Today, we're looking at some more Argentinian breweries. Starting with one which brew to be the nation's favourite: Quilmes.
The Quilmes brewery, located in the pretty village of Quilmes, thirteen miles from Buenos Aires, is worked much on the same lines as the Bieckert brewery. The capacity of the Quilmes brewery is 14,000,000 litres annually, and its product has not alone a large local sale, but is exported in considerable quantities to Uruguay, Bolivia, Chili, Paraguay, and Brazil. The Quilmes beer is stored for at least two months before being sent out. The equipment and organisation of this plant are excellent. Its machinery is all of French manufacture. The capacity of the bottling machinery, which includes the latest devices, is 5,000 dozen per day. The water is drawn from three spring wells by five pumps, and there is one ice-making machine, having a daily capacity of seventy-five tons. Power for the machinery throughout the establishment is supplied by two 100-horse power engines, supplied by four boilers, which consume from nine to twelve tons of coal per day. the brewery imports malt from Europe. It also makes some malt, using both imported and domestic barley. It always has a quantity ot ice on hand, some of which is used to cool the beer in transport through the country, and the rest of it is sold to the public.
The Brewers' Journal vol. 35 1899, January 15th 1899, pages 46 - 47.
I don't think anyone would describe Quilmes as a pretty little village. It's beem engulfed by the spreawl of Buenos Aires. A capacity of 140,000 hl is pretty hefty. That's the ewuivalent of a large regional brewery in the UK. Though, from what we've read earlier, they probably weren't producing anything like that.
Two months is a pretty decent lagering time for a standard pale Lager. Intereting that the macjhinery all came from France again.
The next two breweries were operating on a much smaller scale. The first is another example of British influence in Argentina.
Another well-known establishment is the Anglo-Argentine brewery (Cerveceria Anglo-Argentina), at Cordoba. This plant occupies 2,500 square yards. Its machinery includes three 25-horse power boilers, and an ice plant with a daily capacity of fifteen tons. The brewery employs sixty men. In a plant adjoining whisky is also made.
An establishment of about the same capacity, making about 5,000 litres weekly, in the same province, is the St. Vincent brewery (Cerveceria San Vincente) of William Ahrens, located at San Vincente.
The Brewers' Journal vol. 35 1899, January 15th 1899, pages 46 - 47.
Both of these two were producing quite small quantities of beer, around 2,500 hl annually. Which is about the same as a large brewpub might produce today.