Beer drinking in the 1930's

We're dipping one final time into Sydney Nevile's highly informative article on beer in the 1930's.

Starting with a point I've often made: that beer was shaped in the political and economic forces with which it coexisted. The enormous increase in the taxation of beer during WW I and the interwar period affected not just the beer itself but the attitudes of drinkers to it:

"The combined result of the constructive policy of the trade, the relatively high price of beer and the altered and improved standard of manners, customs and ideas of the masses of the people, has led to regard being paid by the consumer more to quality and flavour than to strength and volume. The alcoholic strength of beer, which remained practically unaltered from 1885 to 1914 at roughly an average of 5 per cent., and which was reduced owing to restrictions during the critical period of the war to something between 2-3 per cent., gradually rose when the restrictions were removed, and now stands at an average in the neighbourhood of 4 per cent., at which point so for as can be seen it will remain more or less constant in the absence of any material change in the rate of duty or other conditions. The great bulk of industrial beer consumed by the masses is now probably in the neighbourhood of 3 per cent, to 3.5 per cent, of alcohol content, whilst stouts and what may be termed "luxury" beers range up to 5 per cent."
Journal of the Institute of Brewing, Volume 42, Issue 6, November-December 1936, page 521.

Beer had gone from being a cheap everyday item to something rather more expensive. Paying more, consumers also expected to get more for their money in terms of quality. It's a logical enough demand.

His prediction that average beer strength would remain around 4% turned out not to be true. Though, in Nevile's defence, there were material changes in the conditions. A little fracas called WW II.

The "industrial beer" he talks of is surely Mild Ale. Was it really 3 to 3.5% ABV? That's lower than the post-W II average of about 3.7% ABV. You can probably guess what's coming now. A look at the Mild Ales on offer in 1935 - 1936 and their strengths. It's at times like these that I'm glad that I could be arsed to transcribe the Whitbread and Truman Gravity Books. I've more than enough data to check Nevile's assertion:

Mild Ales in 1935 - 1936
Year	Brewer	Beer	Price	Acidity	FG	OG	ABV	App. Atten-uation
1936	Barclay Perkins	Ale 4d	4d		1007	1029.1	2.87	75.95%
1935	Charrington	Ale	4d			1031.5
1935	Fuller, Smith & Turner	LA	4d	0.07	1007.9	1032.8	3.23	75.91%
1936	Greene King	Ale	4d			1028.9
1935	Ind Coope	Ale	4d			1028.8
1935	Kidd	Ale	4d			1032.2
1935	Leney & Co	X	4d	0.06	1006	1028	2.85	78.57%
1935	Mann Crossman	Brandon's LA	4d	0.04	1004.4	1031	3.46	85.81%
1935	Meux	Ale	4d			1028.3
1935	Truman	Ale	4d			1030.02
1936	Wells & Winch	Ale	4d			1031.8
1935	Whitbread	Ale	4d			1027.05
	average					1029.96	3.10
1935	Barclay Perkins	X	5d	0.07	1011	1037	3.37	70.27%
1936	Cannon Brewery	X	5d	0.06	1015.1	1034.9	2.55	56.73%
1935	Charrington	X	5d	0.05	1012.3	1037	3.19	66.76%
1935	Charrington	X	5d	0.06	1012.4	1037	3.18	66.49%
1935	Courage	X	5d	0.06	1011	1035	3.11	68.57%
1936	Courage	X	5d			1037.01
1936	Ind Coope	X	5d			1035.19
1936	Mann Crossman	X	5d	0.08	1009.6	1044.8	4.58	78.57%
1936	Meux	X	5d	0.07	1006.2	1035.4	3.80	82.49%
1935	Shepherd Neame	X	5d			1039.9
1935	Taylor Walker	X	5d	0.05	1014	1035	2.71	60.00%
1936	Truman	X	5d	0.07	1009.4	1037	3.58	74.59%
1935	Watney	X	5d	0.06	1011.8	1036	3.13	67.22%
1935	Watney	X	5d	0.05	1011.5	1036	3.17	68.06%
1935	Wenlock	X	5d			1035.9
1936	Wenlock	X	5d			1036.02
1936	Wenlock	X	5d			1036.69
1935	Whitbread	X	5d			1038.04
	average					1036.88	3.31
1936	Barclay Perkins	XX	6d		1010	1043	4.29	76.74%
1935	Dare, Birmingham	Ale	6d	0.05	1013.7	1047	4.32	70.85%
	average					1045	4.30
Sources:
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/001.
Barclay Perkins brewing log held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number ACC/2305/01/621.
Truman Gravity Book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number B/THB/C/252

It's dead handy that the gravity books also give the price per pint, because I've been able to divided the Milds up into three classes:

4d. per pint Ale, the continuation of wartime Government Ale.
5d. per pint Ordinary Mild.
6d. per pint Best Mild.

By far the most common of the three types was 5d. Ordinary Mild. Low-gravity Ales were brewed in quite modest quantities, at least at the brewery's whose brewing records I've seen. Nevile is spot on in saying most was between 3 and 3.5% ABV. The average for 5d. Mild is 3.31% ABV.

However, Mild at this strength was a relatively recent phenomenon. Before 1931, Ordinary Mild had cost 6d. per pint and had a gravity of 1040-1045º. Then there was the disastrous increase in the tax on beer in 1931. Rather than increase the price to 7d., brewers cut the gravity to 1035-1037º so they could continue to retail it at 6d. When the tax returned to its old level in 1933, brewers didn't increase the gravity back to its old level but instead cut the price to 5d.

This is a point that I'd never considered: serving beer in places it never had been before:

"Whilst the average bulk consumption of beer per head has been largely reduced, the consumption has been spread over a wider class of the community. Beer is consumed by classes of people who in old days would have regarded wine or spirits as their customary drink. The service of beer, for instance, at balls and after theatres is now almost universal."
Journal of the Institute of Brewing, Volume 42, Issue 6, November-December 1936, page 521.

Presumably before WW I beer was overwhelmingly drunk by the working classes either in pubs or in their homes. Not in more upmarket venues like theatres. Though I bet they did serve Bass in posher places.

Remember the CAMRA line of argument that people only drank Lager because it was pushed like hell by breweries? We may have to reconsider that as it doesn't seem to have worked in the 1930's:

"It is to be noted that whereas over the rest of the world lager beer has ousted top-fermentation beer in popularity. Great Britain seems to be the only country where top-fermentation beer has held its own. Although lager beer has been largely advertised and a great number of brands are on the market and freely offered for sale, the total consumption in this country is still within very small proportions. The climate is frequently credited with the responsibility for this, but it is probable that the great attention given to the selection of materials by British brewers and the steady improvement of technique, both in the brewery and in the public-house, is the fundamental reason for the maintenance of the demand for British top-fermentation beer."
Journal of the Institute of Brewing, Volume 42, Issue 6, November-December 1936, page 521.

 I think I'm with Nevile on why Lager didn't take off in the first half of the 20th century. brewers were able to brew top-quality top-fermenting beer. Why should they incur the risk of buying the extra equipment required to brew Lager when there was no need to?

In many European countries top-fermenting beer had been produced in small, old-fashioned breweries. These weren't able, in most cases, to compete with Lager on quality and gradually disappeared. There were a few exceptions, like Düsseldorf and Cologne, where breweries upgraded their brewhouses and adopted some Lager brewing techniques. Their beers are still around today.