Pint by pint pioneers

Jan 4 2008 by Alastair Gilmour, The Journal

THE stripes of one of its perpetually-underperforming football clubs are black and white; the geography is hilly and flat; the weather can be hot and cold in the same day – the North-East is a region of contrasts and extremes.

Its 3,317 square miles nurture world leaders in stem-cell research, but Northumberland possesses not one yard of motorway. The Daily Telegraph described Newcastle as “one of the hippest, most cultured, most gastronomically diverse cities in Europe”, yet Middlesbrough – according to a Channel 4 survey on crime, health and education – is the UK’s worst place to live.

Perhaps its this diversity that also breeds innovation, enterprise and enthusiasm – positive attributes which its brewers have in malt shovel-loads. The North Yorkshire Brewery in Guisborough, for example, is a pioneer in organic beer; Mordue Workie Ticket was the 1997 Campaign For Real Ale (Camra) Supreme Champion Beer of Britain, and an in-built resourceful spirit motivates all beer-related activity from the miniscule Four Alls micro-brewery near Barnard Castle to the Newcastle Brown Ale bottling hall where 600 units thunder through every minute.

Forty countries around the globe are served by Scottish & Newcastle from the 1.25 million hectolitre Newcastle Federation Brewery on an 11.5-acre site perched between the A1 and the River Tyne. It is the biggest by far of the North-East’s beer producers, but it has the most uncertain future of any.

Takeover predators Heineken and Carlsberg have until January 21 to show the colour of their money – or shut up. With S&N’s business acumen evident in buying Kronenbourg and its deal to take a half-share in Russian brewer BBH – doing very nicely on all accounts – the company should be acquiring the likes of Carlsberg, rather than the other way round. Our open market system, however, makes it easy for foreign competitors to buy British firms, but it’s much more difficult for home-grown companies to expand abroad.

So, in the event of a widely-expected takeover, would the new owners really require a big plant in Dunston? Newcastle Brown Ale, the UK’s best-selling premium bottled beer, cancelled its EU Protected Designation of Origin status in August 2007 – meaning the iconic beer could now be brewed anywhere in the world – and the recent sale of its LCL Pils brand to Daniel Thwaites of Blackburn has fuelled rumours that the North-East is about to see the back of its One And Only.

But, as 2008 gains momentum (doesn’t that figure have a well-rounded look to it, all friendly with no sharp edges), it’s worth taking a look at a random snapshot that represents the region’s brewing future.

At Wylam Brewery in Northumberland, beer production is prompted by steam travelling at 40 metres a second, at a temperature of 170ºC and a pressure of 100psi. Its much-expanded brewhouse is powered by an oil-fired steam generator that heats the water that’s pumped around the brewing vessels much quicker and much more efficiently than any time in its eight-year existence. It is 19th Century technology adapted for state-of-the-art production – little wonder that modern brewing can keep one foot firmly in the realms of tradition whilst kicking onwards and upwards with the other.

Recent additions to the Wylam portfolio – Gold Tankard is its best-seller by a tattie field – include Red Kite Ale which celebrates the massive bird of prey’s reintroduction into the neighbourhood.

The first to open the morning’s emails at the North Shields-based Mordue Brewery is greeted by dozens of requests for pump clips and brewing ephemera. Collectors collect them, hoarders hoard them and Mordues the world over just want to call them their own.

“We get Mordues from all over the planet asking where they can get our beer,” says managing director Garry Fawson. “Plus we get hundreds of requests for pump clips, mainly from all places, Poland, the Czech Republic and Russia. One bloke even turns them into clocks.”

Mordue Brewery is now on its third site in 12 years – the fourth if you count the “broom cupboard” where brothers Garry and Matthew Fawson started home brewing. Now the eye, as with everything Mordue, is on the future, with national distribution going particularly well.

“We moved here with expansion in mind,” says Garry. “We spent just shy of £1m in buying the place, developing it and spending on the plant. We’ve got space for a 50-60 barrel (1,800-2,160 gallons) brewery which we have planned long-term to snap on and will eventually give us the equivalent of a 100-barrel brewery.”

New developments include Newcastle Coffee Porter – using fresh coffee beans – and a monthly range planned for 2008 which has “fun-flavoured innovation” stamped all over it.

Steve and Christine Gibbs are former music teachers who turned homebrew hobbying into a business in 1994 when the education authorities decided that trombonists (he) and cello players (she) were surplus to the scholastic repertoire.

Their Durham Brewery squeezes as many of the city’s ecclesiastical connections as possible into the naming of its beers. Magus – its longest-running and most popular beer – comes with enviable quaffing characteristics and Evensong was Champion Bottled Real Ale in 2005.

“We’re brewing 30 barrels (1,080 gallons) a week at present,” says Christine. “But we still see it as a cottage industry.”

Diversification was the farming industry buzz-word that became familiar after the 2001 foot-and-mouth outbreak. But which direction do you diversify in when you’re already fully committed to ploughing, fencing, planting, feeding, fertilising, breeding, repairing, conserving, herding, stocking, machining and estate managing?

You could start a micro-brewery and gain a terrific reputation for your cask-conditioned beers through their quality and consistency; you could develop into bottling your products; you could collaborate with neighbouring farmers to produce pork and ale sausage and steak and ale pie; you could offer brewery tours, and then you could convert redundant cow byres into a visitor centre, café, fully-licensed bar, crafts shop and events centre.

And that’s the furrow that fourth-generation farmer Steven Urwin has ploughed for the last six years at High House Farm near Matfen in Northumberland. Steven even grows his own barley which is malted by Simpson’s of Berwick.

“We’ve been growing Maris Otter, a very old barley type,” he says, “but I’m also putting Pearl in now, a winter variety. It has much better resistance to disease.

“We’re also creating jobs. We now employ a total of 10 people full and part-time. It’s a vibrant business but still very much hand-crafted.”

Just over 25 years ago, in October 1982, the Ford Sierra was launched to replace the Cortina; Sony introduced the first consumer compact disc, and Culture Club topped the charts with Do You Really Want To Hurt Me? Yes we do, beer was 62p a pint.

In the same month, a new micro-brewery mashed in its first brew at a former undertakers’ in Newcastle – and Big Lamp has been illuminating the cask-conditioned beer sector ever since. The brewery has since moved a few miles west to a Grade II-listed Victorian pumping station at Newburn on the edge of the Tyne Riverside Country Park where it has added The Keelman pub to its operation, plus two finely fitted accommodation lodges.

“The beer is normally sold by the time it gets to the fermenting vessels,” says managing director George Storey, “then it’s out to the trade in two or three days. The brewery is doing between 35 and 40 barrels a week though we could do 55 barrels if needs be.”

Once there was a Border Brewery operating out of Berwick and a Hadrian Brewery, firmly established in Newcastle. They met over drinks, sparks flew, and a union was blessed. As happens in some marriages, however, the road proved rocky but Border raiders Andy and Shona Burrows came out the other end all the stronger with Hadrian & Border Brewery under their control.

Seven years on and business continues to improve in a sales climate that nationally is feeling the chill (year-on-year UK trade beer volumes fell in November by a staggering 9.7%). Distribution area includes Tyneside and North Yorkshire and the company retains a strong presence in the Scottish Borders and in Edinburgh. Beer “swaps” with other breweries around the country introduce a wider clientele to its portfolio which boasts Centurion Best Bitter, Gladiator, Farne Island and Secret Kingdom. The relatively new Tyneside Blonde is attracting a fair amount of admirers.

The North-East has innumerable claims to fame. Every last Rolo is made in the region; Earl Grey tea originated here and it’s where John William Hoggett invented vinegar-flavoured crisps. John Lennon and Paul McCartney composed She Loves You in the Imperial Hotel in Jesmond, Newcastle – idiosyncratic features, perhaps, but positives nevertheless.

On the other hand, who in their right mind would name a beer Fed Ordinary? And, Ace Lager is a running joke in Viz magazine.

The North-East is certainly a region of extremes – where else would give its last Rolo to a Tyneside Blonde?

alastair.gilmour@ncjmedia.co.uk

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In with the new

THERE could be no better sign of North-East determination than the Double Maxim Beer Company which developed out of the demise of the much-admired Vaux in Sunderland. Mark Anderson, Doug Trotman and Jim Murray had bought the Double Maxim brown ale recipe and drew up an ambitious contract brewing plan – a brewery in Sunderland, however, was always their ultimate goal.

Double Maxim soon forged strong relationships with the major supermarkets and cash-and-carry outlets with Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda, Morrisons and Bookers eager to take their products on. Their new plant at Houghton-le-Spring (opened last September) means Samson and Double Maxim are brewed for the first time in the North-East since the 1990s, alongside Ward’s Best Bitter and Maximus.

“Selling Sunderland-brewed beers in the North-East was seen as crucial to the exercise,” says Doug. “A resurgence of quality cask beer and consumer interest in genuine local beers provided a real opportunity for expansion.”