Hops 1880 - 1914

I've a huge unfinished manuscript for my original project, a history of UK beer from 1700 to 1973. Far too big to ever be a single book. Which is why I've ended up publishing what would have been chapters as complete books. "Armistice!" and "Austerity!", for example.

I'd forgotten that, as well as containing loads of raw source material,  I'd properly written up many sections. Which is making my life far easier when writing my book after next, "Free!". Some bits I can just lift, others tweak a bit. Plus there's a shitload of raw material I can use as a basis for lots more. How on earth did I forget about this? Well, I did write it more than 10 years ago.

This is a bit I've tweaked.

By 1880, the UK was totally incapable of growing enough hops to satisfy the needs of the local brewing industry. This was the result of two factors: an increase in beer production and a decrease in hop growing.

The only solution was to import large quantities of hops. Mostly from the USA, but also from pretty much every hop-producing country in the world. This continued until WW I, when imports totally dried up. After the war, the reduction in both the strength and quantity of beer brewed meant far fewer hops were required. Hop imports continued, but at a much lower level.

The acreage given over to growing hops was in decline, dropping around 50% between 1880 and 1914. Considerable quantities of hops were imported, amounting to between 30 and 40% of the total used. Harvests were still very variable, as was the price.

In the early 1900s, brewer Mr. P. K. Lemay described five categories of English hops:

1. “Goldings, for pale ale brewing, both for copper use and hopping down;
2. Fuggles, for copper use in mild ales and stouts;
3. Colegates, as a rule a hop rich in lupulin, but rank in flavour; very good copper hops for stouts;
4. Henhams and other varieties of large coarse hops, which from a brewing point of view would be a dear hop to buy;
5. Any class of hops showing mould or aphis blight, which to a brewer would be costly at any price.”  

The first two types, Goldings and Fuggles, would continue to be used for the same purposes well past WW II, While Colegates and Henhams withered into obscurity after WW I.

Hop production and imports (cwt)
year	Acreage	UK production	yield per acre	Average price of English hops			net imports of foreign hops	exports of British hops
				£	s	d
1880	66,698	440,000	6.6	4	6	0	195,987	7,218
1890	53,961	283,629	5.26	10	9	4	181,698	6,164
1900	51,308	347,894	6.78	5	18	8	198,494	14,999
1910	32,886	302,675	9.2	5	6	6	172,032	8,927
1915	34,744	254,101	7.31	6	7	0	199,347	8,288
Source:
1928 Brewers' Almanack, page 119