Beer or wine

Remember the table in my last post? Obviously not. No-one remembers anything nowadays. Especially me.

I wouldn't be able to remember what I had for breakfast. If I didn't have the same thing every day. Cheese toastie. Today with Emmenthaler. Usually old Gouda. I'm rambling. On with business.

Here's the table I'm going to refer back to. It'll make things easier for us all.

UK Excise and customs revenue from alcoholic drink (£ millions)
	Beer			Wine			Spirits
Year	UK	Imports	total	UK	Imports	total	UK	Imports	total	Duty Receipts in Total
1937	57.3	5.4	62.7	0.5	5.1	5.6	31.4	4.8	36.2	104.5
1938	61.2	4.5	65.7	0.5	5.0	5.5	31.1	4.8	35.9	107.1
1939	62.4	3.2	65.6	0.5	4.8	5.3	30.9	4.7	35.6	106.5
1940	75.2	3.6	78.8	0.9	5.7	6.6	34.5	6.2	40.7	126.1
1941	133.5	5.6	139.1	1.6	7.8	9.4	33.9	11.6	45.5	194.0
1942	157.3	7.3	164.6	1.1	3.8	4.9	31.0	15.7	46.7	216.2
1943	209.6	8.0	217.6	1.7	2.4	4.1	49.4	18.2	67.6	289.3
1944	263.2	6.4	269.6	2.1	2.3	4.4	59.6	17.2	76.8	350.8
1945	278.9	8.9	287.8	2.0	2.5	4.5	50.1	13.5	63.6	355.9
1946	295.3	10.8	306.1	2.2	5.0	7.2	51.2	16.9	68.1	381.4
1947	250.4	9.4	259.8	2.2	10.8	13.0	51.6	24.9	76.5	349.3
1948	264.1	9.9	274.0	3.4	15.6	19.0	40.7	42.7	83.4	376.4
1949	294.7	12.6	307.3	3.8	15.7	19.5	46.7	44.1	90.8	417.6
1950	263.1	13.7	276.8	2.8	16.1	18.9	58.7	39.6	98.3	394.0
1951	249.1	13.0	262.1	3.2	18.1	21.3	75.8	38.7	114.5	397.9
1952	248.2	12.7	260.9	3.3	17.5	20.8	67.1	29.9	97.0	378.7
Source:
"Drink in Great Britain 1900-1979" by GP Williams and GT Brake, 1980, Edsdall London, page 380.

Though, if you look at the next table, you’ll see that, while the tax revenue on wine trebled between 1939 and 1948, the quantity consumed had fallen considerably, by more than a third. Beer consumption over the same period was up by a quarter. It must be borne in mind that that beer in 1948 was on average about 10 degrees in gravity weaker than in 1939.

UK Consumption of beer and wine 1937-52 (1,000 gallons)
		Imported Wines
Year	Beer	Heavy	Light	Sparkling	British Wines	Total Wines	% wine
1937	864,000	11,709	3,950	679	5,690	22,028	2.49%
1938	900,000	31,516	3,623	628	6,144	21,910	2.33%
1939	900,000	11,602	3,062	561	6,418	21,645	2.35%
1940	936,000	11,353	2,572	388	6,916	21,228	2.22%
1941	972,000	10,392	1,730	232	6,408	18,763	1.89%
1942	1,080,000	4,623	752	75	3,957	9,407	0.86%
1943	1,080,000	1,705	264	29	3,100	5,098	0.47%
1944	1,116,000	1,166	508	13	2,898	4,585	0.41%
1945	1,152,000	1,400	227	11	2,735	4,373	0.38%
1946	1,224,000	2,723	464	92	2,921	6,200	0.50%
1947	1,080,000	5,282	1,837	329	2,998	10,445	0.96%
1948	1,116,000	7,098	2,145	383	3,899	13,525	1.20%
1949	1,008,000	5,718	1,282	497	2,961	10,458	1.03%
1950	972,000	5,939	1,667	476	3,662	11,754	1.19%
1951	936,000	6,439	2,684	560	4,450	14,133	1.49%
1952	936,000	6,078	3,234	519	4,672	14,503	1.53%
Source:
"Drink in Great Britain 1900-1979" by GP Williams and GT Brake, 1980, Edsdall London, page 381.

Strange how the imports of sparkling wine collapse between 1942 and 1947. It’s almost as if there was a reason why they couldn’t get hold of champagne.