Brewing in Argentina

How fitting that I should stub my toe on an article about brewing in Argentina just before I visit the country for the first time. In fact, as you read this I'll hopefully be shovelling down cocktails in Buenos Aires.

BREWING IN ARGENTINA.
The brewing industry in the Argentine Republic has been on a progressive scale during the last ten years, until it has reached a point whore it more than fills the requirements of the market. This is fairly well shown by the decrease in the importations of beer which, valued in 1888 at £134,361 fell to £13,518 in 1897. In all respects the beer brewed in the Argentine is reported to compare favourably with that manufactured elsewhere. There are five breweries operating on an extensive scale and well equipped with modern appliances.
The Brewers' Journal vol. 35 1899, January 15th 1899, pages 46 - 47.

It sounds like the Argentinian brewing industry was on the up. And, looking at the slump in the value of imports, it does look like local production was sufficient to meet local demand.

If there were only five large, modern breweries, then there were obviously quite a few which weren't. As there were 28 breweries just in Buenos Aires.

Naturally the province of Buenos Aires is the seat of the industry, the number of breweries in the province being twenty-eight. The capacity of these breweries was returned as 51,229,200 litres during 1895, but the total production of beer was only 8,767,338 litres. This was 500,000 more litres than during the preceding year, but still only about one-sixth of the capacity.
The Brewers' Journal vol. 35 1899, January 15th 1899, pages 46 - 47.

Based on those figures, the domestic brewing industry was actually way too large for demand. The capacity was over half a million hectolitres, but fewer than 90,000 hl were brewed. That's an enormous mismatch. Output was at just 17% of capacity. How had that come about? Had breweries been built speculatively in anticipation of future demand? I'd love to know if production increased to come somewhere in the vague region of capacity.

Lat's see who the biggest players were.

The pioneer in the brewing business of the Argentine Republic was Herr Bieckert. He was the founder of the present Bieckert Brewing Company (Compania Cerveceria Biockert, Limited), whose plant is situated in the city of Buenos Aires. This brewery and the Argentine Quilmes brewery, which is situated a short distance outside of Buenos Aires, are the largest establishments in the country. The Bieckert Company was established in 1860, and in 1889 passed into the hands of an English syndicate for the consideration of £1,000,000. The Quilmes brewery, which has been established for ten years, has a capital of £260,000. The product of each of these breweries is said to be fully equal to the average light lager beer of other countries. The main product of all the Argentine breweries is a beer that is light both in colour and gravity, and contains a low percentage of alcohol; much the same kind of beer as the pale American products. The Quilmes Company makes a darker beer that is not so heavy.
The Brewers' Journal vol. 35 1899, January 15th 1899, pages 46 - 47.

It doesn't surprise me that British investors had got involved in the Argentinian brewing industry. The British were heavily involved in Argentinian business generally. And, at the end of the 19th century, UK investors had been buying up brewing companies all over the world.

Surprise, surprise - pale Lager was the main product. Who would have guessed that? I wouldn't assume that these beers were low-gravity by modern standards. They mean low-gravity compared to UK beer at the time, so were probably 4.5-5% ABV.

We'll be learning more about Argentinian dark beers in the next instalment.