Monday, 11 November 2024

Beer Guide to the 1970s (part eighteen)

More 1970s breweries. And again, only one of the three is still knocking around.  Though another closed as recently as last year.

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


 

8 comments:

Matt said...

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.

Bribie G said...

Other 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.

Fortunately for home brewers the Ringwood Yyeast 1187 strain is still available for home brewers. Very much a Yorkshire stone square yeast

Rob Sterowski said...

I 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.

Anonymous said...

I didn't know Jennings had closed; that is sad. I really liked their beers.

bigLurch Habercom said...

if you want a brewery to close, sell it to Carlsberg

Chris Pickles said...

I 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.

I 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.

Bribie G said...

I 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.

So 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!!

Rob Sterowski said...

The Ringwood strain is also widespread in the US