Bottled Foreign Lager after WW II

What could be more Christmasy than imported Lager just after WW II? Just about anything, I suppose. But here goes, anyway.

In 1947, supplies of foreign Lager reappeared, initially principally from Denmark and Holland.  Those from Germany would take longer to arrive, for the simple reason that in the parts of West Germany occupied by the British and Americans commercially brewing wasn’t allowed for several years.

One thing is very obvious when looking at the Lagers imported after WW II: many foreign breweries were making beers specifically for the UK market. How do we know that? Because of the low gravity. No continental brewery, other than in Czechoslovakia, brewed Lagers under 1040º.

You can see here how the post-war style of Lager is starting to coalesce: a pale beer with a gravity in the low-1030ºs. This is the type of beer that became the nation’s favourite in the 1980s. Though by the 1970s, most Lager, even things like Carlsberg and Heineken, were being brewed locally.

More surprising are the German Bocks, which must have been hideously expensive, being both very strong and imported. There can’t have been a huge market in the UK for such beers.

The two Pilsner Urquell beers are clearly the 12º and the 10º. Quite odd to see the latter being exported, though I suppose it fitted in better with UK strength expectations.

A lot of Lager was still being sold in bottled form immediately after the war. But as the 1950s progressed, draught Lager would become increasingly more common. By the early 1960s, draught Lager was the norm rather than the exception.

Bottled Foreign Lager after WW II
Year	Brewer	country	Beer	Style	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	colour
1951	Artois	Belgium	Stella Lager	Lager	1052.4	1011.1	5.38	78.82%	10.5
1950	Ekla (Brussels)	Belgium	Lager	Lager	1037.5	1009.6	3.62	74.40%	10
1950	Lamot	Belgium	Lux Lager	Lager	1048.9	1009	5.20	81.60%	7
1950	Lamot	Belgium	Lager	Lager	1037.4	1010.2	3.53	72.73%	6
1950	Pilsner Urquell	Czechoslovakia	Lager	Lager	1049	1013.5	4.61	72.45%	10.5
1950	Pilsner Urquell	Czechoslovakia	Lager	Lager	1038.9	1010.3	3.71	73.52%	11
1947	Carlsberg	Denmark	Pilsner	Lager	1035.6	1008.5	3.52	76.12%	13.5
1950	Carlsberg	Denmark	Lager	Lager	1031.8	1010.9	2.70	65.72%	13
1947	Tuborg	Denmark	Pilsner	Lager	1036.6	1009.1	3.57	75.14%	11.5
1950	Tuborg	Denmark	Lager	Lager	1032.9	1006.1	3.48	81.46%	11.5
1952	Holsten	Germany	Bock (Light)	Bock	1067.8	1020.4	6.16	69.91%	28
1952	Holsten	Germany	Bock (Dark)	Bock	1045.2	1010.5	4.51	76.77%	59
1950	Lowenbrau	Germany	Atomator	Bock	1076.6	1025.7	6.60	66.45%	85
1950	Lowenbrau	Germany	Pale Bock Beer	Bock	1067.9	1013.9	7.06	79.53%	7.5
1950	Spatenbrau	Germany	Doppel Spaten	Bock	1076.7	1029.6	6.09	61.41%	80
1950	Tucher	Germany	Tucher Pils Lager	Lager	1055.1	1014.4	5.29	73.87%	15
1950	Amstel	Holland	Lager	Lager	1033.6	1008.1	3.31	75.89%	15.5
1950	Breda	Holland	Lager (light)	Lager	1036.9	1007.8	3.78	78.86%	13.5
1947	Z.H.B.	Holland	Lager	Lager	1032.4	1008.2	3.14	71.91%	11.5
1950	Z.H.B.	Holland	Lager	Lager	1033.7	1008.4	3.28	75.07%	12
Sources:
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/002.