Perry Beers just after WW II

Continuing on the Irish theme, we're taking a look at the beers of a small brewery in the aftermath of WW II.

To say there had been a cull in Perry’s beers across the war would be an understatement. Only two remain: XX and IPA. Leaving a range of beers which doesn’t look particularly Irish.

In particular, the lack of a Black Beer of any description. During the war, Perry brewed two: Porter and XX Stout. The latter seems to have been dropped during the war, the former just after its end.

Both have, as you would expect, reduced gravities. More extreme in the case of IPA, down from 1052º to 1038º. While XX has only lost 7º. The changes leave the two with the same 1038º gravity.

What’s the difference between the two, then? Rather more hops in the IPA and rather more black malt in the XX, to put it simply. The hopping rates (per quarter) are much the same as before the war. As is the rate of attenuation.

IPA no longer includes crystal malt. And neither it nor XX has any malt extract.

The supply situation has obviously improved, due to the presence of American hops. Being from Yakima gives it rather the look of a modern beer. The vast majority of the hops are English and American, as pre-war.

Really not much more to discuss here, given the limited number of beers and ingredients.

Perry beers in 1947
Beer	Style	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	lbs hops/ qtr	hops lb/brl
XX	Mild	1038	1011.5	3.51	69.74%	4.97	0.85
IPA	IPA	1038	1013.0	3.31	65.79%	6.62	1.10
Source:
Perry brewing records held at the local studies department of Laois county library.

 

Perry grists in 1947
Beer	Style	OG	pale malt	black malt	hops
XX	Mild	1038	96.18%	3.82%	English, Yakima
IPA	IPA	1038	99.35%	0.65%	English, Yakima
Source:
Perry brewing records held at the local studies department of Laois county library.

 

This is an excerpt from my recently-released Blitzkrieg!, the definitive book on brewing during WW II.

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The second volume contains the recipes. But not just that. There are also overviews of some of the breweries covered, showing their beers at the start and the end of the conflict.

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Both volumes are also available on Kindle:

Volume I

Volume 2