Irish Porter before WW II

The one place where Porter was still in good health was Ireland. During the interwar period, its sales kept up remarkably well, consistently amounting to around 37% of total Guinness sales.

One note: this table is for the whole of Ireland, including the part still in the UK.

Guinness sales in Ireland 1922 - 1938
Year	Extra Stout	Porter	total	% Porter
1922	724,894	416,594	1,141,288	36.50%
1923	696,582	378,085	1,074,667	35.18%
1924	640,974	367,708	1,008,682	36.45%
1925	583,730	351,040	934,770	37.55%
1926	544,008	337,620	861,628	39.18%
1927	520,923	315,636	836,559	37.73%
1928	508,483	303,641	812,124	37.39%
1929	508,158	302,002	810,160	37.28%
1930	493,669	291,194	784,863	37.10%
1931	468,272	265,538	733,810	36.19%
1932	441,568	226,759	668,326	33.93%
1933	432,064	248,115	680,179	36.48%
1934	425,519	263,675	689,194	38.26%
1935	446,908	277,124	724,032	38.28%
1936	455,521	271,220	726,741	37.32%
1937	466,541	274,882	741,423	37.07%
1938	479,506	278,321	757,827	36.73%
Source:
"A Bottle of Guinness please" by David Hughes, pages 276-279.

The quantity of Porter brewed by Guinness must have been more than the total brewed by all London brewers.

Here are a couple of examples of Irish pre-war Porter.

Irish Porter before WW II
Year	Brewer	Beer	Price per pint (d)	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation
1933	Guinness	Porter (as sold in Belfast)	7	1041.6	1009.9	4.12	76.20%
1934	Beamish & Crawford	XX Porter		1035
Sources:
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/001.
"Classic Porter and Stout", by Roger Protz.

The one from Guinness is a good bit stronger than London versions, looking like a 6d per pint beer. It’s also better attenuated, at a bit over 75%. While Beamish & Crawford Porter looks very much like those from London.