History Repeating Itself....

We are still only in January, but this first month of 2024 has already seen a number of changes within the brewing industry, affecting some well-known names. But, whether we like it or not, change has always been a feature of the brewing landscape. Here's some thoughts....

So there's been plenty going on this past month. One of the country's biggest brewers announces it is no longer to brew one of its best-known beers using traditional equipment and methods of which they were the last-surviving exponents in the country. Two popular craft brewers announce they are calling in administrators. Within days, one of them is saved by a neighbouring brewery. Another craft brewery announces they are to merge with a local leisure group. And these events all follow on from the news from earlier in the month when Midlands brewers Purity announced they were going into administration, only to be acquired a few days later by the Breal Group who stepped in and came to the aid of Black Sheep when they ran into difficulties last year.

So, in a bit more detail, here's what's been happening. 

Marstons, who of course are now part of the larger Carlsberg Marston Brewing Group, announced the other week they would no longer be brewing their long-standing Pedigree bitter using the unique Burton Union system. This system was developed in and around Burton-on-Trent which was historically one of the main brewing centres in England and was used by many of the long-gone brewers in the town, and when Bass, one of the most famous names in brewing and by now part of Molson Coors, stopped using the system a few years ago, it left Marstons as the only brewer in the country upholding this unique tradition (elsewhere, the Firestone Walker brewery in California uses a similar system). In a nutshell, the system uses a series of large wooden casks each with a capacity of around 7hl (150 gallons) which are positioned on their sides on a gantry. Each of the barrels are linked by a pipe on each side which allows the beer to be dispersed evenly between them by use of a feeder vessel. As yeast is added into the liquid in the barrels it causes it to ferment vigorously, and some beer and yeast is expelled via a swan neck pipe at the top of each barrel. This flows into an angled trough where the yeast is collected for future brews as the beer flows down the trough back into the feeder vessel where it goes back into the linked barrels. The process continues for about 6 days until all the yeast has been expelled and the beer is clear and ready to be packaged. 

Burton Union system

Marstons decided to move away from the Union system because they say it is costly, difficult to clean, and hard to maintain, and as part of a multinational conglomerate even, though the relative cost of running the system is chickenfeed in the grand scheme of CMBC finances, isolating it in a cost centre as is the accountant's way that cost is exposed and therefore vulnerable to the fiscal sword. It would have possibly helped if Pedigree had maintained its pre-eminence as a major seller, but it has slipped down the ladder, arguably not helped by some poor marketing, labelling it as Amber Beer, an ignominious state of affairs for a premium bitter and what was once of the best-selling cask beers in the country. The truth is though that the market has changed and in acquiring the Wainwright brand from Thwaites a few years ago, CMBC have been able to capitalise with the growth in demand for blonde (and some would say, bland) beers over recent years. 

We should not have been surprised. If Marstons hadn't decided to get into bed with the lager boys from Copenhagen, and retained their major focus on cask beer, it is possible the slant of their marketing would have been different, and so it is possible the Burton Union scheme could have hung around for longer. And possibly the closures of the Jennings brewery in Cockermouth and the Eagle brewery in Witney would have been delayed. Possibly, but not for ever, and of course that is all theoretical. And whilst for those that love the old brewing traditions which the Burton Union system symbolises it is a sad day, we have to accept that there has been an inevitability about this and the other events, it is part of the same process that has run through the brewing industry since it first became commercialised. 

Meanwhile, in other news, a much more recently-formed brewer, North, who are based in Leeds, announced the other week that they were to appoint administrators. The brewery opened in 2015, but a few years beforehand they had launched the first of their eponymous bars on New Briggate in the city. Its focus was on bringing the beers of the new wave of craft brewers such as Thornbridge, Magic Rock, and Beavertown to an eager public. And so when they decided to brew their own, much of the focus was on keg beers, although cask was part of their repertoire. As beers such as Sputnik and Transmission became popular, they invested in a canning line, aided by additional funding. Supermarket listings were gained for their canned beers, more bars were opened, and a new larger brewery was opened in a former tannery at Springwell on Buslingthorpe Lane. But set against a background of rising costs and interest payments, and the impact of the long shadow of Covid which has affected many brewers, they realised the only way to survive was to get some outside help. And whilst they had opted to go down the administration route, a white knight then appeared in the form of Steve Holt, the founder of nearby Kirkstall Brewery who, as someone who seems to be a massive supporter of our brewing heritage, no doubt recognised the significant contribution North have made to the growth of craft beer. They previously rescued the former Leeds Brewery beers, and now brew them at their modern brewery on Kirkstall Road, but in this case North will continue to operate as an independent brewery under the same management team  whilst becoming part of the Kirkstall group, with the company's bars in Leeds, Harrogate, and Manchester also staying open. And as things stand given the way Kirkstall generally tends to operate they would seem to be in safe hands, although former customers of the Sparrow in Bradford which the brewery closed without warning may disagree.

Kirkstall; new owners of North

One brewery that has definitely closed is Manchester-based Squawk, whose beers had built up a strong following over recent years across Greater Manchester and West Yorkshire, although until they took on the former Beatnikz Republic bar on Dale Street and renamed it the Pelican they had had little consistent presence in the city centre. The closure is due to the fact that the owners of the railway arch in which the brewery was situated needed to carry out repairs on the building which meant that the brewery needed to be dismantled and removed so that the work could begin. With the work forecast to take several weeks to be completed, the cost of removing the equipment, and with no capacity to generate any income, the guys at Squawk took the decision that they had no option but to close the business, whilst not completely ruling out a return at some point in the future.

Flying high in happier times: Oli and Graham from Squawk

And finally in this whirlwind month of change, Newcastle-based Wylam Brewery announced that they have entered a merger with the family-owned Vaulkhard Leisure Group who operate a number of pubs and bars in and around Newcastle and the North East, and who have been in business for around 25 years. Amongst the places the group run are several well-known names such as the Town Wall, Redhouse, Blake's, and Barluga. Wylam, who brew several popular beers such as Hickey the Rake and Jakehead, operate out of the Palace of Arts in Exhibition Park, and also run the By the River Brewery on the Gateshead Quays, although in making the announcement neither party would confirm if this was included in the deal. In these difficult times this act of consolidation between two companies who already had a strong trading relationship would appear to make practical business sense to both parties.

Palace of Arts, Newcastle, home to Wylam Brewery

Just to add a little perspective on to these events, last year I read a fascinating book called Local Brew by Mike Dunn, which gives a portrait of the UK brewing scene as it was when it was written in 1986. It provides a sobering reminder that things don't last forever, with so many of the breweries from that time, less than 40 years ago, that are no longer with us. Many of those names - some fondly remembered, others less so - have disappeared for ever - Greenall Whitley, Burtonwood, Higsons, Hartleys, Wards, Gales, Hardy & Hansons, Eldridge Pope, for example. Who remembers Gibbs Mew? Or Maclay? Or Devenish? I should stress that amongst these changes some have been perfectly amicable and the businesses have sold out because it suited them to do so. Others limp on, their names grotesquely hi-jacked, bearing no resemblance to their former selves such as Boddingtons, whilst in a few cases old names have been revived under new owners such as Shipstones, Davenports, and Vaux. 

Ones that have survived include a group of family brewers from Greater Manchester - Hydes, Lees, Robinsons, and Holts - who have all adapted well to changing market conditions, as have such as Shepherd Neame in Kent, Everards in Leicester, and Adnams in Southwold. Greene King have grown into big players themselves having acquired several breweries and expanded and invested in their pubs, whilst in the South West, St Austell have thrived through investment in their pub estate and brands. Smaller players such as Taylors have tweaked their business but a high degree of focus on their flagship brand of Landlord which, whilst not quite the same brew as in 1986, continues to be within the top 10 ale brands in the country. Samuel Smiths' uncompromising ways have served them well in terms of survival, whilst one or two such as Welsh brewers Felinfoel, and Wadworths, Arkells, and Donningtons in the South West, drift along seemingly able to survive within their own self-contained eco-systems. The key thing is they have all adapted to changing times although it is inevitable that over the next 40 years some of these will almost certainly no longer be with us. 

Survivor: Robinsons have invested heavily in their estate

I think this flashback to the 1980s just reminds us that, just as with the growth of the Big 6 brewers in the 1960s and 70s, and their subsequent fall under the Beer Orders Act in 1989, which limited the number of pubs they could operate, nothing lasts forever. Whitbread for example, who swallowed up Boddingtons (who themselves had taken over Oldham and Higsons) and various breweries over the years, aren't even in the business nowadays, instead focussing on running the likes of Premier Inn and Costa Coffee.

So a month of big change, but looking back over the history of brewing, it is nothing new. We may be into a new year, and whilst the players and the specific circumstances of the events highlighted may be different, they are all examples of history repeating itself....

Opening image: carlsbergmarstons.co.uk

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