Ron Pattinson joins me to discuss his upcoming book on British beer brewing during World War II. Ron has done extensive research on how commercial beer production and recipes evolved during the war.
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Topics in This Week’s Episode (47:19)
- This week my guest is Ron Pattinson. Ron is the author of dozens of historical brewing books primarily focused on the UK. Ron also runs a blog titled Shut Up About Barclay Perkins where he regularly publishes articles on historical beer brewing.
- We briefly discuss Ron’s return from Thailand last week as the Coronavirus breakout began.
- Ron introduces the new book he’s working on called “Blitzkreig!” which covers the history of British beer brewing in WWII.
- Ron explains how beer brewing was much different in WWII vs WWI where we saw a drop in production.
- We talk about the drop in beer gravity combined with rising production of beer during the war.
- Ron explains beer taxes, which rose during WWII but not nearly as much as they did during WWI.
- We discuss the role Churchill played in maintaining beer production.
- Ron tells us how recipes evolved in response to ingredient supply including large changes year-to-year in brewing recipes.
- We discuss hops, which largely were kept in supply during the war though hop content did drop slightly in recipes.
- Ron explains shortages in new equipment, coal and other items which also made brewing a challenge.
- Demand for beer remained high during the war which was good for breweries.
- Ron talks a bit about bombing around London which hit many breweries, but also how the breweries often had fire brigades which helped them manage the damage.
- We talk about his blog and where people can learn more about beer brewing in WWII.
Sponsors
- Thank you to our sponsor Craft Beer and Brewing Magazine for sponsoring this episode. I encourage you to subscribe to their great magazine!
- And also Anvil Brewing Equipment. Anvil is a new line of kettles, burners and accessories from John Blichmann at Blichmann Engineering. They make top quality brewing equipment built to last a lifetime.
- Also check out BeerSmith, BeerSmith Mobile software and the new DVDs John Palmer and I filmed – How to Brew with Malt Extract and How to Brew All Grain are available now. You can subscribe to the BeerSmith newsletter for free to get some great articles on home brewing.
Thanks to Ron Pattinson for appearing on the show and also to you for listening!
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