Amstel beer production by type 1939 - 1945

The Amsterdamse Stadtsarchief might have few Amstel brewing records, but it does have some other interesting documents. Like the source of today's numbers. Which records the production of each of the beers they brewed month by month.

In 1939, they had a range of 10 beers. But they weren't all sold everywhere. The document also breaks down production by destination: Amsterdam and elsewhere in Holland. That reveals that Licht Lager, a 3.5% ABV pale Lager wasn't sold in Amsterdam. Surprising, given that it was their third biggest seller.

Less of a shock, is that Maastrictsch Oud was only sold in the provinces. Based on the name, I assume it was regional to Limburg. Sounds like an old top-fermenting style. Though my guess would be that Amstel botttom-fermented it. Whatever it was, they only made tiny amounts of it. And it was dropped in 1943.

Even so, they brewed far more of it that Stout, of which fewer than 100 hl were produced in the early war years. Amazingly, some of that was in draught form. I hadn't anticipated that.

In the initial war years production increased, peaking in 1943 at around 50% higher than in 1939. That's slightly deceptive, however, as gravities were slashed from 1942 on. Output collapsed in 1945. I'm surprised they brewed anything at all in the final months of the war.

Draught beer was still the norm at Anstel, accounting for around three-quarters of the total. To put that into context, at the start of the war, at Whitbread bottled beer was responsible for around 50% of sales. Though they were particularly bottle-orientated.*

Amstel production by package
year	draught	bottled
1939	77.45%	22.55%
1940	78.79%	21.21%
1941	73.69%	26.31%
1942	74.76%	25.24%
1943	75.08%	24.92%
1944	78.50%	21.50%
1945	86.26%	13.74%
Sources:
Amstel Litermaat, registers houdende specificaties van de maandproductie, onderverdeeld naar soort van bestemming, met jaaroverzichten held at the Amsterdamse Stadtsarchief, document numbers 1506 538 and 1506 539.

* Whitbread archive document number LMA/4453/D/02/16.

Amstel beer production by type 1939 - 1945
	1939		1940		1941		1942		1943		1944		1945
Beer	hl	%	hl	%	hl	%	hl	%	hl	%	hl	%	hl	%
Oud Bruin	1,898.15	0.68%	5,880.35	1.78%	5,167.46	1.25%	586.11	0.15%	7,403.36	1.73%	19,011.57	5.82%	1,946.26	1.22%
Meibier	632.52	0.23%	0	0.00%	0	0.00%	0	0.00%	0	0.00%	0	0.00%	0	0.00%
Pilsener	136,274.92	48.70%	161,069.55	48.73%	205,338.47	49.72%	193,014.87	49.76%	211,490.77	49.42%	159,420.82	48.80%	90,138.67	56.66%
Pilsener C/delta	2,508.19	0.90%	53.44	0.02%	0	0.00%	0	0.00%	0	0.00%	0	0.00%	6,782.63	4.26%
Munchener	4,383.90	1.57%	5,881.53	1.78%	5,266.01	1.28%	2,847.56	0.73%	4,376.18	1.02%	5,104.64	1.56%	7,452.06	4.68%
Bock	2,009.81	0.72%	90.04	0.03%	0	0.00%	0	0.00%	0	0.00%	0	0.00%	0	0.00%
Stout	88.26	0.03%	81.12	0.02%	133.84	0.03%	172.91	0.04%	185.4	0.04%	125.85	0.04%	2.66	0.00%
Donker Lager	83,602.68	29.88%	98,372.19	29.76%	116,563.46	28.23%	104,690.58	26.99%	103,437.65	24.17%	82,470.61	25.24%	46,125.68	28.99%
Licht Lager	46,785.48	16.72%	57,199.09	17.31%	78,587.56	19.03%	86,618.26	22.33%	101,061.91	23.62%	60,560.31	18.54%	6,650.84	4.18%
Maastrictsch Oud	1,551.00	0.55%	1,865.90	0.56%	1,896.53	0.46%	0	0.00%	0	0.00%	0	0.00%	0	0.00%
Total	279,800.87		330,516.04		412,953.33		387,930.29		427,955.27		326,693.80		159,098.80
Sources:
Amstel Litermaat, registers houdende specificaties van de maandproductie, onderverdeeld naar soort van bestemming, met jaaroverzichten held at the Amsterdamse Stadtsarchief, document numbers 1506 538 and 1506 539.