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26-12-2018, 10:56
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The small number of UK breweries producing Lager carried on pretty much where they had left off before the war. As a mostly bottled product, Lager would have suffered during the war when shortages of bottles and crates limited production.

When restrictions such as these were removed, the sales of Lager although still very small, continued to increase. It seems to have reached a tipping point at the end of the 1950s when many regional breweries jumped in with Lagers of their own.

There was steady growth in Lager sales throughout the 1960s, but they really took off in the 1970s. As Lager sales increased, the number of Lagers available tended to decline, as national brands pushed aside the versions from regional breweries.



UK Lager sales 1960 - 1989


Year
%
Year
%
Year
%


1960
1.0
1970
7.0
1980
30.7


1961
1.0
1971
9.9
1981
32.0


1962
2.0
1972
11.7
1982
33.0


1963
2.0
1973
14.9
1983
35.9


1964
2.0
1974
16.4
1984
38.9


1965
2.0
1975
19.7
1985
40.9


1966
2.0
1976
23.5
1986
43.4


1967
3.0
1977
24.5
1987
46.6


1968
4.0
1978
26.9
1988
48.8


1969
6.0
1979
29.1
1989
50.3


Source:


“The Brewers' Society Statistical Handbook 1990” page 17



The type of Lagers being brewed immediately after war’s end hadn’t all quite become the style that marched to domination. There were still some examples with above-average gravities, such as Graham’s Golden Lager (rebranded as Skol later in the 1950s) and Black Label. By the 1960s, few UK-brewed Lagers would have an OG much over 1030º.

The beers in the table below, with the exception of Black Label and the Steel Coulson beer, were ones which had been around before WW II. Though beers like Red Tower and Barclay Perkins, which had been big brands before the war, weren’t to last very long. The Barclay Perkins Lager brewery finished its days brewing Harp for Courage, Barclay’s London Lager having been dropped.




UK-brewed Lager after WW II


Year
Brewer
Beer
Price per pint
OG
FG
ABV
App. Atten-uation
colour


1947
Barclay Perkins
Draught Lager
26
1033
1006.4
3.46
80.61%
8


1950
Barclay Perkins
Lager
30
1036.1
1008
3.65
77.84%
11


1950
Barclay Perkins
Lager
31
1036.1
1008
3.65
77.84%
11


1950
Red Tower
Lager
30
1035.8
1008.2
3.58
77.09%
13


1947
Unknown
Pilsner

1035
1010
3.24
71.43%



1950
Alloa Brewery
Light Lager

1043.4
1009.1
4.46
79.03%
7


1950
Alloa Brewery
Graham's Golden Lager
30
1040.6
1010.6
3.89
73.89%
9


1952
Carlings (Brewed in Sheffield)
Black Label
32
1042.3
1009.9
4.21
76.60%
10


1954
Steel Coulson
Lager Beer
30
1032
1004.3
3.60
86.56%
11


1955
Tennent
Lager
30
1036.1
1007.7
3.69
78.67%
9


Sources:


Thomas Usher Gravity Book document TU/6/11 held at the Scottish Brewing Archive.


Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/002.




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