UK Beer production in the 1970s

Between 1970 and 1979, consumption of beer rose by just shy of 20%. Not just that, it rose every single year. Even in the really bad years of the middle of the decade, when you had things like the three-day week. Which reduced earnings, obviously. But doesn’t seem to have dried up drinkers’ thirst for beer.

Things were looking very rosy for UK brewing. In the period covered by the table, production rose by 18%, consumption by 16% and exports by almost 3%. The only area that was in decline were exports.

One thing that didn’t change really at all was average OG. It increased by just 0.07% between 1971 and 1980. It had been around 1037º since the early 1950s.

Before WW I, UK beer exports were amazingly consistent.at around half a million barrels per year. The war interrupted that trade and between the wars exports pootled along at around 250,000 barrels. After WW II, exports remained at a similar level until the 1960s, when they began to rise, the peak being in 1975.  Only in the period 1906 to 1913 had exports been greater.  

UK production, imports, exports and average OG 1971 - 1980 (barrels)
Year	production	average OG	imports	exports	consumption
1971	34,360,000	1036.90	2,011,980	445,669	35,926,311
1972	34,969,310	1036.90	2,056,116	430,873	36,594,553
1973	35,338,345	1037.00	2,357,628	450,789	37,245,184
1974	37,893,753	1037.10	1,834,025	444,019	39,283,759
1975	38,238,657	1037.30	1,807,125	537,892	39,507,890
1976	39,200,556	1037.50	1,878,853	523,926	40,555,483
1977	40,404,025	1037.50	1,564,733	528,634	41,440,124
1978	40,279,059	1037.60	1,562,993	490,379	41,351,673
1979	40,595,574	1037.60	1,678,406	478,677	41,795,303
1980	40,595,574	1037.60	1,575,906	458,550	41,712,930
% change	18.15%	0.07%	-21.67%	2.89%	16.11%
Sources:
“The Brewers' Society Statistical Handbook 1988” page 7.
Statistical Handbook of the British Beer & Pub Association 2005, p. 7

Why is beer short?

Because it smoked as a child? Its mother didn't eat enough vitamins during pregnancy?

They really mean why was beer in short supply? The brewers, via the advertisement below, were keen to point out that it wasn't their fault.

"WHY BEER IS SHORT
The Government has found it necessary to limit the supplies of barley for brewing beer because of the acute world shortage of grain. This limitation, coupled with the increasing popularity of beer as a national beverage amongst all classes, is the reason for the continued shortage of beer throughout the country.

The reductions which have been made in the strength beer have partially alleviated the limitations in quantity which have been imposed. The output in standard barrels during the war years was restricted to that brewed in 1938/39, and was further restricted in May last to 90% of the output. The small increase subsequently granted has not materially altered the position.

Brewers have done their utmost to maintain the maximum permitted supplies of beer to the public; and they, and the retailers, have done their best to distribute those limited supplies fairly among all their customers. This they will continue to do. They ask the public to be tolerant of the difficulties under which the industry is at present working. The industry looks forward to the days when it can brew sufficient and better beer.
Issued by The Brewers' Society"
Western Times - Friday 01 November 1946, page 3.

There is a tacit admission that wartime beer was sub-standard: "when it can brew sufficient and better beer".

Reading the article, it sounds as if beer production in terms of standard barrels* had declined. But that wasn't true. Production, in terms of standard barrels, increased by 12% between 1939 and 1946. And in terms of bulk barrels, it was up 32%.

UK Beer production and average OG 1939 - 1947
Year	bulk barrels	standard barrels	average OG
1939	24,674,992	18,364,156	1040.93
1940	25,366,782	18,738,619	1040.62
1941	26,203,803	18,351,113	1038.51
1942	29,860,796	19,294,605	1035.53
1943	29,296,672	18,293,919	1034.34
1944	30,478,289	19,193,773	1034.63
1945	31,332,852	19,678,449	1034.54
1946	32,650,200	20,612,225	1034.72
1947	29,261,398	17,343,690	1032.59
Source:
Brewers' Almanack 1955, p. 50.

It's impressive how well beer production held up during WW II. only in one year, 1943, was the output in standard barrels down on 1939. And then only by 70,000 barrels.

Though after 1947 it was a very different story, with beer production falling year on year for more than a decade.



* A "standard" barrel = 36 imperial gallons of a beer with an OG of 1055º.

UK beer production and average OG 1912 - 1922

UK brewing entered WW I in a troubled state. The decade before 1914 had been a difficult one for the industry.

Increased licence duties for breweries and pubs had seriously disrupted the industry. Specifically through a fall in the price of public houses, which left many breweries with nominal share values far in excess of their real assets. Many breweries were forced to reduce their share values. Others went into liquidation, including big names like Allsopp.

Brewers must have been anxious about what the war would mean for them. Most would have expected one thing: an increase in tax. Successive UK governments had used beer as a source of extra revenue.

Here’s what happened with beer output and strength across the war years:

UK beer production and average OG 1912 - 1922
	England		Scotland		Ireland		United Kingdom
Year	bulk barrels	average OG	bulk barrels	average OG	bulk barrels	average OG	bulk barrels	average OG
1912	30,991,776	1051.76	2,153,569	1048.11	3,330,174	1065.43	36,475,519	1052.72
1913	30,758,800	1051.52	2,119,666	1047.85	3,417,851	1065.73	36,296,317	1052.64
1914	31,737,384	1051.69	2,288,481	1047.67	3,532,902	1065.93	37,558,767	1052.80
1915	29,310,783	1051.16	2,042,477	1046.85	3,412,520	1065.93	34,765,780	1052.35
1916	26,914,428	1050.49	1,917,148	1046.45	3,279,032	1066.43	32,110,608	1051.88
1917	25,497,825	1047.01	1,816,003	1043.16	2,850,170	1065.69	30,163,998	1048.54
1918	16,340,250	1038.25	1,141,114	1036.74	1,603,679	1057.89	19,085,043	1039.81
1919	20,133,048	1029.35	1,325,439	1029.77	1,806,046	1044.43	23,264,533	1030.55
1920	29,891,845	1038.57	2,186,604	1038.83	2,969,498	1043.35	35,047,947	1039.41
1921	28,927,178	1041.72	2,096,080	1042.31	3,481,312	1050.18	34,504,570	1042.61
1922	25,468,663	1042.21	1,770,175	1041.68	2,939,893	1049.44	30,178,731	1042.88
Sources:
Brewers' Journal 1921, page 246.
Brewers' Almanack 1928, page 110.

The above is another excerpt from my book on WW I, Armistice!

 Buy this wonderful book.

Beer Production 1882 - 1892

The way to get even more fun from numbers is to play with them to get new sets. Which is what I've done this time.

One of the wonderful features of the standard barrel, is that you know exactly how much tax was paid on it. In the 1880s and 1890s, that was 6s 3d. Making it a piece of piss to work out how many standard barrels were brewed in each constituent kingdom of the UK.

I have partil figures from other sources for the number of standard barrels brewed in the UK. It almost matches the ones I've calculated. There's a difference of few hundred thousand barrels. Nothing massive. Not sure why that would be.

One caveat: the figure for Ireland is very different to the amount of bulk barrels brewed. While in the rest of the UK the standard barrel gravity (initially 1057º, after 1889 1055º) was close to average gravity, in Ireland that wasn't the case. Because such a large percentage of the beer brewed was Stout, average OG was much higher. In the years just before WW I, it was around 1065º. It was probably higher than that in the period the table covers.

Beer Production 1882 - 1892 (standard barrels)
	England.	Scotland.	Ireland.	United Kingdom.
1882	24,355,850	963,894	1,978,877	27,298,621
1883	23,761,606	997,981	2,121,590	26,890,778
1884	24,035,405	1,063,715	2,063,021	27,162,141
1885	24,075,603	1,078,698	2,188,896	27,343,197
1886	23,647,338	1,089,955	2,154,166	26,891,459
1887	23,872,102	1,139,530	2,174,461	27,186,093
1888	24,406,083	1,206,822	2,264,000	27,876,906
1889	24,488,326	1,266,259	2,310,358	28,064,944
1890	26,262,947	1,412,934	2,437,482	30,113,363
1891	27,266,893	1,509,891	2,523,690	31,300,470
1892	27,472,669	1,484,413	2,568,749	31,525,830
Source:
"The Brewers' Guardian 1892", 1892, page 295.

Here's the same information in table in percentages:

Beer Production 1882 - 1892 (%)
	England.	Scotland.	Ireland.
1882	89.22%	3.53%	7.25%
1883	88.36%	3.71%	7.89%
1884	88.49%	3.92%	7.60%
1885	88.05%	3.95%	8.01%
1886	87.94%	4.05%	8.01%
1887	87.81%	4.19%	8.00%
1888	87.55%	4.33%	8.12%
1889	87.26%	4.51%	8.23%
1890	87.21%	4.69%	8.09%
1891	87.11%	4.82%	8.06%
1892	87.14%	4.71%	8.15%
Source:
"The Brewers' Guardian 1892", 1892, page 295.

Remeber, in terms of bulk barrels, the share of Ireland would 10-12% lower.

1780-1815 Expansion and taxation

Yes, you've guessed, I switched periods again. I'm back to those crucial decades around 1800, when the foundation of later brewing practices was laid.

The doubling of the price of malt in the first decade of the 19th century puts into perspective the current rise in the price of raw materials.


Expansion
The scale of brewing in London was transformed during the second half of the 18th century. In 1750, the largest London brewery produced fewer than 60,000 barrels annually. By 1800 five were brewing more than 100,000 barrels. In 1815 London's - and also the world's - largest brewery, Barclay Perkins, was churning out 337,000 barrels a year, an enormous quantity for the period.



Taxation
The latter years of the 18th century held plenty of challenges for the brewing industry. Particulalrly the war with France, which stretched over more than two decades and put considerable strain on Britain's finances. As usual, taxing brewing was an easy way to raise revenue.

Beer was double taxed. Firstly, there was a tax on the raw materials, malt and hops. There was also a tax on beer, a fixed amount per barrel. This had three rates, one for Small Beer or Ale, one for Table Beer or Ale and one for Strong Beer or Ale. Which band applied was determined by the retail price. Anything retailing at more than 11 shillings a barrel was counted as Strong, anything below 6 shillings Small and between was Table. In 1802 the Small category was combined with Table. Over 16 shillings a barrel was Strong, below 16 shillings Table.

Between 1780 and 1815, malt tax more than tripled, rising from 1s 4.25d (16.25d) to 4s 5.75d (53.75d). The rise in tax on hops was much more modest, 1d + 10% to 2d, as was the increas in the flat rate tax per barrel, 8 shillings to 10 shillings.


The effect was a dramatic increase in price brewers had to pay for their malt. The average price of malt in the period 1809-1817 was more than double what it had been 1779-1789.



After 1804, almost half of the price of a quarter of malt was tax. 4s 5.75d tax a bushel works out to 35s 10d tax a quarter, for which brewers were paying around 80 shillings.

Brewers had a massive incentive to reduce their malt usage. As you'll see later, they did the obvious thing and reduced gravities. But new technologies, in particular the hydrometer, allowed them to also use a more scientific approach to cutting down the amount of malt they required. A direct result was a move to using pale malt as the base for all Beers and Ales.

Brausteuergebiet (2)

How could I not return to the Brausteuergebiet in 1992-93? It's hard to think of a topic that grabs the attention more. (Just nod when appropriate and think of something else. That's what my family do.)

I would love to regale you with jokes, anecdotes and the usual crap with which I fill this blog. But I'm knackered. I've had a long day in Archeon with the family. Amsterdam has good public transport, but not all Dutch towns are so lucky. No buses run from Alphen station to the only tourist attraction, Archeon. It's a good 30 minutes walk.

Look, I'm not as fit as I was. Once, I could dance all night and still sprint to work. Now I'm glad if I can make it back from the corner shop without panting for air. It will happen to you one day, too.

Drifting off into gloomy thoughts about mortality again. I'll try to keep on topic. The programme about Indian railways on BBC 4 I wanted to watch has just started. I have no time ramble.

Brausteuergebiet - what word stirs the heart more? You have to admit there's a certain magic in the way German nails nouns together. An English equivalent couldn't match its elegance. (If you disagree, submit your suggestions. Impress me and I'll hold one of my special word-eating banquets.)

Damn. Wandering again.

Here are some figures indicating the number of breweries of different sizes in the Brausteuergebiet inn 1892/93. They are ranked by the amount of tax they paid. We'll have to assume that they were honest chaps and that the numbers accurately reflect the quantity of beer brewed.



Note that a huge majority (6,927 or 81,88%) brewed less than 2,500 hl a year (those, based on the total amount of beer brewed and total amount of tax paid, of paying less than 3,000 M a year). A shade under 95% were brewing less than 10,000 hl a year. If you want a comparison, a large brewpub can shift 2,500 hl.

The overwhelming majority of German breweries were still tiny. I'm sure I've got some similar figures for the UK. I must dig them out.The pattern in the UK by then was quite different, I'm sure. Hang on a minute . . . let's have a look . . . Here they are. Whoops. wrong again. Though I've forgotten to imention it, the numbers heading the columns refer to the number of barrels brewed a year. Making a quick calculation, in 1890 there were 12,000 brewers in the UK, of which 9,986 produced less than 1,000 barrels (approx. 1,636 hl). That's 83%. So even worse than the Brausteuergebiet, despite the UK having industrialised earlier.

These are for the amount of tax paid by the biggest paying brewery per Bezirk:



The biggest payer was in Berlin (listed under Brandenburg). A great illustration of how far the process of industrialisation of the brewing industry had progressed in the different regions of North Germany by the 1890's. I'm sure you've been waiting all your life to find that out. I had been.

I was shocked that Rheinland ranked so low, behind East Prussia, Pommerania, Thüringen and Schleswig-Holstein. You tell me what pattern there is to them. I'm buggered if I can see it. I would expect the largest breweries in the most industrialised, populous, beer-thirsty regions. That isn't the case. Answers on a postcard to . . . .