Beer Guide to the 1970s (part forty-three)

Yippee! We're finally moving on to the final part of my guide to 1970s breweries: the Big Six. Who, at the time, operated a large number of plants. Especially Bass and Whitbread.

Bass owned breweries of massively differing size, ranging from the massive Runcorn plant to tiny operations such as Case and Highgate. There was a similar huge variation in the quality of the beer they brewed. Which was pretty much in reverse proportion to the size of the plant.

None of the three featured today brewed any cask beer.

Bass Charrington (Belfast)
Belfast,
Northern Ireland.
Founded:         1897
Closed:            2004
Tied houses:    

The former Caffrey’s plant in Belfast was the only brewery in Northern Ireland. It brewed exclusively for the local market.

Bass Charrington (Runcorn)
Runcorn,
Merseyside.
Founded:         1974
Closed:            1991
Tied houses:    

The infamous megakeggery, which was plagued by industrial action and production problems during its short life.

Bass Charrington (Hope & Anchor)
Sheffield,
South Yorkshire.
Founded:         1892
Closed:            1994
Tied houses:     

In 1960 merged with Hammonds United Breweries and John Jeffrey to form Northern Breweries. It didn’t brew any cask beer in the 1970s.

beer	style	format	OG	description
Jubilee Stout	Stout	bottled	1042.3	Sweet Stout