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You may recall me expressing some surprise that Norway featured as a source of UK beer imports in the 1950s and 1960s. It seemed quite odd.

Then I got to thinking. Norway was one of the first places outside of central Europe to bottom ferment. There was a very simple reason why: they had an enormous supply of natural ice. Before the advent of artificial refrigeration, brewing Lager in a country with a temperate climate like the UK was problematic. Where would you get the ice required for lagering?

Some readers speculated that it was most likely Ringnes that brewed the imported Norwegian Lager. As it turns out, it looks like three breweries were in the business: Frydenlund and Schou, as well as Ringnes.

The Ringnes Export is a full-strength beer, so I doubt that it was made specifically for the UK market. The Frydenlund, on the other hand, has an OG similar to a domestic UK Lager. I'm not sure about Schou. The first two examples, though stronger than normal UK Lager, aren't quite full continental strength. While the final example is clearly designed for the UK.

I'm surprised at how strong Three Towns is. I though that was the classic mellanöl.


Norwegian- and Swedish-brewed Lager in the UK 1955 - 1963
Year Brewer Beer Price per pint d OG FG ABV App. Atten-uation colour
1956 Frydenlund Peak Lager 30 1034.3 1005.7 3.72 83.38% 12
1959 Frydenlund Peak Lager 1036.6 1007.5 3.78 79.51% 17
1955 Ringnes Export Pilsener 48 1053.8 1010.9 5.59 79.74% 11
1957 Ringnes Export Lager Beer 1052.5 1006.9 5.96 86.86% 13
1957 Ringnes Export Lager 48 1054.5 1008.8 5.97 83.85% 9.5
1957 Schou Norwegian Beer 1042.2 1006.6 4.64 84.36% 12
1959 Schou Norwegian Beer 36 1041.2 1005.5 4.66 86.65% 8.5
1963 Schou Export Lager 34 1030.4 1003 3.43 90.13% 6
1955 Swedish Beer Export Co. Three Towns Beer 30 1052.9 1008.7 5.77 83.55% 9
Average 37.7 1044.3 1007.1 4.84 84.23% 11.1
Source:
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/002.



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