How Whitbread got their claws into Tennant

Rummaging through the newspaper archives, I discovered that Whitbread’s relationship with Tennant Bros. went back further than I had imagined.

Whitbread were very canny in their dealings with other breweries. Rather than the aggressive buying up of rivals practised by other upcoming national groups like Hammonds, Whitbread played the helpful big brother. Buying into breweries, but not immediately taking them over. This cautious and friendly approach held them in good stead in the 1960’s, when they were able to us the shareholdings as a platform to take over full control.

This is how it started with Tennant Bros.

“Whitbread funds for Sheffield brewers Closer link with Tennants
our City Editor SYDNEY J. BROOKER 171, Fleet Street, EC4 Telephone—FLE 9693
Wednesday Evening
Having embarked on a programme of capital expenditure to be carried out over five years, the directors of Tennant Bros., the Sheffield brewery undertaking, feel that the time has come when the provision of additional capital should be assured.

That the Tennant directors have turned to Whitbread and Co., the big London brewers, for the required finance is satisfactorily explained by the fact that for some time the two have enjoyed friendly co-operation and a close business relationship. The ties between them will be extended and strengthened by the acquisition by Whitbreads of a substantial shareholding in Tennant Bros.”
Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer - Thursday 29 December 1955, page 7.

Reading between the lines, it sounds as if Tennant didn’t have the money to invest that their business required. The money provided by Whitbread in return for a shareholding would provide that capital. As time would show, this was a dangerous approach for a company wishing to remain independent.

The existing relationship between the companies was probably Tennant bottling some Whitbread brands and selling them in their pubs. I’m thinking Mackeson.

“This is to done in several stages. First Whitbreads will take up forthwith up to £50,000 worth of Ordinary glares. The price to be fixed by the Tennant directors probably will be based on the Stock Exchange official quotation averaged over a period of months. This procedure will be repeated during next year and may be again repeated in subsequent years up to a further amount of £150,000, commitment for the longer term is to be entered into at this stage.

It will thus be seen that the maximum investment of Whitbreads in the Sheffield undertaking under these is arrangements is £250,000. That would be a substantial investment but would not represent a controlling interest. As regards future dividends, the Tennant board is confident that, in the absence of unforeseen circumstances, the present rate of distribution of 13.5 per cent, can be maintained, and even raised, on the increased Ordinary capital.”
Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer - Thursday 29 December 1955, page 7.

I’m not sure how they get a maximum of £250,000 from the amounts of £50,000 and £150,000. Surely that should be £200,000? No matter what the figure was, it was a considerable amount of money in the 1950’s. I suppose for Tennant the attraction of raising capital this way was that they didn’t have to get into debt. Though, obviously, long-term it led to the possibility of being taken over completely. Note that it ordinary, i.e. voting, shares that were involved.

Something similar was experienced by a couple of dozen other brewing companies, though Whitbread didn’t end up owing all of them. Just most of them.

Golden Angels

One last Gold Label reminiscence by Frank Priestley.

It sounds like Tennant Bros. was quite a fun place to work. And that there was plenty of boozing going on in addition to the official allowance. And most of that boozing seemed to involve Gold Label.

I’d love to get some brewed the old way. The 1950’s Tennant recipe and a year in casks. It’s not that difficult. Patience is all it really requires. Though, obviously, it couldn’t be sold as Gold Label, as the beer still exists. Tennant’s Gold – might be able to get away with that. The trademark on Tennant has probably been allowed to lapse. Get in touch if you fancy giving it a go.

“On another occasion, I again had a party of Trade Union officials, but this time they were from Czechoslovakia (as it was known then). The officials themselves were rather subdued; they had visited one of the Newcastle breweries the day before and they were still suffering from the after effects of legendary Geordie hospitality. However, their interpreter was a charming lady called Hana. She was in fine form and was telling me about the renowned brewing industry of her native land and of the many special beers that they brewed there. (The word 'pilsner', for instance, related to beer brewed in the Czechoslovakian town of Pilsen.)”
"The Brewer's Tale" by Frank Priestley, 2010, page 121.

It must have been some pissup if they’d managed to subdue a bunch of Czech men. Especially working class ones. They like their beer and know how to drink it in quantity.

“By a fortunate chance, I found a case of Gold Label Barley Wine behind the bar and was pleased to introduce her to that 'special brew'. She took to it immediately and by the time we were on our second or third, she had started calling them 'Golden Angels', which I thought was a perceptive and appropriate description. After a while, she asked me if I had ever visited Czechoslovakia. 'Many times,' I replied expansively. She was taken aback by my effusive answer, since her country was not, at that time, one of the major locations on the tourist map. I felt I needed to explain.”
"The Brewer's Tale" by Frank Priestley, 2010, page 121.

Fortunate chance? I’m sure it was deliberately stashed there for an occasion just like this.

Hang on. Maybe that would work as a name for an old-school Gold Label: Golden Angels. What a brilliant idea.

It sounds like Frank Priestley had quite a session with the Czech lass:

“Although our Trade Union guests revived only a little from their hangovers, Hana and I had a thoroughly enjoyable session and a week or so later, she sent me a post card from Prague saying that she still could not forget the taste of 'Golden Angels'.”
"The Brewer's Tale" by Frank Priestley, 2010, page 122.

That’s all I have about Gold Label for now. How sad.

Allowance beer

British breweries all used to be “wet”. Meaning that beer was drunk during the working day.

This beer was provided free by the employer. Various systems were employed. Sometimes it was: there’s a barrel, help yourself. At other breweries it was more regulated. With workers getting a certain allowance per day. Hence the term Allowance Beer.

“The cellar was an important department for all those who worked in the brewery, for it was here that the beer allowance was issued. Men came down at the allotted time and filled their glasses, jugs, cans or whatever from a tap in the wall. Some drank it there and then, sitting on the benches provided. Others took it back to be enjoyed in the warmth of their own departments. It is all supervised by the cellar foreman. A few men did not take any allowance; they preferred a can of tea, while others somehow managed to scrounge an extra pint. I took the view that a man doing heavy physical work would soon assimilate a few pints. During my time in the Sheffield brewery, there was quite a turnover of cellar foremen. Some people became superstitious about it, particularly as they all had names beginning with the letter 'H' - Arthur Hunter, Eddie Hardy, Bill Hopkinson and Brian Helliwell.
"The Brewer's Tale" by Frank Priestley, 2010, page 39.

It doesn’t say, annoyingly, how much the allowance was. It sounds like more than one pint. If you remember earlier quotes from Frank Priestley, there was loads of illicit Gold Label being drunk in the brewery, as well as the allowance.

I can vouch for hard physical labour working off pints quickly. Especially the watery Mild they’d have been given as their allowance. I once had 5 pints of Fuller’s Hock at lunchtime. After 2 hours back at work, I couldn’t feel it at all.

The only brewery I’ve worked in, the former Hols brewery in Newark. It was the take as much as you like from these barrels approach. The old hands could knock back 5 pints in a 15-minute “tea” break. It was pretty bleak. A dingy cellar with a barrel each of Mild and AK in one corner.

The next bit relates to the bottling stores of Ind Coope & Allsopp in Burton-on-Trent.

“On the other side of the Upper Hall are the canteen and mess rooms together with the women's cloakroom and locker room; the men have the same facilities nearby. On wet days, employees' outer clothing is dried by means of steam-pipes beneath the lockers. Each male employee over 18 years of age is given two numbered checks or metal dues every morning as he commences work; these he may exchange at the "allowance bar" for two pints of draught beer during the course of the day. There is no stipulated time—the bar is open during all normal working hours—and a man may take his allowance beer home if he brings his own clean bottle or other container.
Journal of the Institute of Brewing, Volume 57, Issue 6, November-December 1951, page 434

Note that only the men got free beer. Despite the fact that, this being a bottling operation, there were quite a few women working at the site. And that, although the allowance was only two pints, the bar was open all day. Sounds like a dream job, in some ways. Especially if you saved some tokens for Friday.

I’ve only worked one place with its own bar: Legal & General in Surrey. It was very civilised. You could have a pint of cask Bitter with your lunch. And a few more at the bridge club after work.

Advertising Gold Label (part four)

Searching the newspaper archives for Gold Label throws up an odd set of results. Loads from1954 and then a couple from 1966. By which time it had morphed into a Whitbread brand.

“the beer that’s matured like a wine

and blended like a whisky.

Take a very special sort of beer. Allow it to mature for several months. Blend it with all the finesse of a whisky-blender. And you’ve got a smooth, full-bodied, miraculously glowing drink called a Gold Label. Try one. Should you have any difficulty in finding a local supplier, write to Whitbread & Co, Chiswell Street, London ECI. A Whitbread beer, brewed at Tennant’s brewery, Sheffield. 
Illustrated London News - Saturday 12 March 1966, page 29.

That’s quite informative in some ways: it tells us that Gold Label was still matured and was still being brewed at the Exchange Brewery in Sheffield. And still being blended.

What they’re really trying to do is big up Gold Label by comparing it to drinks considered classier than beer such as wine and whisky.

This next advert is quite bizarre:

“We discovered gold in a Sheffield cellar.
Now it’s in bars all over the place.
When Tennants Brewery joined us, they invited us to have a good nose round their cellars in Sheffield.

And what do you think we found ?

A pure golden, ambrosial drink called Gold Label. Matured like wine for several months.

And blended like a whisky.

We obviously had the secret of Yorkshire CC, Sheffield Wednesday and Wakefield Trinity on our hands.

There was only one drawback.

We also had a rival beer on our hands. Our own Final Selection with a virile supporters’ club.

With shelf space like gold dust and delivery costs crippling, it seemed wise to give one of them the chop.

But which one ? We just couldn’t decide.

So now we sell them both throughout the country where you see our sign.

The buck is passed, the choice is yours.

Not ours.

Whitbread for choice.”
Illustrated London News - Saturday 10 February 1968, page 38.

You may remember that all of the other Tennant’s brands were discontinued after the Whitbread takeover. Gold Label must have been something special to survive. In the early 1970’s, Whitbread were brewing both it and Final Selection at Chiswell Street. Not sure when Final Selection was discontinued, but I can’t remember it at all. That says something.

Final Selection was a very different beer to Gold Label. For a start the was very different, a dark brown. And while the Chiswell Street version of Gold Label was just lager malt, lots of sugar and flaked maize, Final Selection had a grist of pale malt, a little sugar and some chocolate malt. The hopping was different, too. Gold Label: Hallertau, Styrian, MK and Worcester hops; Hop extract. Final Selection: EK hops; Hop extract.

The choice of Yorkshire sports teams is interesting. I doubt they’d pick Sheffield Wednesday today, while they languish in the lower divisions. I wonder which footy team they would select? The only Yorkshire sides currently in the Premiership – Hull and Middlesborough – aren’t exactly the most fashionable clubs.

Wakefield Trinity are a Rugby League team. I believe they’re called something else now. Just looked it up. Wakefield Trinity Wildcats. Bloody stupid name. Though not quite as bad as Leeds Rhinos which doesn’t even alliterate.

Advertising Gold Label (part three)

It makes a lot of sense that Tennant timed their 1954 advertising campaign for the winter months. Barley Wine isn’t so much of a summer drink. Plus there are all the winter celebrations.

Which their copywriters were happy to exploit:

“In Sunderland everyone in the know getting it in for Christmas!

We’ll tell you why...

If there is one thing that will assuredly make your Christmas a happy one, it‘s Tennants Gold Label Barley Wine. For months the Gold Label that's now on sale has lain maturing in ripe old casks. It’s been watched over, inspected, then finally passed as perfect for Christmas. And perfect for Christmas it certainly is, with its bright-as-tinsel sparkle, its beaming amber glow, its clean deeply satisfying flavour. Every party and every home will be the merrier for a few bottles of Gold Label. So, now that you are 'in the know’, get in your supply. Father Christmas rather expects it of you!

It's a special brew of good wholesome beer!

Local Distributor: ARCHIBALD TOWER & CO. LTD.
Brandling Park, Felling-on-Tyne.
Tel: Felling-on-Tyne 82535.”
Sunderland Daily Echo and Shipping Gazette - Wednesday 08 December 1954, page 10.

Note the emphasis once more about how long Gold Label had been aged. And how clear and well-carbonated it was. Yes, I’d be merrier with a few Gold Labels in me on Christmas morning. This year I’ll just have to make do with St. Bernardus Abt. Poor me.

“In Sunderland everyone 'in the know' is making sure of a Happy Christmas!

We'll tell you how..

There's a Happy Christmas twinkling inside every bottle of Tennants Label Barley Wine. Buy a dozen or of these cheerful tokens of goodwill then your Christmas will be the best ever! Every one of your Gold Labels will pour clear and bright into its glass. Every one will sparkle as merrily as frost on Santa's whiskers. And every one will taste clean to your palate. Gold Label is carefully matured in selected casks. Over the months it develops its rich amber colour, its sparkle and its full mellow flavour. Now that you're ‘in the know’ make sure of your Christmas happiness. Make sure of it before the next caroller knocks at your door.

It's a special brew of good wholesome beer!
Local Distributor:
ARCHIBALD TOWER & CO. LTD.
Brandling Park, Felling-on-Tyne.
Tel: Felling-on-Tyne 82535."
Sunderland Daily Echo and Shipping Gazette - Friday 17 December 1954, page 10.

If you’re wondering Felling-on-Tyne is part of Gateshead on the south bank of the Tyne. “Cheerful tokens of goodwill” I’ll have to remember that one. Dolores, I’m just getting myself another cheerful token of goodwill from the fridge.

Gold Label was good for New Year as well as Christmas:

“In Monmouth everyone ‘in the know’ will welcome 1955 with it!

We'll tell you why... 

About the time you were enjoying your summer holiday Tennants were putting down a good supply of their Gold Label Barley Wine — with an eye to the New Year. All through autumn it has been lazily maturing in mellow old casks. Now it’s ready for your celebrations. Its deeply satisfying, clean-to-the-palate flavour has reached perfection. The brilliant sparkle's there and Gold Label’s rich amber glow is waiting to excite your eye. If you're having a party Tennants Gold Label Barley Wine will delight everyone, and help things go with a swing. If you prefer a quiet New Year's Eve, a Gold Label won't disturb your memories — but it will enrich them.

It’s a special brew of good wholesome beer!

Local Distributor:
JOHN DOBELL & BARTHOLOMEW LTD.
24 PROMENADE, CHELTENHAM.
Tel: Cheltenham 5158.
(and at TEWKESBURY), Tel; Tawkesbury 2233.”
Monmouthshire Beacon - Friday 24 December 1954, page 3.

As it had a minimum of 6 months in cask, the claim that it was laid down during the summer holidays is true. A few crates of Gold Label certainly would have made a party swing. At least until everyone started falling over and vomiting. Gold Label wouldn’t disturb your memories? Erase them, more like.

Advertising Gold Label (part two)

As promised, a second set of 1950’s Gold Label adverts.

First, an interesting pairing with Gold Label:

“In Leamington Spa everyone in the know is taking it home!

We’ll tell you why...

As port goes with Stilton cheese, so Tennants Gold Label Barley Wine goes with TV. It's a drink that will accompany you through a whole evening's programmes without its flavour going stale. And what a flavour Gold Label has! Clean to your palate, not cloying, clean, mellow and deeply satisfying. It's brought about by months of careful maturing in tempered-with-age casks. Slowly Gold Label develops its clear amber colour, its palate-tickling sparkle. And when it's reached perfection Gold Label is ready for you to take home. Some people prefer their Gold Label straight, without television - but decide that for yourself.

Gold Label can stand alone — just as it stands apart.

It's a special brew of good wholesome beer!

Local Distributor:
R. M. BIRD & CO,
32 BRIDGE STREET, STRATFORD-ON-AVON.
Tel : Stratford-on-Avon 2595.”
Leamington Spa Courier - Friday 29 October 1954, page 3.

Though it’s a pairing with TV rather than food. If they were writing this advert today, no doubt there would be some poncey food match suggested. Spending the whole evening drinking Gold Label while you watch the telly doesn’t sound like a great idea. Five or six bottles and you’d be well on your way. I’d recommend something longer and weaker for a long evening in.

They really did like to emphasise the ageing in casks. I’d probably be quite cynical about this process if I hadn’t read Frank Priestley’s description of it. Though the claim that the colour developed during this ageing does sound like total bollocks. I guess they’re trying to make it sound like whisky, which does pick up its colour from the casks it’s aged in. I know Gold Label didn’t get darker because I’ve colour numbers at racking time and at point of sale.

Leamington Spa is quite a distance from Sheffield: about 100 miles due South. I’m surprised that they were selling Gold Label that far away.

The advert writers liked to draw comparisons between Gold Label and other classy drinks. This time it’s champagne:

“In Leamington Spa everyone in the know is drinking it!

We’ll tell you why . .

Take a look at glass of Tennants Gold Label Barley Wine. Notice its inviting clear amber colour, its equal-to-champagne sparkle - they give a clue to Gold Label's flavour. It's clean to your palate, not cloying, clean. And the welcoming glow you see deep in the heart of a Gold Label spreads right through you! Long months of careful maturing in mellow old casks enrich this deeply satisfying barley wine, and only when Gold Label has reached the peak of perfection, is it sold. Now that are 'in the know' try a Gold Label for yourself. You'll feel better for drinking it, and you'll make it a regular pleasure.

It's special brew of good wholesome beer!

Local Distributor:
R. M. BIRD & CO,
32 BRIDGE STREET, STRATFORD-ON-AVON.
Tel: Stratford-on-Avon 2595.”
Leamington Spa Courier - Friday 15 October 1954, page 3.

If you remember, Priestley mentioned that Gold Label was more highly carbonated than Tennant’s other bottled beers. I don’t particularly remember it being that fizzy when I drank it. Then again, I usually knock most carbonation out of bottled beer. I like my beer nice and flat.

I’ve still got quite a bit more of this stuff.

Gold Label - Tennant vs Whitbread

Was Gold Label the same beer when brewed away from the Exchange Brewery in Sheffield? Luckily, I’m in the enviable position of being able to answer that question.

Because I’ve got Gold Label brewing records from both the Exchange Brewery and Chiswell Street. They’re almost two decades apart, so it’s possible that Tennant-brewed versions had changed by the time Whitbread started brewing it in London.

One thing that struck some commenters about my Tennant Gold Label recipe was the high percentage of flaked maize in the grist. I assume this was as much to keep the colour pale as it was to keep costs down. One of the unusual features of Whitbread was that they didn’t use adjuncts, other than when forced to during wartime. Their grists were 100% malt and sugar. Except for Gold Label.

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. We’ll look at the specs of the two beers first. To be honest, in most respects they look pretty similar. The OG and FG are a little higher in the Tennant version and the attenuation a little lower. But it’s not a huge difference. Remember as well that in 1955 Gold Label spent 6-12 months in wood. That would have knocked down the FG a bit.

The boils times are identical: three hours for both the first and second coppers. They’d need to this to hit the target gravity, as both were brewed single-gyle. Three hours is exceptional long after WW II. About half that was the norm. The colour for the two versions are also pretty close, with the Whitbread version being a little paler.

I was going to say that there was a big difference in the hopping rate. But I was forgetting that Whitbread’s version contained hop extract. Taking that into account the hopping is quite similar.

Gold Label - Tennant vs Whitbread
Date	Year	Brewer	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	lbs hops/ qtr	hops lb/brl	boil time (hours)	boil time (hours)	Pitch temp	colour
8th Nov	1955	Tennant	1109.0	1022.5	11.44	79.36%	7.47	2.99	3	3	º	35
23rd Feb	1972	Whitbread	1101.8	1016.6	11.27	83.69%	5.90	2.60	3	3	68º	30
Sources:
Whitbread brewing record held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/09/141.
Tennant brewing records.

Now it’s time for the grists. There are rather more differences here, including the base malt. Whitbread used lager malt, presumably for colour reasons, while Tennant went with more traditional pale malt. Whitbread used a different sugar, SLS as opposed to No. 1 invert, and rather more of it. What does SLS mean? Special Liquid Syrup? On the other hand, Tennant’s beer had almost triple the percentage of flaked maize.

Finally the hops. At Tennant it was a very traditional combination of Fuggles and Goldings. Though it should be borne in mind that in 1955 the UK was self-sufficient in hops and only imported tiny quantities. MK (Mid Kent), KT (Kent) and Worcester hops were probably Fuggles.

Gold Label - Tennant vs Whitbread the grist
Date	Year	Brewer	pale malt	lager malt	no. 1 sugar	St. Neots	SLS	flaked maize	hops
8th Nov	1955	Tennant	68.44%		10.65%	0.38%		20.53%	Fuggles, Goldings
23rd Feb	1972	Whitbread		72.49%			19.62%	7.89%	Hallertau, Styrian, MK, KT and Worcester hops. Hop extract.
Sources:
Whitbread brewing record held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/09/141.
Tennant brewing records.

I realise Gold Label week is becoming more like a month. Enjoy it while you can.

Advertising Gold Label

If you’ve been paying attention, you’ll remember that Tennant introduced Gold Label in 1951. I’ve found evidence that a couple of years later they really started to push it.

Because in the final months of 1954 I’ve found lots of adverts from different regional newspapers for Gold Label. I’m dead pleased I came across them. Because they tell me all sorts of things. If nothing else they give an indication of where it was sold.

It’s no surprise, Tenant being located in Sheffield, that Gold Label was distributed in Yorkshire:

“In Yorkshire everyone ‘in the know’ is asking for it!
We’ll tell you why...

Even to look at Tennants Gold Label Barley Wine does you good ! The flavour's clean, not heavy, not cloying, but clean to the palate. And as your Gold Label goes down its cheering glow puts new heart into you! For months Gold Label lies lazily maturing in selected casks. It is released to us only when it has reached the peak of perfection. To maintain its goodness, sparkle and delicate flavour. Gold Label is bottled with extreme care and is then supplied to selected local houses and off-licences. Now that you are ‘in the know’ ask for Tennants Gold Label Barley Wine - and take one home for the wife.

It's a special brew of good wholesome beer!

Local Distributor:
ACME BOTTLING CO. LTD,
WELLINGTON MILLS, MILL GREEN, LEEDS. 11.
Tel: Leeds 22008.”
Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer - Saturday 25 September 1954, page 7.

The name of the distributor implies to me that Tennant were allowing third parties to bottle Gold Label. An arrangement that wasn’t unusual in the 1950’s.

As we go through the adverts you’ll see that Tennant emphasised a couple of points. First the flavour and body of Gold Label. The word clean is used multiple times. What they seem to be implying is that Gold Label isn’t heavy and cloying like other strong beers. It’s sparkle – presumably from the heavy carbonation – is also mentioned several times.

Unusually, they also mention the maturation process, stressing that Gold Label was aged for months in casks. Which we know from Frank Priestley’s book was the case. At least in the 1950’s before Whitbread took over.

Love the throwaway line at the end about taking one home for the wife. Not sure it would please Dolores if I brought her home a Gold Label.

Rather more surprising is that Tennant were also advertising Gold Label far from their Yorkshire home:

“In Leamington Spa everyone ‘in the know’ is keeping warm with it!
We’ll tell you why...

Having Tennants Gold Label Barley Wine is wonderful way of keeping out the cold and keeping up your spirits! You can see that Gold Label will do you a power of good and when you taste it, comforting things happen. A delicious warming glow starts centrally - then spreads. You're hundred per-cent winter-weatherproof! For months Gold Label lies lazily maturing in mellow old casks, slowly colouring to a rich clear amber, slowly taking on its sparkle and clean flavour. Only when it’s judged ‘perfect’ is it sold. Now that you are ‘in the know’ there's no need for you to be left out in the cold. Join the Gold Labellers!

It's a special brew of good wholesome beer!

Local Distributor:
R. M. BIRD & CO,
32 BRIDGE STREET, STRATFORD-ON-AVON.
Tel : Stratford-on-Avon 2595.”
Leamington Spa Courier - Friday 12 November 1954, page 8.

I’d go along with Gold Label as a way of keeping out the cold. Pretty sure you wouldn’t be allowed to say that today. The description of a warming glow tallies very closely with Frank Priestley’s report about the effects of Gold Label.

More Gold Label advert fun to come.

Gold Label galore

I wasn't joking about this being Gold Label week, as you've probably noticed.

The staff at Tennant seem to have spent much of their time finding ways to surreptitiously drink Gold Label. I don’t blame them. Most of my working days would be far more pleasant with a couple of Barley Wines for breakfast.

This explains the main source of illicit Gold Label within the brewery:

“The first bottling manager that I knew was Geoff Brown - one of life's true gentlemen. His office was up a flight of stairs, overlooking the whole bottling area. Adjoining his office was a small, discrete room which became an unofficial haven for staff who were harassed or thirsty or both. Geoff kept it well stocked with Gold Label 'shorts'. These were bottles that were slightly under filled, usually through overflowing at the 'knocker', in theory, they should have been decanted individually into casks and then blown back into a tank. This was clearly time-consuming and labour intensive. It was obviously less trouble to drink them. The room was known as 'Brown's Bar' and was often patronised by brewers.”
"The Brewer's Tale" by Frank Priestley, 2010, page 27.

“It was obviously less trouble to drink them.” Well, yes. Convenient that, wasn’t it? The attitude to drinking in the brewery varies a lot today. In many new American breweries, they seem to be cracking open bottles and taking samples from tanks the whole time. While in older UK breweries drinking is often strictly limited to the sampling room. It’s become much stricter than it was a few decades back.

Under-filled bottles weren’t the only source of Gold Label:

“The charge hand in the Barm Alley was Jock McKinnon. He was a remarkable man and, not surprisingly, Scottish. I discovered that he used to drink Gold Label pressings. This was basically Gold label with a very harsh, yeasty flavour. From my time working in that department, I learned that it was quite possible to get used to drinking this foul dose. There was clearly no pleasure in the drinking of it, it was more like taking a medicine - you put up with the taste knowing that you were going to feel very much better, very quickly. Jock used to mask the smell of it on his breath by the liberal use of mouthwash from the first aid box in the department. You could always tell how much Jock had had to drink in the Course of the day. He wore a cap at work and first thing in the morning, the peak was centrally aligned above the front of his face, like that of the guardsman he once was. As the day wore on and his sobriety became eroded, the peak would progressively move round his head, like the shadow on a sun dial.”
"The Brewer's Tale" by Frank Priestley, 2010, pages 37 - 38.

Clearly Jock was getting pissed every day on that vile stuff. I’m trying to work out what they were pressings of. Hop pressings are a thing, but that’s pre-fermentation. This is obviously post-fermentation. Could it have been from the filters somehow?

Silly me. I should have read the preceding paragraph properly. It was yeast pressings:

“Because the yeast reproduced so enthusiastically, we always finished up with much more than we needed. The best of the crop was directed into a yeast room which was kept, as near as possible, in a sterile state and this yeast was used for future brews. The remainder, which was considerable, was diverted to an old yeast room in an area of the cellars known as the Barm Alley. When the yeast arrived here, it was in the form of a slurry. It was blown through a filter press which held the yeast back and the beer which had been mixed with the yeast (known as pressings) was returned to the fermenting vessels. The dried yeast was packed into old casks and sold to the food industry.”
"The Brewer's Tale" by Frank Priestley, 2010, page 37.

Jock was drinking stuff which should really have been returned to the fermenting vessel, the naughty boy.

Whitbread Gold Label is born

Gold Label, you may remember, was the only Tennant’s brand to survive the Whitbread takeover. But even that they didn’t leave alone.

Let’s face it, Whitbread were never going to keep branding Gold Label as Tennant forever. Especially when the Tennant name had been phased out elsewhere. And it wasn’t just the name on the label that Whitbread changed.

“Around this time, a new tank room was built which could be reached from the bottling hall, via a bridge across Mill Sands, the lane at the side of the brewery. The new room housed a large number of 200 barrel tanks. They were used for the maturation of Gold Label. The practice of maturing 'in wood', up the tunnel, had been discontinued. Not only that, but the maturation time was progressively reduced. So much for the retention of traditional methods, I thought. However, to be fair, the sales of Gold Label were rising phenomenally and from the volume alone, it would have been very difficult to mature the product in the old way. A newly-designed bottle label, carrying the Whitbread name, was brought in to replace the Tennant's label. This was fair enough: after all, it was no longer Tennant's Gold Label.”
"The Brewer's Tale" by Frank Priestley, 2010, pages 26 - 27.

I wish Priestley was more specific about the number of maturation tanks. Because that would have given me some idea of how much Gold Label was being produced. One 200-barrel is the equivalent of about 130 hogsheads, which is what they had used before for ageing. Even if they only had 10 such tanks, that’s the equivalent of 1,300 hogsheads. You’d need a large cellar for so many bulky casks.

It still amazes me that a beer like Gold Label could be a mainstream national brand. Heavily advertised and widely available. A sign of its popularity is that Whitbread also started brewing at their London headquarters. And in considerable quantities – 300-odd barrels a week. That’s a large volume for a beer of over 10% ABV.

I was trying to find out exactly when the Exchange Brewery closed and was digging around in old Good Beer Guides. It seems cask beer was only discontinued for a few years in the late 1970’s. And the Queen’s Ale that Priestley laments made a comeback in 1981, when it had an OG of 1044º, the same as in the 1950’s. It didn’t last long as it doesn’t appear in the 1984 guide.

It’s funny how your perspective changes with age. I always thought of Whitbread’s northern pubs as a desert, with none of their breweries there brewing any cask other than Castle Eden. Yet this was really just a short-lived feature, lasting less than a decade. It seemed to be forever to my younger self. Probably because they dropped cask just about when I started drinking.

Next I’ll be comparing the Tennant and Whitbread versions of Gold Label.

What Whitbread did to Tennant

Those working at Tennant were generally pleased at merging with Whitbread, which was already a national brewer. At least the company hadn’t been asset-stripped. Or at least not so obviously.

Because, despite promising to let Tennant continue as before, they soon started to ring the changes. One of the obsessions of the Big Six was to have national brands. Presumably because it was easier to push just a few brands rather than having competing products. Ultimately, I think it was their downfall. Drinkers never acquired the same emotional attachment to national brands that they had to local or regional ones.

Of course, change didn’t all happen at once. It was a subtle process, with the Tennant name and its brands slowly being phased out.

“Gradually, over the next few years, changes were introduced. Most of Tennant's bottled beers disappeared. No. 1 Barley wine had already been swallowed up by Gold Label and then Don Jon, Lion Brown Ale and the prize-winning Lion Pale Ale were discontinued. Whitbread Pale Ale was tankered up from London and bottled in Sheffield. Glucose Stout was replaced by Mackeson which was now brewed and bottled in Sheffield. There was even a suggestion that Tennant's Gold Label should be replaced by Whitbread's barley wine, Final Selection. I believe it was due only to the persistence of our strong-willed Head Brewer, Harold Burkinshaw, that this wonderful product was saved.”
"The Brewer's Tale" by Frank Priestley, 2010, page 23.

It’s incredible that they should have contemplated phasing out a classic beer like Gold Label. Ultimately, it was Final Selection that got the chop. I wonder where Final Selection itself originated. I’m pretty sure it wasn’t at Whitbread’s original brewery in Chiswell Street. It doesn’t turn up in the brewing records there until 1968. Did it come from another of Whitbread’s breweries?

Whitbread Pale Ale was a big brand back then, which was heavily promoted in newspaper advertisements. While Mackeson was one of the biggest brands of all, brewed at Whitbread plants all over the country. It’s interesting that the Pale Ale was always produced in London.

There was a similar paring down of the draught range:

“Tennant's draught beers didn't fare much better. The beautiful Queen's Ale was discontinued, as was Rock Ale, which was replaced by Whitbread Best Mild. Best Bitter, after a colour adjustment, was renamed Trophy Bitter. Whitbread's policy was to advertise nationally a product that was, in effect, each regions Best Bitter. It was a good idea. A national product, brewed to satisfy local tastes. Although, when Yorkshiremen went on holiday down south, they sometimes got a bit of a surprise when they ordered their favourite brew.”
"The Brewer's Tale" by Frank Priestley, 2010, page 23.

Rebranding a brewery’s flagship Bitter as Trophy was standard Whitbread practice, even though they didn’t particularly advertise the fact. At one point in the 1970’s there were more than a dozen beers sold as Trophy. On the other hand Tankard, Whitbread’s premium keg Bitter, was the same everywhere.

I assume Queen’s Ale was replaced by Trophy. And that Best Mild was brewed in Sheffield. It’s difficult to imagine this now, but Best Mild was a big brand for Whitbread in the 1960’s. Though I’d need to look at the brewing records to confirm it was the same beer as brewed in London.

In case you’re wondering, this is what the Whitbread range looked like back then:

Whitbread beers in the early 1960's
Year	Beer	Style	Price per pint d	package	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	colour
1965	Final Selection	Strong Ale	57	bottled	1079.2	1013.5	8.63	82.95%	68
1964	Forest Brown	Brown Ale	22	bottled	1035.6	1011.2	3.16	68.54%	90
1961	Mackeson	Stout	32	bottled	1046	1019	3.48	58.70%	250
1963	Pale Ale	Pale Ale		bottled	1036.5	1007.5	3.77	79.45%	21
1960	Bitter	Pale Ale	17	draught	1038.5	1011	3.56	71.43%	20
1961	Tankard Bitter	Pale Ale	24	draught	1038.6	1011	3.58	71.50%	18
1964	Best Ale	Mild		draught	1030.6	1007.5	3.06	75.49%	100
Sources:
Whitbread brewing records
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/002.

Gold Label might have survived by the skin of its teeth. But what happened to it next?

Why Tennant sold up

There were several reasons why breweries decided to sell up in the 1950’s and 1960’s.

I’ve already discussed some of them: failing equipment; absentee, uninterested owners; lack of someone to inherit and run the business. And, of course, in the case of listed companies where the board members didn’t own a majority of the shares there was the possibility of a hostile takeover.

Whitbread’s tactics were to play on brewers’ fears of the latter. That’s how the Whitbread Umbrella came about. Whitbread offered to buy a minority stake in a brewery company to make them a difficult target for a hostile takeover. Ultimately, however, in many cases in simply led to a takeover by Whitbread.

Stones, which had a large number of small shareholders, was vulnerable to a hostile bid which is why they struck a deal with Bass Charrington in 1967 to sell up. The directors saw this as the best way of retained at least some control over their destinies. Again, it didn’t quite work out like that, but you can understand the thinking of the Stones’ directors.

Brewers were of particular interest to asset strippers because of the huge amount of capital embedded in their tied house estates. Fear of asset strippers was behind the “merger” in 1962 of Tennant Brothers and Whitbread:

“It was subsequently explained that a major incentive for the merger had been a need for Tennant's to avoid the attentions of asset strippers. At that time, there were unscrupulous speculators who were seeking out, buying up and closing down small-to-medium sized breweries in order to sell off their considerable assets. The breweries usually occupied prime sites in towns and cities and were filled with valuable copper metal. They owned hundreds of public-houses: many of these also on prime sites, and very often they owned houses, rented out to their workers. When all these assets were realised, it was plain that a brewery was worth much more closed down and sold off than it was when it was purchased as a going concern.”
"The Brewer's Tale" by Frank Priestley, 2010, pages 22 - 23.

Tennant had dodged the asset strippers, but what would life be like under Whitbread? They gave Tennant all the usual assurances about retaining their own identity. Call me cynical, but I know how these things usually work out.

“We didn't know very much about Whitbread's except that they were a large, London-based company that produced Mackeson Stout which was advertised regularly on television and Whitbread Tankard which was an early keg beer. Keg beer, unlike traditional draught, was filtered and carbonated, rather like most bottled beers. The advantage of this was that it was much more stable than draught and it remained in good condition tor much longer. The disadvantages were that filtration removed some of the finer flavours and carbonation rendered it somewhat gassy to the palate of those more accustomed to traditionally conditioned ales. However, we were assured that our traditional methods and products would be retained and that we would continue to trade under the name of Tennant Brothers Ltd.”
"The Brewer's Tale" by Frank Priestley, 2010, page 22.

Like many brewers with national aspirations, Whitbread was an enthusiastic early adopter of keg technology. But they were quite inconsistent. For a long while in the 1970’s none of their northern breweries, with the exception of Castle Eden, produced any cask beer. While in the south some of their plants produced large amounts of cask.

I suppose I should mention at this point that the first pub I ever entered was a Tennant’s house. Though it was a few years after the Whitbread takeover. It served beer the typical northern way: through metered electric pumps. Which made it easy to switch over to bright or keg beer without it being so obvious.

Next we’ll learn what Whitbread really did to Tennant.

Let's Brew - 1954 Tennant’s Gold Label

As promised, here’s a recipe for Gold Label when it was still brewed in Sheffield by Tennant.

Having read a little about this early version, I really wish I’d got to try it. Sounds like it was cracking beer when brewed by the original method. Should you wish to give the recipe – and ageing a go – I’d be happy to drop by and help you drink the result.

As Frank Priestley, a former brewer there, remarked, all the ingredients were pale in colour. Pale malt, flaked maize and No. 1 invert sugar. There’s also a little enzymic malt, but you can leave that out. It wouldn’t have impacted the flavour of the beer at all, just helped the mash.

At three hours, the boil is extremely long for the period. Porter brewers boiled weaker worts for three or four hours in the early 19th century, but by the end of WW II fuel restrictions had reduced most boil times to around 90 minutes.

In the 1950’s very few beers were anything like as strong as Gold Label. Out of 1400-odd beers from 1952 to 1959 in my gravity table, only 11 have an OG over 1090º: Bass No. 1, Barclay’s Russian Stout, Benskins Colne Spring Ale, Lacons Audit Ale, Mitchell & Butler Strong Ale, Tennant Gold Label, Tennant No. 1 Barley Wine, Truman No. 1 Burton Barley Wine, Watney Stingo plus two Scotch Ales which were probably for the Belgian market. Tennant were very unusual in having two beers in this class.

From Priestley’s book, I know that Gold Label was aged in wooden hogsheads for six to twelve months then blended before bottling. Unfortunately, I don’t know if it was bottle conditioned. My guess would be no, but I could be wrong. Brewing this up sounds like a nice little project for me and a brewer. Who wouldn’t want to sample a beer like this?

1954 Tennant's Gold Label
pale malt	15.75 lb	67.74%
enzymic malt	0.25 lb	1.08%
flaked maize	4.75 lb	20.43%
No. 1 invert sugar	2.50 lb	10.75%
Fuggles 120 min	2.75 oz
Goldings 90 mins	1.25 oz
Goldings 60 mins	1.25 oz
Goldings 30 mins	1.25 oz
Goldings dry hops	0.25 oz
OG	1109
FG	1024
ABV	11.24
Apparent attenuation	77.98%
IBU	63
SRM	17
Mash at	149º F
Sparge at	165º F
Boil time	180 minutes
pitching temp	56º F
Yeast	Wyeast 1099 Whitbread ale

Tennant’s Gold Label (part two)

One of the most frustrating features of reading historical documents about brewing is how rarely the flavour of the finished product is described.

Making Frank Priestley’s description of tasting of Gold Label all the more useful.

“I also got into the habit of tasting them to round off my sampling of the draught beer. By choosing a suitably old one, I would find myself with a glass of perfectly matured barley wine. The drinking experience was incredible. The smooth malty, hoppy flavour was wonderful and as it went down, you could feel the warm alcoholic glow diffuse throughout your body. However, when there was still work to be done, it had to be treated with respect. The advice often directed at other drinks, was more than relevant here:

'A glass of barley wine is like a woman's breast - one is rarely enough, but three is one too many.'”
"The Brewer's Tale" by Frank Priestley, 2010, page 20.

It sounds like wonderful stuff. Just the sort of beer I enjoy. You know what it reminds me of? Pretty Things 1832 XXXX Mild Ale. It’s making me even more determined to get it rebrewed to the original recipe and have it properly matured in oak.

Rather disconcertingly the book is sprinkled with slightly sexist comments like that little quote. Sometimes it’s easy to forget that the sensibilities of earlier generations were somewhat different to those of today.

It sounds as if those working at the Exchange Brewery were quite partial to a drop of it themselves:

“One day I learned that the head brewer had long since banned anyone else from sampling from these casks as he had come upon one which had been drunk dry. The only other people who had access to the sample room were the brewers and although I knew that they all were partial to Gold Label, one of them in particular was suspected. This was Tom Newton, whom Tennant's had inherited when the Nottingham brewery was taken over. Tom was a large, jolly man who still wore the traditional brown brewers' boots. Whenever he saw me around the brewery, he would call out: 'Keep your bowels open laddie and trust in the Lord' But since I was, by now, embracing the art of drinking with some enthusiasm, the first part of the advice, at least, was superfluous.”
"The Brewer's Tale" by Frank Priestley, 2010, page 20.

The brewing industry was full of colourful characters in the 1950’s. Many of them rather to partial to a drink, like Tom Newton.

Remember me mentioning the small number of 1950’s beers with gravities of over 1090º? I thought you might like to see a few more details.

Strong Ales in the 1950's
Year	Brewer	Beer	Style	OG	FG	Price per pint d	ABV	App. Attenuation	colour
1953	Barclay Perkins	Russian Stout	Stout	1101	1018	45	10.97	82.18%	500
1953	Bass	Barley Wine	Barley Wine	1104.6	1036.3	60	8.90	65.30%	80
1952	Bass	Barley Wine	Barley Wine	1104.1	1035.6	64.5	8.93	65.80%	80
1958	Bass, Burton	No. 1 Barley Wine	Barley Wine	1106.8	1039.8	63	8.71	62.73%	100
1955	Benskin	Colne Spring Ale	Barley Wine	1091.8	1011.1	60	10.69	87.91%	75
1953	Benskin	Colne Spring Ale	Barley Wine	1090.7	1008.2	60	10.95	90.96%	100
1959	Ind Coope	Benskins Colne Spring Ale	Barley Wine	1092.8	1009.3	47	11.08	89.98%	80
1958	Lacons	Audit Ale	Strong Ale	1095	1017.8	54	9.65	81.26%	90
1952	McEwan	Scotch Ale	Scotch Ale	1090.3	1023.1		8.80	74.42%	60
1953	Mitchell & Butler	Strong Ale	Strong Ale	1106	1026.5	56	10.45	75.00%	63
1958	Tennant Bros.	Gold Label No.1 Barley Wine	Barley Wine	1102.5	1017.9	57	10.58	82.54%	35
1955	Tennant Bros.	Gold Label Barley Wine	Barley Wine	1102.4	1020.8	57	10.77	79.69%	45
1954	Tennant Bros.	Gold Label No.1 Sparkling Barley Wine	Barley Wine	1101.5	1021.1	60	10.60	79.21%	90
1955	Tennant Bros.	No. 1 Barley Wine	Barley Wine	1097.5	1022.6	57	9.84	76.82%	175
1953	Truman	No. 1 Burton Barley Wine	Barley Wine	1095.4	1023.6	60	9.42	75.26%	63
1952	Watney	Stingo	Barley Wine	1090.7	1008	57	10.98	91.18%	125
1954	Younger, Geo.	Gordon Highland Scotch Ale (purchased in Belgium)	Scotch Ale	1090.9	1028		8.20	69.20%	60
1955	Younger, Geo.	Gordon Highland Scotch Ale (purchased in Belgium)	Scotch Ale	1090.3	1029.9		7.86	66.89%	55
Source:
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/002.

The vast majority are Barley Wines. With one Imperial Stout and a couple of Scotch Ales. Though the two from George Younger were probably exclusively for the Belgian market. Interesting to see how many were called No. 1, presumably in imitation of the original Barley Wine from Bass.

These weren’t cheap beer, with most around 60d per pint, though they were never sold in anything larger than a half pint, mostly in nips. To put that price into context, an Ordinary Mild of around 3% ABV was 14-15d in the mid-1950’s, Ordinary Bitter 16-18d. Bottled beer is obviously more expensive that draught. A pint of bottled 3%-ish ABV Brown Ale was around 20-24d. So, in terms of alcohol for your pennies, these very strong beers weren’t that bad value. A couple of beers – Barclay’s Russian Stout, Lacon’s Audit Ale and M & B Strong Ale look like a bargain.

One last point. Most of the beers come from quite large breweries, either big regionals like Tennant or national brewers like Bass and Truman. Only really Lacons and George Younger were smallish concerns.