Shut up about Barclay Perkins - Irish beer exports 1937 - 1949

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A very high percentage of Irish beer was exported. Before the war over half of Irish beer was exported, the majority of it going to the UK. After falling in the early years of the war from around 1 million standard barrels to around 750,000 barrels in the early war years, exports almost reached their 1938 level in 1942. After that, they fell off again, dropping to below half a million barrels in 1944.

Irish beer statistics 1937 - 1949
Year	Production std. barrels	Production bulk barrels	Imports std. barrels	Exports std. barrels	Imports bulk barrels	Exports bulk barrels	average OG
1937	1,800,322	1,908,761	61,344	1,219,923	65,033	1,293,288	1051.9
1938	1,652,844	1,755,761	32,669	1,066,094	34,701	1,132,390	1051.8
1939	1,368,661	1,472,678	42,756	770,562	46,001	829,048	1051.1
1940	1,401,188	1,494,036	42,459	789,864	45,274	842,236	1051.6
1941	1,335,171	1,465,569	38,616	767,209	42,384	842,077	1050.1
1942	1,451,782	1,750,140	19,926	905,165	24,023	1,091,277	1045.6
1943	1,293,862	1,631,009	15,282	691,275	19,264	871,422	1043.6
1944	1,242,754	1,534,040	11,777	483,031	14,404	590,765	1045
1945	1,458,419	1,798,450	2,405	661,674	2,966	815,966	1044.6
1946	1,665,815	2,063,093	250	802,122	310	993,396	1044.4
1947	1,480,769	1,952,583	734	676,485	968	892,032	1041.7
1948	1,490,218	1,988,580	3,427	700,291	4,541	927,873	1041.5
1949	1,608,606	2,119,583	11,847	759,846	15,603	1,000,755	1041.8
Source:
Brewers' Almanack 1955, p.107-110.
Note:
Import and Export bulk barrels calculated from standard barrels and average OG.

This fall meant that in 1944 and 1945 more than 50% of Irish beer was consumed domestically. The figures for Irish domestic beer consumption got me thinking. Especially after reading recently about the inner Irish border. These figures are derived from the ones in the other table.

Irish domestic beer consumption 1937 - 1949
Year	std. barrels	bulk barrels
1937	641,743	680,506
1938	619,419	658,071
1939	640,855	689,632
1940	653,783	697,074
1941	606,578	665,876
1942	566,543	682,886
1943	617,869	778,852
1944	771,500	957,679
1945	799,150	985,450
1946	863,943	1,070,007
1947	805,018	1,061,518
1948	793,354	1,065,248
1949	860,607	1,134,431

I’m concentrating on the bulk barrels figure, because that’s how much people were actually drinking. After pootling along a little under 700,000 barrels a year, it suddenly jumps up to almost 1 million barrels in 1945. That’s an increase of almost 50% on the pre-war level. Did the Irish really suddenly start drinking that much more in the middle of the war?

The border between the two parts of Ireland is notoriously difficult to control. It’s fairly random, never having been intended to be an international border and has dozens of tiny roads that cross it. Was that beer really being drunk in the South, or was some being smuggled into Northern Ireland?

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