Young's Brewery
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Young's was a British regional brewery founded in 1831 by Charles Young and Anthony Bainbridge when they purchased the Ram Brewery in Wandsworth. Before its closure on Monday, 25 September 2006, it was one of the two remaining large London breweries along with Fullers in nearby Chiswick.
Many are now reproduced by in Bedford. Young's survives as a plc, continues to operate its pub estate and holds the minority stake in the combined Wells & Young’s Brewing Company Limited. This new company continues to brew beers branded as "Young's" at its Bedford brewery.
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[edit] History
[edit] Brewery site
The earliest records of brewing on Young's brewery site are of pub landlord Humphrey Langridge in 1581 distributing beer brewed at the Ram Inn at Wandsworth, which was then a village in Surrey. The site of this inn is today the Brewery Tap. Records from 1675 show that the brewery was run by the Draper family, and in the 18th century, the Trittons purchased the brewery. It was purchased by Charles Allen Young and Anthony Fothergale Bainbridge in 1831. Since then it has been associated with the Young family, and in 2006 the last chairman of the independent Young's Ltd was John Young, OBE (the great-great-grandson of Charles).
[edit] Brewing and supply of beer
In 1835 a beam engine was installed, which was in regular use until the 1980s. In 2006, the brewery was a mix of ancient and ultra-modern plant, which produced a wide range of beers. Young's claimed that the Ram Brewery was the oldest British brewery in continuous operation.
The company produced three regular and a series of seasonal and occasional cask ales, keg lagers, and several filtered and pasteurised bottled beers. Young's also contract brewed several beers for InBev, such as Courage Best and Mackeson Stout.
Young's had a number of animals resident in its brewery. There was a ram, a number of geese and about a dozen working draught horses. These horses and drays were still used up until the closure of the brewery in 2006, for local deliveries of beer to locations within a mile or two of the brewery.
The brewery supplied its own public houses, in London and the area to the south-west, which still number over 200. It also sold to many other pubs and supermarkets. Beer was also exported to many European countries, Canada, the United States and Japan.
[edit] Closure
On May 23rd 2006 the company issued a press release[1] announcing that the Ram Brewery was to close and brewing to be moved to the Eagle Brewery in Bedford owned by Charles Wells by October 2nd, and on The two companies formed a new company, under the name Wells & Young’s Brewing Company Limited, which is jointly-owned by Charles Wells (with a 60% stake) and Young's (with a 40% stake).
The brewery officially closed at the end of the business day on Monday, 25 September 2006. The brewery closing story was carried by BBC London news.
Chairman John Young died on 17 September 2006, days before the closure of the brewery, whilst the final brew was being run at the Ram brewery Wandsworth. Beer from the last brew was served at his funeral on 29 September 2006.
Following the closure of Young's, Fullers and Meantime are the only remaining brewers of note in the capital.
[edit] Beers
Young's beers, now brewed by the Wells & Young’s Brewing Company Limited in Bedford include:
- Young's Bitter; a 3.7% abv bitter, commonly known as as Ordinary. Ingredients include Maris Otter and crystal malt; Fuggle and Golding hops. Available as a Cask conditioned ale, or filtered and pasteurised in 500ml and 660ml bottles.
- Young's Special; a 4.5% abv bitter. Ingredients include Maris Otter and crystal malt; Fuggle and Golding hops. Available as a Cask conditioned ale, or filtered and pasteurised in 500ml bottles and cans.
- Waggle Dance; a 5.0% abv pale ale with the addition of South American honey. Ingredients are pale and crystal malt, Fuggles and Goldings hops together with South American honey. Available in the cask and filtered and pasteurised in 500ml bottles. "The waggle dance is a movement a bee performs to alert the hive of a source of nectar." Waggledance was originally owned and brewed by Sunderland based brewer, Vaux and was bought by Youngs and moved to London when the Vaux brewery was closed in 1999.
- Special London Ale; a 6.4% alcohol by volume bottle conditioned strong pale ale. Ingredients are Maris Otter and crystal malt; Fuggles and Goldings hops. Goldings and Target hops are added after fermentation. Won gold medal for bottle conditioned beer at the 1999 CAMRA Great British Beer Festival. Has occasionally appeared in the cask.
- Old Nick; a 7.2% abv barley wine. Ingredients are pale and crystal malt; cane sugar and Fuggles and Goldings hops. Available filtered and pasteurised in 500ml bottles. Occasionally available cask conditioned.
- St George's Ale is a 5.2% abv pale ale. Ingredients are Maris Otter and crystal malt; Fuggles and Goldings hops. After fermentation it is dry hopped with English Pilgrim hops. It is available filtered and pasteurised in 500ml bottles, and occasionally, at 4.3% abv, cask conditioned.
- Double Chocolate Stout is a 5.2% abv stout. Ingredients include real dark chocolate.
- Oatmeal Stout
Several Young's beers, including bottled mild ale Dirty Dick's, summer seasonal cask ale Summer Zest and keg lager Young's Pilsner were discontinued as part of the rationalisation process that took place when Young's and Wells were merged.
[edit] External links
[edit] References
- Helen Osborn, Inn and Around London. Surrey Fine Art Press. ISBN 0-9518167-0-5.
| Young and Co.'s Brewery P.L.C. | |
|---|---|
| Location | High Street, Wandsworth, London SW18 4JD Tel.: 020 8875 7000 E-mail: sales@youngs.co.uk |
| Owner | John Young Chairman |
| Year opened | 1831 |
