Thursday 31 May 2018

Dutch-brewed Lager in the UK 1950 - 1963

Continuing my series on foreign-brewed Lager in the UK in the 1950s and 1960s, here are some from Holland.

One thing is immediately obvious: all these beers were brewed specifically for the UK market. How do I know that? Because they're all way too weak to have been sold in Holland, where Pils is always a standard 5% ABV. They have the typical OG of British Lagers of the period: somewhere in the low 1030ºs.

The names are pretty much as you would expect. Heineken, Amstel, Oranjeboom, ZHB. You might not have heard of the last one. It stands for Zuidhollandse Bierbrouwerij, which was a decent-sized brewery in The Hague. It closed in the early 1970s. Loosje, on the Nieuwe Markt in Amsterdam has a wonderful depiction of the brewery in tiles.

Bierbrouwerij De Wereld I'd never heard of. It was located in the village of Raamsdonk in Noord Brabant. The beers in the table can't have been brewed there because the brewery was bought and closed by Oranjeboom in 1948.

The one simply called Breda, must be Drie Hoefijzers. Which in 1968 formed Verenigde Nederlandse Brouwerijen Breda-Rotterdam with Oranjeboom. And which was later taken over by the UK's Allied Breweries.

Dutch-brewed Lager in the UK 1950 - 1963
Year Brewer Beer Price per pint d OG FG ABV App. Atten-uation colour
1950 Amstel Lager 1033.6 1008.1 3.31 75.89% 15.5
1957 Amstel Lager 42 1030.8 1007.2 3.06 76.62% 9.5
1961 Amstel Amstel Lager 36 1030.9 1006.1 3.10 80.26% 9.5
1957 Amstel Amstel Lager 1031.9 1006.9 3.24 78.37% 12
1957 Bierbrouwerij De Wereld Piraat Lager Beer 30 1032.8 1005.7 3.52 82.62% 9
1959 Bierbrouwerij De Wereld Piraat King Size Ale 27.5 1031.1 1005.6 3.31 81.99% 10
1950 Breda Lager (light) 1036.9 1007.8 3.78 78.86% 13.5
1961 Heineken Lager  Beer 36 1030.6 1006.3 3.04 79.41% 4.5
1963 Heineken Lager 40 1030 1008.4 2.70 72.00% 6
1957 Heineken Lager 42 1038.7 1009 3.86 76.74% 5
1961 Oranjeboom Dutch Pilsner 36 1031.1 1006.9 3.02 77.81% 9.5
1963 Oranjeboom Pilsner Lager 42 1031.6 1005.9 3.21 81.33% 7.5
1957 Oranjeboom Dutch Lager 1035.4 1007.5 3.62 78.81% 10
1957 Oranjeboom Dutch Pilsener 42 1033.3 1007.8 3.31 76.58% 9
1947 Z.H.B. Z.H.B. Lager 30 1032.4 1008.2 3.14 74.07% 11.5
1950 Z.H.B. Lager 1033.7 1008.4 3.28 75.07% 12
1957 Z.H.B. Export Pilsner Lager 1032.3 1005.8 3.44 82.04% 13
1957 Z.H.B. Export Pilsner Lager 42 1031.6 1006.2 3.30 80.38% 10
1961 Z.H.B. Export Pilsner Lager 37 1032 1005.9 3.26 81.56% 8
Average
37.1 1032.7 1007.0 3.3 78.44% 9.6
Source:
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/002.

2 comments:

Jake said...

How were imported beers charged for import duties in the UK? Was it based on starting gravity, based on ABV, flat rate per volume, or something else?

Ron Pattinson said...

Jake,

the same way as on UK-brewed beer: it was based on the OG.