British beer production and average OG 1900 - 1933

It seems like there's something I've not done for a while. Something that used to be very important. (No, it's not humour or entertainment.) I remember - a big fat juicy table, dripping with number grease. Best put that right.

My weekend was great fun. I spent it scanning 1920's and 1930's editions of the Brewers' Journal. "What are you doing with those stinky books, dad?" Lexie asked. "Harvesting numbers." "Dad, that sounds really boring."

It's not exactly my idea of fun, either. But the information I grab is. There was some really useful stuff, hidden away in the old Journals. That's filled a few holes in my Brewers' Almanack derived tables. Like the one below. The larger set of data has revealed some intriguing points.

The first thing I'd like to point out is the disparity in average OG in the different parts of the UK on the eve of WW I. The average OG in Scotland was four points lower than in England and a massive 18 points lower than in Ireland. You can blame Guinness for the high figure in Ireland. Their flagship Extra Stout had an OG of 1075º.

But what I find really fascinating is the difference in the gravity dropped caused by WW I. Between 1914 and 1921, the average OG in Scotland only dropped 5 points. While in England it dropped by 10 points. That's a fall in gravity of 19.3% in England and just 11.2% in Scotland. I wonder why that was.

I've a possible explanation. Exports. The proportion of beer exported was much higher in Scotland. And what was the difference between export and domestic beer between the wars? Export beer continued to be brewed at pre-WW I strengths.

I've sort of got figures for Scottish exports in the 1920's and 1930's. Sort of. I've figures for the number of barrels upon which no duty was charges. The usual reason for that is that the beer was exported. But that's not the only one. The figures for duty-free barrels is about 10% higher than the figures for beer exported. I'll be returning to these figures in detail later, but one point is very significant: after 1927 Scotland was exporting more beer than England.

Beer produced by brewers for sale and average OG 1900 - 1933
	England		Scotland		Ireland		United Kingdom
Year	bulk barrels	average OG	bulk barrels	average OG	bulk barrels	average OG	bulk barrels	average OG
1900	32,146,769	-	2,289,048	-	2,669,225	-	37,105,042	1054.93
1905	30,594,189	1052.54	2,021,374	1049.6	2,799,960	1063.49	35,415,523	1053.23
1910	29,284,045	1052.3	1,956,659	1048.48	3,059,210	1064.78	34,299,914	1053.2
1911	29,679,204	1052.03	2,028,710	1048.18	3,215,374	1065.22	34,923,288	1053.02
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
1923	22,334,328	1042.82	1,598,339	1041.36	15,984	1037.5	23,948,651	1042.72
1924	23,609,228	1043.18	1,800,687	1041.27	15,102	1037.69	25,425,017	1043.04
1925	24,827,074	1043.24	1,895,535	1041.53	12,216	1038.4	26,734,825	1043.12
1926	24,871,187	1043.34	1,884,933	1041.87	9,490	1036.91	26,765,610	1043.23
1927	23,418,640	1043.35	1,673,576	1042.3	8,245	1038.11	25,100,461	1043.28
	England & N. Ireland		Scotland				United Kingdom
1924	23,624,330	1043.17	1,800,687	1041.27			25,425,017	1043.04
1925	24,839,290	1043.24	1,895,535	1041.53			26,734,825	1043.12
1926	24,880,677	1043.34	1,884,933	1041.87			26,765,610	1043.23
1927	23,426,885	1043.35	1,673,576	1042.30			25,100,461	1043.28
1928	23,610,029	1043.34	1,749,725	1042.95			25,359,754	1043.31
1929	22,803,003	1043.20	1,727,152	1043.47			24,530,155	1043.21
1930	23,180,543	1043.01	1,803,625	1043.55			24,984,168	1043.05
1931	22,129,205	1042.68	1,651,579	1042.84			23,780,784	1042.69
1932	19,277,230	1041.14	1,398,153	1041.86			20,675,383	1041.19
1933	16,639,123	1039.59	1,204,456	1041.07			17,843,579	1039.69
Sources:
Brewers' Journal 1920, page 345.
Brewers' Journal 1921, page 246.
Brewers' Almanack 1928, page 110.
Brewers' Journal 1934, page 11.

Wondering why beer production fell so much in 1932 and 1933? A disastrous increase in beer tax which caused output to fall so much that, in fact, less tax was collected. There's a lesson there.

I'll be returning to numbers soon. I've neglected them for far too long.