Beer in England

Question

This piglix contains articles or sub-piglix about Beer in England

Answer 1

Brewers of Burton

Burton upon Trent had a unique position in the history of brewing, exporting beer throughout the world and accounting for a quarter of UK beer production at one time; emulation of Burton water is a prevalent brewing technique called Burtonisation. Much of its area was given over to the industry throughout the 19th century and brewers dominated the town politically and socially.

When the town was incorporated as a borough in 1878, the brewers Henry Wardle, John Yeomans, and Sydney Evershed, who had served previously as improvement commissioners, were chosen as aldermen at the first council meeting. Other brewers were co-opted and William Henry Worthington, formerly chairman of the improvement commissioners, was chosen as mayor. Brewers were prominent in parliament with Bass, Ratcliff and Gretton and Evershed representing Burton and Gretton and Wardle representing South Derbyshire. Many brewers were ennobled - for example Allsopp, Bass, and Gretton, creating a subgroup of the Peerage, nicknamed the Beerage. Yet an industry that had over 30 participants in 1881 had declined to eight in 1927 and many famous names disappeared from the shelves.

Here follows a roughly chronological list of known brewers and brewing companies in Burton: This lists owners rather than breweries because a brewery is a building - some brewers had more than one brewery and brewery buildings sometimes changed hands. In addition to companies started from scratch in the town, there were also pre-existing brewers from outside Burton who moved into the town in the 1870s.

Other brewers existing in 1880 included the following:

A further three brewers are listed in 1898:

As early as 1827, Burton Cricket Club was formed through the influence of Abraham Bass son of brewer Michael Bass. Bass was known as 'the father of Midland cricket' and was a member of the Northern Counties team which played against the M.C.C. at Burton in 1841. In the heyday of brewing in Burton, many brewery companies had their own cricket teams. The Brewery Cup was established in around 1894 by the Burton Breweries Cricket Association. A legacy of the era remains in the two cricket grounds that have been used by Derbyshire County Cricket Club - the Bass Worthington Ground and the Ind Coope Ground. First class cricketers from the brewing families, all of whom except the Allsopps played for Derbyshire, include

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Answer 2

Cheddar Ales

Cheddar Ales

Cheddar Ales is a small independent brewery located in the village of Cheddar in Somerset, England, which produces a range of regular and seasonal beers. Its owner and head brewer, Jem Ham, previously worked 15 years at Butcombe Brewery in nearby Wrington.

The brewery produces two regular beers and the occasional seasonal brew.

In 2007, Potholer won a silver medal at the Society of Independent Brewers annual Maltings Beer Festival. In 2009, Totty Pot Porter won Bronze Medal in the Champion Bottled Beers at the SIBA National Beer Competition, and a gold award at the International Beer Challenge, where it won best bottled beer.

Each year the brewery holds a beer festival featuring both its own and guest beers, plus live music. In June 2011, the festival raised £2,650 for local charities including the local Cheshire Home in Axbridge.

Coordinates: 51°16′02″N 2°46′08″W / 51.267131°N 2.768909°W / 51.267131; -2.768909

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Answer 3

Cobra Beer

Cobra Beer

Cobra Beer is an Indian beer brand manufactured in the United Kingdom and China.

The group's primary product is an extra-smooth premium beer with an alcohol strength of 4.8% volume. The beer was founded in 1989 by Karan Bilimoria, and Arjun Reddy – who thought that Britain needed a smoother, less gassy lager, which would appeal to both ale drinkers and lager drinkers alike. A blend of water, malted barley, yeast, rice, maize wheat and four varieties of hops is used to produce the required characteristics.

In June 2011 Molson Coors bought a controlling interest in Cobra.

As of 2014, Cobra Beer is primarily produced in Burton upon Trent, Rodenbach in Belgium and in Patna in the Indian state of Bihar.

Cobra Beer was founded in 1989 by Karan Bilimoria, then aged 27 and £20,000 in debt. A Cambridge law graduate and qualified chartered accountant, Bilimoria launched Cobra Beer when it became clear to him that Britain needed a smoother, less gassy lager that appealed to both ale drinkers and lager drinkers alike, and that complemented all types of cuisine. Bilimoria said that "the (British) lager was too fizzy, too harsh and too bloating. It meant that I couldn't eat or drink as much as I would like. At the same time, I found real ale to be great in a pub, but too bitter and heavy with food. So I came up with the idea of creating a beer with the refreshment of a lager, but with the smoothness of an ale."

Although originally intended to be named 'Panther', the name was changed to 'Cobra' when a focus group found the latter more appealing. The first shipment of Cobra was imported to the UK from the Bangalore-based Mysore Brewery in 1990, at the start of the early 1990s recession, however, large consumer demand and increased import costs prompted Bilimoria to move production to the United Kingdom in the mid-1990s.

From 1996, Cobra Beer was brewed under contract by Charles Wells Ltd and experienced strong growth in sales for the next ten years.

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Answer 4

Double Diamond Burton Pale Ale

Double Diamond Burton Pale Ale is an English pale ale, first brewed in 1876 by Samuel Allsopp & Sons. It was one of the highest selling beers in the United Kingdom in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s.

Samuel Allsopp & Sons of Burton upon Trent first brewed Double Diamond in 1876 as an India Pale Ale. Allsopp merged with Ind Coope in 1935. Bottled Double Diamond began to be advertised heavily from 1946, becoming one of four nationally distributed beers by the 1950s. Under reciprocal trading agreements Ind Coope would agree to stock a rival brewer's beer if they replaced their supply of Bass or Worthington with Double Diamond. The keg version was launched in the 1960s. In the 1970s, it was advertised heavily by Ind Coope, especially on TV, with the tagline: "A Double Diamond works wonders".

Carlsberg UK discontinued off-trade sales in 2003, although it continues as a keg beer. It has been alleged that small scale production of the bottled variant continues as it is Prince Philip's favourite beer, with Paul Burrell attesting that Philip drank a small bottle nightly. The keg version is currently known as Double Diamond Pale and is 2.8% ABV. Ind Coope Burton Ale (4.5% ABV), a cask conditioned version of bottled Double Diamond first brewed in 1976, is currently produced by Carlsberg UK.

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Answer 5

Hambleton Ales

Hambleton Ales is a brewery that was established in 1991 in the tiny hamlet of Holme on Swale, in Hambleton, North Yorkshire, England. Initially based in a converted outbuilding, the brewery achieved the target production of 800 gallons a week, within the first six months, and an award winning beer within the first year.

Hambleton Ales have won a number of awards. Nightmare won Champion Beer at the Society of Independent Brewers (SIBA) northern competition in January 2006 and a gold in the Campaign for Real Ale Champion Winter Beer of Britain in January 1997; and Gluten Free Ale won ‘Best Beer Innovation’ in the coveted Tesco Beer Challenge in 2005.

Today, Hambleton Ales produces 100 barrels a week, employs a staff of fifteen and regularly exports to Europe and the USA.

In 2007, Hambleton Ales moved to a larger Brewery on Barker Business Park, Melmerby.

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Answer 6

HonestBrew

HonestBrew

HonestBrew is a United Kingdom-based Craft Beer Club company which delivers craft beer subscription boxes. The company distributes thousands of craft beer boxes from over 100 breweries from around the world, per week across the UK.

HonestBrew was launched in 2014 by four friends (3 from New Zealand and 1 from Australia) in Andrew Reeve’s cramped London apartment, with bubbling hops creating an unruly mess in his kitchen. The company began delivering craft beer across the United Kingdom in early 2014.

The business, which bootstrapped using £30,000 of the founders own money and also received an initial cash injection from the government’s Start Up Loans initiative, has also raised £250,000 from leading food Industry experts and over £400,000 on the crowd funding platform Crowdcube.

In 2016, Startups.co.uk named HonestBrew number 49 on their annual list of the UK's leading Startups. HonestBrew also won the Startups Retail Business of the Year Award in 2015.

HonestBrew is on a mission to make great tasting craft beer more accessible, by providing a unique experience that matches beer to people’s tastes and delivers to their door. Every mixed case is curated by the expert team at HonestBrew and tailored to match each user’s individual profile. The flexible service is about discovery; users choose what box size and delivery frequency suits them and receive a different selection of beers every time.

HonestBrew works with over 50 breweries across the globe including Wild Beer Co, Yeastie Boys and SKA Brewing. With 95 per cent of the beers sold by Honest Brew not available in supermarkets, this personalised and curated service offers users something unique.

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Answer 7

Khukuri beer

Khukuri Beer

Khukuri Beer is a lager beer with an alcohol strength of 4.7%. The beer was founded in 2003 in a partnership by J.W. Lees Brewery and Mr. Mahanta B. Shrestha a non residential Nepalese restaurateur in London who embarked on a project to deliver a Nepalese beer in the UK. Since 2007, it is fully owned by Mr. Shrestha. The idea was initiated in order to supply a good demand for Asian beer to blend with south Asian and oriental cuisine.

Khukuri is beer found in UK,USA,Finland, Japan, Luxembourg and Portugal.

Khukuri Beer has been awarded the Gold quality award for the year 2012 by the Monde Selection, the world quality award governing body.

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Answer 8

Lewes Arms controversy

The Lewes Arms controversy involved a dispute between the Greene King Brewery and the regulars of the Lewes Arms pub in Lewes, East Sussex, England from 2006 to April 2007, when the brewery withdrew from sale a local beer.

The dispute prompted a change in Greene King's policy that may well have repercussions for other pubs that have lost the right to sell local beers. One of the Greene King directors (Mark Angela) left the company amid a shake up of all Greene King houses in which the managed house operations were split into two divisions.

Greene King decided to stop selling the locally produced Harveys Sussex Best Bitter at the Lewes Arms in December 2006.

The Harveys brewery is approximately half a mile from the pub and is a major local employer. The 220-year-old pub in the centre of the town had been acquired by Greene King in 1998. The seasonal Harveys ales were withdrawn in 2004 but the Best Bitter remained on sale because of its popularity - outselling Greene King's cask ales by a factor of 4 to 1. The decision to finally withdraw the Best Bitter turned into a public-relations disaster.

A petition of 1200 signatures was collected. The Mayor of Lewes and the local MP Norman Baker spoke out against the withdrawal.

Following the withdrawal, the regulars of the pub staged a well-publicised boycott with a regular vigil outside the pub at peak times to explain the situation to casual visitors. The boycott resulted in an estimated loss of trade of 90%. The campaign was covered on the internet and the licensing trade press (i.e. The Publican and the Morning Advertiser) prompting a wider discussion about the power of the larger brewers over consumer choice. It gained national coverage in The Guardian, The Mail on Sunday, The Financial Times, BBC Radio 4's Today and You and Yours programmes, Private Eye, The Observer and the Evening Standard.

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Answer 9

Matthew Clark

Matthew Clark

Matthew Clark is a United Kingdom based drinks distributor, owned by Conviviality Plc. Founded in 1810, the business primarily serves public houses, restaurants, bars and hotels within the mainland UK.

The company was formed in 1810 by Matthew Clark, the son of Charles Clark, Inspector General of Imported Liquors and Distillery at the Port of London and later Merchants' Gauger of wines and spirits for the City of London merchants. It was known for most of its history as a City of London wine and spirit importer called Matthew Clark and Sons. Six generations of the Clark/Gordon Clark family worked in it while it was an independent company. It was originally based in Great Tower Street, then from 1925 at 14 Trinity Square, Tower Hill, from 1956 at Walbrook House, and from 1972 at the Finsbury Distillery, the premises of the firm of that name, manufacturers of Stone’s Ginger wine, taken over in 1964. The Leeds-based firm of J. E. Mather, manufacturer of "Barchester British Wine", was taken over 1965-7. But the main business of the firm was that of representing foreign companies, principally from 1814 J. & F. Martell of Cognac, the great French brandy house, John DeKuyper & Son of Rotterdam, manufacturers of gin, by 1827, and up to 1925 Pedro Domecq, the sherry producers of Jerez de la Frontera. The archives of the firm were deposited in the Guildhall Library and are now in the London Metropolitan Archives; they are of considerable interest for the history of the wine and spirit trade in the 19th and early 20th century.

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Answer 10

Morrissey Fox

Morrissey Fox is a range of beers developed by actor Neil Morrissey and chef Richard Fox. Development of the original 'Blonde' ale began in January 2008 and was documented in the Channel 4 programme Neil Morrissey's Risky Business.

The line was expanded with several new beers in late 2008, with Fox telling The Publican that the brewer intended to establish themselves as a serious brewery with an established range of products.

"Neil Morrissey's Risky Business". Channel 4. 2011. 

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