Beer Guide to the 1970s (part fifty)

There's still quite a way to go with this series, as we're still only on the second Big Six brewer. Not done Whitbread yet, either. And they owned more breweries than anyone.

Today we've the two smaller M & B breweries. The good ones. Both in the Black Country. One producing just Mild, the other just Bitter. Highgate was a real survivor, clinging on for almost 75 years after being bought by M & B just before WW II.

Then there's Stones. Who really only made the one beer, Stones Bitter. A very pale beer, which was pretty decent. At least in the early days.


M & B (Highgate)
Walsall,
West Midlands.
Founded:         1898
Closed:            2010
Tied houses:    30

A real oddity: a Mild-only brewery. Whose beer was only available in the Walsall area. It was remarkably long-lived, given its small size and early acquisition date, having been bought by M & B in 1939.

beer	style	format	OG	description
Highgate Mild	Mild	draught	1034	dark and malty

M & B (Springfield)
Wolverhampton,
West Midlands.
Founded:         1839
Closed:            1991
Tied houses:    830

Bought by M & B in 1960. I quite liked Springfield Bitter, which was way better than Brew X.

beer	style	format	OG	description
Springfield Bitter	Pale Ale	draught	1035.9	sweetish

Stone
Sheffield,
South Yorkshire.
Founded:        1895
Closed:           1998
Tied houses:    257

Bought by Bass Charrington in 1968.

beer	style	format	OG	description
Best Bitter	Pale Ale	draught	1038.2	well hopped and very pale

 

Time for another plug of my latest book, "Keg!". From which the above was taken.

Get your copy of "Keg!" now!