a high of 9.23 million barrels (1920) and a low of 2.77 million barrels (1932) of "non-alcoholic “cereal beverage” containing less than 0.5% alcohol by volume" were produced during that time. They don't call it beer, and nobody would have at the time. The Polish numbers are, I think, utter nonsense.
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