Consumption of wine, beer and spirits in 1899

Got a new cast on my arm this morning. And they told me that I've broken a small bone in my hand, too. No big deal, as the same cast will take care of both. My typing ability is still limited. And I'm feeling a bit of a lazy git. More random statistics, then.

This time it's the consumption of various alcoholic drinks. Looking at the same six countries again. The total consumption figure really doesn't tell us much, as the countries vary massively in population. It's the per head figures that tell a story.

For example, that the French really liked their wine. 112 litres each is a fuck of a lot. That's a third of a litre a day. Or getting on for a half bottle. Such a figure is only possible if most of the population drinks every day. Which is, indeed, what people did in France. Drinking wine with meals, every day.

The UK falls far short of that. For the simple reason that most people didn't drink wine at all. That being the preserve of the better off. I would have expected Germany to score higher, though. Given that parts of the South are wine country. You can see that in the wine production figures. Bavaria, Baden and Württemberg were big producers. But those did make much more combined than number one wine state. Alsace Lorraine, the bit they'd just nicked from France.*

Rather surprisingly, Australians drank more wine than Germans. Well short of French levels, mind. I suppose they did make a lot. And they were a bunch of pissheads. The big question is: why weren't the French-speakers in Canada drinking wine? Because it was all imported?

The UK proudly heads the beer consumption table. 22 litres ahead of the Germans. And way head of the USA in third place. Pretty disappointing showing from the Aussies in fourth place. You'd expect all that sun to give them a thirst.**

The French are out in front again when it comes to spirits. Closely followed by the Germans. Particularly those in the North. Production of spirits was even more skewed than for wine. 82% was distilled in Prussia.*** It was a big state, but that's still a huge percentage.

I wouldn't have bet on the UK out-drinking the USA in the case of spirits. And what was it with Canada? They're bottom in every single category.

All I can add is: well done France. Do try to drink a little more beer, though.

Consumption of wine, beer and spirits in 1899
	Wine		Beer		Spirits
	Consumption	Per head	Consumption	Per head	Consumption	Per head
Country	hl	litres	hl	litres	hl	litres
United Kingdom	752,045	1.86	58,301,086	145.02	1,870,634	4.68
France	42,750,129	112.01	9,607,153	25.00	3,598,432	9.41
Germany	1,887,226	3.50	66,313,957	123.20	4,590,551	8.41
United States	778,821	1.05	44,106,974	59.10	3,085,825	4.18
Australian Colonies	205,525	4.77	2,082,113	48.19	148,609	3.45
Canada	20,230	0.36	858,876	16.37	152,746	2.95
Source:
The Brewers' Journal vol. 36 1900, February 15th 1900, page 205.

The original figures were in gallons. I thought hectolitres and litres are a bit more useful for most people.



* The Brewers' Journal vol. 36 1900, February 15th 1900, page 206.
** It rained every one of the twenty days I was in Australia this summer.
*** The Brewers' Journal vol. 36 1900, February 15th 1900, page 206. 

Home production vs imports of wine, beer and spirits in 1899

My arm is still broken and in plaster. Hence some more random statistics. Still have to post every day, no matter what the state of my limbs.

Let's start with wine. Two countries in the table imported all of their wine: the UK and Canada. A situation that I know is no longer true. Especially in the case of Canada. Honestly, I'm shocked that it produced no wine in the 19th century. Especially with all the French speakers.

Canada's lack of wine production is particularly surprising given how high domestic production was in the USA. Higher even than in France. Not such a shock is how few imports there were in Australia. Which has a good climate for viticulture. And is a fuck of a long way from most other wine-producing regions.

Moving on to beer, where imports were fairly insignificant in every one of the countries listed. Just 0.1% in the case of the UK. Only Canada and Australia imported significant quantities. Beer being a pretty bulky commodity, it does make sense that it wouldn't be moved around that much. Though those imports into Australia had come quite a distance. As the vast majority came from the UK.

Finally, spirits. Where Germany, France and the USA imported bugger all. I'm slightly surprised at the low level of imports in the last of those. I thought the USA imported quite a lot of Irish whiskey and Scotch.

Spirit imports were highest in Australia. I'm guessing that most were coming from the UK. What was made in Australia? Rum? Canada, number 2 importer, I assume was bringing in whisky from the UK and whiskey from Ireland and the USA. 

Home production vs imports of wine, beer and spirits in 1899
	Percentage of Wine		Percentage of Beer		Percentage of Spirits
Country	Imported	Home-Made	Imported	Home-Made	Imported	Home-Made
United Kingdom	100	-	0.1	99.9	20	80
France	20	80	1.2	98.8	7.5	92.5
Germany	37.8	62.2	0.8	99.2	2.1	97.9
United States	15	85	0.2	99.8	1.2	98.8
Australian Colonies	6	94	8	92	79	21
Canada	100	-	8	92	38.6	61.4
Source:
The Brewers' Journal vol. 36 1900, February 15th 1900, page 205.

 

 

Beer or wine

Remember the table in my last post? Obviously not. No-one remembers anything nowadays. Especially me.

I wouldn't be able to remember what I had for breakfast. If I didn't have the same thing every day. Cheese toastie. Today with Emmenthaler. Usually old Gouda. I'm rambling. On with business.

Here's the table I'm going to refer back to. It'll make things easier for us all.

UK Excise and customs revenue from alcoholic drink (£ millions)
	Beer			Wine			Spirits
Year	UK	Imports	total	UK	Imports	total	UK	Imports	total	Duty Receipts in Total
1937	57.3	5.4	62.7	0.5	5.1	5.6	31.4	4.8	36.2	104.5
1938	61.2	4.5	65.7	0.5	5.0	5.5	31.1	4.8	35.9	107.1
1939	62.4	3.2	65.6	0.5	4.8	5.3	30.9	4.7	35.6	106.5
1940	75.2	3.6	78.8	0.9	5.7	6.6	34.5	6.2	40.7	126.1
1941	133.5	5.6	139.1	1.6	7.8	9.4	33.9	11.6	45.5	194.0
1942	157.3	7.3	164.6	1.1	3.8	4.9	31.0	15.7	46.7	216.2
1943	209.6	8.0	217.6	1.7	2.4	4.1	49.4	18.2	67.6	289.3
1944	263.2	6.4	269.6	2.1	2.3	4.4	59.6	17.2	76.8	350.8
1945	278.9	8.9	287.8	2.0	2.5	4.5	50.1	13.5	63.6	355.9
1946	295.3	10.8	306.1	2.2	5.0	7.2	51.2	16.9	68.1	381.4
1947	250.4	9.4	259.8	2.2	10.8	13.0	51.6	24.9	76.5	349.3
1948	264.1	9.9	274.0	3.4	15.6	19.0	40.7	42.7	83.4	376.4
1949	294.7	12.6	307.3	3.8	15.7	19.5	46.7	44.1	90.8	417.6
1950	263.1	13.7	276.8	2.8	16.1	18.9	58.7	39.6	98.3	394.0
1951	249.1	13.0	262.1	3.2	18.1	21.3	75.8	38.7	114.5	397.9
1952	248.2	12.7	260.9	3.3	17.5	20.8	67.1	29.9	97.0	378.7
Source:
"Drink in Great Britain 1900-1979" by GP Williams and GT Brake, 1980, Edsdall London, page 380.

Though, if you look at the next table, you’ll see that, while the tax revenue on wine trebled between 1939 and 1948, the quantity consumed had fallen considerably, by more than a third. Beer consumption over the same period was up by a quarter. It must be borne in mind that that beer in 1948 was on average about 10 degrees in gravity weaker than in 1939.

UK Consumption of beer and wine 1937-52 (1,000 gallons)
		Imported Wines
Year	Beer	Heavy	Light	Sparkling	British Wines	Total Wines	% wine
1937	864,000	11,709	3,950	679	5,690	22,028	2.49%
1938	900,000	31,516	3,623	628	6,144	21,910	2.33%
1939	900,000	11,602	3,062	561	6,418	21,645	2.35%
1940	936,000	11,353	2,572	388	6,916	21,228	2.22%
1941	972,000	10,392	1,730	232	6,408	18,763	1.89%
1942	1,080,000	4,623	752	75	3,957	9,407	0.86%
1943	1,080,000	1,705	264	29	3,100	5,098	0.47%
1944	1,116,000	1,166	508	13	2,898	4,585	0.41%
1945	1,152,000	1,400	227	11	2,735	4,373	0.38%
1946	1,224,000	2,723	464	92	2,921	6,200	0.50%
1947	1,080,000	5,282	1,837	329	2,998	10,445	0.96%
1948	1,116,000	7,098	2,145	383	3,899	13,525	1.20%
1949	1,008,000	5,718	1,282	497	2,961	10,458	1.03%
1950	972,000	5,939	1,667	476	3,662	11,754	1.19%
1951	936,000	6,439	2,684	560	4,450	14,133	1.49%
1952	936,000	6,078	3,234	519	4,672	14,503	1.53%
Source:
"Drink in Great Britain 1900-1979" by GP Williams and GT Brake, 1980, Edsdall London, page 381.

Strange how the imports of sparkling wine collapse between 1942 and 1947. It’s almost as if there was a reason why they couldn’t get hold of champagne.

Hitler's Taste For Wines

 No, I haven't switched my theme to wine. I've just copied the title of the original newspaper article, which is about Hitler's drinking habits.

I always thought Hitler was a teetotaller. And a vegetarian. I'd always trot that one out when a vegetarian tried to tell me how much nicer they were than meat eaters. "What about Hitler, then?" was my snappy riposte.

Having read up a bit more on Hitler's dietary habits it wasn't that clear cut. He was certainly fanatically anti-smoking, that's for sure. But while apparently not having any great enthusiasm for it, he did occasionally imbibe. And his vegetarianism seems to have been a response to his bad guts rather than having an ideological basis.

"Hitler's Taste For Wines
The Japs have presented Hitler with a rare porcelain teapot, expressing the solicitous hope that " he will become addicted to the gentle habit of tea drinking in order to soothe his nerves."

As a matter of fact, Hitler always preferred Indian tea, and British brands at that, to China or anything grown in Japan. Nor is he a complete teetotaller. At the old comrade beer-cellar jamborees he used to drink one stein of lager for appearance's sake.

Now he has developed quite taste for the fine French wines, which for four years he has been able to get without paying for. Before that the only "produce of France" he favoured was, appropriately, Vichy water. "
Evening Telegraph - Wednesday 26 July 1944, page 5.

Did Hitler really drink English tea? I'm now imagining the Führerbunker stocked up with boxes of PG Tips or Twinings.

A bit of a slap in the face for Germans, Hitler preferring fancy French wine over good, honest German beer.

14th November 2010 - 3

13:19 A small beer this time. Pinotage, it's called. I think it's a cross between a Red Ale and a Robust Porter.

I'm watching Match of the Day while the Yorkshire puddings rise. Then go nice and black and crispy. Burnt. That's my favourite texture. After crispy and scorched.

"They're doing very well, the Yorkshire puddings. They're mega." Andrew says.


13:30 Time for dinner.

Consuption (3)

Life's full of coincidences. The latest edition of Brauwelt arrived today and guess what it contained? Details of the consumption of alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks in Germany. As I doubt many of you subscribe to Brauwelt, I thought I would share the information with you.



You should bear in mind that the spirits figure are bulk and not converted to the equivalent amount of 100% alcohol like the UK figures. To compare like with like the German figures need to be divided by 3.

Let's make a comparison with the UK (for the year 2002).

Beer: UK 100.6 litres; Germany 121.9
Wine: UK 19.6 litres, Germany 24.2
Spirits: UK 1.7 litres, Germany 1.9 (adjusted as mentioned above)

See, the British aren't quite as big a bunch of drunks as everyone assumes. I am surprised how close the figures for wine consumption are. I would have guessed a much bigger lead for Germany, a major wine producer.

Thoughts on consumption

No, this post isn't going to be about TB. I think I owe you some comment on the table of consumption of alcoholic beverages in the UK I posted yesterday. I spent the whole day assembling it and had no time left over for analysis.

Beer
I'm not going to get into the Standard and Bulk barrel thing too much. Suffice it to say that average gravity before 1914 was around 1053, so there is little difference between Standard and Bulk barrel figures. (The Standard barrel was based on an OG of 1055). For the period where I don't have the Bulk barrel numbers, we can assume they are not significantly different from the Bulk barrel numbers.

Now I've got that dull introduction out of the way we can progress further.

Over the 150 year period covered, beer consumption varies between a low of 75 litres per capita in 1959 and a high of 146 in 1900. Mostly it's hovered between 90 and 120 litres. That's remarkably stable, considering the social and political upheavals that occurred. What does this tell us? The British have always rather liked beer. Now isn't that a surprise?

When it comes to other drinks, they've been far more fickle.

Spirits
Let's first take a look at spirits. High 3.06 litres in 1900, low 0.44 litres in 1949. The high is 7 times greater than the low, whereas for beer it was less than double. Consumption of spirits has gone up, it's gone down, but it's pretty much back to the level of 1914.

Wine
Wine has taken a simpler course: high 19.6 litres in 2002, low 0.41 litres in 1945. The high is a massive 48 times greater than the low. And except for a small blip during WW II (I guess not much French or Italian wine was imported in the 1940s) has risen almost continually in the 20th century.

Cider
For me, the biggest surprise is cider. Sadly I have no figures for before 1962. Like wine, the only way has been up: high 10.3 in 1999, low 1.6 in 1962. The high is 6.5 times greater than the low, but the period covered is only 40 years. I would never have guessed that. I can't say that I had noticed a huge jump in cider sales. I must have been asleep, or, more likely, just not paying attention.

Consumption (2)

On second thoughts, I'll just link to an html page rather than struggle with a large table:

Consumption of alcoholic drinks in the UK 1852 - 2002.

There are details of the consumption per head of beer, wine, spirits and for some years cider, too.

I haven't got time to explain more now. The kids have started fighting again and tea is almost ready. Have a look through yourselves and see if you can spot anything interesting.