German export beers in 1900

The Official Catalogue of the Collective Exhibition of the German Industry in Articles of Food at the Paris Exhibition 1900 is a great document. Twenty pages of adverts from German breweries, in English. Despite the slightly odd English in places, you can get an idea of the kinds of beers they had to sell.

Brewers like boasting about the output of their brewhouses. Many of the adverts name a figure, which is great. Sadly they are not all comparable; some of the breweries only state how much of their beer they export, not their total production. Others are still touting for business and only mention their capacity; how much beer they could be making if anyone wanted to buy it.

Two breweries have something in their portfolio called “F.F.”. I’d love to know what that stood for.

I’m fairly sure the brewers who describe their beers as mild and stout weren’t really brewing mild and stout, just using the closest English expressions they could find. Probably they mean pale and dark. Or maybe weak and strong. It’s anybody’s guess. Saloon beer is possibly a translation of the German Schankbier, so maybe a low-gravity product.

Although tomorrow we will have a brewery which did make Deutscher Porter. Watch this space.


Output of a few not necessarily representative German breweries in 1900
BreweryOutput (*capacity **export)EmployeesTypes produced/exhibited
Source: Official Catalogue of the Collective Exhibition of the German Industry in Articles of Food at the Paris Exhibition 1900 (Frankfurt, 1900), pp. 100–123.
Actienbrauerei Erlangen100000*40Erlanger Gold (Exquisite light Tablebeer)
Bergschlösschen, DortmundExport lagerbeers, mild (Pilsen) and stout (Munich), F.F. Kaiserbeer
Berliner Weissbier-Brauerei113000Berlin White Beer
Brauhaus Nürnberg165613
Bürgerliches Brauhaus München250000300Export-Beer
C. Breithaupt, BerlinBerlin White-Beer
Dortmunder Aktien-Brauerei150000**190light Dortmund Beer, gold coloured Dortmund Beer, dark Dortmund Beer, light bitter (Dortmunder Actien Bitterbier) a surrogate for Bohemian Pilsen.
Erste Culmbacher206000**290“vigorous dark beer”, “Light Saloon Table Beer”
Franziskaner375000450Lager, Märzen, Pale Lager, Bock
Kaiser-Brauerei, Bremen (Beck’s)Light coloured Export Beer, the so called “Pilsener”
Ketterer, Pforzheim28700Light Exportbeer, Dark Lagerbeer
Kochelbräu8000**Mild and stout Exportbeer, Bockbeer, Märzenbeer
Kulmbacher Rizzibräu100000
Löwenbräu, München594202770Dark and light Export-beer, Bock, Märzen
Mönchshof200000*Stout and mild Kulmbach Beer
Exportbierbrauerei Reichelbräu135000Strongest Export Beer dark prime quality, F.F. Goldlight Saloon-Beer choicest quality, F.F. Light brown Export-Beer
Spaten500000Brown and pale Lagerbeer
Tucher, NürnbergPale and light Beers
Wilhelmshavener Aktien-BrauereiPasteurized Export Beer
Zum Storchen154700Choicest Bavarian and pale Export Beers




I do like Rizzibräu’s trademark. It seems to say “Drink Rizzi, and you can be as completely pissed as me! Wahey!”

Like Löwenbräu, Reichelbräu from Kulmbach has figures showing its rapid growth over the previous twenty years:

Growth in output of Kulmbacher Reichelbräu, 1880–1900
Source: Official Catalogue of the Collective Exhibition of the German Industry in Articles of Food at the Paris Exhibition 1900 (Frankfurt, 1900), pp. 116.
1880/8119460
1881/8227240
1882/8327480
1883/8430170
1884/8539580
1885/8644880
1886/8745660
1887/8849620
1888/8953050
1889/9067560
1890/9179880
1891/9286470
1892/9398750
1893/94106560
1894/95113500
1895/96116300
1896/97118870
1897/98121370
1898/99124930
1899/1900135000

Comments

  1. Great numbers.

    The jump in output is evidence of the economic boom in the early decades of the German Empire. It levelled off - or at least breweries' output did - between 1900 and 1914.

    ReplyDelete
  2. F.F: is short for "extra fine"
    Similar to ff in music (f= forte, ff=fortissimo)

    ReplyDelete

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