1. Chairman’s Statement:
A Happy New Year to all SBAA members and hope we continue to have another successful year together in all our ventures. Lang may your lum reek.
Thank you for your support and to those who attended the AGM in November which was successful especially with a number of peoples input including our guest speaker, John Reade.
Also in November, the SBAA held an afternoon event at Heriot Watt University (picture above) for students and staff titled “The Past Present and Future of Scottish Brewing”. Thanks go to co- presenters Prof. Annie Hill , Hilary Jones and Steve Stewart.
Many thanks to those who have provided articles for the Newsletter and Journal, past and present. It is great that many people have taken the time and trouble to provide these, please keep it going, as without your input, the SBAA would not be the same. I always find it amazing the extent of connections with Scottish brewing history. Included in this Newsletter are just a few examples.
In the April Newsletter we will confirm the arrangements for this year’s activities as we discussed at the AGM.
No doubt you will have read last years Journal which featured several interesting and varying articles, including the origin of Old Jock, an award-winning beer that celebrated its 40th birthday last year. As a result, I treated myself to a case which I enjoyed over the festive season.
John Martin
2. They just keep popping up.
A legacy of one of Scotland’s most prolific and enduring brewers, J&R Tennent , is the continuing interest amongst the public and enthusiasts regarding memorabilia associated with the Glasgow brewer. Recently four items came to our attention
To mark this occasion CAMRA have organised several events throughout Scotland.
I attended the first event held in the Athletic Arms but better known as “The Diggers”, to celebrate three of the oldest active breweries in Scotland, namely Belhaven, Broughton and Traquair. All three breweries are members of the SBAA. “The Diggers” was established in 1897 and is one of the most iconic pubs in Edinburgh.
The bottle above, with a rather unusual ceramic top, was dug up from a pit dating from the late 1890’s in Colchester, Essex. Colchester is a historic garrison town and given Tennent’s long history of supplying beer to the military forces throughout the Empire, its quite possible that bottle could have found its way from Wellpark Brewery to Colchester.
The Inverness Courier ran a story in May of how an eleven year old schoolboy found a can of Tennent’s Lager on a Cromarty Firth beach.
Following some research, he was surprised it dated from the mid 1970’s and was almost as old as his Mum !
The “Lager Lovely” on the can was Lee Marshall who was Miss Scotland in 1970 and featured on the iconic lager cans from 1972 until 1977.
Thirdly , Neil Lawrance “the Canny Scot” had acquired a Tennent’s Pilsener Bottle, dating from the early 1900s from a collector in Spain and returned the bottle to ”The Tennent’s Story” visitors centre at Wellpark Brewery , in an exchange swop for an Aitken’s beer can.
Here Neil hands the bottle over to Tony, one of the “Tennent’s Story” visitor guides at Wellpark Brewery. However, this was only the start of an intriguing story regarding this bottle , so much so it will be an article in one of our SBAA publications later this year.
Finally , a rare can appeared for sale on eBay recently. A first edition Tennent’s lager Scottish scene can dating from 1959 titled “ Tron Steeple , Glasgow”. After the can was produced the then Tennent’s managing director W B Duthie pointed out to Bob Marshall , the Metal box salesman behind the can revolution at Tennent’s, that scene was actually “The Tolbooth, Glasgow”. Marshall was horrified and ask what should he do? Duthie replied “nothing”. In reality the Steeple was only remaining part of the Glasgow Tolbooth that had been demolished in 1921 , so it was a technicality. However, when the second edition can appeared in 1960 the title was changed to “The Tolbooth Glasgow”.
The “Tron Steeple” can on the left attracted 26 bids on eBay and was sold for £2,227 ! Yes Two Thousand and twenty seven pounds.
Thanks to Neil Lawrance for the can images.
3. Reaching other Parts!
You may remember a certain Dutch brewer advertising in the 70’s that its beers refreshed parts other beers could not reach. However, in recently combing through some papers my father left me I discovered that the beers of Scottish Brewers in 1960 were reaching as far as Argentina in the southern hemisphere, via Spain, Portugal, the Canary Islands, Brazil, and Uruguay.
Above the brown gateway is a faded sign marked Brewery
The explanation is in this advert from The Journal of Commerce – Royal Mail Lines number. It had been placed by Scottish Brewers to celebrate the maiden voyage of the Arlanza, the third of three new passenger/cargo ships built by Harland and Wolf of Belfast in 1959/60 for Royal Mail Lines. They replaced the four “Highland” ships which were originally owned by the Nelson Line but by the end of the ‘50s had become uneconomic.
The Amazon, Aragon and Arlanza were classically elegant vessels as can be seen by a photo of the Amazon below and were nicknamed the “Three Graces”. In addition to the traditional passenger liner trade from London to the Iberian peninsula and the major Atlantic ports of South America they returned with substantial cargoes of chilled beef and fruit.
Whilst the beers lived on the careers of these liners was relatively short as long-distance jet travel cornered the passenger market and the UK joined the Common Market.
1960 was a memorable year in other ways as it also saw Scottish Brewers joining forces with The Newcastle Breweries to launch Scottish and Newcastle plc.
David Macleod
4. Burton Unions in Scotland.
In September the Glasgow Herald reported “Glasgow Brewery saves ‘iconic’ piece of Scottish history”. Whilst we were delighted to see the story it really was Glasgow brewer EPOCHAL saves a piece of Burton history. The BURTON UNION system was a unique and complex fermenting system inextricably linked to the success of Burton Ales in the 19th century. Edinburgh brewer Wm.Younger had a ‘union room’ operating in the 1890s however we are unsure if the system was employed by any other Scottish brewer ? For more information on the history of the union system Robbie Pickering recommends “An evaluation of the number and distribution of Burton unions” by Paul Bayley in Brewery History No. 129. (2008) – http://breweryhistory.com/journal/archive/129/Burton%20unions.pdf
Apparently, the EPOCHAL brewery’s Gareth Young has acquired 6 union barrels ex. Bass and they have been installed at his brewery based in Port Dundas , Glasgow. The SBAA are hoping to visit the brewery later this year , keep an eye on events in the April newsletter. (photo Colin Mearns)
5. Murray’s Pale India Ale.
Thanks to Martin Quinn for sending in this image of a Murray’s Jug. Martin’s Great Grandfather and Grandfather were publicans in Glasgow with the Royal Oak in Nitshill and Quinn’s Tavern on Qxford Street on the South Side in the first half of the last century. It is reckoned to belong to the 1930s when Murray’s Brewing records at the Scottish brewing archive indicate India Pale Ales, typical OG 1036, were being brewed at Craigmillar. We replied to Martin referring him to SBAA Newsletter No.52 where Murray’s Pale Ale was making a comeback
6. MacAndrew’s Scotch Ale.
The SBAA have been asked if we have any information on MacAndrew’s Scotch Ale. It was brewed by Caledonian Brewery.
If you have heard of or have knowledge of this beer, please get in touch. Thanks.
7. Best Pub in Scotland.
A Scottish pub has won a beer quality award for serving up the best pints in the country. The Scottish Licensed Trade News unveiled the winners of the annual Scottish Licensed Trade Awards. The yearly ceremony celebrates the top food and drink businesses in the country across a range of categories. One of the prizes, the Beer Quality Award, was awarded to an Angus pub for serving up pints of “the highest quality standard”.
The winner of the Beer Quality Award was The Stag in Angus. The prize, which was presented in association with Tennent’s Lager, was awarded to the pub for serving up pints of “the highest quality standard”.
The Stag is a restaurant, bar, and café situated in the heart of the bustling market town of Forfar. Originally a hotel, it has been serving its local community for more than 100 years.
According to the Scottish Licensed Trade News, judges were looking for “excellent cellar management” and “excellence in dispense with good staff knowledge of pouring and presentation techniques for a range of beers”. The Stag was chosen for “delivering the perfectly poured pint every time”.
This article appeared in the Daily Record on the 12th November 2024.
Many thanks to Bill Brown who informed the SBAA of this.
8. Edinburgh Society of Brewers
The SBAA were asked recently for information on the Edinburgh Society of Brewers (formed in 1598) and in particular the names of its first members. This request for information was from Beth Golden who lives in Georgia, USA and is her family’s historian. Following several emails, Beth has agreed to prepare an article on her research for this year’s Annual Journal. It is good to learn of family connections with historical breweries. Thanks Beth, it will certainly be interesting to learn more about your family genealogy and in particular the part played by your family ancestry in the formation of the Society of Brewers of Edinburgh. For members who attended one of our brewery historic walking tours in Edinburgh may remember the Society of Brewers being mentioned and their location on Chambers Street. I was wondering if anyone knows what type of beers they were brewing at this time in Edinburgh, at the end of the 16th century and beginning of the 17th century. If you know, please get in touch.9. Glenfinnan Enquiry
The SBAA received this image from the Glenfinnan Station Museum , famous for its railway viaduct and more recently the location for Harry Potter films , which was from a photoshoot taken by Tennent’s for a calendar in the 1980s or 90s and asked if we have any further information on this and the calendar.
Acknowledgement: Mel Gillies, photographer and Tennent Caledonian Breweries.
After contacting former Tennent’s marketing colleagues Angus Meldrum , Simon MacQuarrie and Charlie Mann they remembered the photo shoot using various Scottish locations and the girls involved. From memory right to left. Sarah Heaney who went on to present STV news and current affairs , Elieen Catterson who at the time was fiancé of Marti Pellow lead singer with Wet Wet Wet and Cathy McLennan.
It is reckoned to be from one of the last annual Tennent’s calendars dating from c.1994. If anyone has the calendar, please get in touch we would like to see the entire calendar contents with its Scottish locations.
10. Last Runnings
Warm welcome to new SBAA Student members Rachel Kulp and Dougal Clumpas. Corporate member at Belhaven Brewery Gary Todd and finally Kath Roper-Caldback who has previously assisted the SBAA from her position at the Glasgow University Archive.
Remember and send in any articles or interesting photos, next newsletter April
Correspondence to the SBAA Secretary secretary@scottishbrewingarchive.co.uk
SBAA Newsletter No. 62 – Jan. 2025
