By far the largest was Federation. Which, in terms of outlets served, was up there with the biggest regional brewers. And, given that clubs were generally larger than pubs, might have had the most output of any of them. They were the last of the club breweries to close.
Oldham, probably on account of its limited geographical distribution, tended to get forgotten about. I can't remember it having a reputation one way or the other, good or bad. Unusually for brewers in the Manchester area, it didn't produce that much cask, Which might also explain the lack of attention from CAMRA.
While to try Okell's beers, you needed to visit the Isle of Man. Which enttailed a fair amount of effort.
Northern Clubs Federation
Newcastle,
Tyne & Wear.
Founded: 1919
Closed: 2010
Tied houses: 900 clubs (not owned)
One of the club breweries founded in the aftermath of WW I. They were notable for being the only brewer to publish the gravity of their beers. Mostly supplying clubs, the beer was usually in tank form. I never got to try it myself. They sold most beer in the Norttheast, but also supplied clubs in Lancashire, Yorkshire and, weirdly, Coventry and Cornwall. A new brewery was built South of the Tyne in Dunston in 1980. Scottish & Newcastle bought them in 2004. They were shut by Heineken in 2010.
beer | style | format | OG | description |
Federation Pale Ale | Pale Ale | tank | 1032 | well-flavoured |
Federation Special Ale | Pale Ale | tank | 1041 | well-flavoured |
Federation Pale Ale | Pale Ale | keg | well-flavoured | |
Federation Special Ale | Pale Ale | keg | well-flavoured | |
Special Ale | Pale Ale | bottled | 1041 | |
Export | Pale Ale | bottled | 1046 | |
Light Brown Ale | Brown Ale | bottled | 1032 | |
Strong Brown Ale | Brown Ale | bottled | 1047 | |
Sweet Stout | Stout | bottled | 1044 |
Okell
Douglas,
Isle of Man.
Founded: 1850
Closed: still open
Tied houses: 80
The larger of the two Isle of Man breweries, Okell had tied houses spread across the whole island. I can’t remember their beers ever making it to the mainland. And never tried then myself, not having visited the Isle of Man. It merged with Castletown, the other local brewer, in 1986, forming Isle of Man Breweries.
beer | style | format | OG | description |
Bitter | Pale Ale | draught | 1035.9 | good hopping rate |
Mild | Mild | draught | 1035.2 | Dark Mild |
Falcon Keg Bitter | Pale Ale | keg | ||
Falcon Pale Ale | Pale Ale | bottled | ||
Falcon Nut Brown Ale | Brown Ale | bottled | medium sweet | |
Falcon No. 1 Strong Ale | Barley Wine | bottled |
Oldham
Oldham,
Greater Manchester.
Founded: 1868
Closed: 1988
Tied houses: 100
Oldham was one of the smaller regional brewers in the Manchester area. Most of their pubs were either in Oldham itself or a few miles from it. With a couple in neighbouring towns. Quite a lot of the beer was sold in tank form and only about 25% selling cask. I can’t remember seeing the beer at beer festivals. I only ever drank it on a daytrip to Oldham with my mate Simon. I thought they were perfectly OK beers. Purchased by Boddingon in 1982 and closed a few years later.
beer | style | format | OG | description |
Bitter | Pale Ale | draught | 1037.2 | well hopped |
Mild | Mild | draught | 1031.7 | medium sweet Dark Mild |
Bitter | Pale Ale | keg | 1037.2 | |
Mild | Mild | keg | 1031.7 | |
Rheingold | Lager | keg | 1035 | |
Pale Ale | Pale Ale | bottled | ||
Brown Ale | Brown Ale | bottled | ||
Old Tom | Old Ale | bottled | strong and dark | |
Oldham Stout | Stout | bottled | medium sweet |
12 comments:
I'm pretty sure I saw an Okells beer in one of the Liverpool city centre pubs we used to go to after union meetings there about twenty years ago.
Clubs fed spesh was a good tank beer, and was lighter in colour than the equivalent S&N Exhibition. Great session beer. The ordinary was always referred to as "Scotch" whilst being a pale colour.
Scottish & Newcastle were known as the Jocks and the Geordies in some CAMRA circles, after the comic strip in the Dandy.
Early 1970's, in my student days (Durham) the mountaineering club used to put on a coach every fortnight to the Lake District. On the return journey, we would stop at the Barnard Castle W.M.C. for about an hour, when we would knock back as much Fed Ordinary as we could, at 11p a pint it was the cheapest beer going, and better than most. Most beers were in the 14 to 16p range.
Plus one for Okells beers in Liverpool - The Swan on Wood Street and also at a few beer festivals I'm almost certain.
"They were shut by Heineken in 2010" - I can imagine that board meeting - "What do you mean it needs looking after once it gets to the club before we can sell it. Cant we just hook it up to the pump and flog it"
Have clubs undergone te same struggles as pubs in tecent years?
Yes, there are Okells pubs in Liverpool, or at least ones owned by the same parent company Heron and Brearley. And the Oldham brewery kit went to Timothy Taylor's, who also use the Oldham yeast.
Miraculously I just dredged something up from my memory banks from sixty years ago! At a mate's 18th birthday party, his brother worked at Fed and had a cask delivered. Stainless steel, brother had already tapped it for us and we just served it on gravity.
Towards the end some hop fragments were coming through, at the time my Dad was a home brewer and I was able to confirm that this was normal, not rat shit or something. Clearly cask hopped. I'd guess they did some casks for smaller orders etc, so some brewing skills had remained despite most of the beer being tanked.
A lot of parish clubs run by the church have closed yes - the snooker room, big room with bingo and acts, and resident organ players didn't really keep up with the times.
Wikipedia tells me Okells have five pubs on the mainland - 'Beers are available on the Isle of Man and in the UK. Okells have five UK pubs:
Thomas Rigby's, Liverpool
The Fly In The Loaf, Liverpool
The Lady of Mann, Liverpool,
Bear and Billet, Chester
The Academy, Aberystwyth, Wales'
And Wikipedia says Okells brew 'Aile - a smoked Porter, voted Europe's best Smoked Beer in the 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2013 World Beer Awards', five different regular cask ales, four seasonals, and nine occasionals, including Aile. Who'd have thought?
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