All that frustration disappeared this week when I got my hand on a copy of Die Brau- und Malzindustrie in Deutschland-Ost zwischen 1945 und 1989, published by the VLB in Berlin in 2016.
One thing I hadn't considered was the lack of expertise in hop cultivation in the DDR. Though there had historically been hop growing in some parts of the region, none had been grown for decades. Who were the first new hop farmers? Before there had been chance to train up any locals.
In the book there's this sentence:
"As early as 1950, hop growers from the Bohemian growing region planted the first hops in Thuringia (Gustav Dießl in Wasserthaleben and Franz Puls in Clingen)."
Die Brau- und Malzindustrie in Deutschland-Ost zwischen 1945 und 1989, VLB, 2016, page 60.
These men were Sudeten Germans expelled from Czechoslovakia. They seem to have played a crucial role in training a new generation of hop farmers:
"Especially at the beginning of planting, under the difficult conditions of the time, such as a shortage of hop vines, lack of knowledge, and insufficient technical resources, experienced practitioners and many new hop pioneers dedicated themselves to this crop. Crucial to its successful development was the experience and personal commitment of many hop growers from Bohemia who saw their ambition in creating something new. They passed on their knowledge to interested hop masters who had decided to cultivate hops and were furthering their education at the agricultural college in Naumburg."
Die Brau- und Malzindustrie in Deutschland-Ost zwischen 1945 und 1989, VLB, 2016, page 60.
Unsurprisingly, given the background of the hop-pioneers, the type of hop initially grown was Saaz. Had these refugee hop-growers brought sets of Saaz with them, or had they been imported through official channels? I'd love to know.
Officials wanted to find a suitable hop variety to introduce as standard. But were struggling. Then, in 1962, at a hop congress in Warsaw, conversations with a UK hop-grower led to the import of 2,000 Northern Brewer cuttings the following year. In 1964, cultivation began at ten locations.*
"During tours of a renowned export brewery, the hop masters, as visitors, were annoyed when it was said: "The top quality of the beer is based on the fact that we have our own wells and only use imported malt and Saaz hops!" At the Leipzig Trade Fair in 1966, during a consultation with foreign trade officials, it was revealed that 25 tons of Hallertau hops had been imported, while approximately twice that amount of Saaz hops from our own harvest had been delivered. This absurdity was justified by claiming that the imported Saaz hops from the previous year had too few bittering substances and that the ultrasonic treatment carried out in the brewery in question did not result in any savings. This jeopardized the allocation to the engineering budget. Since even the expensively purchased Hallertau hops had a lower alpha acid content, good advice was hard to come by. Therefore, the brewery was offered and used an initially anonymous batch of hops with 6.8 percent alpha acids. Suddenly, they couldn't get enough of this hop."
Die Brau- und Malzindustrie in Deutschland-Ost zwischen 1945 und 1989, VLB, 2016, page 62.
From there, Northern Brewer went from strength to strength. Asd no more cuttings could be imported gfrom the UK, a programme of cutting production was introduced to cover demand. Ultimnately, almost 90% of the cultivated area was dedicated to Northern Nrewer.**
What an interesting story. I'd assumed that the hops grown in the DDR would have been German or Czech types. Weird that they were English variety.
* Die Brau- und Malzindustrie in Deutschland-Ost zwischen 1945 und 1989, VLB, 2016, page 61.
** Die Brau- und Malzindustrie in Deutschland-Ost zwischen 1945 und 1989, VLB, 2016, page 62.
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