Mine's a Pint - Autumn 2019

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The Promotion of Lager in the UK PART 2 Paul Dabrowski continues his series about lager advertising, including some very familiar catchphrases. Following experiments in lager brewing as early as 1915, with the post-World War I market – minus Austrian and German imports – in mind, the branding of Barclay’s new products at their 1922 launch as ‘London Lager’ perpetuated the tradition established by most UK-brewed lagers to date in not adopting an inappropriate pseudo-continental name as a deliberate ploy to maximise sales at a time when patriotic fervour was still rampant. With anti-German prejudice in the UK somehow proving less resilient after 1945, the iconic 1958 film Ice Cold in Alex, starring John Mills, Anthony Quayle and Sylvia Syms, probably did as much for the rehabilitation of the notion of the ‘good German’ amongst the viewing public as did the most memorable, penultimate, scene – where the protagonists down several glasses of Carlsberg – in reestablishing foreign lager (but, unfortunately, reinforcing the misconceived ‘benefits’ of cold beer generally) in the consciousness of that same audience. This blatant product placement had followed earlier post-WWII export success in the UK using the somewhat cryptic, ‘In Danish we say “he 1st en hof”’, tag-line. Back in 1935, the Welsh Felinfoel brewery had been the first to successfully can its beers (although a lager was not amongst them) but it was the purchase of a bulk beer pasteuriser from Germany by Watney, Combe, Reid & Co. Ltd. six years previously that had presaged their development of the kegging process for a beer launched, for low turnover club use only, soon afterwards. The advent of the Second World War ultimately provided an incentive, during the mid- to late-1940s when American servicemen were being stationed in Britain, for the techniques to become increasingly linked. However, their particular association with lager was, oddly perhaps, initially eclipsed by the artificial gassing process being associated more with their application to (and replacements for) traditional cask ales and the creation of canned products such as Watney’s Party Four and Party Seven. What is not widely appreciated is that the carbon dioxide given off naturally but trapped in sealed fermenters, invariably now being used for bulk lager production, was reused at the brewing plant to engender some effervescence back into the finished products to not only disguise the lack of any on-site maturation but also to counter the deleterious effects of pasteurisation (principally, halting all fermentation). Reintroduced just prior to the packaging stage, this practice, theoretically, enabled immediate despatch to retailers without the need for any brewery conditioning and the storage costs involved. The high-profile promotion of the resultant inferior substitutes, both in cans and via gaudy keg fonts established onto bar tops whilst handpulls were being dismantled, inevitably created such adverse public reaction that it led Mine’s A <strong>Pint</strong> 24
to a consumer pressure group – the Campaign for the Revitalisation of Ale – being formed in 1971. It was the additional, artificial, carbonation of the latter, in particular, using cylinders of CO 2 to propel the keg beers and lagers to the bar that invariably caused excessive ‘fizz’ which attracted their especial opprobrium. And, it should not be forgotten that, just as the hot summer of 1959 seemed to mark a turningpoint in the establishment in the UK of keg beer over cask, the long, hot summers of 1975 and, particularly, 1976 did the same for ersatz lagers over keg brews in public awareness! The Campaign for Real Ale – as it soon became once the cumbersome ‘Revitalisation of Ale’ acronym interpretation was dropped – had undoubtedly provided more than just a catalyst that aided an eventual volte-face by the ‘Big Six’ brewing combines of the time as regards cask beer brewing was concerned, particularly whilst reliable cooling methodology for real ale was finally being perfected. But almost all UK-brewed lager, however, was to remain inextricably wedded to kegging and canning techniques well into the 21st century. In October 1972, a German-themed beer festival had taken place at Alexandra Palace, predating the CAMRA-inspired Great British Beer Festivals at the same venue later that decade. In fact, a first-and-last jointly-held protest against the lagers being promoted, involving both the Society for the Preservation of Beers from the Wood and the nascent CAMRA, was held to coincide with the event. Reputedly, the barrelrolling of real ale casks uphill formed part of the demonstration – though, if full, probably not for immediate consumption! The SPBW was, and still is, a 1963 forerunner to CAMRA though far less effective through missing the main picture! the 1960s onwards, as in Liverpool (Rigsby’s), with Hull, Leeds and Sheffield spawning a Hofbräuhaus each and, amongst those opened in some of the capital’s suburbs (complementing those extant in the city centre), there was even a Löwenbräu Keller in Croydon. A Bristol Bierkeller accompanied several in Manchester, too, with an ‘Austrian’ biergarten in Lytham St. Annes from the summer of 1966, and, around 4-5 years later, Blackpool gained three outlets, the Talbot Bierkeller, a Hofbräuhaus and, opposite the Central Pier, a Jager Keller. Then, the vast Harte & Garter Hotel, Windsor, installed its own bierkeller, with Southend, Pwllheli in Wales and Peel on the Isle of Man each gaining one in 1972, 1974 and 1977 respectively. By the end of the 1970s, Butlins had created a staggering 25 amongst its seaside holiday camps. During the penultimate decade of the 20th century, however, the bars had generally become seedier, accompanying accoutrements such as food, music, chasers and even the lager itself, less authentic as the bigger players had begun to dominate this lucrative market. The Talbot and Jager outlets in Blackpool, for instance, had actually been opened by Bass Charrington and the Forte Hotel Group respectively. Nonetheless, German-style beer festivals with Bavarian oompah bands and cuisine continued to be established subsequently in places such as Norwich and Solihull, supplementing the resurgence of semi-permanent bierkellers from Mine’s A <strong>Pint</strong> 25
Page 1: THE MAGAZINE FOR READING AND MID BE
Page 4 and 5: REAL-ALE AND CIDER FESTIVAL 9 -20 O
Page 6 and 7: Pub News Caversham The PRINCE OF WA
Page 8 and 9: garden. There are deals throughout
Page 10 and 11: Binghams The Tap Room at Emma’s K
Page 12 and 13: Small Beer A round up of news and i
Page 14 and 15: ESTABLISHED 2006 SERVING OVER 1,500
Page 16 and 17: Beer Festivals Local beer festivals
Page 18 and 19: Festival Reflections It felt like t
Page 20 and 21: present this year. I’m always imp
Page 22 and 23: Cider Month CAMRA’s real cider an
Page 26 and 27: Whilst lager, as a beer style, had
Page 28 and 29: Join up, join in, join the campaign
Page 30 and 31: As our farmers know all too well: n
Page 32: AUTUMN RACING WEEKEND & ASCOT BEER

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