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30-05-2014, 10:02
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There are still many documents I've photographed but never processed. Like a certain handy Truman document about costs.

Why so handy? Because it covers the 1920's and 1930's operations at Brick Lane. I've none of the Truman London brewing records for this period and it provides a glimpse of their beers, ingredients and brewing practices. It's indirect evidence, but better than nothing.

But that's not what I'm serving you up today. It's one of the other statistics the book contains: output of Brick Lane broken down by Ale and Stout. It's a poignant demonstration of the decline in the importance of Porter and Stout after WW I. Remember that this is a brewery that up until the 1830's only brewed Porter and Stout.

The percentage of output that was Porter or Stout, a tiny increase in 1928 excepted, fell every year between 1924 and 1940. It dropped from 30% to less than 10% between 1924 and 1940. In volume terms, Stout output more than halved. By 1940, it was a marginal product.

If you factor in Truman's other brewery in Burton, where no Stout was brewed, it would look even more marginal. There are some figures about that in the document, but I can't be arse to transcribe those just now. It's Sunday afternoon, I've just had my dinner and the dishwasher needs unloading

Here's the table.




Truman Brick Lane brewery output 1924 - 1940



Ale
Stout
Total



barrels
%
barrels
%
barrels


1924
188,026
70.91%
77,134.5
29.09%
265,160.5


1925
217,775
71.56%
86,531
28.44%
304,306


1926
224,057
72.39%
85,475
27.61%
309,532


1927
231,040
73.91%
81,574
26.09%
312,613.5


1928
232,685
73.26%
84,910
26.74%
317,595


1929
227,432
74.45%
78,060.5
25.55%
305,492


1930
258,659
77.14%
76,666
22.86%
335,325


1931
256,063.5
79.43%
66,306
20.57%
322,369


1932
274,183
83.11%
55,732.5
16.89%
329,915.5


1933
240,208
84.58%
43,804
15.42%
284,011.5


1934
280,984
85.87%
46,241
14.13%
327,225


1935
300,169
86.77%
45,775
13.23%
345,943.5


1936
319,721.5
88.05%
43,383.5
11.95%
363,105


1937
324,352
88.69%
41,358
11.31%
365,710


1938
342,062
89.80%
38,868
10.20%
380,930


1939
344,291
90.69%
35,342
9.31%
379,633


1940
344,475.5
91.17%
33,373.5
8.83%
377,849


Source:


Document B/THB/C/256c held at the London Metropolitan Archives



More to come from this neglected document.

More... (http://barclayperkins.blogspot.com/2014/05/the-decline-in-stout-brewing-at-truman.html)