Three more Bass Charrington breweries today. Two of which closed just around when I was starting to drink. And one which was one of the company's main production sites, lasting just into this century.
The closure of Joule prompted an early CAMRA protest. No no avail, obviously. The brand has since been revived, though I've not tried the new version of the Bitter. Who knows how close it gets to the original.
Joule
Stone,
Staffordshire.
Founded: 1780
Closed: 1972
Tied houses: 214
Bought by Bass Charrington in 1968 and closed a few years later.
| beer | style | format | OG | description |
| Joules Bitter | Pale Ale | draught | 1035 |
Massey's Burnley Brewery
Burnley,
Greater Manchester.
Founded: 1750
Closed: 1974
Tied houses: 312
Bought by Charrington United in 1966.
| beer | style | format | OG | description |
| Kings Ale | Pale Ale | bottled | ||
| Light Ale | Pale Ale | bottled | ||
| Pale Ale | Pale Ale | bottled |
M & B (Cape Hill)
Birmingham,
West Midlands.
Founded: 1851
Closed: 2002
Tied houses:
The original Mitchell & Butler brewery in Birmingham. And, for a while, the largest cask brewery in the world. I can’t say I was that keen on their cask beer. Brew XI was a crap, sweet excuse of a Bitter. The Mild was OK. But no better than that. When in Birmingham, I much preferred Ansells Mild.
| beer | style | format | OG | description |
| Brew XI | Pale Ale | draught | 1038.8 | sweet |
| DPA (Dunkirk or Darby Pale Ale) | Pale Ale | draught | 1032 | pleasant |
| Mild | Mild | draught | 1034.6 | dark and malty |
| Family Ale | Pale Ale | bottled | 1031.6 | |
| Export Pale Ale | Pale Ale | bottled | 1044.9 |
Time for the plug of my latest book, "Keg!".
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6 comments:
Burnley's in Lancashire, they play the East Lancashire derby against Blackburn Rovers.
Bass Charrington seem to have had a lot more breweries than I knew about. To be replaced by Brew X and Brew XI... shocking lack of imagination there.
Could you do a post on Phoenix breweries and a post beer and 1970’s sports clubs?
Oscar
Anyone else here participate in the CAMRA protest and march through Stone when they were closing the brewery? Well we drank the town dry and ended up having to drink Carling Black Label etc. Sadly by that time Joules (Pronounced Jowls locally) was a pale shadow of a beer.
Brew XI still brewed as a cask beer for Molson Coors, under licence by Brains of Cardiff.
When I lived in Cardiff in the early 70s at Llandaff North there was a M&B pub just round the corner near the railway. I used to pop round with my next door neighbour on a Sunday. I think they used to service a fair few Welsh clubs so it was a well known brand. I wonder if it was brewed at Wolverhampton which is actually a fairly quick trip from Cardiff, used to drive over there and back to get bits for my Triumph Herald from a panel works there.
I remember the old Brew XI, tasted more like dandelion and burdock. The pub was pulled down and a block of flats now on the site.
After Joule’s brewery was closed (in 1974, in fact, rather than 1972), Bass Charrington continued to brew a version of Joule’s Bitter at Burton for a few years; it disappeared around 1978 or 1979. None of Massey’s own beers was still being brewed when I visited Burnley in summer 1972, but I did sample Brew Ten from an electric pump whose mounting bore the word “Massey” in small letters below “Brew Ten” in large ones. I have no recollection of whether it was any better than the Brew Ten from other Bass Charrington breweries.
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