Bass Charrington

The company was formed in 1967 by the merger of Charrington United Breweries and Bass Mitchells & Butlers.  Creating the largest brewing group in the UK. A position it would retain until it eventually sold up.

They started the decade with a bewildering array of breweries, some quite small and many in close proximity to each other. For example, in the West Midlands and Northwest England. Heavy pruning ensued.

Who knows what Bass Charrington could have achieved, if they hadn’t been led by H Alan Walker, a domineering lunatic with no knowledge of the brewing industry? Despite his best efforts, the company became the biggest brewer in the UK and one of the largest in the world. In the hands of someone more competent, they could only have been more successful.

The chairman’s insane plan was to have just two breweries, Cape Hill in Birmingham and the new brewery in Runcorn serving the whole of the UK.  Which led them to closing most of their breweries. Though, when they discovered Runcorn couldn’t brew acceptable versions of some of their Northern brands, breweries such as Stones in Sheffield and the Tower Brewery in Tadcaster were reprieved.

They were one of the worst in terms of pub vandalism. When there was a pub swap in the 1980s, they took over the Little Park from Tetley. It was a lovely little pub, with two distinct rooms. Bass almost immediately fucked it up, knocking it through into a single room. Totally ruining the atmosphere.


Bass
The renowned Burton Pale Ale brewery of the 19th century, the glory days of Bass were well over after WW II. Once the largest brewery in England, its beers remained nationally available, making it a tempting target for the ambitious M&B. Even though their tied house estate was quite small.

Despite coming first in the company name, Bass had never been one of the driving forces of the conglomerate. Having lost their independence before the formation of Bass Charrington. Their name remained prominent on account of its historic resonance. Though the company could have promoted the brand better

Charrington
A classic London Ale brewery, Charrington’s directors seem to have been naïve about what joining the Bass Charrington collective entailed. Hoping for a shiny new plant just outside London, they were greatly disappointed when the replacement for their East End brewery was Cape Hill in Birmingham.

Cape Hill
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.

Springfield
One of the group’s three breweries in the West Midlands. They brewed Dunkirk Pale Ale and Springfield Bitter. Both lovely, delicate Bitters. Way better than Brew XI. So, obviously, it was closed and the beers discontinued, though Springfield Bitter was brewed at Cape Hill for a while.

Highgate
Bass Charrington had a weird variation in the size of their breweries. Highgate in Walsall being very much at the small end. And even weirder, as their only product was a Mild Ale.

It had been scheduled for closure around the start of WW II, but was kept open as each brewery was allocated a certain quantity of materials based on their pre-war usage. Had the brewery closed, M & B would have missed out on the ingredients. In the end, it outlasted all the other former M & B breweries, including Cape Hill.

Tadcaster
It’s really odd how all three Tadcaster breweries have managed to survive. There were three substantial breweries in the town in the 1970s. And there are still three now. Back then, they were Sam Smiths, John Smiths and what was the former Tower Brewery, owned by Bass.

I can’t say that I cared for its beers. What was the Bitter? Brew X? Yes, that was it. Can’t ever remember trying it. I usually stuck to Mild, which came in the form of XXXX. A bit thin and insipid. Not a patch on Tetley Mild.

Stones
William Stones was a successful Sheffield Brewery, but owing to the large spread in ownership of their shares, they feared a hostile takeover. For a while they managed to play their two potential suitors – Charrington United and Bass M & B – off against each other. Until the two merged in 1967 to form Bass Charrington. And gobbled up Stones.

Their Bitter, which was very pale, along the lines of Boddington, had a strong local following and was a pretty decent pint. At least in the early years. It caused the company lots of problems. They wanted to close it, but attempts to replicate it at Runcorn were a dismal failure and the Sheffield brewery had to stay open.

Hope & Anchor
Another Sheffield brewery, but one which played a weird role in the formation of Bass Charrington.

In the 1950s, they were trying to market their Jubilee Stout to Canada. They came to an agreement with Canadian brewery owner Eddie Taylor. He would brew Jubilee Stout and in return Hope & Anchor would brew Black Label in the UK.   It was a deal which, eventually, gifted one of the UK’s most popular Lagers to Bass Charrington.

This transaction prompted Taylor to take a closer look at the UK brewing industry. And soon he was in the UK trying to put together a national brewery group. Just as he had done in Canada. And eventually led to the creation of the UK’s largest brewing company, Bass Charrington.

In 1960, it merged with Hammonds United Breweries and had started on one of the paths which would lead to Bass Charrington. Surprisingly, given the company’s rigorous pruning of its breweries, it didn’t close until 1994.

Tennent
Home of Glasgow’s – and Scotland’s – favourite Lager. Tennent got into the Lager game very early, in 1885, importing Germans to build them a suitable brew house, which opened in 1889. Unlike most who got into the Lager game in the 19th century, they were able to make a fist of it.

The brewery was lucky that Lager took off much earlier in Scotland than in England. Despite only being available in Scotland and Northern Ireland, by 1970 Tennents was one of the best-selling Lagers in the UK. Only Harp, a cooperative beer of several large brewers, outsold it.

Welsh Brewers
Formerly Hancock, which was a major player in South Wales before falling into Bass Charrington’s hands.

Let's Brew Wednesday - 1885 Thomas Usher 50/- B

Slightly stronger, but still pretty watery, was 50/- B. Wondering what the B stands for? So am I. My best guess would be “Bottling”.

It’s another simple, low-gravity beer. Which I’m guessing was intended for consumption at home.

The grist is slightly more complicated than for 40/- B, as there are two types of malt: pale and high-dried. I’ve substituted Munich malt for it. Though Simpson’s Imperial is probably the closest modern equivalent to high-dried malt.

The hops are just the same as 40/- B: Californian from the 1884 harvest and Alsace from 1883. 

1885 Thomas Usher 50/- B
pale malt	2.25 lb	31.03%
Munich malt	4.00 lb	55.17%
No. 2 invert sugar	1.00 lb	13.79%
Cluster 120 min	1.00 oz
Strisselspalt 30 min	0.67 oz
Goldings dry hops	0.25 oz
OG	1035
FG	1013
ABV	2.91
Apparent attenuation	62.86%
IBU	30
SRM	8
Mash at	150º F
Sparge at	175º F
Boil time	120 minutes
pitching temp	59º F
Yeast	WLP028 Edinburgh Ale

Allied Breweries

Unlike the other large brewing groups, which had mostly coalesced around one large brewery, Allied was more like a merger of equals. Those parties being Tetley Walker, Ind Coope and Ansells, which joined together in 1961.  And, to some extent, they kept their regional identity. Other than Double Diamond and Skol, they didn’t really have national draught brands.

The grouping made a lot of sense. Tetley Walker was active mostly in the North, Ansells in the Midlands and Ind Coope in the South. Combined, they covered most of the country.

Allied didn’t go for a standard livery across the group, as most of the Big Six did. Well, not quite. The whole group had yellow signboards with brown lettering in a standard font. However, this was accompanied by the trademark of one of the constituent breweries

In the 1980s, this uniform look was dropped and the constituent breweries reverted to something like the livery they had before they grouped together.

In 1973, the group owned eight breweries, split amongst the three original companies. The relatively low number of breweries meant that Allied closed fewer breweries during the 1970s than most of the Big Six.

They also owned two breweries in Holland: Oranjeboom in Rotterdam and Drie Hoefijzers in Breda.

Let’s look at the three members of the group in detail.

Ansells
Founded in 1857, Ansells grew to be one of the largest breweries in Birmingham.  In 1973, it operated two breweries in Birmingham: the original Ansells plant in Aston and the former Holts brewery. The latter had been acquired in 1934 and remained active until 1974.

In 1973, the brewery served 1,890 pubs. Which was less than a third of the 8,000 or so pubs controlled by Allied.

The Ansells brewery in Birmingham was the scene of much industrial unrest. Which led to its closure in 1981, with the Ansells beers being moved to other breweries in the group. Mainly the Ind Coope brewery in Burton.  Though the pubs retained their Ansells branding.

Ind Coope
Based in Romford, just outside London, Ind Coope moved into the big boy leagues in 1934 by merging with Allsopp. Whose brewery in Burton they continued to operate in the 1970s.

Romford
Two cask beers were brewed in the Romford plant, a Light Mild called KK (1031º) and Bitter (1037º). I can’t remember ever drinking either. Though I might have tried the Mild at a beer festival.

Burton
In the mid-1970s, Burton Ale, a cask version of Double Diamond, was introduced. Taken by CAMRA as a reassuring sign of a Big Six brewer taking cask seriously. Despite its confusing name. It being a Burton Pale Ale and not a Burton Ale. Which is a completely different style. At a gravity of 1047.5º, it was amongst the stronger Bitters brewed in the UK. And an excellent beer, when in good condition.

The only other cask beer from Burton was a fairly bland Bitter of 1037º.

Double Diamond, which had been a premium bottled Pale Ale, was first sold in keg form in 1962. It was a big success, becoming the best-selling keg beer in the UK. It was exclusively brewed in the Burton plant.

Tetley Walker
This arm of Allied operated two breweries, the former Walker plant in Warrington and Tetley in Leeds. Each serving one side of the Pennines.

Leeds
In Yorkshire, Tetley was much better than most of the Big Six. They didn’t mess their pubs around and were happy for most of them to sell cask beer. It’s a brewery I had a lot of affection for. Obviously, it’s now closed.

Warrington
The Tetley brewery West of the Pennines was a little schizophrenic. It brewed versions of the Leeds Mild and Bitter, but also Walkers Bitter, named after the original firm. They later also introduced a Walkers Mild.

Alloa
Of the many breweries that once graced Alloa, in the 1970s just two remained: this and Maclay.

Formerly known as Arrols, this was one of handful of brewers making Lager between the wars. When Allsopp went bust just before WW I and John Calder was called in to sort the mess out, the extremely expensive Lager kit was moved from Burton to Alloa.

That kit was the reason this was the group’s principal source of Skol, their main Lager. A beer which had started life between the wars as an Arrol’s beer called Graham’s Golden Lager, with the name being changed to the more Germanic Skol in the 1950s.  

Wrexham Lager Brewery
It’s really strange that two of the six breweries producing Lager between the war, two ended up in the hands of Allied.

Wrexham was one of the specialist Lager breweries in the late 19th century. But, unlike most such breweries, it didn’t go bust after a few years.
 

Thomas Usher boiling and fermentation in 1894

Time now for processes.

For most beers, there were two boils. The first of 90 minutes and the second of 120 minutes. The big exceptions were the Stouts, where there was a single, much longer boil. I wonder if the boil was that long to add colour. Which was the case often in London.

The pitching temperatures are all pretty consistent at between 58º F to 60º F. Which is all pretty standard. With 60º F being the most common pitching temperature generally for standard-strength beers.

The maximum temperatures, on the other hand, are a little on the low side, being mostly between 67º F and 69º F. While at most breweries the temperature was allowed to rise over 70º F. 

Thomas Usher boiling and fermentation in 1894
Beer	Style	boil time (hours)	boil time (hours)	Pitch temp	max. fermen-tation temp
XX 60/-	Mild	1.75	2.25	58º F	71º F
50/- Br	Ale	1.5	2	60º F	67º F
60/-	Ale	2		60º F	68º F
60/- Br	Ale	1.5	2	59º F	67º F
80/-	Ale	1.5	2	60º F	68º F
100/-	Ale	1.5	2	58º F	68º F
3 XX	Stock Ale	1.5	2.25	58º F	70º F
IP	IPA	1.5	2	58º F	68º F
PA	Pale Ale	1.5	2	58º F	68º F
PA 60/-	Pale Ale	1.5	2	58º F	68º F
Stout	Stout	3		59º F	69º F
Stout Export	Stout	3.5		58º F	72º F
Source:
Thomas Usher brewing record held at the Scottish Brewing Archives, document number TU/6/1/2.

Thomas Usher hops in 1894

Moving on to the hops, the great majority are English. Other than one lot of British Columbian and one of Californian.

As for the English, almost all are either from Kent or Sussex. The former is no surprise, being, the UK’s biggest hop-growing region. Sussex, on the other hand, was a relatively minor player in the hop game. Worcester, which appears once, was another major hop county. Thus, not unusual.

It may seem odd that an expensive beer like the Export Stout contains only American hops. But it does make sense. An export beer would need lots of protection from hops. And US hops had a higher preservative value. Also, in a beer that was aged and had loads of roast, hop aroma wouldn’t have been a prominent flavour. 

Thomas Usher hops in 1894
Beer	Style	hop 1	hop 2
XX 60/-	Mild	Kent	British Columbia
50/- Br	Ale	Kent	Sussex
60/-	Ale	Kent	Sussex
60/- Br	Ale	Kent	Sussex
80/-	Ale	Kent	Sussex
100/-	Ale	Kent	Sussex
3 XX	Stock Ale	Kent
IP	IPA	Worcester	Kent
PA	Pale Ale	Kent	Sussex
PA 60/-	Pale Ale	Kent	Sussex
Stout	Stout	Kent	Sussex
Stout Export	Stout	Californian
Source:
Thomas Usher brewing record held at the Scottish Brewing Archives, document number TU/6/1/2.

Let's Brew - 1885 Thomas Usher 40/- B

Let’s kick off Usher’s beers with the surprisingly watery Forty Bob. Looking like a 1918 beer at a gravity of just 1030º. And not even 3% ABV. Though the real FG might have been lower.

This could easily have been called as Table Beer. And might well have been a couple of decades before. But, along with the tax category, the term itself had become obsolete. How was this drunk? Probably with food. At home.

It’s a very simple recipe of just pale malt and sugar. An undefined type of sugar. No. 2 invert is just my conservative guess.

Most off the hops are Californian. With 20% from Alsace. From the 1883 and 1884 harvests, respectively. The dry hops are my guess.

1885 Thomas Usher 40/- B
pale malt	5.75 lb	88.46%
No. 2 invert sugar	0.75 lb	11.54%
Cluster 120 min	0.75 oz
Cluster 30 min	0.25 oz
Strisselspalt 30 min	0.25 oz
Goldings dry hops	0.25 oz
OG	1030
FG	1011
ABV	2.51
Apparent attenuation	63.33%
IBU	25
SRM	5
Mash at	148º F
Sparge at	175º F
Boil time	120 minutes
pitching temp	57.5º F
Yeast	WLP028 Edinburgh Ale

 

Thomas Usher sugars in 1894

Every beer, except for Export Stout, contains some sugar. Not really much of a surprise that. Though there’s a big variation in the quantity, from 5% all the way to 25%.

Joint most common type, Garton, is almost certainly some sort of invert. Garton just being the manufacturer. It could well be one of the numbered inverts. Sharing joint first is something described as “cane”. By which they probably mean raw cane sugar.

One Stout contains CDM (Caramelised Dextro-Maltose), a less easily fermentable sugar which would have added body and colour.

I’ve no idea what the other sugar was. The description is illegible. At least to me. 

Thomas Usher sugars in 1894
Beer	Style	Garton	cane	CDM	other sugar	total sugar
XX 60/-	Mild				5.97%	5.97%
50/- Br	Ale	8.93%			5.36%	14.29%
60/-	Ale		25.00%			25.00%
60/- Br	Ale	8.93%			5.36%	14.29%
80/-	Ale		25.00%			25.00%
100/-	Ale		25.00%			25.00%
3 XX	Stock Ale	4.76%				4.76%
IP	IPA	8.93%			5.36%	14.29%
PA	Pale Ale		25.00%			25.00%
PA 60/-	Pale Ale	8.93%			5.36%	14.29%
Stout	Stout		19.80%	5.94%		25.74%
Stout Export	Stout					0.00%
Source:
Thomas Usher brewing record held at the Scottish Brewing Archives, document number TU/6/1/2.

Amsterdam bound

I meet Mike for breakfast at nine.

I’m feeling a bit crap. Not sure why. A cold coming on, perhaps. Maybe lack of sleep. Or it could have been those cocktails. And the soju. Yeah, maybe it makes sense. I’m tired and have a cold.

The best in such circumstances is to fill your stomach. Preferably with salt and grease. Also known as a full English. I get scrambled egg, mushrooms, lots of bacon and, in a daring move, a sausage. Only because it’s labelled “Cumberland sausage”.

It’s not too bad. Could maybe have done with a bit more texture. I have some more orange juice. And more coffee. I’m still really thirsty. That’s it. I’m, ill, tired and dehydrated. It’s so simple.

We’re due over in Wandswortth at 11:00. I wouldn’t know the best way to get there. We take a District line train to East Putney. Then walk. It’s not stupidly far. But I have my luggage with me.

We’re meeting various people at Sambrooks. Which is located on the part of the former Youngs brewery site. Never been there before, so should be fun. Despite the walk.

After a while of fiddling around outside, we find Derek and his son Michael are already inside. Along with Duncan Sambrook of, er, Sambrooks.

We start off with a drink. For me, a water. I’m weirdly thirsty.

We have a quick spin around the brewery. Where John, a former Youngs brewer who kept brewing going on the site after the closure. He’s busy brewing on his small kit. An IPA. We don’t have long to chat as he’s, well, brewing. 

After Sambrooks, it’s the turn of the Youngs Heritage Centre. Where, in one of the few bits of the original structure, they have some old bits and bobs. And a couple of brewing logs. Including the final one, covering 2006-2007. I quickly snap a few random pages.

There’s just time for a beer before we need to leave for our next appointment. I get a half of Porter. Don’t want to drink too much beer. I have a long tube ride to consider. Don’t want to soil my kecks on the way to the airport.

We take a bus to the Bricklayer’s Arms in Putney. A famous beer pub, which I’ve never visited before. It’s sort of Timothy Taylor’s London HQ. Selling no fewer than four of their beers: Dark Mild, Landlord, Landlord Dark and Boltmaker. Pretty impressive. I get a half of Landlord Dark. As the Mild has just gone off.

I can’t stay for long. I need to get over to Heathrow for a 5 PM flight. I start getting ready to leave around 2 PM. But everything takes longer than you expect in London.

By the time my Uber drops me at Hammersmith tube station, it’s 14:40. Mmm. I’d like to get to the airport around three-ish. When’s the next train to terminal 4? Bum. Not for another 15 minutes.

Luckily, it’s only 30 minutes to the airport. I’m there at 15:30. Where I discover that my flight is delayed by 60 minutes. More time in the lounge, I suppose.

It’s pretty full. I manage to find a seat, though. After setting up my flip-flop, I visit the bar to fetch a whisky. The think about food. As I’ve not eaten since breakfast. The hot food isn’t that bad. So I get stuck in.

I fiddle around on the internet for a while. While sipping whisky and stuffing my face.

Eventually it says my flight is 45-minutes late. Though, by the time it leaves, it’s delayed by more than an hour.

Not much to report about the flight. We take off, fly for a bit, land and then spend forever taxiing to the terminal.

When I open my front door, there’s a cup of tea ready. Andrew tracked my flight this time.




Sambrook's Brewery
1 Bellwether Ln,
London SW18 1UD.
https://www.sambrooksbrewery.co.uk/


The Bricklayer’s Arms
32 Waterman St,
London SW15 1DD.
https://www.bricklayersarmsputney.com/ 

Disclosure: my travel and all expenses were paid by Goose Island.