UPDATED - Hooray Henley has sunk without trace (Brakspear Bitter 3.4%)

Member Name: grahamt

Product:	Brakspear Bitter 3.4%
Date:	08/09/01 (659 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: None any more

Disadvantages: The beer is Brakspears in name alone

UPDATE - Usually I add my updates to the end of my opinion. In this case I cannot.

You may have heard that Brakspears has succombed to the advice of those idiots in the City who have achieved the impossible of pursuading gullible brewers that they actually know what they are talking about.

The brewery has been sold off. The company is now a pubs only organisation. This is a trend that ha already spelled disaster elsewhere. I expect no better fate for Brakspears.

Their beer is being contract brewed elsewhere. The character of the beer has changed and will probably never again achieve the glories of the past. Consequently I can no longer recommend this beer or, indeed any beer carrying this name.

For you information, this was my original review, just so that you know what has been irretreivably lost.

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Since I returned to the South, I can't easily get hold of my favourite Liverpool brew (Cains Bitter). I loved its taste but unfortunately the canned variety doesn't compare to the cask version. However, I have now found a more than adequate alternative, Brakspears Bitter.

Brakspears has had a long and illustrious history. Based in the beautiful town of Henley-on-Thames, famed for its annual rowing regatta the company of W.H. Brakspear & Sons brews many beers, not only for itself but also on behalf of other brewers. It produces the CAMRA award winning Coniston Bluebird on behalf of the tiny Lakeland brewery, which doesn't have the capacity to produce the quantity to meet the demand created by its success.

The initials W.H. stand for William Henry. However, he was not the founder of the brewing dynasty. That was his father, Robert. Robert initially worked for his uncle, Richard Hayward. Richard had inherited an interest in the brewery of the Brooks family who had been brewers in Henley for over a hundred years and in
1779 the brewery came under his control.

In 1797 his uncle died. Robert had astutely accumulated a large financial interest in the brewery. He had been made a partner in 1781 and in 1803 he was able to buy out the remaining partner in the business and assume control.

Interestingly, before coming to Henley, Robert wasn't a Brakspear. He was a Breakspear. It is believed that he dropped the extra "e" in order to distance himself from his Wiltshire relatives, who were not exactly the most "substantial" family either in the financial or fame sense. All except for one that is.

One relative was very famous indeed. Nicholas Breakspeare (funny how these "e"s appear and disappear!) was none other than Pope Adrian IV, who in 1154 became the only ever English Pope. The Pope?s emblem was the bee and this emblem forms part of the Brakspears logo to this very da
y.

Robert died in 1812. Just before doing so he arranged a merger with the other Henley brewer, Appletons, in order to secure the future for his heirs. His interest in the brewery passed not to his eldest son but to William Henry. It seems that Robert considered his eldest son "unreliable". William proved a worthy successor.

William was eventually able to buy out the remaining partners in the brewery, Joseph Benwell and his son Peter, taking complete charge of the business in 1848.

Willliam?s sons Archibald and George took over the running of the brewery when William died in 1882. Up until 1896, Brakspears had one other competitor in the area, Greys Brewery. Greys was in financial difficulties and so Brakspears made a bid to take over the business but in order to do so they had to become a public company and it was for this reason that W H Brakspear & Sons Ltd was formed.

Brakspears has been dedicated to the production of Real Ales of the very finest quality. They produce a range of regular beers as
well as seasonal and one-off beers. These are distributed to their own estate of pubs and in bottled form through retail outlets such as Safeways supermarkets.

But, let?s get back to the beer. At 3.4% abv it is of lighter strength than Cains. That also means it's more driving licence friendly. It?s an excellent session beer that will enable you to enjoy more than just the odd one or two if you aren?t driving, without dire consequences.

However, the lower alcoholic strength doesn?t in any way detract from the superb taste. It?s a copper-coloured beer as you would normally expect of a traditional bitter. It has the excellent hop aroma and taste that I love. It also has a slight fruitiness to it and a long-lasting taste in the mouth.

I am delighted to add Brakspears to my select list of favourite brewers, alongside such luminaries as Timothy Taylor
s and Hook Norton.

Summary: