Marston's Pedigree Amber Ale, 8 x 500 ml

Product Information

Shorn of its home ties, brewed where convenient, unloved by its new parents (it has apparently been up for sale by ABInbev since 2010) it now stumbles along, all the while withering on the vine. c) They couldn’t even be bothered to find an image of what UK Bass will look like to accompany the announcement of its relaunch. I guess if you have a captive audience in your sprawling pub estates whose choice is to drink your beer or go home, you don’t really need to worry about that kind of thing. The same visual used at the top of this blog has accompanied every story about this launch in the UK drinks trade press, so it is obviously the image that was sent out by AB-InBev themselves with the release (or at least, I’m assuming it is – for some reason, they no longer send me their press releases directly.

I can certainly sympathize with a company’s need to save their brand from just sitting there and withering away. There are only two possibilities here: either AB-InBev haven’t even been bothered to read about the history of the brand they’re relaunching, or they are knowingly lying. Not vibrant with hoppy overload, but muted, balanced, the malt part of the choir, not just the hops – more in the Pommy style, dare I say it.That is to say, there is a lot of evidence showing that the involvement of the United States in Vietnam, and its stubbornness in refusing to leave, was driven by factors other than a good faith belief that a radical paradigm change was likely. Yes, you may beg to differ; and of course, the beauty of taste is how idiosyncratic and individual it is, but sorry, over this there can be no doubt. The astonishing growth of craft beer means that nearly one in four pints in the UK on-trade is now cask ale or craft beer in other formats.

Oh, Young’s Chocolate Stout and Well’s Banana beer too, oddly enough, but no more Bombardier and Young’s ales were never here. They are associated with a specific area: Adnams is “beer from the coast”, Fullers is London Porter, London Pride, etc. I doubt even Ab-Inbev could possibly afford to market their beers with such expense today, but it does show what pride the original Bass had in its beer.For like very few beers, great Burton Pale Ales have that quality that is so difficult to define: tasty yes, but moreishly drinkable too. As well as the Marston’s one, there’s also the Tennent’s-brewed Bass that’s still popular in Northern Ireland. If it’s launching in December as stated, the new label – if there is a different one – will have been signed off months ago. The pub was the local social club to meet mates who only drank Bass, they didn’t want to try alternatives. They also constantly look backwards and maintain a sense of history and tradition – look at Fullers Vintage ale etc.

And FWIW, I don’t think that branding needs to be set in stone, but the emphasis should be on making sure it looks classic or “vintage” and not dated rather than on making it look aggressively modern. Brewed in Burton on Trent, it superseded Allsopp’s, the town’s original big hitter in India, and went on to become the first ever global beer brand.

This coincidental wave of drinkers unaccustomed, perhaps unaware, of this family of beers concentrated the flowing tide as it entered the mouth of the bay. any other member of the Carlsberg Marston's Group (which includes Carlsberg Marston's Limited, CMBC Supply Limited and any other Carlsberg Marston's Group trading division or group company from time to time), If you look at a bottle of Marston’s Pedigree, you will see it described as an amber ale. Yes, I know it should be a broad church the Campaign For Real Ale, but the reality it was pale ale that was being decimated by the rockets of kegged beer with all the day to day, ‘operational’ benefits they offered.

It didn’t help that I hadn’t yet been on a rite of passage with beer at that point in my life, but goodness me. I was brought up on Draught Bass and Pedigree when I was a youngster in the 70’s, both pretty much ruined now. Bass in my opinion is the best beer brand in our portfolio, it’s the brand that I grew up with and am gutted that the company has completely defocussed it since purchase – it’s never even had a Brand Manager. Meanwhile, those who prefer old-school beer are likely to give these a miss, or (see above) feel that their custom is not wanted.So the headline is factually inaccurate, and merely draws attention to the fact that if it ever felt like Bass had disappeared from the UK, this was entirely AB-InBev’s fault.