I welcome your input. The best and most relevant comments will be added to the book.
Adnams
Southwold,
Suffolk.
Founded: 1818
Closed: still open
Tied houses: 70
Just like today, Adnams was a family-owned brewery with a good reputation for quality. While availability of their beers was mostly limited to East Anglia, they were starting to be available in free houses in the London area.
beer | style | format | OG | description |
Mild | Mild | draught | 1032 | Dark Mild |
Bitter | Pale Ale | draught | 1036 | distinctive |
Strong Ale | Old Ale | draught | 1042 | |
Tally Ho | Barley Wine | draught | 1075 | Winter only |
Bitter | Pale Ale | keg | ||
Champion Pale Ale | Pale Ale | bottled | 1032 | |
Fishermans Strong | Pale Ale | bottled | ||
Braodside | Pale Ale | bottled | 1068 | |
Tally Ho | Barley Wine | bottled | 1075 | |
Nut Brown Ale | Brown Ale | bottled | 1029.8 | medium sweet |
Ann Street
St. Helier
Jersey.
Founded: 1900
Closed: 2003
Tied houses: 50
One of a handful of small breweries in the Channel Islands, Ann Street, unlike some of the others, produced no cask beer. Their beers were only available on Jersey.
beer | style | format | OG | description |
Best Bitter | Pale Ale | keg | well hopped | |
Extra Special Bitter | Pale Ale | keg | stronger and sweeter | |
Mary Ann Pale Ale | Pale Ale | bottled | ||
Mary Ann Special | Pale Ale | bottled | ||
Mary Ann Brown Ale | Brown Ale | bottled | medium sweet | |
Mary Ann Stout | Stout | bottled | Dry Stout |
Arkell
Swindon,
Wiltshire.
Founded: 1843
Closed: still open
Tied houses: 62
A family-owned brewery with a small tied estate mostly fairly close to Swindon. Their beers were, as they are now, in the malty Southwestern style. Around half of the pubs were within five miles of Swindon. They had some free trade, even as far away as London.
beer | style | format | OG | description |
BB Bitter Beer | Pale Ale | draught | 1033.2 | pleasantly nutty |
BBB Best Bitter Beer | Pale Ale | draught | 1038.2 | |
Kingsdown Ale | Strong Ale | draught | 1060 | bitter brew |
Keg Bitter | Pale Ale | keg | 1038.2 | BBB chilled and filtered but not pasteurised |
Pale Ale | Pale Ale | bottled | 1033.2 | bottled BB |
Best Bitter Beer | Pale Ale | bottled | 1038.2 | Bottled BBB |
Strong Ale | Strong Ale | bottled | ||
Brown Ale | Brown Ale | bottled |
It's valuable social history Ron. Always surprised there aren't more TV programmes about beer and pubs, given their central place in British culture. The evolution of British beer in a social and historical context would be a fascinating TV series, to me at least. Throw in some historical brewing and Shut Up becomes a Netflix-bankrolled viral hit.
ReplyDeleteRon should send it in to Channel 4, BBC, ITV. RTÉ did a very good programme on beer in medieval Dublin.
DeleteOscar
A tv programme on the social history of pubs and beer would be timely, as pubs face inexorable decline and will largely have disappeared as we know them within a generation in the UK
DeleteFrom the BBC today 'On average, 18 chemists, 16 pubs and nine banks shut down every week between January and June' in Britain.
DeleteFrom what I have heard it was a very goodshow
DeleteI wonder what Arkell’s keg bitter was like.
ReplyDeleteOscar
Arkell's 3B was becoming a mainstay of the free trade in the mid 80's. I remember having a pint in a pub just outside the gate of Hampton Court Palace in what would have been 1983. 2B stayed at home, apparently it was traditional in Wiltshire to have it with a dash of lemonade.
ReplyDelete