Bateman
Wainfleet,
Lincolnshire
Founded: 1824
Closed: still open
Tied houses: 140
A family-owned brewery with a reasonably-sized tied estate scattered around Lincolnshire, mostly within 45 miles of the brewery. Pretty well all of their pubs sold cask beer. The beer range might have been quite narrow, but it was pretty good.
| beer | style | format | OG | description |
| Bitter | Pale Ale | draught | 1037 | malty and heavily hopped |
| Light Mild | Mild | draught | 1032 | similar to Bitter |
| Light Dinner Ale | Pale Ale | bottled | ||
| India Pale Ale | IPA | bottled | medium gravity | |
| Nut Brown Ale | Brown Ale | bottled | Light gravity | |
| Double Brown | Brown Ale | bottled | medium gravity |
Batham
Brierley Hill,
West Midlands.
Founded: 1882
Closed: still open
Tied houses: 8
A tiny brewery which started its days as a homebrew pub, later building a small estate of tied houses. Their beers, as today, were excellent, if rather difficult to find. Their pubs were mostly located in the Black Country.
| beer | style | format | OG | description |
| Bitter | Pale Ale | draught | 1043 | distinctive and full bodied |
| Light Mild | Mild | draught | 1036 | |
| Strong Dark Mild | Mild | draught |
Beard
Lewes,
West Sussex.
Founded: 1741
Closed: 1958/1998
Tied houses: 26
A brewery which ceased brewing in the 1950s, but continued to run its estate of tied houses. Their pubs were scattered around East Sussex, with a concentration in Lewes. The beer was supplied by Harveys. They were purchased by Greene King in 1998.
| beer | style | format | OG | description |
| Bitter | Pale Ale | draught | 1033 | nutty |
| Best Bitter | Pale Ale | draught | 1040 | stronger and sweeter |
| Mild | Mild | draught | 1030 | Dark Mild |
| XXXX | Old Ale | draught | 1041 | |
| Keg Biiter | Pale Ale | draught | 1040 | kegged Best Bitter |
| IPA | IPA | bottled | ||
| Blue Label | Pale Ale | bottled | ||
| Nut Brown Ale | Brown Ale | bottled | medium sweet | |
| Exhibition Brown | Brown Ale | bottled | stronger than Nut Brown | |
| Sweet Stout | Stout | bottled | ||
| Elizabethan Ale | Barley Wine | bottled | 1090 |
Interesting that Bateman’s mild was pale then as it is dark these days.
ReplyDeleteOscar
There seems to be a trend over the last few decades to darken beers. For example back in the early 70s Theakston's bitter was strikingly pale lager-coloured and became popular among lager-drinking youth for that reason. So Bass hopped into the game with a lighter coloured Stones Bitter that was almost the same colour as their Carling Black Label lager. You can see this if you google images and look at the old ads.
ReplyDeleteSame thing happened with Boddingtons Bitter. Nowadays Theakston, Stones (when available) and Boddingtons are mid amber with Theakston even approaching a copper colour.
Possibly playing on the longstanding myth that if it's darker it's gotta be stronger, or maybe to distinguish their ales from the all pervasive pale lagers of today.
Bribie thanks to Ron we know that darker bitters are a very new idea with crystal malt only appearing post world war two.
DeleteBitter is a pale ale and pale ale should not be darker than the lighter amber colours. Adnams broadside is in my view a Burton or brown ale.
Oscar
I drank quite a lot of Stones Best Bitter in the early to mid-seventies, and it was one of my favourite beers (certainly the best beer ever brewed by Bass Charrington, in my opinion). It stayed the same colour (very pale) throughout that time, so I’m not sure why anyone would think that Bass Charrington changed it to compete with Theakston’s. Bass Charrington’s focus at the time was on pushing Brew Ten from Tadcaster rather than promoting Stones, but it did remain a very popular local beer despite that.
ReplyDeleteBatemans bitter was the first beer I ever had from an independent regional brewery. I think it may have been my first cask beer too. I don't remember the taste but I know my friends and I enjoyed it.
ReplyDeleteThe same village (Coningsby, Lincs) also had a Hewitt's pub, but no Hewitts beer, Bass Charrington had taken them over. This was in 1970.
Interestingly, Batemans website suggests there were two milds and a Barley wine missing from that list :
ReplyDelete"By 1960, Batemans had already established itself as a brewery of distinction, and we were brewing eight diverse beers. Among these were three draught beers – a light mild, a dark mild, and the iconic XB bitter. Complementing these draught brews were five bottled varieties: IPA, Double Brown, Nut Brown, Light Dinner Ale, and BBB barley wine"
I appreciate that's ten years before the 70's, but it seems to tally with labels of the period.
John still very interesting as Bateman’s only make a dark mild today.
DeleteOscar