Newcastle Brown Ale
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 Newcastle Brown Ale |
|
| Manufacturer | Scottish & Newcastle |
|---|---|
| Introduced | 1927 |
| Alcohol by volume | 4.7% |
| Style | English brown ale |
Newcastle Brown Ale is a brand of beer that was originally brewed in Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom, in April 1927 by Newcastle Breweries, which became Scottish & Newcastle in 1960. S&N UK is now a division of Heineken International.
In August 2005, Scottish and Newcastle closed the Tyne Brewery, the last consignment of Brown Ale having been brewed in April of that year.[1] Production was moved across the river to the former Federation Brewery in Gateshead.
Newcastle Brown Ale had originally been granted Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) status by the EU. Since Scottish and Newcastle moved production outside of the city its PGI has been removed.[2]
In Newcastle, the beer is often called 'Dog' (or simply 'Broon'). The 'Dog' name comes from the euphemism "I'm going to walk the dog" - meaning "I'm going to the pub" - and was further popularised by a 1980s advertising campaign. It is often referred to as Newcy Brown[3] by those not from Newcastle, though never by those actually from the city itself.
Newcastle Brown Ale is traditionally sold in England by the pint (20 fl oz, 568 ml) and more recently in 500 ml (17.6 fl oz, 0.88 pint) bottles. Typically the ale is consumed from a 12 fl oz 'Wellington' glass. This allows the drinker to regularly top-up the beer and thereby maintain a frothy 'head'. In the United States, it is also sold in standard 12 fl oz (355 ml) bottles.
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[edit] History
Newcastle Brown Ale was originally created by Colonel J. Porter in 1925. The recipe, however, was adapted over a period of three years to create the flavour that is distinct to the beer today. When first exhibited, Newcastle Brown Ale swept the board at the prestigious 1928 International Brewery Awards. The gold medals from these awards are still featured on the label.
The blue star logo was introduced to the Newcastle Brown Ale bottle in 1928, the year after the beer was launched. The five points of the star represent the five founding breweries of Newcastle. One of these, John Barras, is now commemorated in the pub chain of the same name.
In 2000, the beer was renamed "Newcastle Brown" with the "Ale" being removed from the front label. This change, only in the UK, was due to market research claiming that the term "ale" was outdated and costing the company sales in the youth drinking markets. The older name was reinstated with no fanfare in 2004, when it was realised that the change had made no difference to sales.[4]
In 2006, a special "Shearer" edition with a black and white label was made in honour of the retiring Newcastle United striker Alan Shearer.
In 2007, a special Maxïmo Park edition with a special label designed by the band was made to celebrate the home coming show at Newcastle Metro Radio Arena on 15 December. Also in 2007, a special 80th anniversary themed bottle was distributed.
[edit] Distribution and export
The beer was largely unavailable in South East England and the Midlands until a successful promotional campaign in the late 1980s, but is now one of the country's leading bottled ales.[5] The beer has been available in keg in these areas since late 2003 (although it was available in keg in the Newcastle area before that) and can also be purchased in cans.
Widely distributed around the world, at times, over half of the brewery's output is directed overseas to the U.S.[6] In the United States the beer is available in bottles and in keg, and on tap in some bars around the country.
The beer is also available in British-themed pubs as a draught beer in Australia and New Zealand, where it is brewed by Foster's Group as part of a reciprocal deal, pursuant to which Foster's Lager is brewed by Scottish & Newcastle in the UK. The UK-brewed bottled version is widely available in Australian liquor outlets as part of their international range.
[edit] Association with the North East
Like many British breweries, Newcastle Brown is strongly associated with its local area, in this case being the North East. While the name provides a lot of this, the sponsorship of Newcastle United, the depiction of the River Tyne in the blue star and mentioning in programmes such as Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads have helped ensure its association. Other breweries have achieved this, such as Boddingtons have with Manchester with its slogan 'The Cream of Manchester' and Tetley's have with Leeds through sponsorship of the Leeds Rhinos and heavy advertising at Leeds United and Yorkshire CCC.
[edit] Notes
- ^ Kerr, Rachel (27 May 2005). "Last orders for landmark brewery". BBC News (bbc.co.uk). http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/tyne/4580171.stm. Retrieved on 2007-03-05.
- ^ "Commission Regulation (EC) No 952/2007 of 9 August 2007 cancelling a registration of a name in the Register of protected designations of origin and protected geographical indications (Newcastle Brown Ale (PGI))". Official Journal. European Commission. 9 August 2007. http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2007:210:0026:01:EN:HTML. Retrieved on 2007-11-09.
- ^ "Entry on the Oxford Bottled Beer Database". Bottledbeer.co.uk. http://www.bottledbeer.co.uk/index.html?beerid=44. Retrieved on 2009-04-02.
- ^ Gibson, Neil (13 December 2004). "Ale's well again for Newcastle Brown". The Journal (icNewcastle.co.uk). http://icnewcastle.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/thejournal/tm_objectid=14973056&method=full&siteid=50081&headline=ale-s-well-again-for-newcastle-brown-name_page.html. Retrieved on 2007-01-28.
- ^ http://newcastlebrown.com/toaa/our_story/index.php?section=tale_of_an_ale
- ^ "Scottish And Newcastle: Newcastle Brown Ale". http://www.scottish-newcastle.com/snplc/brands/interbrands/ncbrownale. Retrieved on 2007-01-11.
[edit] References
- Good Company: The Story of Scottish and Newcastle, Berry Ritchie and Susannah May, James & James (Publishers) Ltd (Sep 1999), ISBN 0907383084
