UK beer production and average OG 1912 - 1922

UK brewing entered WW I in a troubled state. The decade before 1914 had been a difficult one for the industry.

Increased licence duties for breweries and pubs had seriously disrupted the industry. Specifically through a fall in the price of public houses, which left many breweries with nominal share values far in excess of their real assets. Many breweries were forced to reduce their share values. Others went into liquidation, including big names like Allsopp.

Brewers must have been anxious about what the war would mean for them. Most would have expected one thing: an increase in tax. Successive UK governments had used beer as a source of extra revenue.

Here’s what happened with beer output and strength across the war years:

UK beer production and average OG 1912 - 1922
	England		Scotland		Ireland		United Kingdom
Year	bulk barrels	average OG	bulk barrels	average OG	bulk barrels	average OG	bulk barrels	average OG
1912	30,991,776	1051.76	2,153,569	1048.11	3,330,174	1065.43	36,475,519	1052.72
1913	30,758,800	1051.52	2,119,666	1047.85	3,417,851	1065.73	36,296,317	1052.64
1914	31,737,384	1051.69	2,288,481	1047.67	3,532,902	1065.93	37,558,767	1052.80
1915	29,310,783	1051.16	2,042,477	1046.85	3,412,520	1065.93	34,765,780	1052.35
1916	26,914,428	1050.49	1,917,148	1046.45	3,279,032	1066.43	32,110,608	1051.88
1917	25,497,825	1047.01	1,816,003	1043.16	2,850,170	1065.69	30,163,998	1048.54
1918	16,340,250	1038.25	1,141,114	1036.74	1,603,679	1057.89	19,085,043	1039.81
1919	20,133,048	1029.35	1,325,439	1029.77	1,806,046	1044.43	23,264,533	1030.55
1920	29,891,845	1038.57	2,186,604	1038.83	2,969,498	1043.35	35,047,947	1039.41
1921	28,927,178	1041.72	2,096,080	1042.31	3,481,312	1050.18	34,504,570	1042.61
1922	25,468,663	1042.21	1,770,175	1041.68	2,939,893	1049.44	30,178,731	1042.88
Sources:
Brewers' Journal 1921, page 246.
Brewers' Almanack 1928, page 110.

The above is another excerpt from my book on WW I, Armistice!

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