CAMPAIGNING ISSUES
The last 12 month have seen perhaps the greatest number of threatened closures of major regional breweries for many years. Vaux, Castle Eden, Wards, Stones, Ruddles, Morrells, Flowers and Hancocks have all been subject to closure proposals, and more recently the madness has spread to Camerons, Banks's and Marstons.
Whilst not all these breweries produced our favourite Real Ales, they were a major part of our brewing heritage which can never be replaced by the more recent micro brewers. In the face of declining demand for beer, and family and regional brewers have employed outsiders to advise them on future strategy.
Unfortunately, those outsiders are very often the very people who destroyed the national brewers with misguided short term policies which neglected brewing and saw a future only in retailing. These same people who closed so many breweries operated by the national producers are influencing the next tier of breweries with outdated marketing policies which concentrate on short term profit in retailing.
CAMRA has been active in fighting the closures, and in most cases making constructive suggestions on how to save the breweries and promote their beers to ensure their long term future.
Thankfully, Castle Eden is now a newly independent regional brewer with Jim Kerr heading the team, and Frank Nicholson at Vaux and Wards will be doing his best to keep those two breweries in existence.
Extract from the National Chairman, Dave Goodwin's report to the 1999 CAMRA AGM
DRINK MILD IN MAY CAMPAIGN
It's that time of year again - yes, when CAMRA tries to encourage drinkers to try Mild in May for a number of reasons:
- Mild is a tasty drink, it just contains fewer hops than bitter,
- Mild is usually cheaper than other beers,
- Mild, cask mild in particular, is a fast disappearing beer form,
CAMRA now has confirmation that many brewers are delisting cask mild from their range, and others are supplying only nitrokeg versions of their milds.
Greenalls have announced that they are axing the entire range of seven cask milds which they supply to their pubs, including Cams Mild - from the Liverpool independent - and in future only the Burton-brewed Greenalls mild would be available. Among the casualties are Higson's and Oldham, which are no longer brewed, and Shipston's Mild, which along with Shipston's Bitter, has been brewed by Carlsberg-Tetley at Burton upon Trent since Greenall's closed all its breweries.
Burtonwood are another company who no longer list cask mild in their portfolio, but they have stated that all remaining mild outlets would be invited to switch to a nitro-fizz version.
Boddington's Mild is being delisted by Whitbread, following its quiet disappearance from many tied houses over the last eight years, leaving only the contract brewed Chester's Mild left on Whitbread's list.
However, there are still many excellent milds left to try, and here are my particular favorites:
- Bateman's Dark Mild (DM), a complex ruby/black mild with a mottled brown head, with a bitter bite in the taste.
- Banks's Mild, also known as Banks's Ale, a top selling beer in its native Black Country.
- Magic Mushroom Mild, from Whim, available as a guest ale or at the Wilke's Head in Leek.
So go on, try cask mild in May, before it's too late. You might just like it!
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