Thursday 3 October 2024

Beer Guide to the 1970s (part ten)

Back to my pointless guide to 1970s breweries and their beers. This time with a trio of breweries who are still, against the odds, operating today.

It's a bit sad, when I'm assembling this list, seeing how many breweries have disappeared. Many of which brewed either decent or good beer. And it's not as if they were all poorly run companies. In most cases, bad management wasn't the reason for closure. Neither was poor-quality beer. For the most part, it was external factors - principally a takeover - which did brewers in.


Everard
Leicester,
Leicestershire.
Founded:    1849
Closed:            still open
Tied houses:    134

Originally from Leicester, where the brewery had its headquarters, the beer was all brewed in Burton-on-Trent. Though the tied pubs were all within 30 miles of Leicester. Brewing in Burton ended in 1983 and production was moved to a new brewery in Enderby. Tiger was a pretty decent Best Bitter that cropped up reasonably often in the free trade.

beer style format OG description
Beacon Bitter Pale Ale draught 1037 well-balanced
Tiger Draught Pale Ale draught 1041 stronger
Old Original Pale Ale draught 1050 malty and finely hopped
Burton Mild Mild draught 1033 Dark Mild
Tiger Special Keg Pale Ale keg    
Amber Lite Pale Ale bottled   Light Ale
Red Crown Bitter Pale Ale bottled   Burton Bitter
Tiger Special Ale Pale Ale bottled   stronger
Gold Medal Barley Wine Barley Wine bottled    
Nut Brown Ale Brown Ale bottled   Brown Ale in large bottle
Bradgate Brown Brown Ale bottled   Brown Ale in small bottle
Meadowsweet Stout Stout bottled   sweet



Felinfoel
Llanelli,
South Wales.
Founded:    1840
Closed:            still open
Tied houses:    75

A local brewery whose tied estate was mostly around Llanelli and the Welsh coast. They were notable for being one of the first breweries to can beer in the 1930s. I served their beer at one of the early Great British Beer Festivals in Alexandra Palace. And very good stuff it was, too. I particularly liked their Mild.

beer style format OG description
Bitter Pale Ale draught 1035 light and hoppy
Double Dragon Pale Ale draught 1040 distinctive light Bitter
Mild Mild draught 1032 darkish Mild
Bitter Ale Pale Ale bottled    
Pale Ale Pale Ale bottled   stronger
Nut Brown Ale Brown Ale bottled   not too sweet
John Brown Brown Ale bottled   stronger and sweeter


Fuller
Chiswick,
London.
Founded:    1845
Closed:            still open
Tied houses:    110

One of the two London independent brewers who had survived into the 1970s. At the time, Fullers pubs were mostly concentrated in West London, north of the river. Though they did have a few pubs in central London. For example, The George & Vulture, a pub I frequented quite a bit in 1979, when I worked nearby. Hock was a cracking Dark Mild, but was difficult to find. And, when you could, was often in poor condition due to slow sales.

beer style format OG description
Bitter Pale Ale draught 1035.5  
London Pride Pale Ale draught 1041.8 pleasant and fruity
Extra Special Bitter Pale Ale draught 1055.8 well hopped and distinctive
Hock Mild Mild draught 1031.5 splendid and malty
Light Ale Pale Ale bottled 1032.2 parti-gyled with the Bitters
London Pride Pale Ale bottled 1045.6  
Strong Ale Strong Ale bottled 1072 parti-gyled with Hock
Golden Pride Barley Wine bottled 1090 parti-gyled with the Bitters
Brown Ale Brown Ale bottled   bottled Hock


 

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

By the 2000s in the US, Fullers was seen as an absolute top quality British pale ale, and I know they were well respected in the UK. But as an American I don't have a good sense of how well they were ranked over there among all of the options.

Were they a particularly loved one, or was it more of a case of one of a number of respectable options?

Anonymous said...

Feel free to disagree but Fullers is a south east beer and not a national brand. I've only ever drunk Pride in London and surroundings

Anonymous said...

Since Fullers sold out to the Ashati Japanese brewery in 2019 their ale, Pride in particular, has become more widely available in the midlands and, of course, nationwide in supermarkets.

Thom Farrell said...

There's really only a handful of cask ale brands that could be argued for as national brands. Sharp's Doom Bar and Timothy Taylor Landlord are the truly national brands, but you could maybe make the argument for Draught Bass, and perhaps Greene King IPA (purely as they have a large number of tied houses across the UK) and Abbot Ale (largely due to its strong presence in the nationwide Wetherspoon's pub chain).

Anonymous said...

Fair point - I haven't lived in the UK since 2011

Chris Pickles said...

Timothy Taylors a national brand... I can remember (I lived in Bradford) when you had to go to Keighley for it. Not quite true - you could get it in Bingley. Even most Taylors pubs (they had 28) didn't sell Landlord. Some only sold Golden Mild.