Friday 20 September 2024

Beer Guide to the 1970s (part seven)

More disappeared breweries. And ones which disappeared beneath the surface leaving barely a ripple. Some breweries attracted much more attention at their demise. Or maybe I only really noticed the efuss about ones located close to where I lived.

I've been thinking about why the 1980s saw so many regional brewers disappear. Could it be connected with the rise of Lager? Regionals struggled to establish Lager brands of their own and hence were at a disadvantage compared to national brewers. In 1970, the big brewers held 92% of the Lager market. And in 1975, Lager had grabbed 20% of the beer market. As a regional, that's one in five pints that you can't supply.

Small brewers - if their beer was any good - would have drinkers seek out their pubs. You'd make the effort to go to a Harveys or Bathams pub. But who would bother to find a Vaux or Matthew Brown tied house? In their trading area, these weren't exactly rare.

Anyway, on with today's trio before I get too distracted. I've another three blog posts to write today.


Cook
Halstead,
Essex
Founded:    1885
Closed:            1974
Tied houses:    0

A rather unusual brewery in that it had no tied houses. Instead, they owned some off-licences, sold to the free trade and also directly to private customers. They closed just too early for me to have a chance to try their beer. They may have been the last brewery producing an Oatmeal Stout.

beer style format OG description
Best Bitter Pale Ale draught   lightly hopped, only supplied to private customers
Golden Ale Pale Ale bottled 1034.3  
Country Brew Pale Ale bottled 1045.5  
Nut Brown Ale Brown Ale bottled 1032.9 medium sweet
Oatmeal Stout Stout bottled   a dryish Stout


Crown (South Wales & Monmouthshire United Clubs)
Pontyclun,
Glamorganshire.
Founded:    1919
Closed:            1989
Tied houses:    350 (mostly clubs)

This was one of the breweries established by clubs just after WW I. The name was changed to Crown in 1977. The main outlets for their beers were the affiliated clubs. Though there was also some free trade in pubs. They merged with Buckley in 1989 and stopped brewing.

beer style format OG description
CPA Clubs Pale Ale Pale Ale draught 1033 also in tank form
SBB Special Best Bitter Pale Ale draught 1036 also in tank form
Crown Keg Beer Pale Ale keg   pasteurised
Clubs Amber Pale Ale bottled   Light Ale
Clubs Special Pale Ale bottled   stronger
Clubs Extra Pale Ale bottled   strongest
Clubs Brown Ale Brown Ale bottled   sweetish


Darley
Thorne,
South Yorkshire.
Founded:    1837
Closed:            1986
Tied houses:    100

A smallish regional brewery which was acquired by the much larger Vaux in 1978, but continued to brew. Their tied estate was mostly in South Yorkshire, but stretched as far east as Hull and South into Lincolnshire. The beers were pretty good, without being anything spectacular.

beer style format OG description
IPA Pale Ale draught 1038 well-balanced
Dark Mild draught 1032 Dark Mild
Light Mild Mild draught 1032 hard to find
Keg Bitter Pale Ale keg    
East India Pale Ale Pale Ale bottled    
Amber Ale Pale Ale bottled   lighter
Special Mild Ale Mild bottled 1032 bottled Mild
Nut Brown Ale Brown Ale bottled    
Barley Cream Stout bottled   medium sweet

 

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

A fascinating insight in brewing as always Ron.
Oscar

Anonymous said...

I think you are right Ron, the rise of lager meant many of these breweries could not compete with the big boys.

Oscar

Martyn Cornell said...

Darley's, and Ward's, used to be available in the Princess Louise on High Holborn when that magnificent pub was owned by Vaux. Now it's another Yorkshire beer you can get in there …

Russell Gibbon said...

Ah Crown Buckley. I never got to try them. I have worked a fair bit in the small town of Pontyclun, where the Crown Brewery was. I just found this interesting snippet about the Crown Brewery. https://www.pontyclun.net/the-crown-brewery/

Bribie G said...

In the late 70s I came across a Darley's pub in South Elmsall in Yorkshire if I remember rightly, near my grandma's village and had a couple of pints. My recollection is that although it was definitely keg and bright as a button (I was a CAMRA member) it was a nice hoppy brew. But of course I felt sad that it was no longer a real ale.

electricpics said...

"But who would bother to find a Vaux or Matthew Brown tied house? In their trading area, these weren't exactly rare."

Not rare, but in their main trading areas of Wearside and Teesside, they had a strong, loyal following, and speaking of lager, people very much sought out a Matthew Brown pub, for their famed Slalom and Slalom D lagers, which people still speak about with reverence.