The exceptionally well-named Yates on the States, the tale of a family man from Manchester, England living in Minnesota, has Yates's complaint is that cask conditioned Boddington's ale will no longer be made as the Manchester, England factory - the Strangeways Brewery - that makes it is being shut by its Belgium based parent, Interbrew. For 200 years, Boddingtons has only been made at Strangeways. From what I read, I understand what is at risk is the cask conditioned version of the brew, the real ale with live yeast in it, as opposed to the industrial kegged or canned versions with forced C02 carbonization we see on our shelves around the world. As a general rule, real ales take time to make, do not travel well and, if they do travel, they are expensive, like the six bucks Canadian I pay for a quart of Rogue. Kegged and canned beer is built for the tractor trailer ride. If my reading on the brewing industry has taught me anything it is that mergers and consolidations have been the stock in trade for brewers for ever. I noted this as a complaint in my review of Martyn Cornell's excellent Beer: The Story of the Pint but now I see it as simple reality, the nature of the flux in one end, the industrial end, of the industry. Consider this. I go to check the Interbrew website and the company itself has consolidated and is now called InBev, which is about as imaginative as LiqCo or HoochInc. It brews 13% of the world's beer. It owns the Keiths I drank as a kid but which now gives me the willies when I smell it, the Rolling Rock in portland's fridge, and the Hoegaarden and Leffe which have both been praised here. On the one hand, if it were not for the efforts of Interbrew, I would never have tried brews like Boddingtons or Leffe. In fact, the LCBO shelves are stocked with many InBev products, making the purchaser's job an easy one. On the other hand, I would have had a chance to try other smaller brands since killed off in the churning mill that is the merger game - but only if I travelled to where those products are made. So, when brewery mergers kill off your local favorite, either an entire brand or a real ale version of it, it is an actual but local crisis; when it adds a great new style to your shop, it is a blessing but, really, only as a start to new hunting when travelling. The conundrum of standardization and globalization. I will leave it to you to consider Yate's call when deciding what you reach for when you reach for a beer.
Comments
Ghost of a flea - September 25, 2004 10:57 AM
This is an outrage. Unbelievable. Disastrous. I have resigned myself to living without Boddington's due to my decision to leave Manchester but could at least cherish the thought of the real thing being enjoyed by my friends. Now this... monstrous... decision means they will be left with the same insipid simulation that even I, in my colonial exile, could buy in a can. This is the best bitter on earth and it is being murdered. Sickening. Grotesque. Barbaric.
Alan - September 25, 2004 1:41 PM
Is it drastically different? I stopped buying the can some years ago.
Steve - September 25, 2004 3:05 PM
Alan,
The pint of Boddies I sometimes drink these days seems to bear no relation to the pint I remember drinking in my 20s. It used to have a distinctive bitter aftertaste and it also seemed to make me fall down a lot sooner than it does now. (Although that could be down to the fact that I've drunk that much of the stuff that I'm immune).
I remember in the 80s when Boddies bought out Oldham Brewery and killed off a truly phenomenal local brew. Oldham Brewery and its products only lasted another two years or so and not long after the hunter becomes the hunted and Boddies falls into the hands of Interbrew. What goes around comes around.
Interbrew reckon they're going to carry on brewing Boddies elsewhere but a significant part of Boddies Bitter was the water they used from the artesian well under the Strangeways brewery. Without that I expect the Boddies of the future to resemble the one of my youth even less.
The reply that Yatesy got from Interbrew was typical of the number crunchers: they are still commited to the Boddingtons BRAND.
It's not a brand, it's part of Manchester's heritage and soon it will become a sanitised 'readibrew' that 'travels well' and corners a significant market share of the canned beer market.
Meanwhile nobody in Manchester will drink it.
BTW Just got back from the City Arsenal game - a cracker. With a bit of luck we could have nicked it but t'was not be. That whinging, whining, falling over and complaining cheat of a goalkeeper you've got though is about as hateful a human being I've encountered. On top of that I don't think he's a very good keeper. What do you reckon?
Ghost of a flea - September 25, 2004 3:22 PM
Nothing but respect for Mainheads!
As for the difference between the can vs the cask: it is not even close. And so much of it is in the pour...
Interbrew bastards.
Alan - September 25, 2004 6:07 PM
Hey, Steve. Great update on Boddingtons. I will have to send you a "Gen X at 40 Correspondent" t-shirt shoulder iron-on patch when I ever get around to making them.<blockquote class="smalltext">That whinging, whining, falling over and complaining cheat of a goalkeeper you've got though is about as hateful a human being I've encountered.</blockquote>We didn't even get the game here so I am glad to hear it was one of the greats so far this season. 1-0 is a pretty good result but I hear you about Lehmann. But in my recent read of <i>Rebels for the Cause</i> I thought I read that complaining was an intentional Arsenal tactic, especially with the linesmen. I think they need this guy.