Whitbread Ale hops in 1939

Most of the hops employed in Whitbread’s Ales were reasonably local, either from Kent or Sussex. Though some were from a bit further afield in Worcestershire. The small quantity of foreign hops which were used came from Germany. Ironic as these beers were brewed in September 1939, just when war was declared on Germany.

What’s missing are any hops from outside Europe. While such hops – especially those from North America - weren’t as prevalent as they had been before WW I, they also weren’t totally absent from British brewing in the 1930a.

Only a minority of the hops were reasonably fresh, most being two, three or even four years old. Most of the older ones, however, had been kept in a cold store, as indicated by “CS”. That would have considerably slowed the decline in alpha and beta acid levels.

The varieties aren’t recorded in the brewing records, just the region where they were grown. East Kent hops were almost certainly Goldings or some other similar type of whitebine. Mid Kent were most likely Fuggles, though could have been something Golding-like. Worcester probably Fuggles, again, but also possibly Goldings.

Whitbread Ale hops in 1939
Beer	Style	OG	hop 1	hop 2	hop 3	hop 4
LA	Mild	1028.4	MK (1937 CS)	MK (1938)	Hallertau (1935)
X	Mild	1033.9	Whitbread MK	(1937 CS)	MK (1938)	Hallertau (1935)
IPA	IPA	1037.1	Worcs (1938)	MK (1937 CS)	EK (1937 CS)	Sussex (1936 CS)
PA	Pale Ale	1048.2	Worcs (1938)	MK (1937 CS)	EK (1937 CS)	Sussex (1936 CS)
DB	Brown Ale	1054.5	Worcs (1938)	MK (1937 CS)	EK (1937 CS)	Sussex (1936 CS)
33	Strong Ale	1061.0	Worcs (1938)	MK (1937 CS)	EK (1937 CS)	Sussex (1936 CS)
Source:
Whitbread brewing record held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/01/107.