The Return of a Legend. Dobbin's Yakima Grande Pale Ale

Readers of this blog may recall my admiration of one Brendan Dobbin, who some say, and I'm among them, pioneered artisanal "beer with a difference" in this country.  I first wrote about Brendan in this blog post dated 6th December 2010.  It was titled "The Start of the Revolution?". I urge you to read that post in conjunction with this one.  It deserved far more comments than it actually achieved and will set the scene for what I'm about to tell you.

Courtesy of my good friend John Clarke - also an early advocate and admirer of Mr D - I hear that the beer that made him a legend throughout the beery types of Manchester and far beyond, is set to return.  The beer is Yakima Grande Pale Ale and believe me, it is the stuff of legend.  It will be brewed by Conwy Brewery in North Wales, under licence, to the exact Dobbin recipe.  The man himself has been responsible for supply and set up of Conwy's new brewery in Llysfaen, where a new 25BBl brewery designed by Brendan, has been installed.  The beer, under the famous Dobbin brand, West Coast Brewing will, excitingly, use the original Dobbin yeast.  The letter, to John and his colleagues, is reproduced with his permission.

Hi John, Mark, and Phil, Please allow me to introduce myself my name is David Worsley, I am the sales representative for Conwy Brewery Ltd in North Wales and have been in the brewing industry for the last 46 years, with Hydes Anvil Brewery in Manchester and since 2012, with Conwy Brewery, I thought it might be nice to let you know that an old cask beer favourite will be returning to the North West of England in early June. As you may already know our wonderful cask ales are already a great favourite in and around the North West especially in Manchester, Stockport, Chorley, and Bolton, we have teamed up with Brendan Dobbin to produce this wonderful cask ale using his original recipe the Malt, Hops, and yeast strain, it will be sold under the West Coast Brewing Banner. Brendan was along with yourselves of course key to reviving cask beers in the 70s, 80s and early 90s with both his West Coast Brewing brand of cask beers and his Firkin Brewpub Chain and we were only too pleased when he assisted us in installing our new brewery equipment and allowing us to brew his beers under license through the West Coast Brand. We are positive this wonderful beer will be well received as it was over 20 years ago and I would ask you all to spread the word that Brendan s beers are back where they belong giving true cask beer drinkers a taste of the past brought to them from North Wales No 1 Brewery.

Details of this wonderful beer are as follows; Dobbins Yakima Grande Hoppy Pale Ale, ABV 5.0%, I am sure the good people of the North West will once again be very pleased with this unique cask beer.

I do hope you find the above of interest, but if you would like any more details or information on any of our beers or services, brewery tours also catered for, please do not hesitate to contact me.

For those that wish to try the beer, and there will be many I'm sure, John tells me that the beer, which is only being brewed tomorrow, will be available at Stockport Beer and Cider Festival, which runs from the 29th to 31st May at Edgeley Park Stockport.  John said "We have ordered two firkins for Stockport Beer & Cider Festival.  It may not arrive until the Wednesday so is unlikely to be on sale before Friday night or Saturday (so it has time to settle properly - there will be a programme note to that effect). 

So there you have it.  A chance to actually taste one of the beers that started the beer revolution in this country.  History recreated.  All roads lead to Stockport.

You really can't overstate Brendan's importance in British Brewing in the early 1980s.  I'm sure too, that Conwy Brewery, who know their stuff, will make a good fist of it.  I wrote about them here.  This development may also lead to more of Brendan's beers re-appearing too.  Yippee.

More Dobbin Nonsense

When tidying out my garage yesterday, I came across this forgotten piece of Dobbin memorabilia. Odd in some ways, but that's Brendan for you. Note too the warnings about excessive consumption of alcohol.  

He always did that.

I think that's it for Dobbinerana now.  Probably.

Pre Nanny State

A few of us have heard of Brendan Dobbin, who was in my opinion one of the earliest pioneers of the use of foreign hops for their own sake (rather than to supplement British hops) but fewer still will remember his very idiosyncratic advertising. I didn't realise I had any of Brendan's stuff apart from some labels, but amongst my bits and pieces, I came across this little beauty.

Not actors?  If you have ever been in his pub in Chorlton on Medlock, you'll not need to take that with a pinch of salt!

Prescient or what?

I used to have a lovely poster for Brendan's Chinese Pale Ale, but it got badly damaged when some water came in my garage years ago.  Or was it Chinese Lager?