Franconian Beer Message Board
Ot: end of old English family breweries |
| Posted by Barry on 2017-07-02 06:52:44 |
| Very interesting opinion piece by Roger Protz in the July edition of Camra's What's Brewing, prompted by Marston's takeover of Charles Wells of Bedford. Now I have never really been impressed by their beers and their versions of Young's and Courage beers left a lot to be desired. But it means that Marston's now own Well's, Bank's, Brakspear, Jennings, Thwaites, Ringwood and Wychwood; with the exception of the last two, some of the great old regional family breweries. In addition, another batch, including Hardy & Hanson, Morland, Ridley and Ruddles, are owned by Greene King. Add Molson Coors ownership of Sharp's, and you have three breweries controlling 37% of the cask beer sector. Sounds familiar? It will if you are unlucky enough to be as old as me and remember the awful 1960s and 70s when Watneys and Whitbread hoovered up everything before them. So, what relevance is this to a site dealing with Franken breweries and beer? Simply, it is a pointer to the future of breweries everywhere. We know that AB InBev is buying up craft breweries in the USA and UK, so how long will it be before the turn their serious attention to another one of the world's great beer markets? I know that some of my friends regards these activities as the natural face of capitalism and not to be baulked at but, personally, I regard these as retrograde developments. Having sampled the wares of dozens of Britain's craft breweries iin the last few months, I have to say that few of them are able to match the products of the old established companies, with many happy to produce strange concoctions that barely resemble beer and are so strong that they really challenge the drinker. All in my humble opinion, of course - oh, and that of Roger Protz. |
| Followups: |
 Ot: end of old English family breweries by JohnRatcliffe on 2017-07-02 09:10:00 |
| Ot: end of old English family breweries by Barry on 2017-07-03 01:53:43 |
| Ot: end of old English family breweries by Nick B. on 2017-07-03 06:56:02 |
| Ot: end of old English family breweries by Nick B. on 2017-07-03 07:09:28 |
| Ot: end of old English family breweries by Nick B. on 2017-07-03 07:32:43 |
| Ot: end of old English family breweries by barry on 2017-07-03 07:58:08 |
| Ot: end of old English family breweries by JohnRatcliffe on 2017-07-03 10:22:56 |
| Ot: end of old English family breweries by JohnRatcliffe on 2017-07-03 10:26:21 |
| Ot: end of old English family breweries by JohnRatcliffe on 2017-07-03 10:27:58 |
| Ot: end of old English family breweries by Nick B. on 2017-07-04 00:20:49 |
| Ot: end of old English family breweries by Nick B. on 2017-07-04 00:24:42 |
| Ot: end of old English family breweries by Nick B. on 2017-07-04 00:28:00 |
| Ot: end of old English family breweries by barry on 2017-07-04 05:04:30 |
| Ot: end of old English family breweries by JohnRatcliffe on 2017-07-04 09:08:52 |
| Ot: end of old English family breweries by JohnRatcliffe on 2017-07-04 09:12:57 |
| Ot: end of old English family breweries by Jason on 2017-07-05 00:01:11 |
| Ot: end of old English family breweries by Nick B. on 2017-07-05 01:25:53 |
| Ot: end of old English family breweries by Jason on 2017-07-05 01:41:22 |
| Ot: end of old English family breweries by Nick B. on 2017-07-05 02:09:14 |
| Ot: end of old English family breweries by Barry on 2017-07-05 02:09:48 |
| Ot: end of old English family breweries by Nick B. on 2017-07-05 02:13:14 |
| Ot: end of old English family breweries by Barry on 2017-07-05 02:13:17 |
| Ot: end of old English family breweries by Jason on 2017-07-05 03:06:37 |
| Ot: end of old English family breweries by Jason on 2017-07-05 03:20:01 |
| Ot: end of old English family breweries by JohnRatcliffe on 2017-07-05 03:48:10 |
| Ot: end of old English family breweries by Nick B. on 2017-07-05 03:59:50 |
| Ot: end of old English family breweries by Nick B. on 2017-07-05 13:00:41 |
| Ot: end of old English family breweries by Jason on 2017-07-05 22:43:49 |