Scottish Brewers Quit Fountainbridge and move to Caledonian

Does this sound rather like Caley "doing a Ruddles?"

ISTR Grand Met started national distribution of Ruddles beers before they fully acquired the company.

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Caledonian are insane. I don't have a problem with them contract brewing McEwan's (it certainly can't make it any worse), but how can they remain independent when ScotCo own the plant they brew with?

ScotCo are dedicated to destroying real ale breweries and traditional pubs and pushing Kronenbourg, John Smith's and other crap. Caledonian will regret this deal.

It's madness. They're selling their heritage for thirty pieces of silver. I confidently predict that there will be a major perceived fall-off in beer quality within two years, and the brewery will close within five.

The sensible solution would simply have been for Caley to contract-brew McEwans 80/-. Merely being brewed in a building where hops were present would have improved it.

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I was drinking the 80 bob a couple of weeks ago in Edinburgh, and a fine pint it was too. It's not my favourite Scottish beer but, as I spent many years living and drinking north of the Border, it is an old friend and a welcome sight where all too often bars have no cask ale at all.

I fear for the quality of Caledonian's beers, but I think this may be good news for Scotland's micros if Caley fail to meet drinkers' expectations. (Is anyone else sick of the sight of Deuchar's so-called IPA?)

Totally agree, it doesn't sound heartening news to me (it's also sad that another major, historic Scottish brewing centre closes, despite its recent ropey reputation).

It does seem an odd deal too - S&N/ScotCo are only to be 30% shareholders in the new comapany (the rest held by the current 4 Directors - Donald MacDonald, Sandy Orr, Stephen Crawley and Denis Critchley-Salmonson) but the brewery itself is to be owned by S&N! What happens to Caley if after their agreement to distribute Caley beers S&N (an international company trying to make money/savings above all else) decide to pull out of Edinburgh & Scottish ale-brewing altogether, or brew them at JohnSmith/Tadcaster brewery & sell the (presumably?) valuable Edinburgh Caley site?

Also from the footnotes of the press release - interesting figures - Fountainbridge capacity was 2m Hectolitres, Caley's is 160,000Hl (but that's with old-fashioned gas-fired, open (copper)coppers, open FVs,

More questions, we know there will prob be a load of redundancies at S&N Edinhburgh, but what of the non-production staff at Caley? (admin, sales, distribution, etc) Caley's describe the deal as a "partnership" hmmm, euphemism? From Caledonian's website

"excellent news for shareholders?", well apart from the 4 directors who are in the S&N/Caley partnership, I presume the rest got paid off, so yes, pretty good news for them? I wonder why it's good news for the mgmt team (no mention of the workforce as a whole?) & I'll wait to pass judgement about the result of the deal for customers. A rare success story for an historic brewing site; management buyout; recovery from 2 brewery fires; several big beer awards & IMO recently consistently excellent quality ales; I hope that the deal with S&N doesn't spell the end of Caledonian as we know it. cheers MikeMcG

Dean Lane wrote

No, I'm not, at all sick of Deuchar's, I accept that like many beers it doesn't fit the term IPA (not bitter, not strong enough) but I've had a few pints in the last year, & been really pleasantly surprised to see it on the bar in non-GBG pubs, & it's always been at least good & on one occasion (Everyman Bar, Liverpool, last summer) a real desert island pint - absolutely fresh, florally hoppy, some light malt, both quenching & moreish, just fantastic . . . I'll stop now :~)

All that said, I'd love to more regularly see 80bob & some of their other beers, but I've heard that their current seasonal, 6Nations is on now in the social club, 30secs walk from where I live. cheers MikeMcG

I wrote (mikemcg)

Capacities - S&N Fountainbridge - 2mHl = 1.22million Barrels Caledonian - 160,000Hl = 97,760 Barrels

(as well as providing UK barrels figures for the Hectolitres) what I meant to go on to ask was would Caley's have capacity to cope with the extra demand & maintain quality across the reanges of beers? Would they need to cut corners? Would they then only corner-cut the brewing of McEwan's beers & would they then *still* taste better than when they were brewed by S&N? ;~) cheers MikeMcG mic (underscore) mac (at) postmaster (dot) co (dot) uk

That really is a shame. I used to live at Thistle Place in Edinburgh in the late 90's and was within a stones throw of the brewery. The smell was alluring ;)

Didn't help your hangover on a Sunday morning though, hearing all those bottle clanking past :)

I'll always have fond memories of my 3 years in Scotland.

Simon

When Caley (Lorimer & Clarks then) was owned by Vaux, they managed to produce

Caley beers haven't been the same since their first fire. 80/- is either bland or nasty. Deuchars is totally inconsistent. It rarley has that clean flavour anymore, too much diacityl. How it won CBOB, gods know.... When S&N start pumping the maize grits and hop extract into the beer, it can only get worse.

Michael