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