A chum who is excited by the new Hydes version of Boddingtons wants to drag me off to Patricroft to sample it. I can't say I'm all that excited at the prospect, and in any case would much prefer to drink in central Liverpool, which is far more accessible to both of us.
Can anyone recommend an outlet for the New Bods in or around Liverpool? Preferably one where there is also an alternative brew for the more discerning drinker? ;-)
On a recent trip to Hydes it was almost the best beer of the night surprisingly. Think we caught the tail end of two Hyde's cask s though.
They in effect have a separate brewery in the yard for Boddies. Quite interesting. They said how much cask Boddies they brew, but shame on me, I can't remember how much. But it was a gobsmackingly high figure.
Peter
I'm not going to argue with that, my local being a Boddies tied house in those days, which was great: an oasis in a desert of Greenall Whitley tank beer.
It was really more of a cult beer then - you could find it in a handful of places in free houses outside the North West, but when Whitbreads took them over, Bods was one of *their* flagship brews, and it seemed to be everywhere, especially the former Greenalls estate, ironically. Now, as was previously mentioned, you don't see the ads any more and I don't know, however huge Hydes output may be, whether they have the same capacity that Strangeways had. Did the men in suits decide that it had had its day?
My mate never let go of his affection for Bods, whereas I moved on. He's now trying to convince me that it really is just like the Good Old Days again!
Indeed Boddies lost its character (the bitter anyway - the mild was IME always superior) long before Boddies sold their soul to Whitbread.
I'm sure that the Hydes version is superior to the last version brewed at the late lamented Strangeways brewery, but Hydes are under contract to replicate the former brew, not turn it into something worth crossing the road for. And to their credit, they seem to be doing an excellent job.
As for Whitbread, sorry InBev or whatever the name of the month is, they couldn't give a damn about cask Boddies, otherwise they wouldn't have hived it off in the first place. They can make far more money out of the fizz version or chemical lagerades.
I don't think they needed the same capacity as Boddies, as, AFAIK, Hydes are only contracted to brew the cask version. Presumably the can & keg versions are actually now the cream of Salmesbury (Lancs) or Magor (South Wales). Though, because of Hydes involvement InBev seem to feel it's they're OK to say that its - "Brewed in Manchester since
1778"It's an odd one as it was such a big brand & well advertised. Maybe as Boddies became Whitbread became Interbrew became InBev, in the bigger world of brewing it's getting ignored by the international be-suited ones? (they also own Bass, a bigger name in the world, perhaps?)
Buy him one of those Vesta curries too :~) cheers MikeMcG
I can't begin to get my head around the idea of keg Boddies! I think they slipped that one in while I wasn't paying attention, but I get the drift that the cask product is now far lower in output volume, and the ads make no reference to the distinction.
He'd be appalled at the idea of eating a curry! Hard to believe it, but there are some people in their forties so set in their ways...
Thanks to all concerned for their input on this.
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