Interbrew shows its commitment to cask beer . . . stop laughing at the back there!

Mar 29, 2005 4 Replies

Yes, we are so committed to our historic cask beers, that we are closing Boddingtons (brewing since 1700s) and moving Bass out of the brewery that has been its home also since the 1700s, IIRC :~) _________________________________________________________________________ from ThePublican.com (long URL)

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Interbrew injects £11m into cask ales Published 17th March 2005



Interbrew UK is aiming to make cask Bass and Boddington's great again after announcing a £11m investment programme during 2005.



The two beers are classic cask ale brands but have recently become symbols of the decline of British brewing following a steady fall in sales of Bass, and the closure of the Boddington's brewery in Manchester.



Bass barely scraped into the top 200 in this year's Publican Brands Report (available on the site on Monday).



Both brands have recently been given new homes, with Bass being brewed at Marston's brewery in Burton and cask Boddington's moving to fellow Mancunian brewer Hydes.



Now Interbrew has said it will be putting its full support behind the cask ale category.



Colin Pedrick, on-trade sales director at Interbrew UK, said there was a clear opportunity to grow ale sales in the pub trade: "We are committed to driving the maximum quality of our cask ale brands and believe this will play a key role in slowing the decline of the category."



Interbrew is trialling new beer engines for pubs, as the brewer believes that current models can adversely affect quality serve.



United Advertising Publications _________________________________________________________________________



Actually you can't really say that recently Bass was being produced in the brewery that has been its home since the 1700s. Bass production has moved around quite a bit in recent decades, from the old burton unions to the newer Bass brewery that replaced them, then on into the ex Ind Coope brewery (formerly the home of DBA) and now down the road to Marstons.

I think it's a good thing if InBev decide there's money to be made out of flogging cask beer, especially if it means they're going to pay attention to quality. In many outlets there's little alternative to these beers. There have been good reports of Marston's brewed Bass, and the brand is still strong despite extremely variable quality over the last few years. I'm afraid Boddingtons has lost all credibility and is doomed though, even if Hydes do a great job of contract brewing it, which they probably won't.

It'll be interesting to see how Interbrew market cask beers, given the witless 'Wife Beater - Reassuringly Chavvy' campaign used to promote Stella (not).

Best regards, Paul

-- Paul Sherwin Consulting

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Furry nuff that production of Bass has changed (from Unions to conicals now, I'm guessing? and as a hop-merchant told me a few years back, from using good English ale hops, to buying whatever is cheapest on the international market!) but as to moving production itself - I thought it had stayed pretty much on the same site?

AFAIK Bass bought the neighbouring Station Street brewery (in 1997 from Carlsberg-Tetley, the former Ind Coope & poss. Allsopps brewery?) & simply expanded the Bass brewery over the enlarged site (i.e. broadly speaking the beer has been brewed on the same site)?

A quick google search didn't confirm or deny this. Anyone have an answer?

BTW, in answer to Paul, yes I agree that big companies putting money into promoting cask ale & encouraging quality is a good thing, (doing so while also closing down cask ale breweries is IMO less good ;~)

cheers MikeMcG.

Hydes were contracted to reproduce exactly the "quality" of Boddies bitter. AIUI they have done that, and people can't tell the difference. Some hope that once the quality "restriction" ends, they might attempt to reproduce the Boddies bitter of old which some of us fondly remember. I guess it's too much to ask for them to reproduce the infinitely superior mild though...

Brian

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