Truman Brick Lane hop usage 1924 - 1940

I'm back with that Truman costings document from between the wars. And one of the other items it has detailed information on: hop usage.

Again, a few seemingly dull numbers tell us a stack. First Truman's hopping rates. There wasn't a huge change in average gravity over this period, so we can take the figures at face value. Between 1924 and 1940 the average hopping rate almost halved, save for a little blip in 1931 and 1932. but I think I can explain that. The blip, I mean.

1932 was a funny year for British brewing. A shit one, really. Beer production plummeted after the big tax rise in Snowden's 1931 emergency Budget. Which probably partially explains why hops were so cheap in 1932. In 1934, after the tax increase had been reversed and beer production started to rise again, the hop price goes up again.

Here are some details on UK hop production. Usually you would expect the poor harvests in 1931 and 1932 to have forced up prices. But because beer production fell - and hence hop usage, too - prices didn't go crazy.

Hops: home production and imports
Year ended 31st Dec.	Acreage	Estimated Produce	Imports: Less Re-Exports	Consumption Years ended 30th Sept. following
		Cwts.	Cwts.	Cwts.
1929	23,986	359,100	62,208	307,289
1930	19,997	253,000	44,199	277,406
1931	19,628	169,000	50,303	219,587
1932	16,531	188,000	14,952	222,868
1933	16,895	210,000	44,829	233,419
1934	18,037	259,000	30,046	248,744
1935	18,251	248,300	35,186	258,300
1936	18,317	252,000	31,953	270,692
1937	18,093	235,000	40,406	277,846
1938	18,460	257,000	45,287	286,716
1939	18,812	288,000	7,840	265,512
1940	18,592	270,500	14,675	251,354
Source:
Brewers' Almanack 1955, page 63.

Usage of foreign hops also tells a story. Though the figures are confused by the inclusion of other European hops in the British numbers for most years. What we're really seeing is European vs American hops.

Pre-WW I massive amounts of hops were imported from the US. And in the immediate post-war years, with the hop industry in Europe still suffering from the war, large quantities were again imported from the US. Through the 1920's, these hops were around a third of those used at Truman. But once the UK industry became just about self-sufficient, Truman dropped foreign hops.

Truman Brick Lane hop usage 1924 - 1940
	UK hops		Foreign hops		total hops
year	cwt	%	cwt	%	cwt	Average price (cwt)	oz per barrel brewed
1924	1818	61.85%	1121.25	38.15%	2939.25	£13.43	19.8
1925	2131.5	67.33%	1034.25	32.67%	3165.75	£13.76	18.6
1926	2222.5	72.41%	846.75	27.59%	3069.25	£11.05	17.77
1927	2078	67.94%	980.75	32.06%	3058.75	£11.68	17.7
1928	1939.25	68.06%	910.25	31.94%	2849.5	£11.55	16.08
1929	1951.25	69.60%	852.25	30.40%	2803.5	£13.06	16.44
1930	2155	74.99%	718.75	25.01%	2873.75	£11.03	15.35
1931	2547	90.58%	265	9.42%	2812	£6.02	15.62
1932	2886.25	100.00%		0.00%	2886.25	£5.76	15.68
1933	2246.5	100.00%		0.00%	2246.5	£7.50	14.17
1934	2582	98.62%	36.25	1.38%	2618.25	£10.35	14.34
1935	2164.25	90.10%	237.75	9.90%	2402	£15.14	13.07
1936	2271.75	81.85%	503.75	18.15%	2775.5	£11.49	13.69
1937	2718.75	100.00%		0.00%	2718.75	£10.98	13.32
1938	2713.25	99.97%	0.75	0.03%	2714	£10.79	12.77
1939	2652.5	100.00%		0.00%	2652.5	£10.52	12.52
1940	2455.25	99.41%	14.5	0.59%	2469.75	£10.40	11.71
Source:
Document B/THB/C/256c held at the London Metropolitan Archives

I'm saving the best stuff from this document for later. Stay tuned.