Adnams output by type 1940 - 1951

Brewing records often contain more information than just a record of a particular brew. Things like the amount of tax paid in a month. And from that it’s possible to pluck other handy stuff. Like how much was being brewed of each type of beer.

Here’s an example from Adnams:

It’s simple enough to use the amount of duty paid to work out which beer it refers to. There only were four beers and each had a different gravity. Though it is slightly complicated by it being a month when the rate of duty increased, meaning there are two sets of figures for each beer.

This is what I derived from the information:

Adnams output in April 1940
beer	OG	barrels	gallons	% of total
XX	1029	790.50	28,458	66.89%
PA	1039	201.08	7,239	17.02%
DS	1042	46.42	1,671	3.93%
XXXX	1055	143.75	5,175	12.16%
total		1,181.75	42,543
Source:
Adnams brewing record Book 27

Basically, it tells us that Adnams brewed mostly Mild. It amounted to more than two thirds of their output, the other third mostly being split fairly evenly between Bitter and Old Ale. Only tiny amounts of Stout were brewed.

A few months later and there had been some changes:

Adnams output in August 1940
beer	OG	barrels	gallons	% of total
XX	1027	134.64	4,847	8.55%
XX	1028	132.56	4,772	8.42%
XX	1029	911.14	32,801	57.87%
PA	1039	301.83	10,866	19.17%
DS	1042	46.42	1,671	2.95%
XXXX	1055	47.83	1,722	3.04%
total		1,574.42	56,679
Source:
Adnams brewing record Book 27

Total production had increased a fair bit, from 1,181 barrels to almost 1,600 barrels. Three quarters was now Mild and output of Old Ale had declined considerably. While the percentage of Bitter produced had increased a little.

A few year further into the war and the beer range was down to just three:

Adnams output in March 1944
beer	OG	barrels	gallons	% of total
XX	1027	1,137.97	40,967	64.48%
PA	1036	458.11	16,492	25.96%
DS	1039	168.72	6,074	9.56%
total		1,764.81	63,533
Source:
Adnams brewing record Book 31

Total output was up again, as was the percentage of Bitter brewed. Surprisingly, the amount of Stout had increased, too. But there may well have been several months’ supply brewed in March, as there was none made the following month or in July:

Adnams output in April 1944
beer	OG	barrels	gallons	% of total
XX	1027	1,051.64	37,859	66.62%
PA	1036	526.83	18,966	33.38%
total		1,578.47	56,825
Source:
Adnams brewing record Book 31

Adnams output in July 1944
beer	OG	barrels	gallons	% of total
XX	1027	1,310.08	47,163	76.88%
PA	1036	393.97	14,183	23.12%
total		1,704.06	61,346
Source:
Adnams brewing record Book 31

By the time the war was just about over the proportion of Bitter brewed had just about doubled compared to 1940:

Adnams output in March 1945
beer	OG	barrels	gallons	% of total
XX	1027	1,140.28	41,050	66.11%
PA	1036	524.69	18,889	30.42%
DS	1039	59.89	2,156	3.47%
total		1,724.86	62,095
Source:
Adnams brewing record Book 32

By 1951 the amount brewed was back down to around the level of 1940:

Adnams output in September 1951
beer	OG	barrels	gallons	% of total
XXX	1031	736.19	26,503	59.58%
PA	1036	450.81	16,229	36.48%
DS	1039	48.61	1,750	3.93%
XXXX	1054	33.94	1,222	2.75%
total		1,235.61	44,482
Source:
Adnams brewing record Book 32

And Bitter was rapidly closing in on Mild. The Old Ale was back, but far less was brewed than in 1940. Though, surprisingly, the gravity of XXXX was just about at its pre-war level.

I think we’ve learned some useful stuff about the long slow swing from Mild to Bitter. Looks to me as if WW II spurred it along.