The Bass Chronicles - Part 1 ( 1974 - 1979)

I wrote this article back in the 1990’s. I can’t remember exactly when, but it’s a piece I’ve hung onto over the years, and a file I’ve always transferred whenever I’ve updated, or purchased a new computer.

It’s the article about Draught Bass which, in a recent post, I was threatening to publish in the form of a number of installments. Parts of it may appear a little dated, but the main change has been that Bass have gone from being the UK’s largest brewer to a company which is no longer involved in brewing. The sentiments expressed though, remain the same.

Like most members of CAMRA I am not a great fan of the big brewers or their products, but I believe in giving credit where it's due, and one particular beer, produced by  what was Britain's biggest brewer, remains on my list of all time favourites.

I am talking about Draught Bass, of course. This Burton-brewed beer can trace its ancestry back to the India Pale Ales produced during the 19th Century for export to the Indian sub-continent. Such beers were heavily hopped, and brewed to a high gravity. The high hopping rate helped prevent infection, whilst their considerable strength allowed for maturation to take place, in the cask, during long sea voyage to India.

Over the years the gravity of this style of beer was gradually reduced as the growing popularity of Pale Ale for the home market led brewers to produce a beer which didn't require such a long period of maturation, and which could be produced for more or less immediate consumption. Such beers became known as “running beers”, and were the forerunners of the beer known today simply as “bitter”.

As far as I recall, I  first sampled Draught Bass sometime in early 1974, at the Anglesea Arms in London's South Kensington. This legendary free-house was one of the first pubs in the capital to offer a variety of real ales and I am fairly certain that it was on my second visit to the pub that I took the opportunity to try a pint of  Bass.

The beer was not labelled as Bass at that time, but instead was somewhat confusingly badged as Worthington E. The latter was also the name of a well known keg beer, so it is easy to understand my confusion. I later discovered that cask Worthington E and Draught Bass were one and the same thing, although originally they had been two completely separate brews.

Bass and Worthington were two well-known brewers based in Burton-on-Trent. They had merged during the 1920’s, but had maintained separate identities, and separate beers. I remember reading that Worthington’s ales were lighter in character than those of Bass, whose beers were described as “thick and heavy”. This probably meant they were closer in style to those of the original India Pale Ales, but as tastes changed, it was Worthington’s beers which ended up having the greater appeal.

The separate identities of Bass and Worthington’s beers ceased at the end of the 1960’s, following the creation of the behemoth known as Bass Charrington; a merger between Bass, Mitchells & Butler and Charrington United Breweries. This joining together of two already large brewing groups, created Britain’s largest brewer. With their eye on consolidation and integration, the new company  took the decision to gradually merge the palates of both Bass Pale Draught and Worthington E, so that by the early 1970's they were identical beers.

Eventually Bass Pale Draught became the name for the cask ale, whilst the name Worthington E was applied solely to the completely different, and rather  inferior, keg product. The name Worthington E did linger on for some time, especially in areas such as Wales and the West Country; but also in parts of the capital. This confusion explains why I don't remember much about my first taste of Bass - I obviously believed I was drinking cask Worthington E at the time!

I believe that the change of name from Bass Pale Draught to just Draught Bass took place some time in 1975, as the company, concerned by the success of Courage's promotion of their premium Directors Bitter, and by Allied Breweries’ recently launched Draught Burton Ale, decided they needed a flagship ale in order to compete.

They had a ready made brand in the shape of  Bass Pale Draught, but over the years it had been reduced in strength to a gravity of around 1037 - more the strength of an ordinary bitter than a premium ale. The decision was taken to increase the OG to 1044, and to put some promotion behind the brand, so after years in the doldrums Draught Bass was set to make a fitting comeback.

The first time I  consciously remember drinking Draught Bass was at the now sadly closed, Cross Keys in Eccles, Greater Manchester. I remember the occasion well, it being the day of my graduation from Salford University. My proud parents had travelled up the previous day from Kent to see their only son collect his degree from the university vice-chancellor.

Following the degree ceremony, and a late afternoon meal, they were making plans for their journey back to Kent. It was agreed that myself and the girl I was living with at the time, would accompany them as far as the start of the M602 in Eccles. From there they could easily find their way onto the motorway network, whilst we would be able to catch a bus back to Salford.

Having said our farewells, we decided that a drink would be in order. As it was a fine July evening we sat on the grass, outside the Cross Keys, enjoying both the fresh air and the beer. We had only intended to stay for one, but the beer was so good that it was some three pints later before I reluctantly decided that it was time we made our way home.

The beer of course, was Draught Bass, and was on sale dispensed from a free-flow electric pump with a new-style font - based on an old-style Bass mirror. The beer was superb! It was pale in colour and had a delectable malty taste, subtly interlaced with a wonderful hoppy bitterness. It certainly slipped down a treat, and made me realise just what a good beer Bass could be.

During the following years I drank Bass whenever and wherever I could and, following a move to London in early 1978, actively sought out this excellent beer which was readily available in many of the company's Charrington tied houses.

Later that same year, and quite coincidentally, I ended up working for Bass Charrington, after obtaining my first laboratory post following my graduation.  This was with Hedges & Butlers, who were the wines and spirits division of Bass Charrington. They were based in East London, at the time, at Bromley-by-Bow. The ironic thing is that I didn't realise the connection initially, as I was sent for the interview by an agency.

To compound my ignorance further, as I was  somewhat naive in those days,  I had mentioned on my application form, that I was a member of CAMRA The parting comment from the company’s Quality Assurance Manger who interviewed me, which was spoken in a very broad Polish accent, was "Bass Charrington shoot CAMRA members!"

Despite my initial fears that I had blown my chances I was offered the job, having obviously made a good impression where it counts. Hedges and Butlers dealt exclusively with wines and spirits and the company were very keen for their employees to learn more about this fascinating aspect of the drinks trade.

Unfortunately, despite their connection with Bass, opportunities to learn about beer and brewing were few and far between. However, after a bit of badgering, coupled with a grouse at the fact that managers and supervisors had been given a tour round the Bass Burton Brewery a colleague and I were allowed to accompany the Q.A. Manager on one of his regular visits to group headquarters at Burton-on-Trent. This was ideal, as whilst our boss was ensconced in a meeting, we were enjoying our own private tour around the brewery with a member of the Burton Q.A. departmental staff acting as our guide.

Our first port of call, naturally enough, was the laboratory where we were able to compare the different ways in which beer was analysed as compared to wines and spirits. Colour, taste and appearance seemed to be prime factors in determining what went into the make up of a good pint, although microbiological quality, yeast counts etc. were also important. Having got the "shop" side of the visit out of the way we were then shown round the somewhat clinical and modern Number 1 Brewery. The highlight of the trip though, for me, was a look around the adjacent, and much more traditional, Number 2 Brewery.

This delightful group of red-brick buildings was Victorian in origin. With its teak-clad mash tuns and gleaming coppers, it was as traditional as any brewery you could wish for. It was here of course that the company's traditional cask ales were brewed. Close by stood Bass's famous Union Rooms, where Draught Bass, together with Worthington White Shield, fermented away in a series of interlinked oak casks.

The only sound audible was that of the gentle hissing of the fermenting beer as it forced its way out of the swan-necked pipes at the top of each cask and into the collecting "barm troughs". Here the yeast settled out, allowing the clear beer to return to the casks. It was certainly a magnificent sight to behold, but unfortunately I only had the simplest of cameras with me, and the photographs which I took did not do justice to such a magnificent place.

After gazing in awe at the care and attention devoted to brewing such a splendid beer, what better next than to sample it. Even better to be able to sample it just yards from where it was brewed, as our guide ushered us in to the brewers’ sample cellar.

This long, low room, with its white painted walls and tiled floor was home to row upon row of racked casks, each bearing a chalk mark showing gyle number, date of brewing, racking etc. The cellar seemed to be both a mecca and general meeting place for brewers drawn from all over the vast site (it was lunchtime after all), and all were knocking back glasses of Draught Bass. This "palace of beer appreciation" was presided over by a white-coated steward. After our guide had introduced myself and my colleague to the latter, we were each  presented with a half-pint tasting glass, full of Draught Bass, drawn straight from one of the casks.

Needless to say the beer tasted divine, being a crisp but subtle blend of malt and hops with the slight sulphury taste, know as the "Burton Snatch", for which the town’s ales are famed. Our first glass was swiftly followed by several more, before it was time to find our boss and head back to London.  

To be continued............................................

A silver lining

My relationship with CAMRA at the moment is something of a love-hate one. Hate is probably too strong a word, but my feelings towards the Campaign have definitely cooled over the past few years. and this is for a variety of reasons which I won't go into here.

What I will say though is, as I wrote in a comment on Pub Curmudgeon's blog, I really think that CAMRA has lost its way, and this comes after the results of the Revitalisation Project; the grand design which was supposed to breathe new life into the Campaign and set it on course for the next decade or so.

However, despite these mis-givings I have decided to allow my CAMRA membership to renew again, as the Direct Debit is due later this month and there isn't sufficient time to cancel it. This is sheer laziness on my part, but perhaps there's still something stirring deep in my unconsciousness which doesn't want me to let go of an organisation which has been part of my life for over 40 years.

If I had decided to throw in the towel, there are a few things that I wouldn't have missed. Good Beer Guide surveys and selections meetings top the list, but so do CAMRA committee meetings (I am involved in more than enough meetings during the course of my work, to tick that particular box). I wouldn't miss the Wetherspoon's vouchers either, as I barely use a fraction of them, and Tim Martin isn't exactly "flavour of the month" as far as I am concerned.

On the plus side though, there is the social side of the Campaign, and this for me has always been one of the most important aspects of CAMRA. The other real positive is that I will continue to receive copies of CAMRA's award-winning, quarterly Beer magazine.

I don't use the words "award-wining" lightly here, as this full-colour publication, packed full of so many good things, really is the best of its kind when it comes to writing about beer, pubs and all things related. Edited by a team which includes Tom Stainer and Tim Hampson, along with contributions from regular CAMRA columnists Des de Moor, Susan Novak and Roger Protz, Beer magazine really does hit the spot.

The publication is enriched by articles from a variety of guest contributors, who are too numerous to mention here, but there have been articles about pubs, food, walking, places to visit abroad, music, breweries, beer and cider tastings and all things related. In short there is plenty to entertain, enthral and educate everyone and anyone with an interest in beer.

Nicely laid out in a pleasing and contemporary style you'd be forgiven for thinking that I am on CAMRA's payroll for writing this piece which sings the magazine's praises.

Beer magazine is only available to CAMRA members and not to the general public, which may seem strange at first until you consider the Campaign has had its fingers burned over general-sale magazines in the past. Many reading this may not be aware that back in the 1980's CAMRA made a couple of brave, but ultimately doomed attempts to launch "What's Brewing" as a magazine for public consumption.

There were a number of reasons for these failures, but it was said at the time this was due to the role played by Smith's News (formerly WH Smith's News), in the distribution of magazines and newspapers to the newsagent and book trade.

I don't recall anything concrete, although this was 30 plus years ago, but I suspect sales might not have been sufficient for publication of the magazine to continue. It may also have been that CAMRA were unable to live with a loss for the sustained period necessary to get the magazine off the ground.

This was a shame, but perhaps inevitable given the cut-throat nature of the world of publishing, but whilst it was sad for CAMRA, it was even worse for the general public as they missed out, and are continuing to miss out on what is (in its current guise of Beer), an excellent publication.

As a beer writer and beer enthusiast, I would say that, but at least I am able to get my fix of all things beer, brewing and pubs related, on a quarterly basis. If you are a CAMRA member and have been tempted to cast this publication aside, may I humbly suggest you give it a second look.

One final thing, which I'm sure most members are aware of, CAMRA is extremely keen to push the electronic/digital versions of both "What's Brewing" and "Beer magazine". The Campaign's reason for going down this route are purely financial, as they want to save on printing and postage costs.

What they have failed to realise is they are swimming against the tide. Printed publications, be they books or magazines are not only holding their own, but are gaining sales over their digital counterparts.

So don't be pressured into going down this route, and make sure you have registered with CAMRA  to receive a paper copy of both "Beer" and "What's Brewing", as trying to read these publications on a computer screen or tablet. just isn't the same.

Technical difficulties

This short post isn't about beer and neither is it about travel. If anything it's totally off-piste and unconnected with anything I have written before. Oh, and before anyone mentions the "B" word, it's not about politics either!

What I'm writing about here is a technical issue relating to the blog itself, and I'm sure other people have experienced the same thing.

As many readers will know, there are two main hosting platforms for blogging on the internet; Blogger and WordPress. The former is Google's baby, whilst WordPress is an independent platform. Both have their good points, as well as the occasional bad ones and both have their devotees, but there seems to be a problem when it comes to posting across the two platforms.

Part of the fun of blogging is reading other people's blogs and posting the odd comment. If you write a blog it's good to receive feedback in the form of these comments and, vice-versa, it's good to reciprocate by commenting on other writer's work.

So far, so good, but I'm sure I'm not alone in having experienced  the odd problem when doing this. Over the past month or so comments I've made on other bloggers' posts have not loaded, and instead have disappeared completely as soon as I've hit the "Post Comment" button.

As I said a short while ago, the problem seems to be when posting "across platform" ie, on blogs hosted by Word Press. I've had no problems posting on Blogger sites, and confusingly many WordPress blogs are also OK, but it's very frustrating when you've got something to say or a valid comment to make and it disappears of into the ether. Conversely when others might be attempting to post on my blog, I can share their frustration.

The reason I've written this is firstly to ask whether others have experienced these difficulties (I'm sure they have), but secondly - and more importantly, what to do about it.

So over to you, dear readers, any ideas and, reaching out to all those technically-minded people out there, what is the fix?

 

Footnote: blogs I have experienced difficulties commenting on, include Zythophile, Look at Brew, Boak & Bailey and Pubmeister writes........., so if any of theabove authors are reading this, apologies if I appear to have ignored you, or not come back with a comment.

"For great lager, follow the bear"

It was son Matthew's birthday a couple of weeks ago, and along with the usual presents bought for a twenty-something lad, we thought we'd get him a case of beer.  Rather than the usual case of Stella though I wanted something better for him; something a little bit special, and something he could really enjoy, so what better than a beer he has taken quite a lot of interest in over the past year or so?

I'm talking about a beer which launched in the early 1980's, and which was promoted as having a German heritage. Despite having a Teutonic-sounding name, Hofmeister was brewed in the UK by Courage, (later Scottish Courage). It was pretty weak stuff as well, with an ABV of just 3.2% , but this was not uncommon for British lagers at the time.

Hofmeister was promoted with the help of a bear; a fake one of course, and one which having started life as a rather cuddly and slightly bumbling bear, morphed into a cheeky-chappy, Jack-the-lad sort of bear, whose name was revealed as George. George wore a shiny, yellow jacket and a pork pie hat

The brand was marketed with the slogan "For great lager, follow the Bear"; a  strap-line which appeared in both TV commercials as well as on billboards. Like many of these beers with a fake continental pedigree, the adverts were better than the beer itself.

After a slow, but inevitable decline, the brand was finally killed off in 2007, which was shortly after Scottish Courage had been acquired by Heineken. And there the brand might have remained, confined to the dustbin of history, until in 2016, when a small group of beer enthusiasts acquired the rights to Hofmeister from Heineken.

The re-vamped beer re-launched in October 2016 with new branding, a revised recipe and a genuine German pedigree. The new Hofmeister Helles Lager is a vast improvement on its 80’s namesake, and is brewed at a brewery in the heart of Bavaria, by a 4th generation family brewery.

It is brewed according to the Reinheitsgebot German beer purity law, using natural mineral water and locally grown barley and hops. The beer is lagered at a temperature close to zero degrees, for a fresh, crisp, award winning Helles lager with an ABV of 5%. It is light golden blonde in colour, with low carbonation and is imported from Bavaria for sale in the U.K.

Matthew is too young to remember the original Hofmeister, but I am not, and after trying the beer for myself, pronounced it genuinely Bavarian, eminently drinkable and a far cry from the "ersatz" lager I remember from the early 1980’s. After both trying the beer for the first time (last year, at the Greyhound Charcott), decided to track down some Hofmeister to enjoy at home.

The company behind the re-launched beer claim they are on a mission to bring back this iconic brand to an appreciative public, and asks devotees to follow their journey online and keep an eye out for Hofmeister coming soon to a pub near you.

Despite these laudable aims, Hofmeister is still hard to come by, particularly in packaged form (bottles). A growing number of pubs keep it on draught, but in bottled form Hofmeister seems as rare as hen's teeth.

This was where I did my super-sleuth bit by becoming involved with the search for bottled Hofmeister, but an online scan of all the major supermarkets (including both Aldi & Lidl), yielded no results. A Google search did show though that the beer was available from Amazon, but priced at £23.99 for a dozen bottles, it was a little on the pricey side. I was prepared to pay this for a birthday gift, until I noticed the £7.50 delivery charge,  and for me this was a red line.

I continued my quest, this time trying independent off-licences, and I thought I'd struck lucky with Oddbins, after a chance enquiry whilst en route to a CAMRA meeting in Tunbridge Wells. I discovered that Hofmeister is a beer stocked by the chain, and whilst the local store was out of stock, they would be able to order some for me.

I left the manager my card, and he promised to call me the on the following Thursday, when the beer was due in; although he did say he couldn't guarantee the stock would arrive. The Thursday in question came and went and of course, there was no phone call.

The phone call which is never made or never returned, has to be the number one let down of the 21st Century and the one thing guaranteed to piss more people off in life than anything else. Garages are the worst in my experience. How many times have you taken your vehicle in for a service or repair, and the service manager says they will phone you when the car is ready for collection?

How many times are they true to their word or, more to the point, how many times have you been left feeling let down? Most of us are resigned to this being just another sad fact of life, and I am no exception, but the following day I picked up the phone and called Tunbridge Wells Oddbins.

The manager remembered me, although there was no apology for not having called me, but the fact was the beer had not been delivered to Oddbins' central warehouse, so hence none had been despatched to the various stores. He then quoted me chapter and verse as to how this wasn't uncommon in the drinks industry. I enquired whether the beer might be available at a later date, but the manager told me he simply didn't know, and these best thing I could do was to try elsewhere.

This is where a work colleague came to the rescue. My workmate had overheard my conversation and decided to check whether his Amazon Prime account would qualify for free delivery. As it was Black Friday, there was no delivery charge payable, so the order was placed for delivery to Bailey Towers.

The beer was duly delivered a couple of days ago, much to Matthew's delight, although he hasn't given his old dad a bottle yet. But the mystery remains as to why such an obviously good product is not more widely available.

In the meantime, "For great lager, why not follow the Bear?".

Naylor's Brewery Bar & Emporium

Some of you may remember that at the end of my piece about Saltaire Brewery, published at the end of September, I mentioned that after leaving Saltaire, the family and I called in at another brewery, on our way to Skipton.

We never actually made it to Skipton, for reasons I won’t bother explaining now, but we did make a very brief visit to Naylor’s Brewery and Beer Emporium, at Cross Hills, near Keighley.

The brewery is housed in an industrial unit, a short distance from the village of Cross Hills. Adjacent to the brewery is the company’s Brewery Bar & Emporium, and whilst this was closed at the time of our visit, the adjoining brewery office was open, and the very nice young lady in charge sold me a few of bottles of beer, and also allowed me to take a few photos of the bar.

The brewery began life in 2001 at the Old White Bear public house in Cross Hills. It was started by the pub’s owners, brothers’ Stephen and Robert Naylor, initially to brew beer for the Old White Bear. The brothers soon realised that their future lay in brewing, so in 2006 they made the decision to follow their passion and concentrate soley on producing quality, hand-crafted beers.

Naylor’s beers are brewed from British barley, supplemented by small amounts of wheat and rye and bittered using several varieties of hops, sourced from around the world. The brewing water used is pure and soft, and drawn straight from the Yorkshire Dales, with a traditional top-fermenting ale yeast used to produce the finished product.

The company brew a wide range of both cask and bottles beers, details of which can be found on their website. One thing which does puzzle me though, is the “rider” on the website which states that the Brewery Bar is now under “old management”, with the Naylor’s back in charge. I’m not sure what might have gone on there, so I won’t speculate further, but the bar did seem a nice little place to enjoy a few of the company’s beers, along with a bite to eat.

As I hinted at in the Saltaire article, we weren’t primarily in the region for a beer hunt, but after Google notified us of the proximity of Naylor’s, it seemed rude not to stop by and take a look. Ryedale Brewing and Beer Monkey were also quite nearby, but as we had a family meal planned, with Mrs PBT’s cousin and her family for later in the evening, we decided that two breweries were enough for one day.

Now, nearly two months after our visit, I have finally got round to drinking two of the three Naylor’s beers I brought back with me. Here’s what I thought.

Naylor’s Brewery Brewer’s Choice – Yorkshire Ale 4.0%. Described as a "Right, proper, traditional Yorkshire Bitter. Copper in colour, bitter to begin with, but mellows once you get to know it. Best drunk wearing a flat cap, (whippet optional)".

There is little I would disagree with in that description. Basically this is a very decent drop of beer, with a pleasant and refreshing bitterness, balanced by just the right amount of malt.

Naylor’s Brewery IPA 4.5. There is a nice plain-looking label, with some attractive-looking Celtic artwork on the bottle, and this sets the tone for what is a very good and very drinkable IPA.

The label states, “Our IPA is strong enough to last the journey and bold enough to stand out. Good bitterness and a pronounced aroma are supplied by the generous amount of hops”. It also informs the drinker that as well as wheat malt, the beer contains lactose, dark chocolate and natural chocolate flavouring.

I didn’t pick up the last three ingredients in the taste, but what did find is a very satisfying and thirst quenching beer, with lots of juicy malt, complemented by a real fruity background.

The beer is very pale in colour, and pours with a nice fluffy head. I would like to have sampled this beer in cask form, but as mentioned earlier, the brewery tap was closed at the time of our visit.

I still have a bottle of the 5.9% Old Ale, kicking around somewhere, but that can be a treat for another day.

The Beer Seller is coming to town

There’s a lot going on at the moment, so there’s only time for a quick post, and it’s one about Tonbridge again. I make no apologies for this, as the town is rapidly catching up as a "beer destination" with its larger neighbour and namesake - the place with the wells (spring actually).

You may remember me writing a while back about the proposed conversion of a former jeweller’s shop, into a beer pub-cum-café; a move which will bring another “destination” bar to Tonbridge.

I mentioned that the people behind the new venture are the Beer Seller Ltd, which currently runs the well-known Halfway House pub at Brenchley, near Paddock Wood. The Halfway House has built up a name for itself locally thanks to its well-kept "real ales" served straight from the cask, and the plan is to offer something similar in Tonbridge. 

In their submission to the local planning authority, the new owners stated they had been looking for a suitable location for a second establishment for some time. They went on to say that they felt the location to be ideal for a successful bar facility, which would be used by shoppers, office workers and the general public visiting the High Street, and also travellers using the station.

In approving the application Tonbridge & Malling planning committee said: “The application will enhance the viability and vitality of the town centre and contribute towards both the quality and quantity of the facilities available on Tonbridge High Street.”

Well after weeks when nothing much seemed to be happening, news suddenly appeared on the West Kent CAMRA Facebook page, stating that the owners plan to have the place open before Christmas. Company spokesman Sam Allen, said, “The Beer Seller, Tonbridge is coming soon. We will be specialising in all things local with a particular emphasis on real ales and ciders”.

He mentioned the location, at the old Angell's Jewellers site on the corner of Bradford Street and the High Street, and stated they were working to be open by mid December . He finished by saying, “They would love to see some friendly faces”. Interestingly, the company are also advertising for bar staff.

Last weekend, I took a walk along Tonbridge High Street and stopped to take a few photos, showing the new windows which have been installed in the former jewellers. This Sunday, I discovered, via the Beer Seller’s Facebook Page, that the bar had put on a “soft” pre-opening especially for the town’s High Street Christmas Festival, which took place today. This is the event where Tonbridge’s Christmas lights are switched on, there is live music, street stalls, followed by a lavish firework display at the end.

The photo on the bar’s Facebook Page showed they were offering Real Ale at £3.50 a pint, Turners Cider at £4, mulled wine or sloe gin & tonic, both at £4.50. I had planned on attending the event, but after an afternoon out in the garden, raking up leaves, decided to give the thing a miss.

I may have been tempted by the fireworks, but we get a much better view of them from the vantage point of our bedroom window. However, despite my aching legs and  shoulders, I would definitely have been tempted by a sneak preview of the Tonbridge Beer Seller, had I known in advance about their “soft opening”, but reading between the lines it does seem like opening might not be too far off.

We come from the land of the ice and snow

Well three months after my brief visit to Iceland, I finally got round to drinking the three beers I brought back with me. All three were from the Borg Brugghús Brewery, but before describing them in detail, I want to write about the Icelandic beer scene in general, especially because the country is a relative newcomer to the world of beer.

It is not widely know that owing to an extended period of prohibition, it has only been legal to drink beer in Iceland since 1^st March 1989. That date is now celebrated as "Beer Day", but how did this strange situation come about?

A total ban on the sale of alcohol came into effect in 1915, following an earlier referendum; (plebiscites are never a good idea, as Britain discovered two years ago). The ban followed years of agitation by an alliance of temperance groups and total abstainers and, as with all such “well-meaning” legislation, was supposed to “improve the health of the nation”.

A century ago, alcohol in general was frowned upon, and beer was especially out of favour for purely political reasons. This was because at the time, Iceland was engaged in a struggle for independence from Denmark, and Icelanders strongly associated beer with Danish lifestyles. As a result, beer was "not the patriotic drink of choice", and for much of the 20th Century it was both unpatriotic and illegal to drink beer.

Looking back, not liking one’s Danish forefathers seems a very strange reason for wishing to ban beer, and to me is like "cutting off one’s nose to spite one’s face", but then much closer to home, in both time and space, the United Kingdom has done pretty much the same thing by voting (narrowly) to leave the European Union.

Iceland’s total ban on alcohol only lasted until 1922, when the sale of wine was legalised in the country. This came about following economic pressure from Spain, which threatened to cease importing salted cod from Iceland (Iceland's biggest export), unless Iceland relaxed the ban on imported Spanish and Portuguese wines.

Then, following another strange turn of events, the sale of all alcoholic beverages, with the exception of beer with an alcohol content above 2.25%, was lifted. This was partly due to the medical profession prescribing strong alcohol (spirits) for all sorts of ailments and the fact that many Icelanders were either brewing their own alcohol, or smuggling it into the country.

Beer continued to be excluded, and the ban remained in force, even after Iceland gained full independence from Denmark in 1944. The spurious argument put forward by the anti-alcohol lobby, was that as beer was cheaper than wines or spirits, legalising it could lead to a big rise in alcohol abuse.

When I was a student I remember, there was a girl from Iceland on the same course as a friend of mine, and during her time at university, she certainly made up for not being allowed to drink beer at home. My friend's course-mate's case was not unique, and as international travel brought Icelanders back in touch with beer, bills to legalise it were regularly moved in the Icelandic parliament.  Eventually, in 1989, a full turnout in the upper house of Iceland's parliament voted 13 to 8 to permit the sale of beer, thereby ending prohibition in the country.

The legalisation of beer remains a significant cultural event in Iceland as beer has become the country’s most popular alcoholic beverage. In the years which followed the long overdue repeal of the ban on beer, standard lagers from both Viking Brewery, familiar  for their Gylltur golden lager, and the somewhat-more experimental Einstök Brewery, dominated the scene.

Slowly but surely, the influence, particularly of American craft beer brewers began gaining ground and by 2015, there were seven microbreweries in Iceland. By the following year the number of Icelandic breweries had risen to nine, and this year (2018), the country can boast 26 companies which brew beer.

One such brewery is Borg Brugghús, and this is the company whose beers I picked up at Keflavik airport. According to their website, “Borg Brugghús is a progressive craft brewery founded in 2010 whose principal aim is to incorporate Icelandic cultural traits and local ingredients into its wide variety of beers and pair with food”. They certainly produce an incredibly wide variety of different beers, with over 70 listed on their website.

I bought the bottles at the airport because the only place you can buy alcohol in Iceland, apart from in bars, is at one of the state-owned chain of liquor stores called Vínbúdin. My purchases certainly clocked up some miles on their way back to the UK, as they travelled to the US in my hand baggage, and then journeyed in my suitcase from Richmond to Chicago, by train, followed by a short flight across to Cleveland. 

The homeward journey saw then touching back down briefly in Keflavik, from where I caught a connecting flight to Gatwick. My bottles survived intact, which is more than can be said for some cans of Jever Pils, which one of my Japanese colleagues brought over on a flight from Hamburg. Finding the contents of your suitcase, swimming in beer is not an experience to be recommended, so the moral is, use plenty of padding and pack carefully.

So what of the Borg Brugghús  beers? Well, they are all numbered according to style, and there is then sub-numbering within a particular beer type. My examples were as follows:

Borg Brugghús Úlfur Nr 3. India Pale Ale 5.9%. Úlfur is an Icelandic take on India Pale Ale. Amber in colour, with a slight haze, this beer is dry-hopped with specially selected American hops (varieties not specified), to give it a “wonderfully fruity taste and aroma”. The beer has quite a harsh bitterness,  but I wouldn’t argue with the overall description.

Borg Brugghús Snorri Nr 10 5.3%. Very pale in colour, with a slight haze, and topped with a dense foam head. According to the label the beer is brewed from Icelandic barley and flavoured with Arctic thyme. It is named after Snorri Sturlusson, chieftain of the Borg estate.

I’m not sure whether the said chieftain is ancient or modern, but who really cares as the beer is certainly an interesting one, with the thyme complementing the hops rather than over-powering them.

Borg Brugghús Myrkvi Nr 13. Porter 6.0%. Described as an unfiltered, full-bodied Porter with a dark twist. The beer is “seasoned” with Colombian coffee, roasted in Reykjavik. Unfiltered and un-pasteurised, oats are also included in the grist.

The beer pours jet black, and is topped with a nice creamy head. Rich tasting with notes of roasted barely and coffee. Well-balanced and with a good mouth feel. This beer was definitely the show-stopper, as far as I was concerned, being satisfying and rather more-ish beer. I would be quite happy to sink several bottles of this excellent porter."Skal!" 


If you fancy sampling some of these beers for yourself, then Iceland is only three hours flying from southern England, and thus  is far closer than many people think.

There is obviously much to see and do, especially if the outdoor life appeals to you, and with some of the most spectacular scenery in the world, you certainly won’t be short of that “wow” factor.

You will also enjoy the night-life, especially if you spend a few days in  Reykjavik, as not for nothing is the Icelandic capital known as the "party capital of the north". You will get the chance of sampling some of these amazing beers, and you will get to enjoy them in some pretty cool bars.

I only spent a very brief amount of time in the country, but Iceland is somewhere I would like to return to, especially after my DNA analysis revealed an ethnicity which is 14% Scandinavian!