I tried beers from all the breweries. And I was very fond of the beers of two of them: Hydes and Jennings. It was a sad, sad day when the latter closed.
Hull
Hull,
East Yorkshire.
Founded: 1765
Closed: 1986
Tied houses: 210
Another rather odd brewery. Most of their tied houses were in the Hull area, though they extended up to Scarbrough in the North and to North Lincolnshire in the South. The beer was rough filtered and mostly served from ceramic cellar tanks. In the free trade, however, it was delivered in casks. After initially classifying the beers as real ale, CAMRA changed their minds in 1980 and considered it as bright beer. I quite liked the Bitter, was which sold on handpump in the Town Hall Tavern in Leeds. They were bought and closed by Mansfield Brewery in 1986.
beer | style | format | OG | description |
Bitter | Pale Ale | draught | 1037.75 | well-balanced and fairly bitter |
Light Mild | Mild | draught | could be described as a Light Bitter, mostly found in the West Riding | |
Mild | Mild | draught | 1032.25 | Dark Mild |
Keg Bitter | Pale Ale | keg | less bitter than the draught Bitter | |
Top Score | Lager | keg | 1037.9 | |
Light Ale | Pale Ale | bottled | ||
Pale Ale | Pale Ale | bottled | stronger and paler than the Light Ale | |
Mild | Mild | bottled | Dark Mild paler in the West Riding | |
Brown Ale | Brown Ale | bottled | sweeter and stronger than the Mild Ales | |
Anchor Export | Pale Ale | bottled | stronger than the Pale Ale | |
Double Anchor | Barley Wine | bottled |
Hydes
Manchester,
Lancashire.
Founded: 1863
Closed: still open
Tied houses: 50
Hydes was one of the smallest breweries in the Manchester area. Their pubs were mostly in North Manchester, though there were a few in North Wales.
beer | style | format | OG | description |
Bitter | Pale Ale | draught | 1036 | well hopped |
Mild | Mild | draught | 1032 | Dark Mild |
Best Mild | Mild | draught | 1034 | A blend between the Bitter and the Mild |
Anvil Strong Ale | Strong Ale | draught | 1068 | rich and heavy |
Anvil Keg Bitter | Pale Ale | keg | with some character | |
Amboss | Lager | keg | 1034.7 | |
Anvil Ale | Pale Ale | bottled | ||
Anvil Gold | Pale Ale | bottled | 1042.7 | strong Pale Ale |
Anvil Strong Ale | Strong Ale | bottled | strong dark Ale | |
Anvil Brown Ale | Brown Ale | bottled | ||
Anvil Stout | Stout | bottled | 1041.4 | Sweet Stout |
Jennings
Cockermouth,
Cumbria.
Founded: 1828
Closed: 2023
Tied houses: 79
Based in the Lake District, Jennings had a pretty good reputation. I certainly enjoyed their beers. Their pubs were located in the Lakes, with some free trade stretching further south. They were purchased by Wolverhampton & Dudley in 2005. When they in turn were taken over by Carlsberg, the brewery was closed.
beer | style | format | OG | description |
Bitter | Pale Ale | draught | 1035 | well hopped |
Mild | Mild | draught | 1033 | Dark Mild |
KB Keg Bitter | Pale Ale | keg | A high-gravity, well-flavoured keg beer which is not overgassed | |
Special Pale Ale | Pale Ale | bottled | ||
Castle Pale Ale | Pale Ale | bottled | 1034.8 | stronger Pale Ale, the equivalent of the draught Bitter |
Export | Pale Ale | bottled | 1037.3 | the strongest Pale Ale |
Brown Ale | Brown Ale | bottled | 1033.6 | medium sweet |
I'm a fan of Hydes too, both their beers and pubs. Sadly the two closest to me have both closed in the last few years, with the sites converted to housing, as has the Jolly Angler in Manchester city centre despite always being busy, especially on match days (the new chief executive admitted at a CAMRA event I went to at one of their south Manchester pubs last year that they'd wanted to keep it open but felt unable to refuse the amount of money a developer offered them for the site). They also have the distinction of being the last producers of cask Boddingtons in the city, before they sold their Victorian brewery in Moss Side and moved into a smaller and more modern one on an industrial estate in Salford in 2012.
ReplyDeleteOther commenters may have another version but I've always been under the impression that Hull used stone squares and when it was closed down a brewer took the yeast and started up Ringwood Brewery that is now closed down by the CarlsbergMarstonsEvilMegacorp conglomerate.
ReplyDeleteFortunately for home brewers the Ringwood Yyeast 1187 strain is still available for home brewers. Very much a Yorkshire stone square yeast
The Ringwood strain is also widespread in the US
DeleteI remember a pub crawl in Cockermouth trying to convince myself I liked Jennings' bitter. I never got on with it. The mild was a lovely ale but I only ever saw it on the brewery tour.
ReplyDeleteI only drank Jennings once in the mid 70s when we stayed in a room at a Jennings pub in Ambleside. Got well pissed on the bitter but they had run out of mild and waiting for delivery. I returned home to Newcastle with a few of their bottles and one of them turned out to be bottle conditioned.
DeleteSo my Dad and I (who were using the popular EDME Home beer kits at the time) cultured up some Jennings yeast and produced a very very drinkable Jedme ale!!
I didn't know Jennings had closed; that is sad. I really liked their beers.
ReplyDeleteif you want a brewery to close, sell it to Carlsberg
ReplyDeleteI used to do my Jennings drinking in Keswick in the 70's and 80's. It was wonderful when in good order but there were some pubs where you avoided because you knew it would be vinegar.
ReplyDeleteI didn't mention the Swinside Inn there...
In the nineties they seemed to have changed the recipe. It was OK but I didn't love it the way I used to before.