I won't be quoting the newspaper article from which it comes because it's just a table in word form. Once I'd extracted the table information, there was nothing left.
Scottish
brewing in 1888
|
|||||||||
Collections.
|
Brewers
not for retail
|
Number
of licences issued to Victuallers
|
Brewers
for retail
|
Private
brewers, not for sale, liable to beer duty
|
Private
brewers, not for sale, not liable to beer duty
|
Bushels
of Malt consumed by non-retail Brewers
|
cwts of
Sugar consumed by non-retail Brewers
|
Bushels
of Malt consumed by retail Brewers
|
cwts of
Sugar consumed by retail Brewers
|
Aberdeen
|
13
|
792
|
4
|
22
|
524
|
47,656
|
88
|
4400
|
|
Campbeltown
|
98
|
||||||||
Dumfries
|
13
|
827
|
28,559
|
197
|
|||||
Dundee
|
16
|
981
|
1
|
83,950
|
2170
|
||||
Edinburgh
|
33
|
1492
|
2
|
1,929,424
|
19,383
|
12,366
|
195
|
||
Elgin
|
6
|
434
|
2
|
8
|
62
|
15,109
|
99
|
831
|
|
Falkirk
|
2
|
1465
|
2
|
54,589
|
140
|
2367
|
12
|
||
Glasgow
|
10
|
2353
|
229,537
|
4418
|
|||||
Greenock
|
9
|
1610
|
50,911
|
1675
|
|||||
Inverness
|
459
|
2
|
10
|
7248
|
358
|
||||
Perth
|
2
|
966
|
14
|
5257
|
33
|
47,667
|
389
|
||
Stirling
|
4
|
458
|
10
|
82,502
|
112
|
158,808
|
1065
|
||
Totals
|
108
|
11,935
|
36
|
2,536,494
|
28,319
|
233,687
|
2021
|
||
Totals
|
108
|
11,935
|
36
|
31
|
596
|
2,527,494
|
28,315
|
233,687
|
2,019
|
Source:
|
|||||||||
Dundee
Courier - Friday 01 March 1889, page 3.
|
|||||||||
You'll note that the number of collections has been reduced since 1873. Not really a surprise, as they were many in tiny Highlands towns. Where, based on the figures, the Excise didn't do much collecting of anything. Another difference from the 1873 figures is the inclusion of two new classes of brewer. Private brewers, not for sale, but liable to beer duty; and private brewers, not for sale, not liable to beer duty. I wish I had these figures for earlier periods, because they tell us more about the mysterious and rarely discussed world of private brewing in Scotland.
Based on these numbers, there was more private brewing in Scotland than I had suspected. In 1888 there were still 627 private brewers licences in Scotland. But what's interesting is their location. Only one is in the central Lowlands. And all are in the far north of Scotland: Aberdeen, Elgin, Inverness. Why was private brewing still strong here?
The amount being brewed privately was probably pretty small. The 22 private brewers in Aberdeen who paid duty only used 26 bushels of malt a 3 cwt. of sugar between them. Or enough to brew approximately 27 barrels of beer. The 8 private brewers paying duty in Elgin used 25 bushels of malt, enough for about 50 barrels of beer. Private brewers clearly only brewed once or twice a year.
Not that I want to show off, but my estimate of the number of barrels brewed - 1,393,347 - almost exactly matches the real figure of 1,392,000 (Source: “A History of the Brewing Industry in Scotland” by Ian Donnachie, 1998, pages 147-148).
Scottish
brewing in 1888
|
||||||
Collections.
|
barrels
brewed by non-retail Brewers
|
barrels
brewed by retail Brewers
|
total
barrels brewed
|
% of
total brewed
|
total
no breweries
|
% of
total
|
Aberdeen
|
23,845
|
2,200
|
26,045
|
1.91%
|
17
|
11.81%
|
Campbeltown
|
0
|
|||||
Dumfries
|
14,316
|
14,316
|
1.05%
|
13
|
9.03%
|
|
Dundee
|
42,382
|
42,382
|
3.12%
|
16
|
11.11%
|
|
Edinburgh
|
968,346
|
6,220
|
974,566
|
71.63%
|
35
|
24.31%
|
Elgin
|
7,573
|
416
|
7,989
|
0.59%
|
8
|
5.56%
|
Falkirk
|
27,321
|
1,186
|
28,507
|
2.10%
|
4
|
2.78%
|
Glasgow
|
115,597
|
115,597
|
8.50%
|
10
|
6.94%
|
|
Greenock
|
9
|
6.25%
|
||||
Inverness
|
3,691
|
3,691
|
0.27%
|
2
|
1.39%
|
|
Perth
|
2,635
|
23,906
|
26,541
|
1.95%
|
16
|
11.11%
|
Stirling
|
41,272
|
79,604
|
120,876
|
8.88%
|
14
|
9.72%
|
Totals
|
||||||
Totals
|
1,243,287
|
117,222
|
1,360,509
|
100.00%
|
144
|
100.00%
|
Source:
|
||||||
Dundee
Courier - Friday 01 March 1889, page 3.
|
||||||
The most obvious trend when comparing the numbers from 1849, 1873 and 1888 is the increasing concentration of Scottish brewing in Edinburgh. In 1849 46.22% of Scottish beer was brewed in Edinburgh. In 1873 it was 56.68% and in 1888 71.55%. The number of barrels brewed in Edinburgh rose from 201,421 to 839,300 to 974,566, even though total output fell between 1873 and 1888.
There's one anomaly in the figures that I should point out with regard to the figures for Perth and Stirling. The figures aren't divided up into common and publican brewers, but those brewers not allowed to sell by retail and those who are. In most collections, this seems to match up with common and publican brewers. In Perth and Stirling it clearly doesn't. The retail brewers are using way too much malt to just be brewing for a pub. I'm pretty sure Alloa was in the Stirling collection. And there were more than four common brewers there. I assume some common brewers in these two towns also had retail licences.
What is clear is the fall in the number of brewers overall, from 195 in 1873 to 144 in 1888. This is another trend that would continue for many decades.
I've assembled an extra table to demonstrate the concentration of brewing in the Lowlands. I've split apart the Highland and Lowland collections.
Scottish
brewing in 1888
|
||
collection
|
% of
total brewed
|
% of
total breweries
|
Dumfries
|
1.04%
|
9.03%
|
Dundee
|
3.22%
|
11.11%
|
Edinburgh
|
71.55%
|
24.31%
|
Falkirk
|
2.06%
|
2.78%
|
Glasgow
|
8.66%
|
6.94%
|
Greenock
|
0.00%
|
6.25%
|
Perth
|
1.94%
|
11.11%
|
Stirling
|
8.77%
|
9.72%
|
total
|
97.25%
|
81.25%
|
Aberdeen
|
1.88%
|
11.81%
|
Campbeltown
|
0.00%
|
0.00%
|
Elgin
|
0.58%
|
5.56%
|
Inverness
|
0.29%
|
1.39%
|
total
|
2.75%
|
18.75%
|
Source:
|
||
Dundee
Courier - Friday 01 March 1889, page 3.
|
||
As you can see, over 97% of Scottish beer was brewed in the Lowlands. It eventually hit 100%.
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