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