Fullers Axe Gales Brewery

funny (not) how it's real ale firms that are the latter day wreckers.

Wonder if they'll still make the Gales wine range - my wife is partial to these.

m.

Didn't the founder of Hales Brewery in Seattle learn his trade in Gales, Hampshire?

Appreciate the following may seem a little "troll'ish" but (workers aside) is it such a bad thing for the real beer drinker...???

My friends and I (all from west sussex, east hampshire) have always been of the view that Gales is not a beer to go out of your way to drink... it's made with pelleted hops and has a distinctly chemically tang to me whenever I've tried it... and unusually, it always gives me a headache...

Sorry, but this is the modern world, businesses do buy out other businesses ... Fullers is still a real ale brewery business even if does "do for" Gales so it continues to get my business - and probably more so because now I can be guaranteed a decent pint in all the Gales pubs (and round here they're 2 in every 3 pubs!) which up until now I haven't bothered going to..

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-------- Regards, Steve

I guess it comes down to choice at the end of the day. Some people may like it and some people may not (I come in the former group), but at the end of the day, it's a loss for real ale lovers.

It's more of a personal loss for myself because I was brought up in Horndean (and still live locally) and went to school with Major Gale's grandson Stephen, who was a good friend of mine. I have fond memories of their rambling old farmhouse and exploring their beer/wine cellar - where a lot of the original Gales recipes were 'invented'.

Call me old fashioned, but I value England's heritage and old rural society, not today's modern 'see how much money you can make at the expense of freedom and choice' society.

I hope it doesn't mean the end of two of my favorite UK ales: HSB & Festival Mild (I don't think Fullers makes a mild, do they?). If it does I guess I'll have to settle for continuing to make the facsimle I have in my beer celler right now courtesy of Roger Protz's CAMRA recipe book.

Cheers, Bruce CAMRA member from New Jersey

Fullers make an occasional beer called Hock which is basically a mild. I wouldn't hold out too much hope for Festival Mild though I'd expect HSB to continue in some form.

Gales actually tinkered with the HSB recipe quite a bit over the years.

Best regards, Paul

-- Paul Sherwin Consulting

My experience over nearly 30 years (!!!) is that nobody in the local area of a brewery gives a 4X about it when it closes. However, other people across the country do. So what do you do when the local branch refuse to campaign against a brewery closure, but the rest of Camra wants to?

Personally I think the whole thing sucks. My hero is Sir George Bateman, who at least had the brass neck to go against the rest of his family when they wanted to sell out. If Gale's shareholders wanted so much to sell their shares then they should have sold them on the open market, rather than approach the competition and hand them their prized assets on a plate.

I can assure you that is NOT the case over the closure of Gale's. The local campaigning is run by both local people and the local Wessex Branches of CAMRA. It is a superb example of everyone working together.

The effect on the local community is devastating. It was well-summed up by one local resident who told me "Without Gale's, there is no Horndean". Their interest stemmed from the support Gale's gave to local people through the Gale's Youth Trust who had supported her fund-raising for a new artificial arm. That local support is now under question.

Over 50 people have already had their jobs taken away and more redundancies may follow. The village Post Office, concerned over loss of trade from the loss of a local workforce has just been put on the market. Other trades and businesses which relied on the brewery will suffer.

There is major concern over the pub estate, where Pride has replaced Gale's beers with large price hikes to boot. Fuller's will have to finance their borrowing somehow and the community locals are seen at most risk. I don't know about any apathy where you live concerning brewery closures, but I can tell you it doesn't exist here.

The main shareholders were a small handful who did a deal over the sale without allowing the many smaller shareholders any say. The way the Gale's Board sold out showed no loyalty or regard for the local community or for the Hampshire's most historic brewery.

John B

I'm afraid it does :-( The Horndean brewery is scheduled to close at teh end of march.

However we are told that they will be brewing copies of a number of the Gale's beers. These are HSB, Butser, Festival Mild and Prize Old Ale. I was also told by their Director of Beers & Brands yesterday that they would also occasionally brew Trafalgar 200 and Winter Brew

Despite what they have done to the brewery, Fuller's is a respected brewer of quality traditional beers and I'm sure that the copies they produce will be excellent ales. i'm looking forward to trying them. But they won't be Gale's.

They occasionally produce 'Hock'. I think that's a mild.

I wonder if Fuller's have been using the same book to try and match the Gale's brews ;-)

John B

I am reliably informed the Fuller's Festival Mild will be in 300 pubs during May.

In what way?

John B

Good! But I can refer you to the South Yorkshire branches who refused to campaign against the closures of Darley's and Ward's and Whitbread. I have also seen similar things in Cumbria and the West Midlands. However, the point of the OP was that he couldn't care less about Gales, so that apathy does exist there somewhere.

Good. I hope it makes it into my local Fullers pub.

For one thing, they reduced the strength. I didn't mean the comment to be a ciricism of Gales since most brewers modify their beers over time, only that the taste of HSB has changed somewhat over the last 20 years.

Best regards, Paul

-- Paul Sherwin Consulting

The various campaigns to save Morlands also got a very lukewarm response locally. GK beers were rarities then in the Morlands trading area and most people thought they'd be an improvement.

Best regards, Paul

-- Paul Sherwin Consulting

There's always one ;-)

FWIW I'm not a particular fan of many of the Gale's beers but their loss will mean less choice, higher prices and possible pub closures.

You can read a local response and a reply from Fuller's here:

John B

I have been told by Utobeer (borough market) that they have not been able to buy Prize Old since November .

The latest on this is that Fuller's have confirmed they will continue to brew Prize Old Ale [1] and that the 2006 bottling has already been carried out - using the corked bottles. They say the "Gale's bottling line is still under review" (they used the same words about the brewery),

Apparently they have reservations about the use of a cork to seal a bottle but will "will consider views from interested parties". It sounds as if they are preparing the ground to drop the famous corker for the 2007 bottling.

[1] Whatever they brew and however nice it tastes, it will still be a Fuller's copy and _not _ Gale's Prize Old Ale, which can _only_ be brewed in Hampshire.

John B