There was a very influential beer faction in the House of Lords that became known as the Beerage

There was a very influential beer faction in the House of Lords that became known as the Beerage. The Liberals blamed the loss of the 1874 General Election on the influence of the big brewers and distillers in the Conservative Party. Gladstone's Licensing Acts of 1870 had disturbed those vested interests. Gladstone wrote that "More immediately operative causes have determined the elections. I have no doubt what is the principal. We have been borne down in a torrent of gin and beer.

H. Jeffreys Empire of Booze (2016), 136