The First World War brought serious restrictions on pubs and brewing; at one point it was illegal to buy a round. I've read an account of how a man wanted to buy drinks for himself and his wife and was refused because that constituted a round; his wife had to go to the bar to buy her own. Under the Defence of the Realm Act, licensing hours were introduced, beer was watered down and an extra penny tax put on a pint. The Temperance movement was quite a force in the UK and the brewing industry was not immune to what was, at that time, its increasing impact; these laws gave them a significant boost, although a Temperance appeal to the monarch to declare that a toast to the king could be made just as loyally with a non-alcoholic drink was given short shrift by the Palace. The Temperance movement eventually lost most of its influence when Prohibition was ended in the USA, but the effects of First World War legislation on beer, including upon its strength, continued long after the war ended. In particular, the precedent of gradually but continually cutting beer strengths continued until the 1970s when CAMRA published the strength of all beers: brewers who didn't voluntarily reveal the strength, or weakness, of their products were angry and dismayed when the Campaign had their products analysed and published the sometimes embarrassing results.
Beer drinking was was strongly identified with industrial labour. Workers wanted to slake their thirst after a day's work, especially those in heavy industry: cool pints that didn't have you sliding under the table after just a few were preferred, hence the former popularity of mild in the old industrial heartlands. The decline in mild drinking must be partly due to the ending of much of our industrial base. (There's also another possible factor that I wrote about in May.)
Traditionally, we Britons used to spend long evenings in the pub, often meeting early in the evening and staying until closing time: such long evenings demand a beer that can be drunk in fairly large quantities. Additionally, formerly popular pub games such as darts, dominoes and bar billiards required the players not to be legless.
Our beer strengths have recovered to some extent since CAMRA's exposure of the scandal of weak beer sold at premium prices. It used to be said that one national brand could have been sold legally during the American Prohibition, and there were frequent rumours that some brewers put chemicals in beer to give you a slight headache so that the next day you thought you had a hangover. I've no idea how true these stories were, but the fact that they circulated shows how some drinkers viewed the beers they were sold with a certain amount of distrust.
All these factors are specific to the UK, and have shaped our preference for beers that are less strong than those on the Continent. Personally, I'd prefer to have more pints in the 4.0% to 5.0% range than fewer at 7.9%, but that's what I've grown up with and what I've become used to. I don't think I'm untypical in this respect.
The research was by academics at Anglia Ruskin University based on 65,000 reviews on the app Pint Please.
They must have included an awful lot of strong Belgian beers in their figures to arrive at a European average of 7.9%. In my experience 5.0% is the norm in most European countries, and I would say that for someone who doesn’t want to drink huge volumes of beer any more, 5.0% is just about right!
ReplyDeleteI saw this, but didn't comment as the underlying research seemed a bit rubbish, even if the underlying point is correct.
ReplyDeleteBroadly speaking, the British (and Irish) tend to drink beer of around 4% ABV in pints, while most of the rest of the world drinks beer of around 5% ABV in 330ml or 355ml measures.
Actually most of the the rest of the world drinks beer on draught in 25cl and 50 cl measures
DeleteAre 50cl (= pint) measures that common across the world? I'd say generally not.
Deleteell I can't speak for the whole world but in those countries where there is a beer culture certainly. Large measures are commonplace in central and eastern Europe of course. In Belgium and the Netherlands most bars do have 50cl glasses although an order "a beer" will get you 25cl of industrial lager. In North America I get the impression that the "pint" is not uncommon for draught beers. Bottles are of course 330ml or 355ml as a rule.
DeleteYour analysis spot-on, though I think ARU's use of Pint Please skews their analysis heavily toward very strong imported beers (e.g. they quote Thornbridge Halcyon as favourite UK beer !).
ReplyDeleteNot only did I wonder about the 7.9% figure, I questioned the 4.4% for British beers too, but as the general point that continental beers are on average stronger than ours was correct, I decided to try to explain the phenomenon anyway.
ReplyDeleteAs for our favourite beer being a Thornbridge: well, it's much more likely to be a mass-produced lager, isn't it?
Mine is, Nev, mine is.
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