The Beer Brewing Industry in Galicia on the Eve of the Great War

Abstract

The Author of the article describes the beer brewing industry in Galicia on the eve of the Great War, with particular emphasis placed on the final period when propination laws were in force (which finally expired at the end of 1910) and their negative impact on the brewing industry. The statistical data analysed in the article illustrate the dynamics of changes in the number of active breweries and the amount of beer production. The Author discusses the causes of these changes, describes technological equipment used in the brewing industry, and provides examples of modernisation introduced by large breweries, including the equipment imported from outside Galicia. The expiry of propination laws led to the fundamental transformation of the strategy breweries used to enter the market (they started building their own sales networks). Moreover, the Author outlines the formation and role of the Union for the Protection of the Breweries of the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria with the Grand Duchy of Krakow and describes the effects of the Great War on the beer brewing industry.