UK brewing 1880 - 1914

Yesterday was dead productive. 

I did quite a bit of the hard slog type of research. Scanning and OCRing tables in The Brewers' Almanack. I can think of more fun things to do. But I've filled in a lot of holes in various spreadsheets of mine.

I also got some writing done. Well, I'd started writing, then realised I was missing some information. Hence the scanning. I do hate incomplete information. Which is why I have to apologise for the patchy import figures in the table below.

The start of the 20th century was a difficult time for brewers. Their costs increased significantly due to tax increases and, more particularly, licence fees. You can see these obstacles reflected in the reduced number of barrels brewed. At least in terms of standard barrels. I’d best explain what a standard barrel is.

A standard barrel was a convenience for taxation purposes. The rate of tax was defined per standard barrel. (That rate was six shillings and three pence in 1881, seven shillings and nine pence in 1914. ) It was defined as 36 imperial gallons of beer with an OG of 1055º (1057º before 1889). For example, beer of 1100º would pay double the rate per standard barrel. As one barrel of that strength would be two standard barrels.

Before WW I, standard barrels matched up fairly closely with bulk barrels, as average OG was only a couple of degrees lower. The situation would be very different after the war.

The general trend of exports was to increase, the 1914 figure being more than 50% higher than that of 1880. Though, at less than 2% of total production, exports weren’t that important to the industry, in general. A few individual brewers were, for example, some in Scotland, heavily relying on them.

Imports increased more than sixfold. From totally insignificant to bugger all. It was pretty much 100% Lager. Everything else could be brewed to an excellent standard domestically, Why would you import a Pale Ale or a Stout into the UK?

UK beer production, imports and exports 1880 - 1914
Year	Production (standard barrels)	Exports (bulk barrels to 1907 then standard)	Imports (bulk barrels)
1880	30,742,649	412,192	10,742
1881	27,352,361	421,651
1882	27,870,526	437,273
1883	27,140,891	456,109
1884	27,750,091	437,241
1885	27,986,493	436,765	23,348
1886	27,194,893	420,290
1889	30,402,298	495,926
1890	30,868,315	503,221	35,081
1891	32,236,970	462,519	33,728
1895	31,678,486	432,742	44,399
1896	33,826,354	462,960	45,000
1897	34,203,049	470,827	45,752
1898	35,632,629	476,424
1899	36,498,390	485,032
1900	37,091,123	510,843	50,875
1901	36,394,827	522,889
1903	35,978,699	510,896	55,560
1904	35,323,350	518,367	52,059
1905	34,404,287	520,990	51,944
1906	34,109,263	544,014	54,664
1907	34,352,313	604,794	57,574
1908	34,491,415	602,227	53,395
1909	33,348,258	542,084	54,374
1910	32,947,252	570,929	50,927
1911	33,618,935	615,174	53,541
1912	35,094,650	637,301	64,706
1913	34,805,291	659,464	64,346
1914	35,860,291	652,063	74,205
Sources:
Brewers' Almanack 1912, page 149 and 154.
Brewers' Almanack 1922, page 109 and 114.
Brewers' Almanack 1928, page 109 and 115.
The Brewers' Guardian 1892, 1892, page 41.
Manchester Evening News - Thursday 28 November 1901, page 3.
The British Brewing Industry 1830 - 1980 by T.R. Gourvish and R.G. Wilson, 1994, page 608.
Dundee Evening Post - Monday 01 April 1901, page 2.
Brewers' Almanack 1955, p. 51.