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29-05-2015, 10:01
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We’re back with hops in the 1950’s. I thought you’d be pleased. We’ll be finishing this article today. But luckily I’ve others. Ones about new hop varieties being tried out in the 1950’s. It’s really fun stuff.

But the first the future of hops as envisaged 60 years ago.


“To summarize then, for the future, progressive growers will plant gardens with disease-free stocks, tolerant of Verticillium wilt, true to type, of New Variety hops, high cropping, high in a acids, possibly triploid, with a range of ripening times, good for machine picking and acceptable to brewers as substitutes for Fuggles or Goldings. They will grow them with high wirework, to give crops easy to pick by machine, use modern machinery for cultivation, soil systemic insecticides and low volume sprays for fungicide control, will pick by machine and dry on continuous or high-efficiency batch driers, and will finally pack into high density ballots.”
Journal of the Institute of Brewing, Vol. 65, 1959, page 470.
Has all that come about? Pretty sure there are still lots of Goldings and Fuggles grown. And rather than growing hops taller, the recent trend has been for dwarf varieties. And, of course, the area where hops are grown has shrunk dramatically.

Now here’s the problem with growing hops – they’ve only really one use:


“USE AND MARKETING
These two are so bound up that they must be considered together. The tragedy of the hop is that it has but one application—Beer. There appears to be no other substantial use for hops (there are small outlets for bakery, and pharmaceutical purposes and for insomnia), and the vast bulk of all hops in the world is used for beer. There is no use for the stripped bine except as fertilizer, which is also the fate, with the deep-litter hen house, of surplus or low-quality unmarketable hops. It is this lack of alternative uses which has always made the hop market so very sensitive. If there is only a slight shortage, as in 1956 and 1957, world prices soar, while with heavy crops, as in 1958, prices slump. Usage is, therefore, governed partly by availability and price and partly by public taste.”
Journal of the Institute of Brewing, Vol. 65, 1959, page 470.
Though if you look at British hop production and prices after 1934 they show a remarkable stability. Presumably because of the action of the Joint Brewers-Growers Committee, which fixed prices.

Throughout the first half of the 20th century there was a steady fall in average hopping rates:


http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zZb4F7VATSk/VWQkR8XboVI/AAAAAAAAXYY/Q0b-MC9HCgw/s640/hopping_rates_1902_1958.jpg (http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zZb4F7VATSk/VWQkR8XboVI/AAAAAAAAXYY/Q0b-MC9HCgw/s1600/hopping_rates_1902_1958.jpg)

Fig. 3.—Hop rates in U.S.A., United Kingdom and the World, 1902-1958.


“The graph. (Fig. 3) shows the steady downward trend in hop rates, conditioned by taxation and public taste. The United Kingdom hop rate is still well in the lead, and it seems to have steadied at around 1 lb. per brl. American rates are low and falling steadily by about 4% per annum. Fluctuations within the general trend have been caused by real shortages—as in the war—or by a desire to conserve stocks as in 1956-57. Traditionally, most brewers like to hold 6 months' stock or more - before the war some held up to 2 years! - and would reduce their hopping if there appeared any likelihood of having to use new hops before Christmas. It is probable with the present cost of money and storage we should all aim to carry lower stocks down to 2-3 months at the end of September. The hops will suffer much less deterioration of resins or oils, and any fears of rank flavour should be overcome by adjusting the hop rate to take account of the humulone content.”
Journal of the Institute of Brewing, Vol. 65, 1959, pages 470 - 471.
British brewers had this thing about not using the season’s hops immediately. Not sure why that was. They were a funny bunch brewers. They had their own ideas about how to do stuff. Two years’ worth of hops is a lot. Understandable when the price of hops could vary so much from year to year. But that was no longer the case after 1934, when prices were fixed.

My guess is that US hopping levels continued to fall at a similar rate until very recently. Hang on, I’ve no reason to guess, as I have the numbers.

Here you go:



Hopping rate in the USA 1945 - 2012


YEAR
PRODUCTION (BARRELS)
HOPS
LBS./ US BBL.
LBS./IMP. BARREL


1945
86,604,080
37,085,950
0.43
0.60


1946
84,977,700
37,555,031
0.44
0.61


1947
87,856,902
40,506,913
0.46
0.64


1948
91,291,219
41,576,128
0.46
0.64


1949
89,735,647
39,629,621
0.44
0.61


1950
88,807,075
37,889,576
0.43
0.60


1951
88,976,226
36,231,622
0.41
0.57


1952
89,600,916
35,233,507
0.39
0.54


1953
90,433,832
34,944,509
0.39
0.54


1954
92,561,067
35,127,350
0.38
0.53


1955
89,791,154
33,736,717
0.38
0.53


1956
90,697,911
32,938,442
0.36
0.50


1957
89,881,935
31,732,968
0.35
0.49


1958
89,010,812
30,419,008
0.34
0.47


1959
90,973,768
29,642,566
0.33
0.46


1960
94,547,867
30,825,243
0.33
0.46


1961
93,496,452
29,473,204
0.32
0.45


1962
96,417,543
29,896,445
0.31
0.43


1963
97,961,421
30,343,524
0.31
0.43


1964
103,017,915
30,446,822
0.3
0.42


1965
108,015,217
31,562,258
0.29
0.40


1966
109,736,341
31,054,401
0.28
0.39


1967
116,564,350
30,744,728
0.26
0.36


1968
117,523,511
29,231,847
0.25
0.35


1969
122,657,497
28,719,722
0.23
0.32


1970
134,653,881
38,195,191
0.23
0.32


1971
134,091,661
32,135,040
0.24
0.33


1972
140,326,680
33,467,886
0.24
0.33


1973
143,013,573
34,523,123
0.24
0.33


1974
153,053,027
36,777,733
0.24
0.33


1975
157,870,017
35,532,533
0.21
0.29


1976
160,663,276
33,033,645
0.21
0.29


1977
172,228,595
34,554,633
0.20
0.28


1978
171,639,479
36,208,645
0.21
0.29


1979
183,515,187
39,453,588
0.21
0.29


1980
188,373,657
42,212,542
0.22
0.31


1981
194,542,022
43,648,980
0.22
0.31


1982
193,984,371
41,952,844
0.22
0.31


1983
195,664,107
40,534,178
0.21
0.29


1984
193,416,051
44,053,897
0.23
0.32


1985
193,794,790
41,256,105
0.21
0.29


1986
193,988,955
40,313,730
0.21
0.29


1987
196,168,815
44,500,607
0.23
0.32


1988
197,381,834
46,328,359
0.23
0.32


1989
197,480,115
42,751,104
0.22
0.31


1990
201,690,728
44,215,816
0.22
0.31


1991
203,706,789
46,098,849
0.23
0.32


1992
201,394,757
44,347,197
0.22
0.31


1993r
202,276,650
43,323,569
0.21
0.29


1994
202,803,972
43,378,074
0.21
0.29


1995
199,215,197
33,962,792
0.17
0.24


1996
201,050,049
37,997,546
0.19
0.26


1997
198,904,373
31,570,175
0.16
0.22


1998
198,130,339
25,760,469
0.13
0.18


1999
198,251,742
29,226,416
0.15
0.21


2000
199,173,709
25,688,783
0.13
0.18


2001
199,332,251
26,009,711
0.13
0.18


2002
198,089,983
27,670,437
0.14
0.19


2003
194,812,010
23,996,000
0.12
0.17


2004
198,114,650
24,429,671
0.12
0.17


2005
197,252,016
26,634,298
0.14
0.19


2006
197,696,158
37,935,414
0.19
0.27


2007
198,464,270
53,708,315
0.27
0.38


2008
196,538,396
54,977,994
0.28
0.39


2009
196,810,099
61,836,364
0.31
0.44


2010
195,143,831
90,902,672
0.47
0.65


2011
192,718,037
107,726,628
0.56
0.78


2012
195,739,089
119,240,171
0.61
0.85


Source:


Various editions of the "The Brewers Almanac"



I’d expected hopping rates to have bounced back a bit in recent years, but not by that much. Between 2006 and 2012 the rate trebled. If that trend continues there could be a real shortage of hops in a few years.

There’s still a fair bit more of this to come.

More... (http://barclayperkins.blogspot.com/2015/05/hops-yesterday-today-and-tomorrow-part.html)