It seems that Caledonian Brewery, now Heineken owned of course, is targeting London for increased sales of their ubiquitous yellow fluid Deuchars IPA. The bloody stuff is so widely available now already in the capital, that this cannot be good news.
I am kind of reminded of Boddingtons Bitter* which, when taken over by Whitbread was pushed nationally with a subsequent decline in quality and reputation. I think a little bit of history might be repeating itself here.
The Morning Advertiser has the story here.
* I know the recipe for Bodds was wrecked before Twitbread got their mitts on it. That's why the Deuchars story rings a bell - it isn't the beer it used to be when brewed first in 1991.
6 comments:
Weird. We must be psychic. We were only thinking about Deuchars yesterday.
HAs it been proven that Deuchars has changed, or is it just that old chestnut of it being served in crap places?
Well all I know is that it isn't the beer it was, though of course the ingredients needn't have changed though production methods, maturation times etc etc may have. Of course being served in crap places doesn't help either.
I am not saying that it can't be pleasant enough, but it isn't the stunner it once was.
The fact it's (a) supplied in 11 gallon casks only and (b) frequently sold in pubs without good cellaring and turnover means you'll come across many a bad pint of Deuchars.
Lay off Whitbread - my mate's one of those. Indeed I introduced you to him at the GBBF!
PS. There certainly has been a campaign aimed at landlords. We've been offered dreadful point of sale kits (rugby shirts with brewery logos, anyone? ick!) and other deals to encourage uptake.
It'll go the same way as many other beers before it. Market saturation causes so many problems, maintaining quality being the biggest one.
I notice the Morning Advertiser article refers to pushing the 'brand' rather than the beer (in other words, the image not the product), and that Mr Mitchell describes Deuchars as 'refreshing', which is usually a euphemism for tasteless and cold. If the Boddies comparison plays out as Tandleman suggests, I think we can expect to see Deuchars IPA Smooth at some point.
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