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Shut up about Barclay Perkins - War and austerity (part two)
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Just a few more tables and I’m done. All posted out in advance for the whole of my US trip, plus a day to recover when I get back.
This time there are some numbers to demonstrate how hard the years immediately after WW II were. Because what works better than numbers? Especially when you’ve used up all the day’s supply of words. I don’t know about you, but I don’t have an infinite quantity of them. I often stop mid-sentence in the evening when they’re all used up.
The numbers show the remarkable success of British brewing during WW II. Output rose. Surprisingly both in terms of bulk and standard barrels. That the latter rose, means it was a genuine rise, because the standard barrel takes gravity out of the equation. But note the sharp drop in 1947 – 3.3 million standard barrels. The result, as we’ve already heard, of shortages in raw materials, which prompted the government to lower production quotas.
Keeping average gravity at a little under 1035º for the final years of the war was quite an achievement. Only possible because of a massive increase in British-grown barley during the war. But in 1947 average OG fell more than two points. It must have been depressing for both brewers and drinkers.
Home-made Beer : Quantities charged with duty, Average Gravities and Net Receipts |
Year (ended 81st March) |
Quantities charged with duty |
|
Net quantities duty-paid |
|
|
Bulk Barrels |
Standard Barrels |
Average Gravity |
Bulk Barrels |
Standard Barrels |
Net Receipts £ |
1939 |
24,674,992 |
18,364,156 |
1,040.93 |
24,187,883 |
17,935,568 |
62,370,034 |
1940 |
25,366,782 |
18,738,619 |
1,040.62 |
25,092,090 |
18,495,567 |
75,157,022 |
1941 |
26,203,803 |
18,351,113 |
1,038.51 |
25,773,766 |
18,121,618 |
133,450,205 |
1942 |
29,860,796 |
19,294,605 |
1,035.53 |
29,351,341 |
19,018,940 |
157,254,430 |
1943 |
29,296,672 |
18,293,919 |
1,034.34 |
28,971,014 |
18,044,678 |
209,584,343 |
1944 |
30,478,289 |
19,193,773 |
1,034.63 |
30,129,031 |
18,945,565 |
263,170,703 |
1945 |
31,332,852 |
19,678,449 |
1,034.54 |
31,031,814 |
19,475,061 |
278,876,870 |
1946 |
32,650,200 |
20,612,225 |
1,034.72 |
32,698,011 |
20,580,907 |
295,305,369 |
1947 |
29,261,398 |
17,343,690 |
1,032.59 |
29,226,070 |
17,427,961 |
250,350,829 |
1948 |
30,408,634 |
18,061,390 |
1,032.66 |
30,007,139 |
17,744,616 |
264,112,043 |
1949 |
26,990,144 |
16,409,937 |
1,033.43 |
27,048,281 |
16,319,126 |
294,678,035 |
Source: |
Brewing Trade Review, 1950, page 51. |
Home-made Beer : Quantities of Materials used and of Beer produced |
Year (ended with Sept.) |
Malt |
Unmalted Corn |
Rice, Rice Grits, Flaked Rice, Maize Grits, Flaked Maize and other similar Preparations |
Sugar including its Equivalent of Syrups, Glucose and Saccharum |
Hops |
Preparations of Hops |
Hop Substitutes |
Beer Produced |
|
Cwt. |
Cwt. |
Cwt. |
Cwt. |
Cwt. |
Cwt. |
Cwt. |
Bulk Barrels |
1939 |
9,884,803 |
9,910 |
734,771 |
1,986,478 |
285,715 |
113 |
13 |
25,691,217 |
1940 |
9,857,838 |
7,912 |
363,588 |
1,532,776 |
265,512 |
132 |
108 |
24,925,704 |
1941 |
10,988,413 |
11,897 |
246,757 |
1,397,642 |
251,354 |
186 |
166 |
28,170,582 |
1942 |
10,918,102 |
52,646 |
382,207 |
1,411,422 |
223,007 |
246 |
71 |
29,584,656 |
1943 |
10,287,322 |
40,592 |
1,238,181 |
1,400,573 |
231,589 |
250 |
96 |
29,811,321 |
1944 |
10,621,168 |
143,183 |
1,241,121 |
1,458,647 |
243,900 |
277 |
137 |
31,180,684 |
1945 |
10,435,212 |
245,751 |
1,332,032 |
1,784,064 |
244,822 |
714 |
139 |
31,990,344 |
1946 |
9,976,998 |
137,750 |
1,132,748 |
1,790,021 |
226,197 |
1,414 |
168 |
31,066,950 |
1947 |
9,454,253 |
92,974 |
614,335 |
1,601,186 |
217,759 |
1,423 |
191 |
30,103,180 |
1948 |
9,499,294 |
69,939 |
606,881 |
1,443,558 |
231,470 |
630 |
547 |
28,813,725 |
Source: |
Brewing Trade Review, 1950, page 51. |
Looking at the second table, we can see that malt usage peaked in 1941, after which considerable amounts of unmalted grain and maize products were used. Only to fall back again after 1946. Sugar shows a complicated trajectory, its use falling in the early war years, increasing at the end, then dropping again post-war.
All those changes would have had an impact on brewers’ grists. One over which they had no control. Given reliable supplies, the raw materials used wouldn’t have changed anything like as much. Each of those sudden changes in materials would have presented considerable challenges for brewers. How depressing must it have been for that still to be going on several years after the end of hostilities?
I’m sure that I’ll have plenty more austerity tales to come.
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