Beer Guide to the 1970s (part twenty-five)

You may notice that this set is not  quite in alphabetical order. Paine should have been the first brewery in the last set. But I forgot them. A happy result of this mistake is that the two Randalls appear next to each other.

Only one of these three is still open. Though another still operates as a pub company. All are slightly obscure, not being very well known in the 197s. Mostly for geographical reasons. Their beers didn't stray far from home. And their tied estates were all pretty small: around 20 pubs.


Paine
St. Neots,
Cambridgeshire.

Founded:    1833
Closed:            1987
Tied houses:    24

A small brewery a little north of London, Paine’s tied estate was mostly in St. Neots and the surrounding villages. They were never a great favourite of CAMRA, possibly because only half of their pubs sold cask. I have vague memories of visiting one of their pubs off the A1. But I can’t recall anything about their beer. Though I'm sure that I did try them a least once.

beer	style	format	OG	description
XXX Bitter	Pale Ale	draught	1037	light Bitter with a pleasant flavour.
EG	Pale Ale	draught	1048	malty and slightly sweet
Special Mild	Mild	draught	1032	sweet
Pale Ale	Pale Ale	bottled
Extra Ale	Pale Ale	bottled		strong and well hopped
Gold Medal Ale	Pale Ale	bottled		the Bitter bottled, but stronger and sweeter
Brown Ale	Brown Ale	bottled		medium sweet

Randall (Jersey)
St, Hellier,
Jersey.

Founded:    1823
Closed:            1992
Tied houses:    20

The Jersey Randall got little attention from CAMRA as they were keg only.  They had a small tied estate but most of their trade was free. At the end of the decade, they reintroduced cask beer in the form of Randall’s Real Ale, at Bitter at 1042. They ceased brewing in the early 1990s.  Still operating as a pub company.

beer	style	format	OG	description
Island Draught Beer	Pale Ale	keg		naturally conditioned , unpasteurised and well hopped. Characteristics of traditional draught rather than keg.
Grunhalle Lager	Lager	keg		conceived by Randall
Boxer Pale Ale	Pale Ale	bottled		matured for a month, high hop rate
Nut Brown Ale	Brown Ale	bottled		sweetish
Grunhalle Lager	Lager	bottled

Randall (Guernsey)
St. Peter Port,
Guernsey.

Founded:    1868
Closed:            still open
Tied houses:    17

How confusing was it that there were two breweries called Randall in the Channel Islands? At least they were on different islands. In contrast to the Jersey Randall, Guernsey’s version sold cask beer in most of its pubs. As their beers never made it to the mainland, I never got to taste them.

beer	style	format	OG	description
Bobby Best Bitter	Pale Ale	draught	1044	distinctive
Bobby Mild	Mild	draught	1035	dark and thin
Bobby Keg Bitter	Pale Ale	keg		high gravity
Bobbi IPA Red Top	Pale Ale	bottled		similar to Keg Bitter but with more hops
Bobby Ale	Mild	bottled		bottled XX
Stout	Stout	bottled		medium sweet