Saturday 15 May 2010

Austro-Bavarian Brewery advert from 1884

Remember that discussion we had about the Anglo-Bavarian Brewery. And whether they actually brewed Lager. (Their advert on the wall behind me says they didn't - all the beers illustrated are in British styles). I didn't think you would. Not to worry. I'll explain it all again.

Gary Gillman pointed me in the direction of a 19th-century advert for the similarly-named Austro-Bavarian Lager Beer Brewery of London. Take a look. They very clearly did brew Lager. Or at least beers with Lager names.

Here are some highlights from the advert:

"The first Lager Beer Brewery Erected in the United Kingdom"

Tottenham Lager
Tottenham Munich
Tottenham Bock
Tottenham Pilsen

all 3s 6d for Imperial pints. It must be for a dozen bottles. That's 3.5d a pint. At a time when draught Mild was about 2d.
Not sure about that claim. At least they don't say they were the first to brew Lager in the UK. Because they certainly weren't that.

They didn't last long.

2 comments:

Gary Gillman said...

Ron, is it known for certain there were two breweries with similar-sounding names? Is it possible that the term Anglo-Bavarian was a misread of Austro-Bavarian?

Who did brew lager first in the U.K, was it Wrexham?

Gary

Gary Gillman said...

Well, hunting around a bit, this seems to show that there were two separate breweries:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/somerset/3852569.stm

This one lasted about twice as long as the Austro-Bavarian Lager Beer Company but the latter clearly was a true lager brewer and therefore first at least as between these two.

Gary