Tuesday 21 April 2020

Perry hops just before WW II

Unsurprisingly, the hops were all imported. In all the beers they were a combination of Oregon and English hops. Which is very similar to what you would have seen in England.

What is unusual is the age of the hops: the freshest were two years old. But most were three or four years old. Not sure I’ve seen an English brewer consistently using such old hops. Not even during the war.

The Pale Ales were the only beers to receive dry hops. Which were a combination of English and Styrian hops. Again, quite old ones. Usually pretty fresh hops were used for this purpopse. Odd that Perry used three year old hops.

Perry hops just before WW II
Year Beer hop 1 hop 2 hop 3 dry hops
1937 X Oregon (1933) English (1935)
1938 XX Oregon (1934) English (1934) English (1935)
1938 PA Oregon (1934) English (1935) English, Styrian (1935)
1938 IPA Oregon (1934) English (1935) English, Styrian (1935)
1938 XX Stout Oregon (1934) English (1935)
Source:
Perry brewing records held at the local studies department of Laois county library.

3 comments:

Edd The Brew said...

Hi Ron ,
Peter Walker & Sons of Warrington & Burton ( Warrington : Dallam Lane Brewery ) were , pretty consistent with their use of Old season`s hops ; Up to 9 - 10 years old in someof the early 1891 - 1892 records
Cheers
Edd

Thom Farrell said...

Perhaps more data is needed, but would I be right to suggest that there was no appreciable difference between British and Irish beer?

Ron Pattinson said...

Thom Farrell,

Perry was atypical. The largest brewers were all exclusively Porter and Stout brewers. Also the recipes are quite different to those in England, as they lack sugar and unmalted grains.