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26-05-2014, 08:26
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It's funny the places you find evidence. Like this about what type of beer was being exported.

What kicked everything off was finding figures for British beer exports in the Brewers' Guardian. I collect all sorts of statitics, but especially stuff like this that show how much British beer was being exported to various parts of the globe.

They tell me a few things directly. Like that British exports to the USA were rising sharply, those to Australia in decline, those to the West Indies and India fairly stable. Except for a blip in 1870 when considerably more beer was shipped to India.

But because the figures include value as well as volume, there's other information than can be indirectly gleaned. Why not see how much the beer exported to various locations cost per barrel. It's easy enough to work out.

I know from other sources that the majority of beer shipped to the West Indies was either Stout or Strong Ale. Which means that the average price per barrel should be relatively high. The same should also be true for Australia, where a lot of stronger beers were shipped. I'd expect a list in terms of the average price to look like this, in descending order:

West Indies
Australia
USA
India




British beer exports 1862 - 1872



1862
1863

1864



barrels
declared value
barrels
declared value
barrels
declared value


India
159,140
£445,801
152,588
£429,564
165,037
£498,449


Australia
153,145
£563,907
166,418
£645,716
124,556
£506,691


British West Indies
21,014
£75,220
22,100
£79,393
26,887
£104,037


United States of America
7,780
£31,446
7,644
£33,053
9,830
£43,681


Other countries
123,748
£479,280
142,881
£558,512
164,176
£670,304


Total
464,827
£1,595,654
491,631
£1,746,238
490,486
£1,823,162



1870
1871
1872



barrels
declared value
barrels
declared value
barrels
declared value


India
216,663
£576,960
161,859
£492,885
167,597
£522,593


Australia
89,808
£369,741
80,511
£324,061
88,184
£359,701


British West Indies
23,402
£89,007
28,013
£106,243
27,199
£102,491


United States of America
29,512
£148,409
36,402
£181,195
44,360
£223,579


Other countries
161,814
£697,556
176,335
£749,389
194,616
£876,219


Total
521,199
£1,881,673
483,120
£1,853,773
521,956
£2,084,583


Sources:


"Sessional Papers, House of Lords, Vol. VII, Accounts and Papers", 1864, pages 20-21


Brewers' Guardian, Volume 3, 1873, page 13


Brewers' Guardian, Volume 3, 1873, page 14



Why India last? Because I know much of the beer sent there was Porter, which was relatively cheap. The figures bear this out. The average price of the beer sent to India was between 53 and 62 shillings per barrel. No way most of that could be IPA. Because even in Britain, a barrel of IPA cost 60 shillings a barrel:



http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mKDGr3Ec5pI/U1ezzp1fHSI/AAAAAAAATdY/qEtJhV2uVPM/s1600/Allsopp_1871.jpg (http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mKDGr3Ec5pI/U1ezzp1fHSI/AAAAAAAATdY/qEtJhV2uVPM/s1600/Allsopp_1871.jpg)


Allsopp price list from 1871



You can see my other predictions were a bit out. The most expensive beer was sent to the USA, followed by Australia with the West Indies only in third place:




British beer exports price per barrel 1862 - 1872



1862
1863
1864
1870
1871
1872


India
56.03
56.30
60.40
53.26
60.90
62.36


Australia
73.64
77.60
81.36
82.34
80.50
81.58


British West Indies
71.59
71.85
77.39
76.07
75.85
75.36


United States of America
80.84
86.48
88.87
100.58
99.55
100.80


Other countries
77.46
78.18
81.66
86.22
85.00
90.05


Average
68.66
71.04
74.34
72.21
76.74
79.88


Sources:


"Sessional Papers, House of Lords, Vol. VII, Accounts and Papers", 1864, pages 20-21


Brewers' Guardian, Volume 3, 1873, page 13


Brewers' Guardian, Volume 3, 1873, page 14



What was being sent to the USA that was so expensive?

Not sure why the average price per barrel generally increased between 1862 and 1872. Any suggestions?

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