Newcastle Brown Ale

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Newcastle Brown Ale
Newcastle Brown Ale
Brewery	Newcastle Breweries
Style	English brown ale
First Brewed	1927
Alc. vol.	4.7%

Newcastle Brown Ale is a brand of dark brown beer. It has been brewed in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, since 1927 by Newcastle Breweries (now a part of Scottish and Newcastle), and has been granted Protected Geographical Indication status by the EU.

In August 2005, Scottish and Newcastle closed the Tyne Brewery and moved production across the river to the Federation Brewery in Dunston, Gateshead, where it is brewed by Newcastle Federation Breweries Ltd. As the beer is no longer brewed in Newcastle, the future of its PGI status is uncertain.

In Newcastle, the beer is often called 'Dog' (or simply 'Broon'). The 'Dog' name comes from the euphemism "I'm going to walk the dog" or "I'm going to see a man about a dog" - meaning "I'm going to the pub" - and was further popularised by a 1980s advertising campaign. In southern parts of the country it is often referred to as "Newkie Brown".

1 Labelling
2 Distribution and export
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Labelling

The blue star logo has adorned Newcastle Brown Ale's label since its inception in 1927. The five points of the star represent the five founding breweries of Newcastle, the site of Britain's first commercial breweries. One of these, John Barras, is now commemorated in the pub chain of the same name.

In 2000, the beer was renamed "Newcastle Brown" with the "Ale" being removed from the front label. This change, only in the UK, was due to market research claiming that the term "ale" was outdated and costing the company sales in the youth drinking markets. The older name was reinstated with no fanfare in 2004, when it was realised that the change had made no difference to sales. ^[1]

In 2006, a special "Shearer" edition with a black and white label was made in honour of retiring Newcastle United striker Alan Shearer.

[edit] Distribution and export

The beer was largely unavailable in South East England and the Midlands until a successful promotional campaign in the late 1980s, but is now one of the country's leading bottled ales. The beer has been available in keg in these areas since late 2003 (although it was available in keg in the Newcastle area before that) and can also be purchased in cans.

Over half of the brewery's output is directed overseas to the U.S., predominantly to bars in California^{[citation needed]}. The actor Clint Eastwood owns one of these bars (The Hog's Breath Inn in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California) and is reported as saying that Newcastle Brown Ale is his favourite brand of beer^{[citation needed]}. In the United States the beer is available in bottles and, since 2003, in keg.

The beer is also available in British-themed pubs as a draught beer in Australia and New Zealand, where it is brewed by Foster's Group as part of the reciprocal deal, pursuant to which Foster's Lager is brewed by Scottish & Newcastle in the UK. The UK brewed bottled version is widely available in Australian liquor outlets as part of their international range.