None of today's trio of breweries is still operating. Two were closed by Greene King and one by Carlsberg. I guess that tells us something about what's been going on in UK brewing in the last couple of decades. I wonder which company closed the most UK breweries? Bass Charrington and Whitbread must be somewhere near the top of the list.
Rayment
Furneaux Pelham,
Hertfordshire.
Founded: 1820
Closed: 1987
Tied houses: 31
A subsidiary of Greene King. But the story is a bit more complicated. It was bought by a member of the King family in 1888 and run as a separate business. Only fully merging with Greene King in 1931. Its small tied estate was mostly concentrated in the villages around Bishop’s Stortford and Saffron Walden. I tried their beer at festivals. OK, but didn’t really stand out.
| beer | style | format | OG | description |
| BBA Bitter | Pale Ale | draught | 1036 | A well hopped "beery" beer of pleasant distinctive flavour |
| AK Pale Ale | Pale Ale | draught | 1031 | A Light Mild not unlike the Bitter |
| XX Mild | Mild | draught | Dark Mild | |
| Keg Bitter | Pale Ale | keg | ||
| Keg Mild (Dagger) | Mild | keg | ||
| Pelham | Pale Ale | bottled | Light Ale | |
| Super Ale | Pale Ale | bottled | A strong Light Ale | |
| Brown Ale | Brown Ale | bottled | medium sweet | |
| Dagger Brown | Brown Ale | bottled | sweeter and darker |
Ridley
Chelmsford,
Essex
Founded: 1842
Closed: 2006
Tied houses: 65
Another smallish brewery north of London. Their tied estate was concentrated in central and northwest Essex. They were well-liked by CAMRA as all their pus sold cask beer, much of it straight from the wood. Bought by Greene King in 2006 and closed immediately.
| beer | style | format | OG | description |
| Bitter | Pale Ale | draught | 1034 | well hopped |
| Mild | Mild | draught | 1030 | Dark Mild |
| Bishop Ale | Barley Wine | draught | 1080 | |
| Bitter | Pale Ale | keg | 1034.3 | |
| Essex Ale | Pale Ale | bottled | Light Ale | |
| Old Bob | Pale Ale | bottled | strong Pale Ale | |
| Stock | Old Ale | bottled | strong dark Ale | |
| Bishop Ale | Barley Wine | bottled | 1080 | |
| Brown Ale | Brown Ale | bottled | ||
| Stout | Stout | bottled |
Ringwood
Ringwood,
Hampshire.
Founded: 1978
Closed: 2022
Tied houses: 0
One of the first of the new wave of breweries founded in the 1970s. I can’t remember coming across their beers very often as I’ve never visited Hampshire. They were bought by Marston’s in 2006. One of several breweries which closed after Carlsberg took control of Marston’s brewing operations.
| beer | style | format | OG | description |
| Ringwood Bitter | Pale Ale | draught | 1040 | full-bodied and hoppy |
| Fortyniner | Mild | draught | 1049 | heavy and malty |
Can we have a Spotify playlist to accompany the series? Pub juke box classics of the 1970's, so we can read and listen along?
ReplyDeleteI made as playlist a while back:
Deletehttps://open.spotify.com/playlist/1XMeQuIqvv765uEtR0gPHq?si=2XW1x5T3SVCEQXj8yJhLPw
Do you know what Ron? That may have been in the back of mind and my beer-addled brain tried to sell me a memory as a new idea.
DeleteRon Rayments reminds me of Ballykilcavan size and draught offering wise.
DeleteOne of the Ridley’s a number of years ago got back into the brewing business.
As for Ringwood’s mild ale it seems it is a gold/blonde ale.
Oscar
The Carlsberg kiss of death.
ReplyDeletePretty influencial outfit, for a small brewery, over two or three decades. They brewed some really great beer, Old Thumper & Forty-Niner (loved those beers) being probably the best know. I believe also, that the founder - Peter Austin - was influencial in many ways, not least, for helping kick-off craft brewing on the US East coast in the 1980s. It's a real pity they, like a number of other regional brewers, got semi-shafted, first by Marston's, and then their brands & Marston's, got right royalty shafted by the greed mongers of Carlsberg. Still, I supposed they all made money. So much British beer history down the toilet. Re Ringwood some info on Wikipedia.
ReplyDelete