William Younger (Holyrood) hops in 1884

As promised, a look at William Younger's hops. Which are far more varied than the malts they used.

Everyone knows that hops didn't grow in Scotland. Which is why they hardly used any (joke). No, it's really why they imported them from all over. Just as English breweries had to in the second half of the 19th century when the English hop-growing industry couldn't keep up with brewers' needs.

There were three sources of the hops: USA, Germany and Kent. Of the 53 hops in the table, 21 were from the USA, 17 from Germany and 15 from Kent. So the majority were from outside the UK.

Most of the hops were pretty fresh, coming from either the 1883 or 1884 season. Only a couple were from 1882, and they were the oldest hops. As most of the beers were Pale Ales or Strong Ales, that shouldn't really come as any surprise.

Lots of different hops in most of the beers: between five and seven. The only exception being the Pilsner and XXX. Which have a single type of Württemberg hops. Not so odd in the case of the Pils. But why the XXX? Simple. The two beers were parti-gyled together.

Moving onto the dry hops, I don't have the details for every beer. All of the beers, other than the Pils, were dry hopped. There were three types" American, East Kent and Württemberg. With the last being the most common.

I'm quite surprised that so many were from America. As UK brewers were, to say the least, not keen on the flavour of American hops. Other than a couple from the 1883 harvest, all the hops were from 1884. So pretty fresh.

William Younger (Holyrood) hops in 1884
Beer	Style	hop 1	hop 2	hop 3	hop 3	hop 5	hop 6	hop 7
S XP	IPA	Kent 1884	US 1884	US 1883	Hallertau 1884	Spalt 1883
XP	IPA	Kent 1884	EK 1883	Calif. 1883	US 1884	US 1883	Spalt 1884	Spalt 1883
XXP	IPA	Kent 1884	EK 1883	Calif. 1883	US 1884	US 1883	Spalt 1884	Spalt 1883
XXX	Mild	Würt. 1883
XXXX	Mild	MK 1883	US 1882	Würt. 1883	US 1883	EK 1883
XXXX / 3	Mild	Kent 1884	EK 1883	Calif. 1883	US 1884	US 1883	Spalt 1884	Spalt 1883
Ext	Pale Ale	Kent 1884	EK 1883	US 1884	US 1883	Spalt 1884	Spalt 1883
S Ext	Pale Ale	Calif.  1883	US 1882	Würt. 1883	US 1883	EK 1883
PX	Pils	Würt. 1883
1	Strong Ale	Kent 1884	EK 1883	Calif. 1883	US 1884	Würt. 1883	Spalt 1884
3	Strong Ale	Kent 1883	Calif. 1883	Würt. 1883	US 1883
Source:
William Younger brewing record held at the Scottish Brewing Archive, document number WY/6/1/3/11.

 

William Younger (Holyrood) dry hops in 1884
Beer	Style	hop 1	hop 2	hop 3
S XP	IPA	EK 1884	Württemberg 1884	American 1884
XP	IPA	EK 1884	Württemberg 1884	American 1884
XXP	IPA	EK 1884	Württemberg 1884
XXXX / 3	Mild	EK 1884	Württemberg 1884	American 1884
Ext	Pale Ale	EK 1884	Württemberg 1884
S Ext	Pale Ale	American 1883	Württemberg 1883
1	Strong Ale	EK 1884	Württemberg 1884	American 1884
Source:
William Younger brewing record held at the Scottish Brewing Archive, document number WY/6/1/3/11.