Brewing in WW II (part six)

We're now moving on to hops.

Starting with the position at the outbreak of war.

"When war broke out the position with regard to hops was not a very favourable one for brewers, as owing to the policy adopted by the Hops Marketing Board in restricting production, there was little surplus in any year, and the reserves in the brewers' hands were small. It was perhaps fortunate that the 1939 crop, although not pretty to look at, was the ripest for many years and was large, and in excess of requirements. The average price for Fuggles that year was £9 5s. and for Goldings £11 15s."
Journal of the Institute of Brewing Volume 52, Issue 3, May-June, 1946, page 122.

The Hops Marketing Board was set up in response to a crisis in Britain's hop industry during WW I. The reduction in beer gravities meant that brewers needed far fewer hops. This in turn caused a glut of hops and many growers and dealers faced going out of business until the government stepped in and bought the crop. It seems efforts to control supply weren't quite so handy when another war broke out.

1940 was a very bad year for British hops:

"In the following year the Battle of Britain was taking place when the hops were ready to pick, and there was a great shortage of pickers owing to natural disinclination to go into such a dangerous area. The crop was again a large one-and the quality was high, but notwithstanding the efforts of the growers to get it all picked quite a large proportion of it had to be left to blow away. An attempt was made to weigh and value the hops on the farms that year, but as this decision was arrived at too late in the year to enable it to be carried out successfully, it was abandoned and all the hops were sent to the Borough. This delayed matters considerably, and although brewers were exhorted to remove their allocations to a safer place they were slow in carrying this out, and when the Borough was subjected to the disastrous air raid on 29th December, many of the destroyed warehouses were full of hops, and it was estimated that something like one-third of the total crop was lost, among which were most of the best Goldings."
Journal of the Institute of Brewing Volume 52, Issue 3, May-June, 1946, page 122.

First the harvest was disrupted by the Battle of Britain. In peacetime East End families migrated down to Kent in the late summer to harvest hops. No-one was going to take their kids somewhere there was battle going on, albeit in the air. Then, in one of the first big raids on London, Borough was badly hit and a significant percentage of that year's crop destroyed. Keeping so many hops in a vulnerable part of central London wasn't the greatest idea.

"This brought about a serious state of affairs, as very few brewers had more than a small reserve stock of hops to fall back upon, and some were reduced to a very low figure. Hop rates had therefore drastically to be cut, and in many cases lower hop rates were used than ever before in the history of brewing."
Journal of the Institute of Brewing Volume 52, Issue 3, May-June, 1946, pages 122 - 123.

Did they really cut hopping rates to unheard of lows? Why don't we take a look at what happened at Whitbread. I've deliberately picked their two most hop-oriented beers, Pale Ale and IPA.

Whitbread IPA 1938 - 1948
Year	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	lbs hops/ qtr	hops lb/brl	boil time (hours)	boil time (hours)	hops
1938	1037.1	1007.0	3.98	81.13%	10.00	1.58	1.5	1.5	MK and EK
1939	1037.1	1008.0	3.85	78.44%	10.00	1.51	1.5	1.75	MK, EK, Sussex and Worcester
1940	1037.2	1007.0	4.00	81.18%	10.38	1.53	1.5	1.92	MK and EK
1940	1036.3	1007.5	3.81	79.34%	9.73	1.45	1.5	1.67	MK and EK
1941	1034.3	1005.5	3.81	83.97%	8.57	1.21	1.5	1.75	MK and Worcester
1942	1031.5	1005.0	3.51	84.13%	8.44	1.08	1.25	1.5	MK and EK
1943	1031.3	1007.5	3.15	76.04%	8.53	1.11	1.25	1.33	EK and Worcester
1944	1030.9	1005.0	3.43	83.82%	8.53	1.12	1.25	1.75	MK
1945	1031.6	1006.0	3.39	81.01%	8.53	1.22	1.25	1.5	MK and KT
1946	1029.4	1005.5	3.16	81.29%	8.90	1.12	1.25	1.25	MK and Sussex. Hopulon.
1947	1033.2	1007.5	3.40	77.41%	9.42	1.29	1.25	1.25	MK, EK and Worcester. Hopulon.
1948	1032.2	1005.5	3.53	82.92%	9.00	1.18	1.25	1.33	MK and EK. Hopulon.
Sources:
Whitbread brewing records held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document numbers LMA/4453/D/01/105, LMA/4453/D/01/107, LMA/4453/D/01/108, LMA/4453/D/01/109, LMA/4453/D/01/110, LMA/4453/D/01/112, LMA/4453/D/01/113, LMA/4453/D/01/114 and LMA/4453/D/01/115.

Whitbread PA 1938 - 1948
Year	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	lbs hops/ qtr	hops lb/brl	boil time (hours)	boil time (hours)	hops
1938	1048.6	1011.0	4.97	77.37%	7.49	1.55	1.33	1.5	MK and EK
1939	1048.2	1012.0	4.79	75.10%	7.33	1.41	1.17	1.08	MK, EK, Sussex and Worcester
1940	1044.1	1013.5	4.05	69.39%	7.14	1.27	1.33	1	MK and EK
1941	1042.9	1015.0	3.69	65.03%	6.54	1.11	1.33	1	MK and EK
1941	1042.5	1011.5	4.10	72.94%	5.62	1.00	1.33	1	MK and Worcester
1942	1038.6	1010.5	3.72	72.80%	6.03	0.96	1.25	1.25	MK and EK
1943	1039.2	1010.5	3.80	73.21%	6.03	1.00	1.08	0.75	EK and Worcester
1944	1039.0	1010.5	3.77	73.08%	6.03	1.02	1.08	1.25	MK and EK
1945	1038.8	1011.5	3.61	70.36%	5.85	1.03	1.08	0.75	MK and KT
1946	1039.5	1012.0	3.64	69.62%	5.95	1.02	1.08	1.25	MK. Hopulon.
1946	1032.6	1008.0	3.25	75.46%	5.88	0.83	1.08	0.75	EK and MK. Hopulon.
1947	1034.2	1011.0	3.07	67.84%	6.30	0.95	1.08	1	MK and Worcester. Hopulon.
1948	1034.9	1010.0	3.29	71.35%	6.42	0.93	1.08	1.25	MK and EK Hopulon.
Sources:
Whitbread brewing records held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document numbers LMA/4453/D/01/105, LMA/4453/D/01/107, LMA/4453/D/01/108, LMA/4453/D/01/109, LMA/4453/D/01/110, LMA/4453/D/01/111, LMA/4453/D/01/112, LMA/4453/D/01/113, LMA/4453/D/01/114 and LMA/4453/D/01/115.

You can see that the hopping rate did fall in 1940 and 1941. PA dropped from 1.55 to 1 lbs per barrel, IPA 1.58 to 1.21 lbs per barrel. But as there were also reductions in gravity, you really need to look at the hops per quarter of malt. That’s a 36% drop for PA, 24% for IPA, if we're looking at the per barrel rate. Taking into account the gravity fall by using the per quarter figure shows smaller decreases, of 25% and 14%, respectively. That doesn't seem such a huge reduction as suggested in the article.

Note also the use of hopulon, some sort of hop preparation, after the end of the war. The problems with hop supply didn't end with hostilities.

It seems they'd learned the lesson of the 1940 bombing disaster:

"In 1941 the difficulties experienced in the previous year had brought about a reduction in the acreage of over 800, climatic conditions were unfavourable, and the crop was generally of poor quality. It was unfortunate that in view of the great shortage of hops the crop was small and brewers were only able to obtain 76 per cent, of their requirements. The scheme for sampling and weighing on the farms was put into operation that year, and the hops were sent direct to the brewers who were advised to distribute them as much as possible, which they were not slow to do. Picking did not present so many difficulties, as by that time the air-raids on London had become intense and people were only too glad of an opportunity for a respite."
Journal of the Institute of Brewing Volume 52, Issue 3, May-June, 1946, page 123.

I can see how Kentish hop fields would be a relief from nightly bombing. Once the Battle of Britain was over the Kent countryside was relatively peaceful.

More on hops next time.