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Unlike in England, Porter was brewed right through WW II in Ireland. Its popularity, however, did seem to be on the wane. The amount produced may have increased a little, as a percentage of Guinness’s production, though, fell from 36% to 25%.

Sadly, I’ve no intimate details of Guinness Porter. I do, though, of another Irish Porter, that from Perry.

This version has a gravity similar to pre-war Guinness Porter. Except with a shit degree of attenuation. I’m not convinced that those FGs are the real ones

Compared to the pre-war version, the hopping rate is a good bit lower. In the case of the 1943 beer, not much more than half that of 1935. I’m guessing that this is connected with the interruption of hop imports and the limited amounts of English hops available.
Guinness sales in Ireland 1939 - 1945
Year Extra Stout Porter total % Porter
1939 481,588 273,067 754,655 36.18%
1940 463,827 265,473 729,300 36.40%
1941 548,112 304,648 852,760 35.72%
1942 591,057 294,823 885,680 33.29%
1943 705,568 286,826 992,394 28.90%
1944 804,301 290,993 1,095,294 26.57%
1945 918,147 300,447 1,218,594 24.66%
Source:
"A Bottle of Guinness please" by David Hughes, pages 276-279.

Perry Porter during WW II
Year Brewer Beer OG FG ABV App. Atten-uation lbs hops/ qtr hops lb/brl
1943 Perry Porter 1040.0 1017.0 3.04 57.50% 5.26 0.89
1944 Perry Porter 1042.0 1018.0 3.18 57.14% 6.67 1.26
Source:
Perry brewing records held at the local studies department of Laois county library.




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