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

In a way, I'm pleased that I was persuaded to continue with this series. As it means I can bash out a load of posts with minimal effort. Which is what I need to do, as I'll be travelling for a lot of March.

We round off Bass Charrington with two of its breweries from the Celtic fringe. Both of which, oddly enough, are still open. I've only ever drunk one beer from the two. That was a pint of dodgy Tennent's Lager in a Glasgow curry house. It wasn't great.

And we start on Courage. With, appropriately enough, the original brewery in London. Whose beer, when you could find it in cask form, was decent enough. And, of course, they brewed the wonderful Russian Stout.


Tennent
Glasgow,
Scotland.
Founded:    1769
Closed:            still open
Tied houses:    240

Bought by Charrington United Breweries in 1963. With the huge popularity of their Pilsner, Tennent concentrated mostly on brewing Lager. And, no, I never tried it. For two reasons: I didn’t drink Lager and it wasn’t available where I lived. Weirdly, the only cask beer was 60/-, a style that was on its last legs.

beer	style	format	OG	description
60/-	Pale Ale	draught	1031
Pilsner	Pils	keg	1037

Welsh Brewers
Cardiff,
Wales.
Founded:    1884
Closed:            still open (as Brains)
Tied houses:    505

Bought by Bass Charrington in 1968, the name was changed from William Hancock to Welsh Brewers. Sold to Brain in 1999 and currently operating under their name.

beer	style	format	OG	description
HB	Pale Ale	draught	1037	full flavoured
BB	Pale Ale	draught	1037	pleasant
PA	Pale Ale	draught	1033.6	light and bland
Worthington Dark Mild or Dash	Mild	draught	1033.3	smooth and fruity
PMA	Mild	draught	1033.2	smooth and pale

Courage (London)
Southwark,
London.
Founded:    1787
Closed:            1981
Tied houses:    

The original Courage brewery on the South Bank right next to Tower Bridge. They started brewing the magnificent Russian Stout after the closure of the nearby Barclay Perkins brewery.

beer	style	format	OG	description
Directors Bitter	Pale Ale	draught	1047	malty, distinctive
Best Bitter	Pale Ale	draught	1039	lightly hopped
Bitter	Pale Ale	draught	1030
Mild	Mild	draught	1031.2	well balanced
Tavern Keg	Pale Ale	keg	1036.2	Courage's flagship keg beer
Draught John Courage	Pale Ale	keg		strong
Special IPA	IPA	keg		bland
Russian Stout	Stout	bottled	1101.8	rich and heavy
Bulldog Pale Ale	Pale Ale	bottled	1068
Velvet	Stout	bottled	1041
Barley Wine	Barley Wine	bottled	1081.1
Light Ale	Pale Ale	bottled	1032.4
John Courage IPA	IPA	bottled	1047.6
Brown Ale	Brown Ale	bottled	1033.7

 

Time for yet another plug of my latest book, "Keg!".

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