ABSTRACT
For the British brewing industry the period following the economic recession of 1979-81 became one of stability of output at the level to which it had fallen in 1982. During the rest of the 1980s this meant annual production of between 36 and 37 million bulk barrels (see Table 7.1). Even so, changes in the composition of the market for alcohol, which had already become noticeable before 1984 (see Chapter 6) were enhanced. By 1990 lager represented over half the beer market in Britain when a decade earlier it had been less than a third. The intro duction of Australian draught lagers - Fosters and Castlemaine XXXX - and to a lesser extent, Budweiser from America, assisted this trend. At the same time, whilst the decline in the consumption of bottled beer was halted in the late 1980s, draught beer consumption continued its down ward trend, although its fall was, in some degree, offset by the increase in the market share of canned beer. From 1988 this had included draught (canned) beer, a Guinness innovation.1
