Bass Brewery

Bass Brewery

Industry	Brewing
Founded	1777
Founder	William Bass
Headquarters	Burton-upon-Trent, Staffordshire (brewery); Luton, Bedfordshire (Bass brand), England
Products	Beer
Production output	365,000 hectolitres (311,000 US bbl) in 2011[1]
Owner	Molson Coors Brewing Company (brewery); Anheuser-Busch InBev (Bass brand)

The Bass Brewery /ˈbæs/ was founded in 1777 by William Bass in Burton-upon-Trent, England.^[2] The main brand was Bass Pale Ale, once the highest-selling beer in the UK.^[3] By 1877, Bass had become the largest brewery in the world, with an annual output of one million barrels.^[4] Its pale ale was exported throughout the British Empire, and the company's distinctive red triangle became the UK's first registered trademark.^[5]

Bass took control of a number of other large breweries in the early 20th century, and in the 1960s merged with Charrington United Breweries to become the largest UK brewing company, Bass Charrington.^[2] The brewing operations of the company were bought by Interbrew (now Anheuser-Busch InBev) in 2000, while the retail side (hotel and pub holdings) were renamed Six Continents plc. The UK government's Competition Commission was concerned about the monopoly implications arising from the deal, and instructed Interbrew to dispose of the brewery and certain brands (Carling and Worthington ) to Coors (now Molson Coors Brewing Company), but allowed Interbrew to retain the rights to the Bass Pale Ale brand.^[6] In 2010, it was widely reported that AB-InBev are attempting to sell the rights to the Bass brand in the UK for around £10-15 million.^[3]

Draught Bass (4.4% ABV) has been brewed under contract in Burton by Marston's for AB-InBev since 2005.^[7][8] Bottled and keg products are brewed at AB-InBev's own brewery in Samlesbury for export, except in the United States and Belgium, where Bass is brewed locally.^[9] Bass Ale is a top ten premium canned ale in the UK, with 16,080 hectolitres sold in 2010.^[10]

History

A small wooden barrel from the Bass Brewery, now in the Staffordshire County Museum at Shugborough Hall

Prior to establishing a brewery, William Bass transported ale for brewer Benjamin Printon. Bass sold this carrier business to the Pickford family, using the funds to establish Bass & Co Brewery in 1777 as one of the first breweries in Burton-upon-Trent.^[11]

Early in the company's history, Bass was exporting bottled beer around the world, serving the Baltic region through the port of Hull. Growing demand led his son Michael Thomas Bass (senior), to build a second brewery in Burton in 1799 in partnership with John Ratcliff. The water produced from local boreholes became popular with brewers, with 30 operating there by the mid-19th century. His son, Michael Thomas Bass, succeeded on his father's death in 1827, renewed the Ratcliff partnership, brought in John Gretton, and created 'Bass, Ratcliff and Gretton'.

The opening of a railway through Burton in 1839^[12] redoubled Burton's preeminence as a brewing town. In the mid-1870s, Bass, Ratcliff and Gretton accounted for one third of Burton's output. A strong export business allowed Bass to boast their product was available "in every country in the globe".^[13][14] By 1877, Bass was the largest brewery in the world, with an annual output of one million barrels.^[4] Following the death of the second Michael Bass in 1884, his son Michael Arthur Bass, later the 1st Baron Burton, took the reins. The brewer became a public limited company in 1888.^[15]

Both the second Michael Thomas Bass and his son Lord Burton were philanthropically inclined, making extensive charitable donations to the towns of Burton and Derby. Early in the 20th century, a declining market closed many Burton breweries, 20 in 1900 falling to eight in 1928. Bass took over Walkers in 1923, Worthington and Thomas Salt in 1927, and James Eadie in 1933.

Bass was one of the original London Stock Exchange FT 30 companies when the listing was established in 1935.^[16] Over the next half-century, Bass maintained its UK dominance through acquiring such brewers as Mitchells & Butlers (1961), Charringtons (1967), Bents-Gartsides (1967), John Joule & Sons (1968), William Stones Ltd (1968), and Grimsby's Hewitt Brothers Ltd (1969), being variously known as Bass, Mitchells and Butlers or Bass Charrington.

Following decades of closures and consolidation, Bass was left by the end of the 20th century with one of the two large remaining breweries in Burton. The brewing operations of the company were bought by Interbrew (now Anheuser-Busch InBev) in 2000, while the retail side (hotel and pub holdings) were renamed Six Continents plc. The UK government's Competition Commission was concerned about the monopoly implications arising from the deal, and instructed Interbrew to dispose of the brewery and certain brands (Carling and Worthington ) to Coors (now Molson Coors Brewing Company), but allowed Interbrew to retain the rights to the Bass Pale Ale brand.^[6]

Mitchells & Butlers lives on as the assignee of the licensed retail outlet business which separated from Six Continents.

Separation of brewery and beer

Bottles of Bass beer for sale at a liquor store in Iizaka, Fukushima, Japan

Bass plc's brewing business was bought by the Belgian brewer Interbrew (now AB-InBev) in June 2000, its hotel and pub holdings absorbed and renamed Six Continents plc.^[17]

After the Competition Commission raised potential monopoly concerns,^[18] Interbrew disposed of Bass Brewers Limited's Carling and Worthington brands to Coors (now Molson Coors Brewing Company), but retained the rights to the Bass beer brand.

The beer was produced under licence by Coors, which acquired the Bass brewery facility. Bass Brewers Limited was renamed Coors Brewers Limited. When the licence to brew draught Bass came to an end in 2005, it was taken up by Wolverhampton & Dudley Breweries PLC, which started production at Burton's Marston's Brewery. Bottled and keg Bass formerly exported to the USA with a higher alcohol content are now produced there domestically by Anheuser-Busch at a Baldwinsville, New York, facility.

Brewery museum

Sited next to the brewery, the Bass Museum of Brewing (later renamed the Coors Visitor Centre & The Museum of Brewing), was Burton-upon-Trent's largest tourist attraction until closed by Coors in June 2008. A steering group was established to investigate re-opening,^[19][20] and the museum was relaunched in May 2010 as the National Brewery Centre.^[21]

Branding

Bottles of Bass on the bar in Manet's 1882 A Bar at the Folies-Bergère

Bass was a pioneer in international brand marketing. "Many years before 1855"^[22] Bass applied a red triangle to casks of its Pale Ale. After 1855 the triangles were red, white or blue depending on which of three breweries it came from, but all bottles of Pale Ale had the red triangle from that date.^[22] The blue triangle was briefly revived after World War II for Pale Ale that wasn't bottle conditioned. The Bass Red Triangle was the first trademark to be registered under the UK's Trade Mark Registration Act 1875.^[23] The Act came into effect on 1 January 1876 and legend has it that a Bass employee queued overnight outside the registrar's office on New Year's Eve in order to be the first in line to register a trademark the next morning. As a result, Bass, Ratcliff & Gretton Limited received the first two registrations, the Bass Red Triangle for their pale ale and the Bass Red Diamond next for their strong ale.^[24] The trademarks are now owned by Brandbrew SA, an InBev subsidiary based in Luxembourg.^[25] In June 2013 InBev renamed Bass Pale Ale as Bass Trademark No.1.^[26]

Bottles of Bass with the Red Triangle logo have occasionally appeared in art and literature, including Édouard Manet's 1882 painting A Bar at the Folies-Bergère^[27] and in over 40 paintings by Picasso, mostly at the height of his Cubist period around 1914.^[28][29][30] In the "Oxen of the Sun" episode of James Joyce's Ulysses, Bloom observes the Bass logo.^[31]

Sponsorship

• Bass sponsored Derby County Football Club from 1984 to 1986.^[32]
• Bass was the main sponsor of Bristol Rugby for 2006–07.
• Bass was a major sponsor of Pontypridd RFC during the 2009–2011 seasons.

Versions of Bass

Draught Bass

Draught Bass is a 4.4% ABV cask conditioned beer. Most prevalent near its Burton upon Trent and Derbyshire heartlands,^[1] it is brewed by Marston's in Burton in Yorkshire Squares using English hops and dry hopping^[33] and is described as "a classic ale with a malty, fruity, nutty aroma and a complex, satisfying flavour".^[34]

Bass Ale

This is the exported version of Bass, usually brewed to around 5% ABV.

UK keg ales

• Bass Extra Smooth - A 3.6% ABV pasteurised keg version of Bass, brewed to the same recipe, and most popular in the South West of England.^[35]

• Bass Mild XXXX - A 3.1% ABV keg mild.^[36]

• Bass Best Scotch - A 3.4% ABV keg beer in the North East of England Scotch ale style.^[37] It was formerly brewed to 3.8% following its launch in 1986.

Shandy Bass

Shandy Bass is a 0.5% ABV shandy made with Bass beer and lemonade.^[38] Introduced in 1972, it is made by Britvic and is most popular in Northern England.^[36]

Bass overseas

Belgium

Bass Pale Ale has been brewed under licence in Belgium since the Interbrew takeover. It is typically sold in 25cl bottles at 5.2% ABV.

United States

Draught Bass has been exported to America since at least 1966.^[39] In 2001, 66,500,000 litres of Bass were sold in the United States.^[40] However Bass seems to have suffered under the custodianship of InBev and later Anheuser-Busch InBev as it is undergoing heavy decline in American consumption, with 24,200,000 litres sold in the country in 2010.^[40] AB InBev have pledged funding to support the Bass brand in America, and since June 2012, Bass has been brewed in Merrimack, New Hampshire at 5% ABV for the American market.

Elsewhere

In 1860 Bass was the first foreign beer to be sold in Japan.^[41]

See also

• Bass Maltings, Sleaford
• Black and Tan, a British drink popular in the US, often made with Bass and Guinness.
• List of breweries in England

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Bass Brewery.

Wikisource has the text of a 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article about Bass.

• Official website
• Bass Logo- Design and History

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