Kicking off with everyone's favourite, Greene King. Who already weren't that popular. Probably because they owned most of thee pubs in some parts of Suffolk. And just because they were big. Though, considering how many pubs they owned, their beers weren't that widely available.
Compared to Guernsey, Greene King's beers were ubiquitous. I think you could only get their beers in the Channel Islands. I can't remember even seeing their beers at festivals.
Greene King (Biggleswade)
Biggleswade,
Bedfordshire.
Founded: 1764
Closed: 1997
Tied houses: 287
The Wells & Winch brewery, which was acquired by Greene King in 1961. Who ran it as a subsidiary for several decades. I think that I tried the two Milds at festivals and found them OK. I’m guessing that the XX was KK with caramel added at racking time.
| beer | style | format | OG | description |
| IPA | IPA | draught | 1036 | good hop rate |
| Abbot Ale | Pale Ale | draught | 1048 | strong robust Bitter |
| KK Light Mild | Mild | draught | 1030.8 | a Light Mild |
| XX Mild | Mild | draught | 1030.8 | a Dark Mild, fruity |
Greene King (Bury St. Edmunds)
Bury St. Edmunds,
Suffolk,
Founded: 1799
Closed: still open
Tied houses: 900
One of the largest regional brewers, Greene King weren’t exactly CAMRA’s favourite. The large tied estate was mostly in East Anglia, though it stretched as far south as the outskirts of North London. Not areas where I drank and I only tried the beers at festivals. They’ve left no impression so can’t have been either great or terrible.
| beer | style | format | OG | description |
| IPA | IPA | draught | 1036 | good hop rate |
| IA Light Bitter | Pale Ale | draught | a lighter Bitter | |
| Mild | Mild | draught | 1030.8 | a Dark Mild |
| Abbot Ale | Pale Ale | draught | 1048 | strong robust Bitter |
| King Keg | Pale Ale | keg | 1038.4 | |
| Polar | Pale Ale | keg | A light coloured, chilled beer for the summer | |
| Pale Ale | Pale Ale | bottled | 1031.7 | |
| Crown Ale | Pale Ale | bottled | A medium gravity, mellow Pale Ale | |
| Abbot Ale | Pale Ale | bottled | 1048.4 | A strong Pale Ale |
| St. Edmund's Ale | Pale Ale | bottled | strongest of the Pale Ales | |
| Harvest Ale | Brown Ale | bottled | 1032.7 | A sweet, dark beer |
| Burton Ale | Brown Ale | bottled | A dark Ale, but less sweet | |
| Suffolk Ale | Old Ale | bottled | A strong, dark and well flavoured beer | |
| Farm Stout | Stout | bottled | 1035 | Sweet Stout |
| Audit Ale | Barley Wine | bottled |
Guernsey
St. Peter Port,
Guernsey.
Founded: 1856
Closed: 2002
Tied houses: 45
One of the small breweries on the Channel Islands. The tied houses were all on Guernsey, though there was some free trade on Alderney, Sark and Herm. I don’t think their beers ever made it to the mainland. Ended up in the hands of Jersey’s Ann Street Brewery and closed.
| beer | style | format | OG | description |
| Draught Bitter | Pale Ale | draught | 1045 | full flavoured and hoppy |
| Mild | Mild | draught | 1036.6 | a medium Dark Mild which is dry hopped |
| Pony Keg Bitter | Pale Ale | keg | A well hopped, high gravity keg beer | |
| Pony IPA | IPA | bottled | similar to Keg Bitter | |
| Pony Ale | Brown Ale | bottled | 1036.6 | the Mild Ale in bottle |
| Pont Brown Ale | Brown Ale | bottled | Not too sweet, full-bodied and fairly heavily primed | |
| Milk Stout | Stout | bottled | medium sweet |
The novelist Graham Greene was part of the family which owned Greene King and references to beer crop up in most of his work. In his memoir A Sort of Life he recalls the pleasure of drinking draught bitter in a pub for the first time, while on a country walk with his older brother as a teenager, and in his mid thirties novel England Made Me, set in Stockholm, the main character expresses an opinion which is surely Greene's: "They had their beers. 'Weak stuff,' Anthony said. 'You come to England and I'll show you. Could I put down a Younger now? Or a couple of Stone's special. You don't need more than a couple."
ReplyDeleteGreene King beers in the 70's were ok but still not as good as Adnams ,but they are a shadow of their former self now.I personally dislike them for their policy of buying and closing breweries since those times
ReplyDeleteI can remember the original Greene King St Edmund Ale - a lovely beer, only available in bottles. Brewed to celebrate some anniversary of St Edmumd, I can't remember how many years but 800 rings a bell. I think it was around 1050 SG. They've made other beers with the same name since then, none as good as the original.
ReplyDeleteA perfect pint in a quiet pub in a cathedral city at lunchtime - that has been a rare and memorable experience over the years. There was a pint of Stones in the Minster Inn at York an a sunny day not in summer where the light had a pearly quality. The Stones was as good as it ever got.
ReplyDeleteFremlins in a pub just outside Rochester cathedral, it was the only time I ever drank Fremlins Bitter and it was lovely.
Winchester for some odd reason was full of Marstons pubs, and the ale in one on the green by the cathedral was outstanding. The ordinary bitter, which they discontinued, not Pedigree.
Arkells 3B in Gloucester, Youngs Ordinary near Westminster Abbey, Hartleys in Cartmel (OK not a cathedral but a big priory), Darleys in Beverley (likewise), Vaux(!) in Ripon, Whitbread Trophy (formerly Nimmo's 4X) in Durham. It's a special combination somehow.
Anyway one of the best, if not THE best was a pint of Greene King IPA I had just down the hill from Ely Cathedral. I had the pub to myself, the light was the same as in York, pearly. There was a slight mustiness about the furniture, it was as if I was the only person who had ever been in there. The beer was perfect.
In those days Greene King was a beer I rarely drank but I knew I liked it. It often turned up in Tap and Spile pubs and it was a reliable choice, but this was the best I ever had it.
Later on I went into a very busy pub on the river, the turnover must have been terrific, most of the beer being sold was Greene King IPA, and it was completely manky. How it could have been worse than in a pub that seemingly had no trade I don't know, but there it was.
Maybe an early contrast between the GK IPA of old and that of today.
Chris, in the 1970s there were very few Whitbread pubs in Newcastle but my favourite was opposite the old Marlborough Crescent bus station where one of the frosted glass windows had been replaced by plain glass with a perfect view of the bus stands to see if the bus was in yet.
DeleteThe Trophy (Nimmos) was great, electric pump and possibly tank but always in top form. I preferred it to the Newcastle Exhibition and in what was a beer desert at the time it held its head up nicely against the Samuel Smiths Old Brewery bitter which was really the only cask beer in Newcastle at the time until they reluctantly started getting 80/- down from Edinburgh.
Vaux Samson was served from Sunderland south, not a bad drop either.
Best pints of Greene King Abbot ale were on a cycling tour in 1976, ending up in Cambridge at the youth hostel. A nearby pub served GK and the landlord, an ancient man with a white beard apologised that the Abbot Ale beer engine was broken but he fetches it from the cellar. He disappeared down a hatch and returned with a massive metal pitcher of pure mother's milk. Three pints went down like nectar.
ReplyDeleteHowever I can understand the CAMRA name for the brewer, "Greed King".
Before beer engines that was how you served beers and in some parts of Germany it still happens.
DeleteOscar