Newsletter No. 61

1. Chairman’s Statement:

Another bumper newsletter for you to enjoy with many varied articles and information.
First of all, many congratulations to our corporate members who were successful at the recent Scottish Beer Awards, Belhaven Brewery and Tennent’s and in particular Stewart Brewing who were voted Brewery of the Year. Please read the awards later in this Newsletter.

Stewart Brewery receiving their Scottish Beer Award
Thanks to Colin Valentine on two counts, who came across the remnants of a long-lost brewery in Blairgowrie and who provided a follow up to the article on Goth pubs that appeared in the previous newsletter. Also, thanks to everyone who contacted the SBAA and provided some interesting information on brewing history.
The SBAA held the last of the four historic brewery walks in Edinburgh, this time Southside part 2. Thanks to everyone who attended.
A big thank you to all who have renewed their membership for the coming year and a reminder to those who have not, as yet. In addition, the SBAA is very grateful to everyone who have made a donation. This all helps to further the cause in promoting the past, present and future history of brewing in Scotland.

We look forward to this year’s AGM and hope you will be able to attend. Please read Last Runnings for details. John Martin

2. CAMRA in Scotland since 1974.

Happy birthday CAMRA who celebrates their 50th anniversary in Scotland.

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.

3. Blairgowrie Brewery.

When on his travels, eagle eyed Colin Valentine came across by chance a very faded Brewery sign when visiting Blairgowrie in Perthshire. Colin was unable to find out any references to a brewery in Blairgowrie and asked the SBAA if they had any knowledge of this. Blairgowrie is more famous for its berries and not so much brewing. As luck would have it, I did have some knowledge of the brewery as several years ago I was asked to give a talk on brewing at the Blairgowrie village hall. In preparation for this talk I carried out my own research and with the help of the local history society I was able to pull together a brief outline of the brewery and its history.

Above the brown gateway is a faded sign marked Brewery
The Cistercian monks settled in Perthshire in the second half of the 12th century and brought with them the knowledge of the art of brewing. There is still evidence of this in some place names which have survived from medieval times. “Brewlands” and the “Bridge of Brewlands” in Glenisla north of Blairgowrie.

The earliest record of Allen Street Brewery in Blairgowrie is 1825 when John Anderson was the brewer there. It is possible that the brewery existed on this site long before that date. By 1860 James Young was registered as the owner and in 1893 James Ogilvy took over. By 1928 G. Thomson, Brewer & Maltster from Falkirk became the owner. In 1941 it was reported that an application to transfer the license for the brewing of porter and ale from a Michael Duffy (who was to be called up to the armed forces) to a Mr Davie the managing director of G. Thomson. However, the application was refused as Mr Davie was not a resident of Blairgowrie and was unable to find a manager.

It is unlikely that after 1941 brewing beer was continued due to war time measures when commodities were scarce. In 1948 the Valuation Roll entry is G. Thomson & Son Ltd, Mineral Water & Maltster with no mention of beer. By 1957/58 the property became a distributing store for Robertson Fruit Products. Messers. Robertson, Lemonade Manufacturers were the last owners in the 1980s when the brewery site was sold for development and town houses were built on the site.

The only visual evidence that a brewery existed in Blairgowrie is the sign above the gateway and the nearby street name, Brewery Court. In addition to this is nearby Wellmeadow which in past times was rich in natural springs and the name is thought to have originated from St. Ninians Well and the supposed location of baptisms.

Blairs’ Braw Water:
Ye’ll hear fowk oft speak licht o’Blair
Though its maisly idle chatter
But nae ane can speak ill I’m shair
‘Boot Blairgowrie’s drinking water.

4. Glasgow celebration memory

Many thanks to Mark Cullen who has provided this image of Tennent’s bottles that were produced in 1975 to mark the occasion of Glasgow’s 800th anniversary. The bottles belonged to Mark’s grandfather, William Brown who sadly passed away recently and who worked at that time at Tennent’s brewery as an engineer. It is thought that the lager was close to 9% ABV and likely to be Tennent’s Super Lager launched in the early 1970s.

When working at Tennent’s, William Brown played in the Tennent’s pipe band and won the Scandinavian Open Pipe Band Championship held at the Malmo Highland Games in Sweden. In the picture William Brown is on the extreme left wearing sunglasses and wearing a lighter coloured jacket.
This is the Tennent’s pin brooch that was on his piper’s bonnet.
Thank you Mark for sharing these photos and to tell us about your grandfather.
A similar bottle of the celebration lager is on display at The Tennent’s Story at Wellpark Brewery and back in 1975 they were present in this window display at Tennent’s head office in Bath Street to mark the City being 800 years old – see below.

5. SBAA Event September – Edinburgh Historic Brewery Walk

The fourth and final historical brewery walk covered the second part of Edinburgh’s South side and it did not disappoint. Our evening guide John Martin was in top form, loaded with compelling stories , maps and comparison photographs. It was considered by those attending one of the best walks in the series.

Just of Chambers Street , and now a part of Edinburgh University , the remains of Campbell, Hope and King’s brewery square are clear to see.
Members stop at a well-head dated 1797.
Close to the site of MacKay and Co St. Leonards Brewery 1867-1963.
Another stop was the well-head at Parkside , this brought back childhood memories of the area to one of our members Graeme Fisher.

Following our historic brewery walk , Graeme took it upon himself to research the Parkside Well-head. It was during the walk that Graeme mentioned that he lived in this area as a young boy but thought the well-head was now in a different location.
The well-head was erected to commemorate the battle of Waterloo in 1815 and was paid for by Robert Scott who lived in the adjacent home, Hermits & Termits.
Graeme located an Ordnance Survey map of 1894 which showed the well-head was originally located around the corner and along the old boundary wall of St Leonards station and coal depot. Graeme also remembered it was originally close to a police box which was confirmed on the Ordnance Survey map of 1932, but has since been removed.
Graeme contacted Historic Environment Scotland who confirmed that the well-head had been moved.
The new location of the well-head was once the entrance to the old coal depot.

In its original position in this photo from 1970
The well-head in its position today , listed as a category C listed building

6. By Goth

Following on from the article “The Gothenburg Experiment” that appeared in the last Newsletter No 60, the SBAA were pleased to receive an article from Colin Valentine which he wrote 25 years ago that appeared in the CAMRA Pints of View in 1999.
The following is a summary of Colin’s article.

In the village of Cardenden in Fife, the No One Goth pub has re-opened. Goth pubs were a way of life for mining communities, especially in the Lothians and Fife. Many of the Goth pubs are still in existence, but not trading as Goth’s. A Goth were community and co-operative pubs, with the profits ploughed back into the local community to help set up libraries, bowling greens and other worthy causes.
This system of public house management started in Gothenburg, Sweden in the 1850s in a bid to stem the rising tide of drunkenness and in Scotland became simply known as Goths.
The No One Goth in Cardenden was run as a traditional Goth and created nine new jobs in an unemployment blackspot with the hope of more to follow. It is also being used by students from Fife College as a training ground. The pub originally opened in 1904.

Postscript:
Crime writer Sir Ian Rankin was born and brought up in Cardenden and referenced his character Detective Inspector John Rebus in his novel Dead Souls, where he first bought a round of drinks in the No One Goth.

On further research, it was reported in 2021 in the Fife Today publication that there were only two Goth pubs still operating in Fife and one of these was under planning application to be turned into a flat.
How disappointing for such a great idea that benefitted local communities.
John Martin & Colin Valentine

7. Dundee Brewery washed up.

We would like to thank John Taunton for contacting us following his recent find of a vulcanite stopper on the beach in Filey , North Yorkshire.

The stopper is from the Dundee brewer Ballingall’s and Son 1750-1964.
Its very possible that the bottle and stopper could find the Yorkshire coast , Dundee was a significant trading port shipping down the east coast to domestic and export markets. No doubt Ballingalls would be involved in the ‘export’ business not to mention crews having access to bottled beer on board (and cast overboard after consumption?) , Both the port and the brewery declined in the 1960’s so the stopper is probably from the period between 1920 and 1950’s . If any SBAA member is interested in the stopper, John is happy to pass it on , contact the secretary

Another screw top find
Thanks go to Philip Swift who informed the SBAA of this William Younger bottle screw-top which he found on a beach not far from Edinburgh. The trademark of the three super imposed triangles helps to date it at being pre mid 1920s. The iconic Father William trademark was introduced in the later half of the 1920s.

8. The changing face of Glasgow pubs.

You may remember from previous Newsletters that Ed Burns has produced You Tube videos covering historic breweries in both Edinburgh & Glasgow. This time Ed has turned his attention to Glasgow Pubs.
This is the link for this. Enjoy.

I wonder if Ed will now turn his attention to Edinburgh Pubs, especially with their heritage interest.

The Scotia Bar – Glasgow

9. Scottish Beer Awards 2024

Details of the awards to the SBAA Corporate members are as follows.

Stewart Brewing

Brewery of the Year
Beer Destination of the Year
Gold – Best Barrel Aged Beer – Gianduja
Gold – Best IPA – New Relic
Silver – Best Pale Ale – Masterplan
Bronze – Best Lager – Stewarts Lager

Belhaven Brewery

Gold – Best Porter or Stout – Belhaven Black

Tennent’s Brewery

Bronze – Best Pilsner – Tennent’s 1885

10. 47 years in Scottish Brewing

After 47 years in Scottish brewing Keith Lugton , a corporate member at Tennent’s has retired.

Pleased to say Brian Black will replace Keith as a Tennent’s corporate member and we look forward to seeing Keith at future SBAA events and hearing his reflections of almost half a Century in brewing.

11. Last Runnings

 AGM Wednesday 27th November 2pm Edinburgh.
This year’s AGM will be held at the Beehive, Edinburgh on Wednesday the 27th November starting at 2pm.
After the business end of the AGM there will be a buffet and a guest speaker.
If you wish to attend, and we hope you do, please correspond to secretary@scottishbrewingarchive.co.uk by no later than the 8th November.
   
  Warm welcome to new SBAA members Henry Kirk from Worthing and Dixie Taylor from Perthshire.
  Members should look forward to receiving a copy of this years SBAA Journal by the end of November.
 Remember and send in any articles or interesting photos, next newsletter January.

Correspondence to the SBAA Secretary secretary@scottishbrewingarchive.co.uk
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