Australian Hops In The Old Days

[Bribie G]

There's a bit of self interest in this post as the Brisbane club is running a comp in association with the Mt Tamborine Brewery for an Australian Pale Ale. Mention Australian hops and Pride of Ringwood seems to be the beginning and end of the list, but POR only appeared in the 1960s and Australian breweries had been churning out the goods on a modern industrial scale for a century before that.

Any suggestions on what hops might have been common before POR and if any of these strains are 'echoed' in hops available today? I would imagine some sort of Fuggle or Golding with the UK connection, but who knows....... XXXX uses cluster but I think that's a fairly modern development as well.

Does anyone know what Coopers uses nowadays in its Sparkling / Pale brews?

 

[reviled]

Might pay to flick coopers an email and ask em, im sure they will be accomodating B)

If I had to guess, id say EKG would be a big one, isnt that the only "old" hop that survives? And then again, maybe they used a hop strain that you cant get anymore? Allways a possibility...

 

[warrenlw63]

According to the book The Amber Nectar before the advent of Pride of Ringwood hops were mainly local or imported Clusters or British varieties or the better varieties were grown in Tasmania. Unfortunately the variety is not named. Basically the history on early Australian hops is scant to non-existent. My guess is it would have been a combination of so-so local varieties and higher quality (albeit sometimes stale) British and European imports with no particular emphasis on what they used. :unsure:

FWIW Coopers use POR in some form or another.

Warren -

 

[jonocarroll]

James Squire: Wikipedia: James stated at the Bigge inquiry into New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land in 1820 that he had been brewing for 30 years and that he made it from hops he got from the Daedalus.

It's probably earlier than you were inquiring about, but I'd imagine that the cultivation of English hops would have continued a little, and when that stopped, the (same?) English hops were probably imported. As for which hop, someone could look into just what variety were on the Daedalus.

 

[Timmsy]

I wouldnt have a clue but know that you have asked im interested aswell

 

[Thirsty Boy]

I can ask one of the brewers at work - he's a brewing history buff and might know. I'll try to remember to ask next week.

 

[chappo1970]

I can't believe there aren't any record or history on this. I mean Beer culture in Australia is well...huge! I tried a google search but nothing but fluff. I would be interested on what comes of this as well. Maybe Mr Butters knows? :blink:

 

[staggalee]

For the First Fleeters, until they settled in and started cultivating their own hops, it would be quite possible they were replacing hops with spruce needles.
You`ll still find recipes today for spruce beer.
Not that I would be queing up for it.

stagga.

 

[Bribie G]

I would imagine that high quality hops were used; brands like Reschs Dinner Ale and Fosters go way back to the 1920s and were advertised as quality beers. POR in the 60s was the highest AA hop in the world and embraced by local brewers presumably to get more bang for the buck, I wouldn't be surprised if the pre POR beers were a far better drop in the hops dept.

Thirsty: if you could find that out it would be awesome as that's info apparently not on the web.

 

[white.grant]

Thinking back to my Aussie history 101, the early settlers were having great difficulty getting anything grow here so I'm betting that the hops were imported varieties and that the early brewers were attempting to clone the styles of the old dart.

The recent thread on the new last Jamil show about Aussie PA mentioned that the style really grew out of the the need to use coarse high alpha hops.

cheers

grant

 

[BoilerBoy]

I remember reading a history of Coopers Brewery a few years back and I'm fairly certain it mentioned that he "Thomas Cooper" used Fuggles imported from the old country.

Happy to be corrected though?

Cheers,
BB

 

[buttersd70]

Maybe Mr Butters knows? :blink:

LOL, no I don't, other than the presumption that it would have been English type hops....but Australian Beer is a category 2 beer. Not exactly my forte.




(there are two types of beer....those brewed in Yorkshire, and the rest. :lol: )

 

[staggalee]

LOL, no I don't, other than the presumption that it would have been English type hops....but Australian Beer is a category 2 beer. Not exactly my forte.




(there are two types of beer....those brewed in Yorkshire, and the rest. :lol: )

Long live P.O.R.
Cop that, yer rotten pommy *******.

with thanks, of course, to Barry McKenzie. :lol:

stagga.

 

[Korev]

From my research in the State Library NSW for the Jamil show on Aussie Pale Ale the original 1880ish recipe for Coopers Sparkling was Goldings as they were trying to emulate the imports from the UK. - ref Jolly good ale and old : the history of Coopers Brewery 1862-1987 Alison Painter

From the Handbook for Australian Brewers J C MacCartie1884 - the brewers of that time were happy for hops to come from California, NZ or Victoria because they were fresher than the 2nd rate stuff they were getting from the UK - so perhaps Pacific Cluster from California is a hop that is representative of that era.
#
cesonoma.ucdavis.edu/hortic/pdf/hop_culture.pdf
#

Cheers Korev

 

[Bribie G]

By the end of the 19th century there was a well established trade route across the Pacific from the USA as a result of the Gold Rushes - that's where chokos and blue cattle dogs came from, for instance - and a trans Pacific hop trade would have been quite feasible.

XXXX uses Cluster hops and, the company having migrated from Castlemaine in Victoria in the 19th century I wonder if they brought their preference for cluster hops (a US variety apparently derived from native hops there) with them from Victoria to Brisbane.

The 1880s were the 'boom' period of Victoria due to the gold rushes and the importation of US hops would make sense given the shipping routes of the time.

Interestinger and interestinger.

 

[Kenny the plumber]

In a book I got somewhere or mayby the back of a James Squire bottle. I read in reference to the brewer that Squires is founded on that at the start of colony days most beer was imported and when the started making it they used some wild plant for bittering untill the brewer imported some plants and started growing the first field. He was awarded some prize by the govoner or something?
Will see If I can find it again

 

[staggalee]

The 1880s were the 'boom' period of Victoria

1880 ?

That would have been the last boom they had then ?

stagga.

 

[Kenny the plumber]

Found it
A brewer called John Boston used fermentable sugars form corn and used cape gooseberry leaves for bittering pre 1804, dont know what it would taste like?
James Squire first sucessfully cultivated hops in Australia in 1804 and was given a cow from the gorvernors heard.
Info out of The complete guide to Beer and Brewing by Laurie Strachan, a fantastic book!!
Cheers

 

[Batz]

James Squire

Do you know James Squire was a convict and while interned he stole ingredients to brew a beer,this was discovered and because it was so good he received only 100 lashes.
Not until he earned his freedom did he set up a brewery,and he's not Australia's first brewer either.

Batz

 

[staggalee]

James Squire

he stole ingredients to brew a beer,this was discovered and because it was so good he received only 100 lashes.

Sort of makes you wonder then what he would have copped if it had HSA.

stagga.