We'll kick off by looking at how many hops were being used by UK brewers, how many were home-grown and how many imported.
You can see that domestic production of hops varied enormously - from 280,000 cwts to 637,000 hops. Which, as consumption of hops averaged 623,000 a year, was clearly insufficient for the needs of UK brewers. Hence the need for large volumes of imports. Running at an average of 184,000 cwts. Or around 30% of the hops used.
Next, we'll look at the source of those hops.
You'll see that the vast majority came from just five countries: the USA, Germany, Belgium, Holland and France. With small quantities coming from all other countries. The principal suppliers being the USA and Belgium. I'm surprised that Holland was supplying so many hops. Well, any at all. As Holland isn't exactly renowned for hop cultivation. Incredible that it was providing more than Germany.
In most years covered in the table, more than 50% of UK imports came from the USA. Peaking at 70% in 1895. Given what I've seen in brewing records, that comes as no surprise. Though, for the same reason, it was shocking how few came from Germany. Perhaps my thinking has been distorted by all the time I've spent looking at William Younger records recently. They seemed to have a liking for German hops.
And that's it. This is the last post of more than two dozen that I've queued up to cover my trip to Australia with Andrew. Hopefully, I haven't broken anything while there.
Consumption of Hops in the United Kingdom | |||||
Area. | Production. | Net Imports of following Year. | Consumption. | Proportion of Foreign to Total Supply. | |
Acres. | Cwts. | Cwta. | Cwts. | Per cent. | |
1888 | 58,490 | 281,291 | 181,343 | 462,634 | 39.20% |
1889 | 57,724 | 497,811 | 175,584 | 673,345 | 26.10% |
1890 | 53,961 | 283,629 | 185,526 | 469,165 | 39.50% |
1891 | 56,142 | 436,716 | 170,834 | 613,550 | 28.80% |
1592 | 56,259 | 413,259 | 185,716 | 598,975 | 31.00% |
1893 | 57,564 | 414,929 | 168,316 | 583,245 | 28.90% |
1894 | 59,535 | 636,846 | 204,087 | 840,933 | 24.30% |
1895 | 58,940 | 553,206 | 193,738 | 747,134 | 25.90% |
1896 | 54,217 | 453,188 | 148,610 | 601,848 | 24.70% |
1897 | 50,863 | 411,086 | 223,747 | 634,833 | 35.20% |
Average | 56,370 | 438,215 | 184,350 | 622,565 | 29.60% |
Source: | |||||
The Brewers' Journal vol. 36 1900, February 15th 1900, page 127. |
Imports of Hops 1889-98 (cwts) | ||||||||
Year | USA | Germany | Belgium | Holland | France | All other Countries. | total | % from US |
1889 | 77,529 | 20,492 | 38,858 | 47,463 | 14,401 | 641 | 199,384 | 38.88% |
1890 | 73,448 | 25,129 | 40,498 | 38,527 | 10,383 | 2,043 | 190,028 | 38.65% |
1891 | 80,226 | 17,199 | 42,637 | 35,355 | 15,893 | 3,956 | 195,266 | 41.09% |
1592 | 80,829 | 11,691 | 39,044 | 38,384 | 12,206 | 5,353 | 187,507 | 43.11% |
1893 | 141,819 | 3,785 | 37,351 | 15.214 | 2,481 | 3.742 | 185,455 | 76.47% |
1894 | 109,731 | 12,053 | 33,622 | 26,164 | 5,980 | 1,606 | 189,156 | 58.01% |
1895 | 153,046 | 15,400 | 25,411 | 19,564 | 2,816 | 874 | 217,111 | 70.49% |
1896 | 135,822 | 13,011 | 32,984 | 19,912 | 3,996 | 1,316 | 207,041 | 65.60% |
1897 | 84,905 | 15,881 | 36,787 | 20,667 | 5,160 | 755 | 164,155 | 51.72% |
1898 | 101,535 | 8,280 | 30,151 | 9,169 | 1,644 | 3,357 | 154,136 | 65.87% |
Source: | ||||||||
The Brewers' Journal vol. 36 1900, February 15th 1900, page 127. |
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