German beer in WW II

I've been spoilt by the Whitbread Gravity Book. It provides such a wonderful window on UK beer for a big chunk of the 20th century. There's even a fair amount of foreign beer mixed in, mostly imported Lagers. But it leaves some big holes.

While there's a smattering of German beers from before and after the war, for obvious reasons there's nothing for the years of the conflict. Short of getting my hands on a cache of brewing records from German breweries, I didn't see any way I could fill in that gap. But, thanks to Heineken, I can.

Because Heineken was so keen on keeping an eye on the products of competitors that they didn't let a little thing like a world-spanning conflagration get in the way of their industrial espionage. Before the horridness kicked off, they weren't just checking up on Dutch rivals. Having a big trade in the Far East, they were also spying on colonial brewers.

That all stopped after the German occupation. They did, however, analyse beers from one other country: Germany.

Where they acquired these beers is unclear. From adverts in Dutch newspapers, I know that German beer was available in some pubs in Holland. The ones frequented by the Germans and their local fascist mates. I'm guessing that somehow Heineken acquired some samples via this route. Not sure why they were so interested in German beer, as it wasn't really un direct competition with their products.

You can see that the war had impacted the strength of German beer. Especially bearing in mins this was the stuff brewed for the German armed forces. Civilians back home had to endure far more watery beer. Though it's around the same strength as the beer Heineken was brewing for the Dutch market. In June 1941 Heineken Pils was 10º Plato, early in 1942, 7.6º Plato.

If the Paulaner and Dortmunder Kronen from 1941 look suspiciously similar, it's probably because they are the same beer. It's noted that they were both bottled by the same bottler.

German beer in WW II
Date	Year	Brewer	Town	Beer	OG Plato	FG Plato	ABV	App. Atten-uation	Colour
6th Mar	1941	Dortmunder Union	Dortmund	Dortmunder	11.54	3.18	4.35	73.35%	0.52
6th Mar	1941	Dortmunder Union	Dortmund	Pilsener	10.03	2.83	3.73	72.59%	0.48
6th Jun	1941	Paulaner	Munich	Helles	9.86	2.46	3.83	75.78%	0.52
6th Jun	1941	Dortmunder Kronen	Dortmund	Dortmunder	9.86	2.46	3.79	75.78%	0.52
9th Jun	1941	Dortmunder Union	Dortmund	Dortmunder	10.09	2.21	4.06	78.78%	0.48
5th Aug	1941	Schultheiss-Patzenhofer	Berlin	Pilsener	10.66	2.39	3.76	78.31%	0.5
27th Jan	1942	Janssen	Hamburg	Export Tafelbier	11.31	3.12	4.24	73.30%	0.4
27th Jan	1942	Dressla	Bremen	Export	8.35	1.83	3.35	78.65%	0.28
27th Jan	1942	Bavaria Brauerei	Altona	Pils	10.01	2.02	4.11	80.46%	0.4
27th Jan	1942	Schultheiss	Berlin	Helles	8.24	2.56	2.90	69.63%	0.4
27th Jan	1942	Schloss-Cabinet	Berlin	Export	8.16	2.22	3.04	73.44%	0.3
29th Jan	1942	Bavaria Brauerei	Altona	Export	8.00	1.79	3.18	78.18%	0.35
29th Jan	1942	Bavaria Brauerei	Altona	Export	8.03	1.67	3.25	79.73%	0.45
30th Jan	1942	Holsten	Bremen	Export	10.04	2.28	4.03	77.99%	0.3
30th Jan	1942	Beck	Bremen	Export	8.62	2.24	3.26	74.67%	0.3
13th Mar	1942	DAB	Dortmund	Export	7.31	2.06	2.70	72.41%	0.58
13th Mar	1942	Dünckler & Rüppert		Export	7.27	1.85	2.75	75.10%	0.38
Source:
Rapporten van laboratoriumonderzoeken naar producten van Heinekenbrouwerijen in binnen- en buitenland en naar producten van andere brouwerijen held at the Amsterdamse Stadsarchief, document number 834 - 1794.