What is 1970s UK Lager?

Continuing my series on UK Lager, I look at the 1970s, the decade Lager really broke through.

 

What is 1930s UK Lager?

I look at the developments in UK Lager between the wars. How exciting is that?

 

Lager Beers in 1909

You probably realise by now how fascinated I am by Lager. Especially oldie-timey Lager.

The following passage from the Journal of the Institute of Brewing explains the different types of Lager at the start of the 20th century. It breaks them down by region and strength. Rather surprisingly, along with Bohemia, Bavaria and Vienna, the USA is also included. Which is probably fair enough, now I think about it.

The strength types are a bit odd, as it doesn't seem to include Bock. Or, at least, to lump it in with Export.

Our attention must now be directed to the principal subject of this evening's paper: Lager Beers ("Lager Biere"). Of these there are four recognised types :—Bohemian, Vienna, Bavarian, and American. As a general rule, three varieties of each are brewed: Light, Ordinary or Summer Lager, and Export. The exports are all brewed considerably stronger and contain more alcohol. All the types vary a good deal in colour, flavour, palate-fulness, amount of hops, acidity and alcohol. For example :—

1. Bavarian and Munich beers possess a light to dark-brown shade of colour, are lightly hopped, and are characterised by their palate fulness, sweet taste and malt flavour. Their gravities vary from 12.5° to 15.0° B. in the Light, and from 15.0° to 18.0° B. in the Export beers.

2. The Bohemian are light-yellow, as in the case of the Pilsener, to a peculiar greenish-yellow colour. They taste somewhat sharp, dry and wine-like, but with a prevailing bitter of hops as opposed to the lightly-hopped Bavarians. Their gravities vary from 10.5° to 11.5° B. for the Light, and from 11.0° to 12.8° B. for the Heavy.

3. The Vienna Lagers come somewhere midway between the Bavarian and Bohemian, especially as regards colour, hops, and taste. The gravities vary from 10.5° to 13.5° B. in the Light, and from 13.5° to 15.5° B. for the Heavy and Export beers. The larger amount of the common beer of Vienna is brewed at a gravity of 13.5° B.

4. The American Lagers generally follow the German rather than the Austrian types, yet differ considerably in the many American cities.
"Lager Beers" by James Grant in Journal of the Institute of Brewing Volume 15, Issue 3, May 1909, page 379.

It's odd that they state American beers were mostly of the German type. Surely most were of the Bohemian type, generally being very pale. There aren't any details with regard to strength, unfortunately. 

Largest Lager breweries worldwide in 1890

Even towards the end of the 19th century, the largest Lager breweries were still quite modestly-sized compared to the big producers in the UK.

The biggest two producers, both in the USA, made only about three -quarters of a million hectolitres. Which was only around a third of what Guinness was churning out each year. And the largest on continental Europe, Spaten, wasn’t even making half a million hectolitres.

It’s a demonstration of how far industrialisation of brewing had gone in the UK compared to the rest of the world. The process had started way back in the middle of the 18th century with the big Porter brewers.

Note that two of the original London Porter brewers, Barclay Perkins and Truman, remained amongst the largest breweries in the world. With Barclays still double the size of Spaten.

Largest Lager breweries year ending April 30, 1890
brewery	location	hl
Anheuser-Busch	St. Louis	746,552
Pabst Brewing Company	Milwaukee	725,255
Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company	Milwaukee	499,418
George Ehret	New York	363,237
Spatenbrauerei	Munich	466,752
Lowen	Munich	430,288
Anton Dreher	Vienna	417,918
St. Marx Brauerei	Vienna	275,974
Source:
The Abbeville press and banner, (Abbeville, S.C.), 19 Nov. 1890.

Largest breweries in the UK in 1884
brewery	location	hl
Guinness	Dublin	2,127,570
Bass	Burton	1,636,592
Allsopp	Burton	1,391,104
Barclay	London	900,126
Watney	London	736,467
Truman	London	736,467
Source:
Document ACC/2305/8/246 part of the Courage archive held at the London Metropolitan Archive.

 

 

 

 

 

UK pseudo-Lager in 1978

To accompany my recent video on YouTube about pseudo-Lager, here are details of a few.

It's a bunch of Lagers from regional English brewers. Mostly from the North, with just a couple from the Southwest. The brewers vary in size quite a bit. Greenhall Whitley and Vaux being the largest, Palmer the smallest. 

Given the nature of these breweries, I doubt very much any of them had the plant required to brew a Lager properly. Perhaps a couple of largest. But there's no way brewers like Hydes or Palmer had the necessary equipment.

There's quite a variation in both the price and the strength. Federation, unsurprisingly, being by far the cheapest. I'm surprised how many top 4%. My impression of Lager at the time was that it was pretty watery stuff. Though those ABVs are the result of very high degrees of attenuation. Which would also explain my watery impression.

There's a real dichotomy in their names. Some go for Germanic or Nordic names, while the others are resolutely English. 

UK pseudo-Lager in 1978
Brewer	Beer	Price per pint (p)	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation
Cameron	Icegold	33	1038.4	1005	4.35	86.98%
Federation	Ace of Clubs	27	1034.9	1007.2	3.60	79.37%
Hull	Top Score	38	1037.9	1005	4.29	86.81%
Vaux	Norseman	34	1038.7	1005.9	4.27	84.75%
Greenall Whitley	Grunhalle	33	1036.7	1005.4	4.08	85.29%
Hydes	Amboss	35	1034.7	1008.55	3.39	75.36%
Lees	Gold Medal	36	1033.7	1002.7	4.04	91.99%
Matthew Brown	Slalom	30	1037.2	1004.75	4.23	87.23%
Oldham Brewery	Rheingold	30	1035	1007	3.64	80.00%
Robinson	Einhorn	34	1035.9	1004.1	4.14	88.58%
Thwaites	Stein	37	1034.6	1007.8	3.48	77.46%
Hall & Woodhouse	Brock	36	1032.4	1005.5	3.50	83.02%
Palmer	Shilthorn	40	1041.4	1004.7	4.79	88.65%
Average		34.1	1036.3	1005.7	3.98	84.27%
Source:
Sunday Mirror - Sunday 08 October 1978, page 4.

My video on pseudo-Lager: 

What is psuedo-Lager?

A short video looking at the fake Lagers brewed in the UK in the 1960s and 1970s.

 

Let's Brew Wednesday - 1897 Fremlin Pilsener

Now here’s a really unusual beer. A Pilsener brewed by a regional brewery that didn’t have a specialist Lager plant.

Rather oddly, they seem to have dropped Pilsener during WW I. A time when some other breweries started to experiment with Lager brewing when continental supplies were cut off.

It’s a pretty authentic stab at the style. OK, it uses pale malt rather than lager malt, but I’ll let them off that. Especially as they went to the trouble of a double decoction mash. Not totally sure how they achieved that in a standard UK brew house.

It looks like they had three rests, at 95º F, 135º F and 165º F. Achieving those temperatures through two boils of half the mash. Looks pretty authentic to me.

Unfortunately, I have no idea of the fermentation temperature. As Fremlin couldn’t be arsed to record that. Though, given that they used Carlsberg yeast, I’m guessing that it was pretty cool.

I’m pretty sure that the hops were Bohemian as the name of the grower was Veleke. That’s what I’ve guessed, anyway. They were pretty fresh, coming from the 1896 harvest. 

1897 Fremlin Pilsener
pale malt	8.75 lb	79.55%
flaked maize	2.25 lb	20.45%
Saaz 155 min	1.00 oz
Saaz 60 min	1.00 oz
Saaz 30 min	1.00 oz
OG	1047
FG	1010
ABV	4.89
Apparent attenuation	78.72%
IBU	30
SRM	4
Mash at	double decoction
Sparge at	170º F
Boil time	155 minutes
pitching temp	53º F
Yeast	Wyeast 2042 Danish lager

action	barrels	temp.	mash temp
dough in	9	cold
mash in	3.5	210º F	95º F
boil	6.25		135º F
boil	6.25		165º F
sparge	5	170º F
sparge	6	170º F
sparge	6	170º F

 

 

 

What was Britain's first Lager?

I'm back on the Lager again. With details of the first Lager ever brewed in the UK. Which was surprisingly early.

 

What is Kulmbacher?

I chat about Kulmbacher, one of my favourite extinct Lager styles. Strong and heavily hopped - why haven't modern brewers jumped all over this style?

 

Augustiner Edelstoff

Since the weather has turned warm, I've mostly been drinking Augustiner Edelstoff on my weekly visit to Butcher's Tears.

It's a lovely drinking beer. Light, but with enough flavour to jkeep you interested. Perfect for casual afternoon drinking. Nothing too distracting.

I do love Austiner's beers.It's hard to beat their Helles when it's served Bayerischer Anstich (straight from a wooden cask). But it's a very delicate beer that doesn't come over as well in the bottle. Edelstoff fares much better.

What style of beer is Edelstoff? I'd call it a Spexial. A pale Lager that's stronger than a Helles. Many Bavarian breweries make one. With a gravity of around 13º Plato and 5.6% ABV.

The classic way would be to call the weaker one a Helles Lagerbier and the stronger one a Helles Export. Though that system has largely broken down since WW II. Agustner do call their standard beer Helles Lagerbier. So ther eis still that.

I'm glad I can get hold of a decent Lager when I'm out. It's depressingly difficult in Amsterdam. Mostly, it's just Pils of varying degrees of awfulness. Edelstoff is a class better. And better class.

I thought you might want a change from Youngs. If only for a day. 

Let's Brew Wednesday - 1990 Youngs Premium Lager

Here’s a fun one. A parti-gyled Lager. As this was brewed together with the weaker London Lager above.

Obviously, it has the same simple recipe as London Lager. Just lager malt in the grist. Interestingly, it’s brewed at classic Pilsner strength: 1048º or 12º Plato. That’s definitely atypical for UK-brewed versions of the style.  Which were rarely above 1040º. And often quite a way lower. Like, closer to 1030º.

I’m not totally sure what the name of this beer was. It’s just “PL” in the brewing record. I’ve guessed “Pilsner Lager”. But it could also be “Premium Lager”. Or something else entirely.

I doubt this underwent any actual lagering. 

1990 Youngs Premium Lager
lager malt	10.50 lb	100.00%
Styrian Goldings 60 min	1.50 oz
Styrian Goldings 10 min	0.67 oz
OG	1048
FG	1011.5
ABV	4.83
Apparent attenuation	76.04%
IBU	25
SRM	3
Mash at	147º F
Sparge at	165º F
Boil time	60 minutes
pitching temp	52.5º F
Yeast	Wyeast 2042 Danish lager

Listen to brewer John Hatch explain how they brewed at Youngs in the 1990s.  

Let's Brew - 1990 Youngs John Young's London Lager

In the 1970s Youngs brewed a much-mocked Lager called Saxon. Eventually, taking the hint, they introduced a couple of more authentic Lagers. The weaker of which was this beer.

It’s a very simple beer. A SMASH beer in fact. Though there were two types of lager malt from different suppliers. Doesn’t leave me very much to discuss. Other than to remark that it’s interesting that no sugar was involved. And that this beer is Reinheitsgebot-compliant.

The fermentation was relatively cold, hitting a maximum of 55.5º F. The mashing scheme, however, is typically London. Where an initial infusion was followed after 30 minutes by an underlet to raise the temperature of the mash by a few degrees.

The hops were rather old, being from the 1986 season. All of just the one type. I’ve increased the quantities to achieve the bitterness level listed in the brewing record.

I don’t think this was lagered. 

1990 Youngs John Young's London Lager
lager malt	8.25 lb	100.00%
Styrian Goldings 60 min	1.375 oz
Styrian Goldings 10 min	0.50 oz
OG	1038
FG	1011
ABV	3.57
Apparent attenuation	71.05%
IBU	24.5
SRM	2.7
Mash at	147º F
Sparge at	165º F
Boil time	60 minutes
pitching temp	52.5º F
Yeast	Wyeast 2042 Danish lager

Listen to brewer John Hatch explain how they brewed at Youngs in the 1990s.  

Cask vs keg since 1980

More numbers. This time, including sales by method of dispense. Such as cask and keg.

They kick off in 1980. When "traditional" keg outsold Lager almost two to one. And cask by more than that.

Apologies for the incompleteness of the figures. The Statistical Handbook hasn't always broken sales into the same categories. Nor included the same things in their tables. Hence the big holes.

Cask held steady in the early 1980s, went into a slow decline, before recovering in the second half of the 1990s. And its been pretty much downhill all the way since then. The 2024 figure of marginally over 5% is pretty worrying.

Though, in comparison to the fortunes of keg and nitrokeg, cask has come off pretty well. "Traditional" keg dropping from 39% in 1980 to a dismal 1.6% in 2024. Cask outselling keg beer three to one would have sounded good in the 1990s. Now, it just means treble bugger all.

Nitrokeg has fared a little better, though it's still seen a 75% drop in sales since 2000.

Stout is the only type to see growth over the period 2000 to 2024. And only by a small amount. Even draught Lager couldn't dodge the downwards trend. Though its share of the draught market increased from 53% in 2000 to 64% in 2024.  

Cask defeated keg. A sort of Pyrrhic victory, really, given the current tiny sales of both. 

UK draught beer sales by type (%)
Year	Cask condi-tioned ale / stout	Nitro-keg ale	Tradit-ional keg ale	Stout	Lager	Total
1980	16.8		39.0		23.0	78.8
1981	17
1982	17
1983	17
1984	17
1985	17
1986	16
1987	15
1988	15
1989	15
1990	14.3		24.4		32.5	71.2
1991	15
1992	16
1993	17
1994	17
1995	16
1996	14
1997	12
1998	11
1999	11
2000	9.4	10.5	5.0	4.4	33.0	62.3
2001	8.8	10.0	4.4	4.3	33.1	60.6
2002	8.3	9.4	4.0	4.2	32.8	58.6
2003	7.8	8.9	3.5	3.9	33.2	57.1
2004	7.4	8.5	3.1	3.8	33.2	56.0
2005	7.2	8.2	2.7	3.8	33.4	55.2
2006	7.0	7.7	2.3	3.7	33.0	53.7
2007	7.1	7.5	2.0	3.7	32.1	52.4
2008	7.2	7.0	1.8	3.7	30.5	50.2
2009	7.5	6.9	1.6	3.6	30.3	49.9
2010	7.3	6.4	1.4	3.5	29.6	48.2
2011	8.0	5.7	1.5	3.3	29.3	47.8
2012	8.1	5.4	1.6	3.2	29.4	47.7
2013	8.2	5.0	1.5	3.1	28.7	46.4
2014	8.2	4.7	2.0	3.1	28.5	45.8
2015	8.3	4.7	1.8	3.0	27.8	45.1
2016	8.1	4.4	1.3	3.0	27.9	44.7
2017	7.6	4.1	1.4	3.0	27.2	43.4
2018	7.0	3.8	1.5	2.9	26.7	41.9
2019	6.6	3.4	1.6	3.0	26.4	41.1
2020	3.5	1.6	0.6	1.4	13.4	20.4
2021	4.3	2.0	1.0	2.0	18.4	27.7
2022	5.6	2.9	1.3	3.2	25.0	38.0
2023	5.5	2.7	1.4	3.8	25.0	38.5
2024	5.1	2.5	1.6	4.6	24.7	38.6
Source:
BBPA Statistical Handbook 2025, page 13.

 

UK draught beer by type and strength 1971 - 2024

A slightly different table today. Covering a longer period than the last period, but only for draught beer.

Between the mid-1970s and 2024, the proportion of draught beer fell by 50%. That's a pretty big change. And obviously bad news for cask beer, which is only available in draught form.

I quick word about the classes. These are:

Class I <= 1034º
Class II 1035º - 1039º
Class III >= 1040º

Ordinary Bitter - that under 1040º - saw the biggest drop. From 26% of beer sales in 1990 to just 5.5% in 2024. In contrast, Bitter of 1040º and above saw its share slightly increase between 2000 and 2024. Despite falling during the early 2000s. Indicating a clear move in Bitter drinkers from Ordinary to Best Bitter.

There was a similar upgrading in Lager, though it took place somewhat later, after 2012. And after the pandemic, the switch was even more dramatic, with stronger Lager outstripping Cooking Lager. Though, with the recent changes in the tax rate for weaker beers which has seen the strength of several big Lager brands reduced that may well have changed in 2025.

The second table just looks at percentages of draught sales. Which shows better how the different styles have been faring.

I was surprised to see that, in 2000, bottom-fermenting beer barely outsold top-fermenting: 53% to 47%. By 2024, that was 64% to 34%. But that's a fall since Lager's peak in 2021, when it was 66%. Interestingly, it wasn't a revival of Bitter that ate into Lager's slice, but Stout.

After 2000, Stout's share of the draught market was very stable at around 7%. Then rose sharply from 2022, hitting 12% in 2024. Which is a pretty dramatic change. With Bitter's share continuing to fall, Stout is starting to breathe down its neck. 

It will be very interesting to see what happens over the next few years. Especially if Stout will continue to chew away at both Bitter and Lager. If the trends of the last couple of years continue, Stout might outstrip Bitter by 2030. Wouldn't that be weird?

UK draught beer by type and strength 1971 - 2024
Year	Mild	Bitter standard	Bitter premium +stout		Lager standard	Lager premium	Bitter total	Lager total	Total draught
1971	17.7	31.3	17.4		7.1			7.1	73.5
1972	15.9	31.1	17.8		8.6			8.6	73.4
1973	14.2	30.6	17.0		11.3			11.3	73.1
1974	13.8	30.6	16.8		12.1	0.5		12.6	73.8
1975	13.3	31.0	15.9		14.9	0.7		15.6	75.8
1976	12.6	30.7	15.2		17.3	1.2		18.5	77.0
1977	12.7	32.0	14.8		17.4	1.6		19.0	78.5
1978	11.9	31.8	13.8		18.8	1.8		20.6	78.1
1979	11.4	31.5	13.2		20.2	1.9		22.1	78.2
1980	8.6	34.9	12.3		21.0	2.0		23.0	78.8
Year	Mild	Bitter I + II	Bitter premium +stout		Lager I + II	Lager III	Bitter total	Lager total	Total draught
1982	8.0	38.0	9.1		22.0	2.3		24.3	79.4
1983	7.3	36.5	8.7		23.5	2.5		26.0	78.5
1984	6.9	34.8	8.6		25.1	2.8		27.9	78.2
1985	6.4	33.2	8.6		25.7	3.3		29.0	77.2
1986	5.9	31.2	8.6		26.2	3.9		30.1	75.8
1987	5.3	29.0	8.7		26.7	4.6		31.3	74.3
1988	4.9	27.6	8.6		27.0	4.9		31.9	73.0
Year	Mild	Bitter I + II	Bitter III	Stout	Lager I + II	Lager III	Bitter total	Lager total	Total draught
1990	4.1	25.8	8.9		27.2	5.3		32.5	71.6
2000	1.7	19.6	3.6	4.4	24.9	8.2	23.2	33.1	62.3
2001	1.5	18.3	3.3	4.3	24.6	8.4	21.6	33.0	60.6
2002	1.4	17.1	3.2	4.2	24.4	8.3	20.3	32.7	58.6
2003	1.2	15.9	3.0	3.9	24.7	8.5	18.9	33.2	57.1
2004	1.1	15.0	2.9	3.8	24.9	8.3	17.9	33.2	56.0
2005	1.0	14.2	2.9	3.8	25.2	8.2	17.1	33.4	55.2
2006	0.9	13.3	2.8	3.7	25.3	7.8	16.1	33.1	53.7
2007	0.8	12.9	3.0	3.7	24.8	7.3	15.9	32.1	52.4
2008	0.7	12.3	3.0	3.7	23.7	6.8	15.3	30.5	50.2
2009	0.6	12.2	3.2	3.6	23.7	6.6	15.4	30.3	49.9
2010	0.5	11.4	3.2	3.5	23.1	6.5	14.6	29.6	48.2
2011	0.5	11.6	3.1	3.3	22.8	6.6	14.7	29.4	47.8
2012	0.3	11.6	3.2	3.2	22.5	6.9	14.8	29.4	47.7
2013	0.3	11.1	3.3	3.1	21.7	6.9	14.4	28.6	46.4
2014	0.3	10.6	3.4	3.1	20.8	7.7	14.0	28.5	45.8
2015	0.3	10.3	3.7	3.0	19.7	8.2	14.0	27.9	45.1
2016	0.3	9.8	3.7	3.0	19.0	8.9	13.5	27.9	44.7
2017	0.3	9.1	3.8	3.0	18.0	9.2	12.9	27.2	43.4
2018	0.3	8.4	3.7	2.9	17.4	9.3	12.1	26.7	41.9
2019	0.2	7.9	3.6	3.0	16.7	9.7	11.5	26.4	41.1
2020	0.1	3.8	1.8	1.4	8.0	5.4	5.6	13.4	20.4
2021	0.1	4.5	2.7	2.0	10.1	8.3	7.2	18.4	27.7
2022	0.04	5.8	3.9	3.2	13.0	12.0	9.7	25.0	38.0
2023	0.04	5.7	3.9	3.8	12.0	13.0	9.6	25.0	38.5
2024	0.05	5.5	3.7	4.6	11.1	13.6	9.2	24.7	38.6
Source:
BBPA Statistical Handbook 2025, page 15.
The Brewers' Society Statistical Handbook 1980, page 10.
The Brewers' Society Statistical Handbook 1988, page 16.

UK % of draught beer by style
Year	Mild	Stout	Bitter	Lager
2000	2.73%	7.06%	37.24%	53.13%
2001	2.48%	7.10%	35.64%	54.46%
2002	2.39%	7.17%	34.64%	55.80%
2003	2.10%	6.83%	33.10%	58.14%
2004	1.96%	6.79%	31.96%	59.29%
2005	1.81%	6.88%	30.98%	60.51%
2006	1.68%	6.89%	29.98%	61.64%
2007	1.53%	7.06%	30.34%	61.26%
2008	1.39%	7.37%	30.48%	60.76%
2009	1.20%	7.21%	30.86%	60.72%
2010	1.04%	7.26%	30.29%	61.41%
2011	1.05%	6.90%	30.75%	61.51%
2012	0.63%	6.71%	31.03%	61.64%
2013	0.65%	6.68%	31.03%	61.64%
2014	0.66%	6.77%	30.57%	62.23%
2015	0.67%	6.65%	31.04%	61.86%
2016	0.67%	6.71%	30.20%	62.42%
2017	0.69%	6.91%	29.72%	62.67%
2018	0.72%	6.92%	28.88%	63.72%
2019	0.49%	7.30%	27.98%	64.23%
2020	0.49%	6.86%	27.45%	65.69%
2021	0.36%	7.22%	25.99%	66.43%
2022	0.11%	8.42%	25.53%	65.79%
2023	0.10%	9.87%	24.94%	64.94%
2024	0.13%	11.92%	23.83%	63.99%
Source:
BBPA Statistical Handbook 2025, page 15.