Messrs. Joshua Tetley & Son

I lived in Leeds for seven years in the late 1970's and early 1980's. Tetley's, especially their Mild, will always have a very special place in my heart. This is my commemoration of the passing of their brewery.

The railway guides produced by  George Measom have proved an unexpected source of brewery descriptions from the middle of the 19th century. The same guide from which this text is taken contains a longer description of Allsopp's brewery in Burton. I'll be annoying you with that soon.

"In noticing the industrial aspect of Leeds, we must not omit mention of the celebrated Brewery Of Messrs. Joshua Tetley and Son, the largest premises in the North of England, and. one of the few places in the kingdom supplied with a water capable of producing a first-class Pale Ale.

The new premises were completed in 1855, from the designs of Mr. Borson. They are of great extent, covering several acres, and are admirably suited to the purposes for which they were erected. The large yard is filled with thousands of casks, which show how much the public appreciate the delicious beverage, which has such strengthening and healthful properties. The Malt House is very spacious, and will contain four thousand quarters. A steam-engine of forty-horse power facilitates the operations of the workmen. We observed during our visit, that " fermenting stones" were used, a great improvement upon the "wooden squares." The cellars are capable of containing 10,000 barrels of beer; and to show the magnitude of this business, even these are insufficient for the purpose, and other premises are rented.

As a proof of the excellence of the celebrated India Pale Ales, Bitter Beer, &c., of this firm, we give a copy of a report on the East India Pale Ales, Bitter Beer, etc., by Dr. Sheridan Muspratt, F.E.S.E., M.E.I.A., F.C.S., Membre de la Societe d'Encouragement et de l'Academie Nationale de France, etc.:—

"Messes. J. Tetley and Son. Gentlemen,—Having undertaken, at your request, an inquiry into the purity and excellence of your Ales, I beg to submit the results I have obtained.

"It is well known that good Ale cannot be brewed with water unadapted for the purpose. Analysis has before shown that the water of your Brewery contains a very large quantity of earthy carbonates; consequently non-professional and inexperienced men would at once consider it ill adapted for Brewers.

"This, however, is not the case; for in the course of boiling, the excess of carbonic acid in the water, by which the earthy carbonates are dissolved, is expelled, and these salts are precipitated: further, the phosphates of soda and potassa present in malt decompose the sulphate of lime, giving rise to soluble sulphates. By this means the hard water becomes soft, and is well suited for extracting in the manufacture of Bitter Ale. When the earthy carbonates are precipitated from the water used by you, it is much better suited for brewing than even the Burton water, which contains nearly twenty grains per gallon of sulphate of lime"

The following analysis will afford the reader the most convincing proofs of the excellence of Tetley's beer.


ANALYSIS OF THE WATER USED BY MESSRS. JOSHUA TETLEY AND SON, FOR BREWING.

	Amount of Ingredients in the Imperial Gallon, represented in Grains.
Carbonate of Lime	} 19.78
Carbonate of Magnesia	}
Carbonate of Protoxide of Iron	0.93
Sulphate of Lime	4.97
Sulphate of Soda	13.09
Sulphate of Magnesia	9.78
Chloride of Sodium	7.11
Chloride of Magnesium	4.74
Loss	1.72
Total amount of fixed Matter	62.07

Analysis Of The Ales Of Messes. Joshua Tetley and Son, Leeds.

"The qualities of your Ale depend principally upon the care exercised in the selection of the best kind of hops and malt, and upon the skill exhibited in conducting the processes of mashing and fermentation.

"From the qualitative experiments I have made upon your Ales, I am positive that they are manufactured under scientific surveillance, and I cannot discover in them any other ingredient but that procurable from malt, hops, and water—a great recommendation in this age of adulteration.

"I have used your Beers at my table, and consider them in every respect equal to any I have analysed.

"Your East India Pale Ale is an excellent tonic, and from the absence of all deleterious ingredients, its influence upon the system will prove beneficial. My opinion of the great value of your Ales, in a dietetic and remedial point of view, is entirely confirmed by my results. It is to be attributed to the pure extract of hops and malt which the beer contains.

"The Ale is very well fermented, and made from the best and most wholesome ingredients, and well adapted as a beverage to those in health, and calculated to strengthen and invigorate the system in hot climates.

"From my Report you will perceive that neither strychnine nor quassia are before alluded to. The first is never employed to impart bitterness to Ale, as it is a violent poison, and, to my mind, the bare mention of its being used is a sufficient refutation of the charge. "I am, Gentlemen, yours respectfully,

"Sheridan Muspratt, Professor of Chemistry.
"College of Chemistry, Liverpool. July 1st, 1852."

That the consumers of the mild Ales and Porters of Messrs. Tetley and Son might be confirmed in the favourable opinion they have formed, these Beers have also been submitted to analysis, and the following report has been received :—

"Liverpool, July 28th, 1852.

"Messrs. J. Tetley and Son. Gentlemen, — I herewith send you the results after a thorough analysis of each of the seven samples of Ale and Porter :—

"The mild Ales, No. 1 and No. 2, are particularly fine as to flavour, and the amount of carbonic acid they contain renders them extremely pleasant and grateful to the palate. Although this is a bad season of the year, on account of the excessive heat, to transmit the Ales to any distance, still they do not appear to have suffered, as I find them to be in excellent condition. Some of them are of course not equal to your finer Ales, but this is readily accounted for by the difference in price. The sample of Stout forwarded yields, on analysis, only extracts of malt and hops, and its moderately bitter taste and peculiar aromatic flavour, collaterally with its tonic properties, will make it keenly relished by those accustomed to its use.

"I opine that if all the Porter sold is equal to your sample, it is, when drunk in moderation, a most wholesome beverage, as it, like beer, combines in some measure the virtues of water, wine, and food; for it quenches thirst, stimulates, cheers, and invigorates.

"It is very satisfactory to me, who have had so much cause to complain of adulterated articles, to find that beverages of such general consumption as your Beer and Stout, are entirely free from every kind of impurity; and the quantity of aromatic anodyne bitter derived from hops contained in them, tends to save the tone and strength of the stomach, and contributes to the restoration of the health of that organ when in a prostrate state, either from weakness or debility.
Muspratt, Professor of Chemistry."

"The official illustrated guide to the North-western railway" by George Measom, 1849, pages 413 - 417.

Now there's something new. An analysis of Tetley's brewing water. Very handy. Especially as its said to be good for brewing Pale Ale. That's quite a claim of Professor Muspratt that it's better even than Burton water for brewing Bitter. In particular, he identifies the lower calcium sulphate content of Tetley's water as an advantage.  Let's see how Tetley's and Allsopp's water compare. (The Allsopp analysis is taken from the same book.)

	Amount of Ingredients in the Imperial Gallon, represented in Grains.
	Tetley	Allsopp
Carbonate of Lime	} 19.78	15.51
Carbonate of Magnesia	}	1.7
Carbonate of Protoxide of Iron 0.93
Sulphate of Lime	4.97	18.96
Sulphate of Soda	13.09
Sulphate of Magnesia	9.78	9.95
Chloride of Sodium	7.11	10.12
Chloride of Magnesium	4.74
Sulphate of potassa		7.65
Carbonate of iron		0.6
Silicic acid		0.79
Loss	1.72
Total amount of fixed Matter 62.07

The sulphate of lime content is indeed the big difference between the two.

Funny how Tetley's is singled out as a producer to India Pale Ale. I can remember locals telling me that Tetley had been famous for its Mild and that it was the other big Leeds brewery, Melbourne, that had been well known for their Bitter.

Numbered Mild Ales. That's unusual. Outside Burton, at least. And even there numbers 1 and 2 weren't Mild Ales, but Stock Ales. You know what would be great? Getting a look at Tetley's brewing records, if they still exist. I'd love to know what theses beers were really like.

Being the largest brewery in the North isn't quite as impressive as it may sound. Commercial breweries were relatively small in much of the North, including Leeds, due to the large number of publican brewers and extensive domestic brewing.

By "fermenting stones" I assume they mean Yorkshire stone squares. I wonder what "wooden squares" were? A wooden version of the same?


It's a sad day when any brewery closes. When it's one you love, the pain is hard to bear.

UK beer production 1850 - 1922 : in graphs

Mike made a very good point yesterday. That some of my numbers would work better in graphs.

He's right.

So here are some graphs.

This is the graph of beer production per head of population:




That's better. Much clearer.

The Progress of Brewing in Ireland (part two)

Back to brewing in 18th-century Ireland. I'm so glad I bought "Ireland Industrial and Agricultural". The section on brewing is rather good. Especially given the dearth of material on the topic. Though I have unearthed a couple more sources.

"In 1772 the Society entered into correspondence with Mr. Combrune of the city of London, as to the best method of brewing good beer. In a very interesting letter dated 9th July, 1772, Mr. Combrune pointed out that the different varieties of beer were due to different combinations; that there was no royal road to good brewing; that the only way to succeed was an observance of certain general principles, and that though bad beer might be brewed from good malt, the foundation of brewing good beer was good malt. He controverted the statement of Irish brewers that the defects in Irish porter were due to bad hops and bad barley, and attributed them rather to bad malting, and he pointed out that, with proper materials, suitable utensils, and a skilful "artist," there could be no doubt that it would be possible to brew in Dublin porter similar to that brewed in London.

During the early part of the eighteenth century brewing increased in Ireland, a number of breweries were started, and Dublin and Cork became great brewing centres, and in the middle of the century the annual amount of beer brewed in Ireland was about 600,000 barrels of strong beer. The excise tax in Ireland was considerably lower than in England, and as already mentioned, averaged during the eighteenth century, about 4s. per barrel on strong beer, and about 9d. on small beer, and no malt tax was levied in Ireland until 1786. Still, despite the comparatively low duty and the fostering care of the Royal Dublin Society, brewing began to fall off in Ireland, with the result that the amount imported from England increased from about 15,000 barrels in 1750 to about 65,000 in 1785, and to over 100,000 barrels in 1792. The imposition in 1786 of a tax of 7d. per bushel on malt accelerated the decline, as the tax on beer amounted to 4s., and hops were also taxed, and the licence duty was high.


The Irish Parliament and Brewing.

In 1791 the condition of the brewing industry attracted considerable attention in the Irish Parliament The decline in brewing had been accompanied by a great increase in the consumption of spirits. The amount of whiskey charged with duty for consumption in Ireland had risen from a little over 100,000 gallons at the beginning of the eighteenth century, when the duty was 4d, per gallon, to over 3,400,000 gallons in 1790, although the duly had increased to 1s. 1.25d., and it was universally admitted that an enormous quantity of spirits was illicitly distilled, whilst over 1,000,000 gallons of spirits were imported. A strong opinion was expressed throughout the country that the best way to discourage the excessive consumption of spirits was by encouraging brewing. The spirit duty at the time was 1s. 1.25d. per gallon, and the beer duty 4s. 6d. per barrel, and although all malt whether used for distilling or brewing was subject to the same malt tax (7d. per bushel in 1791), the distiller received a refund in the shape of a drawback. It was accordingly suggested that the beer duty should be abolished and that the tax on spirits should be increased. In February, 1791, the Speaker (Right Hon. John Foster, M.P. for Louth County) declared that the average number of barrels of beer annually brewed in Ireland in the past five years was only 400,000 as compared with an average of 600.000 for the period 1760-65, and that the decline was mainly due to excessive legislation and oppressive restrictions. Mr. Beresford urged in reply that the apparent decline in the amount of beer brewed was due to frauds on the revenue; he pointed out that of the eighteen hundred retailing brewers licensed in Ireland at the time, less than half paid duty on even one barrel in the year, and "there are besides these innumerable persons vulgarly called 'shebeeners.' who brew and sell without license or duty." Mr. Grattan declared that "whatever is adopted with regard to spirituous liquors would be imperfect, indeed, if nothing was done in advancement of the breweries. The state of your brewery on a comparative with its state thirty years ago, is that of a rapid decline, the decrease is about one-third ; increase of importation nearly two-thirds; whereas the increase of intoxication, that is the increase of the consumption of whiskey in the course of twenty years, has been enormous. Judge from this growth of poison and this decline of nutriment how necessary the interference of Parliament to sustain the latter (i.e., brewing) as well as to check the former (i.e., distilling)."

After a long discussion several resolutions were carried to the effect that it was desirable to curtail the present excessive use of low priced spirituous liquors ; and that decisive advantages should be given to the breweries over the distilleries by means of alterations in the duties, so as to secure a decided preference for the breweries. Effect was given to these resolutions three years later when the tax on beer was withdrawn. It may be noted here that in 1830 the beer tax was repealed in England also, and that until 1880 no tax was directly levied on beer in either country, though it was indirectly taxed by means of a duty on malt (which, during the greater part of the nineteenth century, stood as 2s. 8.5d. per bushel), and by taxes on hops and sugar used for brewing, and by the levying of licence duties."
"Ireland Industrial and Agricultural", 1902, pages 454 - 456.

It's telling that, despite the lower level of taxation on beer in Ireland, imports from England increased in the second half of the 18th century. Coincidence that this happened just as brewing in London industrialised and the quality of beer increased? I think not. There must have been a reason why drinkers were prepared to pay more for imported English beer. That it was better quality than locally-produced stuff seems the most obvious.

The correspondence with Combrune appears to confirm the view that Irish beer was inferior to English. Malting and it role in the development of beer is often overlooked. After all, it was improvements in malting techniques that madee Pilsner Urquell possible. Without good-quality, very pale malt, Groll couldn't have brewed a pale Lager. And from this comment it seems that poor malting may have been the reason for the low quality of Irish beer.


Here's some proof of those mid-18th century English beer imports:

"The London magazine, 1752" (published in Dublin), 1752, page 332.


I make that 1,430.75 barrels of Ale and 11,447 barrels of Beer. 12,877.75 barrels in total.  barrels. Not far off the 15,000 barrels given as the level of beer imports from England in 1750. I assume Dublin wasn't the only Irish port through which English beer came in.

In the first half of the 18th century 600,000 barrels of beer were being produced in Ireland. It was around that level in the 1820's. However by that time the population of Ireland had increased considerably. So in efffect, the brewing industry had declined.

All these figures must be viewed with some suspicion, given the amount of tax dodging allegedly going on. Given that fewer than half of the licensed brewers paid any duty, it seems pretty likely that there was widespread fraud.

Dickens and Porter

A couple of Dickens quotes referencing Porter. Thanks to Matt Thompson for bringing them to my attention.

“he opened the window and leaned negligently out of it until a beer-boy happened to pass, whom he commanded to set down his tray and to serve him with a pint of mild porter”
“The Old Curiosity Shop”, published in 1841, Chapter 34.

Good mild Porter reference there.

In this one, it's Barclay Perkins that gets a namecheck:

“As he was crossing the next yard with the basket in his hand, under the guidance of his former conductor, another officer called on them to stop, and came up with a pint-pot of porter in his hand.

‘I beg your pardon,’ said Kit. ‘Who sent it me?’

‘Why, your friend,’ replied the man. ‘You’re to have it every day’.

Kit took it, and when he was locked up again, read as follows.

‘Talk of the cordial that sparkled for Helen! Her cup was a fiction, this is reality (Barclay and Co.’s).”
“The Old Curiosity Shop”, published in 1841, Chapter 61.

I should read more Dickens sometime. If only for the beer.

Vault, Tap Room and Lounge

Think I'd forgotten about Bolton and its pubs? No way. Just got a little distracted by Irish Ale.
We're continuing with an entertainingly earnest description of the different rooms in a pub. Youngsters might find this as exotic as the researchers themselves. The biggest physical change in pubs since I've been drinking - and quite possibly the biggest in centuries - is knocking through all the rooms into one. I'm old enough to remember most pubs still being multi-room. Being a cheapskate, I almost always drank in the public bar. Why throw money away just to have a carpet on the floor? That was my thinking.

"Nomenclature of pub rooms varies. Colloquially the lounge or parlour is often spoken of as "the best room", and sometimes "the music room". A slang term for vault, occasionally used, is the "sawdust parlour", a reference that is more comprehensible when it is remembered that at one time the whole vault floor was strewn with sawdust or sand, a custom that no longer prevails here, but has been observed in some small country pubs in the south.

When we come to the "official" names written up on the doors of windows of the room we find the taproom sometimes called the News Room (cf. eighteenth century use of pubs for newspaper reading), and the best room called the commercial room. In other pubs it is named the Bar Parlour. A wide variation from normal nomenclature is shown in the following report:

. . . the landlord took me round to see the lounge proudly and said "This is what they call the Concert Room".
. . . The vault is labelled Saloon and another room Smoke Room. I ask if there is no vault here? The landlord, age 40, well built, pale but healthy looking, in a good suit and gold watch chain, says "This is a real new style pub. Well, this is the vault. It's called the Saloon. That's the thing in the newest. You don't properly have a vault in the town. Vault's outside the centre. That's the way things are, more highclass. He does not seem snobbish about this, in fact rather deprecating. He adds it is also a saloon because it has seats and tables
round it.

The class hierarchy of the various rooms—which we must now examine—is well illustrated by this, the landlord thinking that the name belonging to a higher class of room can make the vault "more highclass". Also the town centre pubs are more respectable. "You don't properly have a vault in the town" (this is in fact untrue).

In three or four of the big central pubs that have been rebuilt or redecorated the south of England nomenclature of Public and Saloon bars has been adopted. (In one of them castor oil plants are found in the saloon, as a distinct mark of "class"). Some other town centre vaults are called Saloon Bar. But normally, throughout all classes of pub the vault remains the vault. The use of the name Commercial and News Room is mostly confined to the middling-sized pubs, and in large ones the best rooms are invariably Lounges."
"The Pub and the People" by Mass Observation, 1943 (reprinted 1987), pages 90 - 91.

The use of Saloon Bar to descibe a public bar certainly is confusing. For me a Saloon Bar is the same as a lounge. Vaults I would recognice as a name for the public bar, though in the places I did most of my drinking - Nottinghamshire, Leeds and London - it wasn't used. Then again, Tap Room, for me, means public bar. That's how the phrase was used in Leeds. All very confusing, isn't it?

But let's continue.

"The following is a complete list of all the written usages for pub rooms that we have observed:

Vault — Vault, Public Bar, Saloon Bar.
Tap Room — News Room, Commercial Room.
Best Room — Music Room, Concert Room, Lounge, Parlour, Saloon, Commercial Room, Snug.

The original of the term "vault" is obscure. The New English Dictionary which gives considerable space to unusual and archaic usages of the word, such as an obscure seventeenth century writer who puts it in a context where it means an outside lavatory, simply fails to mention its current pub usage; considering it is a term in the daily vocabulary of millions in the North it is an indication of the ignorance of the pub in non-pub-going circles. Certainly the term must have originally been connected with its usage for the cellar. Wine bars in the south, where the term vault is not in use for the public bar, are often called wine vaults. But we have not been able to find any direct evidence of how its present pub usage came about. In this connection there is an interesting Worktown story that under the vault of the Man and Scythe, oldest pub, is a secret passage running to the Parish Church (200 yards). Now bricked up, it serves as a myth-umbilical between church and pub. That the church was once Publican Number One is beyond question. It is certain, therefore, that the pub has directly acquired religious associations. The whole set-up of the vault, the bar severing the landlord from the ordinary folk, the arrangements of bottles on the shelves, the often ornate windows, the beer-engine handles (generally three or four) sticking up like tapered candles, the shortly-to-be-described rituals of toasting, rounds, glass-swiggling—have much in common with forms of religious rite and invocation. The intricate build-up of pub rooms around the exclusive landlord sections is faintly reminiscent of the Catholic Church. And in each you come to the dividing-line between minister and ministered-to for alcoholic liquor.

The function of these different types of rooms cannot be understood until we have considered the types and habits of the drinkers that frequent them. Bearing this in mind we will make the following summing up:

VAULT and TAPROOM, tabu to women, patronized only by working class drinkers, form one group of rooms, in contradistinction to the

BEST ROOMS (lounge, parlour, etc.) where beer costs a penny a pint more, women are permitted.

THE VAULT is distinguished by the presence of THE BAR COUNTER.

THE TAPROOM, which has the same class of custom, is more of a club and games room.

Amongst best rooms the term LOUNGE is usually applied to the best rooms of the bigger pubs, PARLOUR to those of smaller ones. From now on, the former term will be used to cover all best rooms."
"The Pub and the People" by Mass Observation, 1943 (reprinted 1987), pages 92 - 94.

Now wasn't that fascinating? It comes as no surprise to me that the compilers of the New English Dictionary didn't bother to record northern working class vocabulary. They were probably oblivious to its existence and, even if they had noticed it, wouldn't have included it. I'd be interested in learning the etymology of the word. Thanks to class bias, it may prove difficult to uncover.

I'd never thought to draw parallels between the rituals of pubs and those of the catholic church. On reflection, it seems pretty obvious. But isn't everything once it's been explained? Handpumps like church candles. Love that image.

Once again, the book sheds its supposed cloak of anonymity by naming the oldest pub in town, the Man and Scythe. (Actually it's called Ye Olde Man and Scythe.) Which makes it a piece of piss to identify the town as Bolton. The pub still exists. I wonder when they last brewed their own beer? Probably quite a while ago. Halliwell's (whose name appears on the pub) were bought by Magee Marshall in 1910.

It's funny how you get odd combinations of events. The vault being men-only for example. I remember once seeing a "men only" sign on the door of a public bar. It was in Halifax in 1979. By then it was an anachronism, as equality legislation had made men-only rooms illegal several years before. Removing the possibility of keeping the public bar men only must have made knocking pubs through into a single room easier to implement. One less reason for keeping separate rooms.

Lots more to come from this particular pit of material. It won't be mined out for years yet.

UK beer production 1850 - 1922

Numbers and Ireland. A happy meeting of obsessions. Today it's time for a round-up.

I was shocked to find that I had lots of numbers missing from my giant production spreadsheet. I've spent the last week filling some of those holes. And have come up with a lovely new table. All fresh and shiny. here it is:

UK Beer production 1850 - 1922
	England and Wales		Scotland		Ireland		total UK
	barrels	%	barrels	%	barrels	%
1850	14,420,069	93.16%	476,000	3.08%	582,500	3.76%	15,478,569
1857	16,326,773	90.78%	616,000	3.43%	1,042,000	5.79%	17,984,773
1860	18,384,096	90.38%	816,000	4.01%	1,140,000	5.60%	20,340,096
1863	18,005,908	89.66%	893,000	4.45%	1,182,500	5.89%	20,081,408
1864	19,106,461	89.45%	986,000	4.62%	1,268,000	5.94%	21,360,461
1865	20,061,389	88.98%	1,111,000	4.93%	1,374,500	6.10%	22,546,889
1866	22,634,100	89.15%	1,254,000	4.94%	1,500,500	5.91%	25,388,600
1871	23,588,104	89.24%	1,227,000	4.64%	1,616,656	6.12%	26,431,760
1875	27,927,381	90.05%	1,179,000	3.80%	1,908,000	6.15%	31,014,381
1880	27,616,649	89.83%	1,143,000	3.72%	1,983,000	6.45%	30,742,649
1881	24,425,861	89.30%	1,037,000	3.79%	1,889,500	6.91%	27,352,361
1885	24,603,993	87.91%	1,237,000	4.42%	2,145,500	7.67%	27,986,493
1890	26,794,315	86.97%	1,666,000	5.41%	2,348,000	7.62%	30,808,315
1895	30,110,787	87.52%	1,758,000	5.11%	2,535,500	7.37%	34,404,287
1900	32,146,769	86.64%	2,289,048	6.17%	2,669,225	7.19%	37,105,042
1905	30,594,189	86.39%	2,021,374	5.71%	2,799,960	7.91%	35,415,523
1910	29,284,045	85.38%	1,956,659	5.70%	3,059,210	8.92%	34,299,914
1914	31,737,384	84.50%	2,288,981	6.09%	3,532,902	9.41%	37,558,767
1915	29,310,783	84.31%	2,042,477	5.87%	3,412,520	9.82%	34,765,780
1916	26,914,428	83.82%	1,917,148	5.97%	3,279,032	10.21%	32,110,608
1917	25,497,825	84.53%	1,816,003	6.02%	2,850,170	9.45%	30,163,988
1918	16,340,250	85.62%	1,141,114	5.98%	1,603,679	8.40%	19,085,043
1919	20,133,048	86.54%	1,325,439	5.70%	1,806,096	7.76%	23,264,533
1920	29,891,845	85.29%	2,186,604	6.24%	2,969,498	8.47%	35,047,947
1921	28,927,178	83.84%	2,096,080	6.07%	3,481,312	10.09%	34,504,570
1922	25,486,663	84.45%	1,770,175	5.87%	2,939,893	9.74%	30,178,731
Sources:
Brewers' Almanack 1928, p. 110
“A History of the Brewing Industry in Scotland”  by IanDonnachie, 1998, pages 147-148.
Statistics of British commerce by Braithwaite Poole, 1852, page 6.
“Bericht über der Welt_Ausstellung zu Paris im Jahre 1867, volume 7”, 1868, page 119.
Ireland Industrial and Agricultural, 1902, page 492
The Dynamics of the international brewing industry since 1800 by Richard George Wilson, Terence Richard Gourvish, 1998, pages 121 - 122, estimated from malt used

Before you say "But how does that compare to population, here's a table showing just that:

UK Population 1841 - 1911
	England and Wales		Scotland		Ireland		total
	population	% UK Pop	population	% UK Pop	population	% UK Pop
1841	17,435,700	61.76%	2,618,000	9.27%	8,177,700	28.97%	28,231,400
1851	17,932,400	65.51%	2,889,000	10.55%	6,554,000	23.94%	27,375,400
1861	20,063,000	69.44%	3,063,000	10.60%	5,768,300	19.96%	28,894,300
1871	22,715,000	72.15%	3,362,000	10.68%	5,405,600	17.17%	31,482,600
1881	25,974,300	74.46%	3,734,000	10.70%	5,174,900	14.83%	34,883,200
1891	29,001,400	76.82%	4,046,000	10.72%	4,704,800	12.46%	37,752,200
1901	32,527,800	78.46%	4,472,100	10.79%	4,458,700	10.75%	41,458,600
1911	36,072,500	79.76%	4,760,900	10.53%	4,390,200	9.71%	45,223,600
Source:
http://www.populstat.info/

Beer production increased in Ireland and Scotland in the second half of the 19th century. Both in absolute amount brewed and percentage of UK beer production.

Let's look at Scotland first. It had about 10% of the UK population throughout the period under analysis.But it's beer production was always well below 10% of the UK total. The best it could manage was 6.24%.

Ireland is more complicated. The percentage of the UK population living in Ireland dropped from almost 30% to around 10% between 1841 and 1911. Perversely, beer production increased, despite the falling population, more quickly than in Scotland. Eventually beer production reached about the same percentage as the population. Meaning that, per head, Ireland was producing as much beer as England and Wales.

here's another table, showing beer production per head of population:

Beer output per head of population 1850 - 1910
	England and Wales			Scotland			Ireland
	beer production	population	barrels per head	beer production	population	barrels per head	beer production	population	barrels per head
1850	14,420,069	17,932,400	0.80	476,000	2,889,000	0.16	582,500	6,554,000	0.09
1860	18,384,096	20,063,000	0.92	816,000	3,063,000	0.27	1,140,000	5,768,300	0.20
1871	23,588,104	22,715,000	1.04	1,227,000	3,362,000	0.36	1,616,656	5,405,600	0.30
1881	24,425,861	25,974,300	0.94	1,037,000	3,734,000	0.28	1,889,500	5,174,900	0.37
1890	26,794,315	29,001,400	0.92	1,666,000	4,046,000	0.41	2,348,000	4,704,800	0.50
1900	32,146,769	32,527,800	0.99	2,289,048	4,472,100	0.51	2,669,225	4,458,700	0.60
1910	29,284,045	36,072,500	0.81	1,956,659	4,760,900	0.41	3,059,210	4,390,200	0.70

I think that shows more clearly how Scotland still lagged behind England while Ireland was closing in fast.

Of course, Ireland's success in upping beer production was almost entirely due to the efforst of one firm: Guinness. By the end of the 19th century it wasn't only the largest brewery in the UK, but the largest in the whole world. Quite an achievement.