Brewery & Pubco News
Bass
The fate of Bass Breweries and its flagship Bass Bitter is uncertain once again.
The Department of Trade and Industry orderded Interbrew to sell the company
(which would be at a significant loss)
but Interbrew has applied for a judicial review here
and persuaded the Belgian Government to lodge a complaint
at the European Court of Justice.
Result: months, possibly years, of delay.
Meanwhile Whitbread have sold all their pubs to a subsidiary of Deutsche Bank for £1.6B.
Pubs for sale
Meanwhile the remains of Bass (a hotels & leisure company), the remains of Whitbread (similar)
and Scottish & Newcastle (still brewing)
are in the process of selling off thousands of pubs.
The Japanese bank Nomura is bound to grab many of them to become an even
bigger pubco whilst the smaller companies such as Pubmaster, Ambishus and Enterprise Inns grab what they can.
The needs of customers won't figure in any of this and it remains
to be seen what bulk supply deals (and thus beer choice) emerge out of it.
[A detailed look at S&N's thinking.]
Wolverhampton & Dudley
As the UK's largest regional brewer, it's watched closely
and of late the signs aren't good.
There have been suggestions of possible takeovers and selling off one or more of
its four breweries.
Of particular concern is the Marston Brewery in Burton-Upon-Trent, with its unique
Burton Union cask system.
W&D is unusual in being the only large pub-owning brewer committed to full pints, via either oversize glasses or metered dispense.
[Web site]
Greene King
As the next biggest regional brewer, GK has been concentrating on
developing its beer brands from its single brewery. Old Speckled Hen
(still labelled "Morland") and Abbot Ale have done very well but IPA
hasn't been noticed outside its heartland. Instead GK is relaunching a
lower-gravity (4.3%) Ruddles County to compete with the likes of
London Pride. (IPA does at least get television advertising, though it's
disappointing that the "full" pints shown seem a little short of a brim
measure - come on, GK, set a good example!)
Greene King have also announced the inauguration of a new 100-barrel
(that's 28,800 pints!) oak vat in its new brewery museum. It will be
used for maturing 5X, the main constituent of Strong Suffolk, to meet
rising demand. 5X is matured for at least two years in oak, before being
blended with a younger ale (BPA), to augment its flavour - and reduce
its ABV from a staggering 12% to a less daunting 6%. It is believed
that Greene King is one of only two breweries in the world to condition
and mature beer in oak vats, the other being Rodenbach in Belgium.
[A detailed look at GK's thinking.]
Locally
City of Cambridge Brewery is still hoping to move to near Ely.
The beer range is beginning to get known further afield:
some Hogsheads in the region have been having small beer festivals of its beer
and the range is now available via the Beer Seller agency - an important move for the future.
Lidstones has just expanded, with help from Brendan Moore of Iceni Brewery,
who has also helped set up a microbrewery at The Ship, Brandon Creek.
If you don't like the idea of driving out to The Ship and not being able to sample its beers,
it conveniently now offers B&B!
With Milton Brewery, this makes three breweries in the
branch area, with Lidstones
a possible fourth if they do install a plant in the Kingston Arms.
After Milton's success at the January Winter Ale Festival
plus Best Mild at the SIBA regional trials, the brewery won
the Cambridge Evening News
Small Business of the Year Award
in March.
Diageo is responding to the falling sales of Guinness in Ireland by relaunching the brand there.
In the same company report it announced increased profits from its Smirnoff Ice alcopop - sales in the UK were up by more
than three times. This is relevant to an article further on.
[BBC News Online article]
ALE Spring 2001 No. 301
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Cambridge & District CAMRA