Beer Guide to the 1970s (part thirty-one)

Yes, I'm still slowly trundling my way through the breweries of the 1970s. I've almost got to the end of the alphabet. At least, for the independent breweries. Once they're done I'll move onto the homebrew pubs.

None of this trio is still open. No great loss, some might say, as none of them produced much cask beer. Not me, however. Plenty of breweries switched back to cask. Something a closed brewery couldn't do. And, while Vaux didn't make much cask, some of its subsidiaries, such as Darley, did.


Tollemache & Cobbold
Ipswich,
Suffolk.

Founded:    1746
Closed:            2003
Tied houses:    380

Formed by the merger of two Ipswich breweries in 1957, Tolly Cobbold (as it was usually known) was one of the largest independent breweries in East Anglia. Their tied houses were mostly in Suffolk and Cambridgeshire with two in Norfolk. The Tollemache brewery closed in 1961. Bought by Ellerman Shipping Lines in 1977, who sold them on to the Barclay Brothers in 1983. Brewing stopped in 1989 but restarted after a management buyout. Later bought by Ridley and closed for good in 2003. Their beers didn’t have the best reputation. Only a third of their tied pubs sold cask beer.

beer	style	format	OG	description
Best Bitter	Pale Ale	draught	1034	distinctive flavour
Cantab	Pale Ale	draught	1041	sweet
Mild	Mild	draught	1030	Dark Mild
Old Strong	Old Ale	draught	1047	rich and fruity, winter only
Tollykeg	Pale Ale	keg
Husker	Lager	keg
Light Bitter Ale	Pale Ale	bottled		well hopped, agreeable flavour
Tolly Ale Export	Pale Ale	bottled		stronger but similar
Cardinal Ale	Pale Ale	bottled		strongest
Tolly Royal Barley Wind	Barley Wine	bottled
Dark Brown Ale	Brown Ale	bottled		dry
Cobnut	Brown Ale	bottled		sweet
Double Stout	Stout	bottled		medium sweet

Thos. Usher
Edinburgh,
Scotland.

Founded:    1817
Closed:            1981
Tied houses:    200

A subsidiary of Vaux, who purchased them in 1959. They were sold to Allied Breweries in 1980 and closed a year later. Their tied estate spread from Inverness to the English border. As they produced no cask, obviously  I never tried their beer.

beer	style	format	OG	description
Export	Pale Ale	keg
Special Gold Tankard	Pale Ale	keg		equivalent of a Keg Heavy
Light	Pale Ale	keg		darker
Norseman Lager	Lager	keg
Golden Export	Pale Ale	bottled		strong and slightly sweet
Pale Ale	Pale Ale	bottled		lower gravity, medium dark
Brown Ale	Brown Ale	bottled		dark and sweet, like bottled Mild
Sweet Stout	Stout	bottled
Golden Lager	Lager	bottled

Vaux
Sunderland,
Tyne & Wear.

Founded:    1837
Closed:    1999
Tied houses:    700

One of the largest independent brewers, Vaux’s tied estate was mostly concentrated in the Northeast of England, though they also had a presence west of the Pennines. Only a small percentage of their pubs sold cask beer. Though, when you could find the beer in cask form, it was pretty good.

beer	style	format	OG	description
Samson	Pale Ale	draught	1042.3	well flavoured, not sweet at all
Sunderland Best Bitter	Pale Ale	draught	1040	light and hoppy
Pale Ale	Pale Ale	draught		equivalent of a Light Mild
Mild	Mild	draught	1030.2	thin and almost black
Gold Tankard	Pale Ale	keg	1040.6	strong
Silver Tankard	Pale Ale	keg		medium gravity and darker
Norseman Lager	Lager	keg	1038.7
Special Export	Pale Ale	bottled	1044.3	strong
5 Star Strong Ale	Pale Ale	bottled		brewed at Caledonian
Light Brown Ale	Brown Ale	bottled	1032	medium sweet
Double Maxim	Brown Ale	bottled	1043.9	strong
Export	Pale Ale	bottled
Sweet Stout	Stout	bottled
Norseman Lager	Lager	bottled