The hard years of the 1940’s

It’s hard to imagine now, but life actually got worse in Britain after the end of WW II.

Rationing continued and there were shortages of many basic goods. Plus the country was broke, having to go cap in hand to the Americans and Canadians for loans to keep things going. It wasn’t the happiest or times.

It must have been particularly annoying to watch the strength of beer continue to fall after victory. While at the same time getting dearer through tax increases.

“Beer.—The basic Excise duty on beer before April, 1948, was £7 19s. 9d. per barrel plus 5s. 11d. per degree. The Budget raised the duty to £8 18s. 10d. per barrel up to a gravity of 1027 degrees, plus a surtax of 6s. 7.5d. per degree above that strength. Corresponding changes were made in the Customs duties on imported beer. The increase in duty was approximately equivalent to 1d. per pint on beer of average strength.”
"Brewing Trade Review, 1950", pages 52 - 53.

Before WW I, the duty on beer was charged per standard barrel, a nominal 36 imperial gallons with an OG of 1055º. So a beer of 1100º would pay double the tax, one of 1027.5º half the tax and one of 1011º just 20% of the tax. But that was changed after the war and for beer, no matter how strong, the minimum tax was that for an OG of 1027º. For every degree above that, more tax was charged. It’s a good example of how legislation can change the type of beer brewed, because after that you never see a beer with a gravity lower than 1027º.

A penny a pint is quite a large percentage increase when an average-strength beer only cost around a shilling (12d).

There were also still restrictions on the supply of raw materials to brewers. Who were, of course, competing with food manufacturers for some items, such as sugar;

“The shortage of cereals and other brewing materials made it necessary to continue during 1947-48 the control imposed by the Ministry of Food on 1st May, 1946. Up to 31st December, 1947, the permitted rate of output of each brewer was equivalent in terms of standard barrels to 85% of production in the year ended 31st March, 1946. In order to save sugar the permitted rate of output was further reduced to 82% on 1st January, 1948. Owing to an uneven demand for beer during the summer months a redistribution of production was necessary and this was achieved by reducing from 1st January, 1949, the permitted level of production of each brewery to 78% of its standard barellage in the corresponding period of 1945-46 and arranging centrally for the balance of 4% to be allocated to brewers who could not meet their demand within 78%.”
"Brewing Trade Review, 1950", page 53.

Note that it’s 85%, 82% and 78% of a brewery’s output in 1946. Which itself had been a percentage of the amount brewed in peacetime.

The government was forcing down beer production deliberately, but it had little option. There just weren’t enough raw materials to satisfy demand for beer and food.

This is one of the tables included in the article:

Home-made Beer :  Quantities charged with duty, Average Gravities and Net Receipts
Year (ended 31st March)	Quantities charged with duty-		Average Gravity	Net quantities duty-paid		Net Receipts £
	Bulk Barrels	Standard Barrels		Bulk Barrels	Standard Barrels
1939	24,674,992	18,364,156	1,040.93	24,187,883	17,935,568	62,370,034
1940	25,366,782	18,738,619	1,040.62	25,092,090	18,495,567	75,157,022
1941	26,203,803	18,351,113	1,038.51	25,773,766	18,121,618	133,450,205
1942	29,860,796	19,294,605	1,035.53	29,351,341	19,018,940	157,254,430
1943	29,296,672	18,293,919	1,034.34	28,971,014	18,044,678	209,584,343
1944	30,478,289	19,193,773	1,034.63	30,129,031	18,945,565	263,170,703
1945	31,332,852	19,678,449	1,034.54	31,031,814	19,475,061	278,876,870
1946	32,650,200	20,612,225	1,034.72	32,698,011	20,580,907	295,305,369
1947	29,261,398	17,343,690	1,032.59	29,226,070	17,427,961	250,350,829
1948	30,408,634	18,061,390	1,032.66	30,007,139	17,744,616	264,112,043
1949	26,990,144	16,409,937	1,033.43	27,048,281	16,319,126	294,678,035

You can see that in 1949 average gravity was just starting to creep up a little.

“As a result of all these factors the quantity of home-produced beer retained for consumption in the United Kingdom in 1948-49 amounted to 27.05 million bulk barrels compared with 30.01 million barrels in 1947-48, the average strength being about the same as in the previous year. The quantity and strength of imported beer changed very little between the two years ; imports from Continental countries continued during 1948-49 and substantial supplies continued to come from Eire.”
"Brewing Trade Review, 1950", page 53.

They could just as easily have said Guinness as Eire. Because pretty much all of the imports, both from Ireland and the total amount, were Guinness Extra Stout.

Here are the remaining two tables, for imports and exports:

Imported Beer
Year (ended 31st March)	Quantities retained for Consumption		Net Receipts
	Bulk Barrels	Standard Barrels	£
1939	838,269	793,516	3,210,822
1940	822,678	780,129	3,593,330
1941	789,787	726,614	5,603,976
1942	1,047,374	877,840	7,307,597
1943	837,788	670,521	8,017,919
1944	572,389	436,179	6,430,268
1945	765,602	615,361	8,854,345
1946	929,028	749,795	10,797,531
1947	860,161	650,365	9,369,294
1948	863,855	651,275	9,943,145
1949	875,548	690,090	12,639,747

Home-made Beer : Exports*
Year (ended 31st March)	Quantities
	Bulk Barrels	Standard Barrels	average OG
1939	276,757	266,634	1052.99
1940	303,488	290,093	1052.57
1941	244,436	215,045	1048.39
1942	205,009	172,860	1046.38
1943	71,220	59,608	1046.03
1944	109,564	87,947	1044.15
1945	77,862	62,769	1044.34
1946	158,500	124,190	1043.09
1947	168,121	133,800	1043.77
1948	126,580	103,365	1044.91
1949	222,047	195,580	1048.44

* Excludes beer deposited or consigned under military control for H.M. Forces overseas.

Unsurprisingly, exports fell to almost nothing during the war. It’s a bigger shock that there were any at all. Especially as beer for the military is excluded from the figures.

The average OG column I’ve added. It was easy to calculate, given that both bulk and standard barrels are listed. You’ll note that export beer was quite a bit stronger than that sold domestically.