Visit the Shut up about Barclay Perkins site

They didn't realise it at the name, but everything would be going downhill for British brewing after 1913.

Take a look at these numbers first. They're for the year ending September 1913. The last full year before the outbreak of war. None of the figures would ever be as large again until after WW II. Except for the amount of beer duty. That kept going up, but only because the rate per barrel kept increasing. It would be 1974 before beer production exceeded the 1913 figure.

"THE YEAR'S OUTPUT OF BEER.
A White Paper published yesterday states that the number barrels of beer produced the United Kingdom by brewers licensed for sale during the year ended September last was 37,078,760, and the amount beer duty charged was £13,771,802. The firms persons licensed numbered 3,846, the licence duty paid being £400,034, and the quantities of materials used were: Malt, 52,287,637 bushels ; unmalted corn, 91,068 bushels; rice, maize, etc., 1,611,366 cwt.; sugar, etc., 3,279,314 cwt. hops, 62,911,376 lbs.; hop substitutes. 18,885 lbs.

In addition there were 4,829 persons licensed as brewers, not for sale, 821 of these private brewers being liable to beer duty. There were 85,936 victuallers licensed, 26,939 persons licensed to sell beer on the premises and 22,217 off licenses. During the year 651,768 barrels of declared value of £2,118.379 were exported, our principal customers being the British East Indies, £453,968; Australia, £310,492; Belgium £289,691; and the United States, £269,986. Germany took £46,927 worth of beer, and France £31,659. Gibraltar accounted for £53,730, and Malta for £38,402, while British beer found its way also to Arabia, Siam, Papua, and Paraguay.
Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser - Friday 17 April 1914, page 12.
Here's a table to show what happened after WW I (I've converted the figures from the newspaper report into hundredweights so all the figures match):


Brewing materials (cwt) 1914 - 1939
year malt unmalted corn rice, maize, etc sugar total malt & adjuncts hops preparations of hops hop substitutes bulk barrels
1913 19,607,864 34,151 1,611,366 3,279,314 24,532,694 561,709 169 37,078,760
1914 19,697,112 34,644 1,566,506 3,279,710 24,577,972 559,423 174 36,162,273
1920 15,759,389 36,129 1,022,748 2,135,591 18,953,857 503,140 132 116 34,776,258
1922 12,420,502 24,180 810,213 1,622,068 14,876,963 398,506 160 34 27,815,249
1924 11,274,964 23,223 846,210 1,699,769 13,844,166 350,428 54 44 25,927,783
1926 10,948,168 23,113 827,393 1,832,914 13,631,588 355,375 79 28 25,987,830
1928 10,525,902 21,794 824,783 1,838,269 13,210,748 330,662 119 38 24,981,731
1930 10,080,120 25,765 762,633 1,835,238 12,703,756 307,289 101 91 24,488,629
1931 9,119,236 22,725 688,850 1,698,163 11,528,974 277,406 91 59 22,561,497
1932 7,115,230 12,586 533,405 1,377,126 9,038,347 219,587 72 38 18,864,711
1933 7,239,776 12,294 521,151 1,379,965 9,153,186 222,868 70 40 18,931,185
1934 7,995,574 11,816 547,865 1,543,228 10,098,483 233,419 107 91 20,378,879
1935 8,444,452 10,956 587,841 1,631,926 10,675,175 248,744 144 170 21,598,179
1936 8,646,322 10,734 592,734 1,705,418 10,955,208 258,300 108 203 22,207,859
1937 9,066,875 10,701 648,679 1,835,886 11,562,141 270,592 146 228 23,608,658
1938 9,378,888 14,194 688,086 1,894,773 11,975,941 277,846 145 29 24,339,360
1939 9,884,803 9,910 734,771 1,986,478 12,615,962 285,715 113 13 25,691,217
Sources:
1913: Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser - Friday 17 April 1914, page 12.
1914-1939: 1955 Brewers'Almanack, page 62
Notes:
The figures for hops may exclude some hops used for dry-hopping

The effect of the fall in malt usage must have been pretty dramatic on British maltsters. Although much of the grain was imported, all of it was malted in Britain. 37% less malt was used in 1922 than in 1914. And the decline didn't stop there. By 1932 malt usage was down by 57% compared to 1914.

Working out the effect on the hop industry is trickier because a large percentage of the hops used in Britain were imported. But such a big fall in demand for hops must have had an impact on domestic production.

You can see that beer output continued to fall throughout the 1920's before hitting a nadir in 1932. The decline in beer production is even more striking in terms of standard barrels because not only was the amount of beer brewed falling, but also its gravity. In terms of the amount of alcohol produced by brewing, the decrease was much larger. Which is exactly why we'll be looking at that - and some other exciting numbers - next time.




More...