Marston's Pedigree

Pedigree is a unique beer, made by a method once widespread in the breweries of Burton-on-Trent. Indeed, once-upon-a-time the classic Bass was made this way. Marston’s alone now uses the union method of brewing and only for their Pedigree brand and even this is at risk. Marston’s is no longer an independent brewer. In 1999 it was gobbled up by the increasingly acquisitive Wolverhampton & Dudley Group. W&D itself has recently been under attack. A takeover attempt by failed by only a small percentage of votes. For the moment, Marston’s seems to have a reasonably secure future but the record over the years of acquired breweries is ...

Pedigree from Marstons has a fine reputation amongst beer drinkers, and is well known throughout the country, so finding a pint in a pub near you shouldn't be too much of a problem. Brewed in Staffordshire that beer is also available in cans and bottles - the bottles are particularly welcome as they serve up a full pint rather than the woefully short 500ml of most bottled beers these days. Full marks to Pedigree there! The beer itself is a wonderful caramel brown colour, with a gentle fizz (not over the top). Pedigree suffers from none of the pretentious tastes that some real ales do, neither is it just a beer with a fancy name. It has a ...

When kept well and of good delivered quality Marstons Pedigree is a fine pint. However, I feel this is one of those beers which has suffered from overmarketing and excessive market and geographic penetration! We have had it as a guest ale in our rugby club and our steward managed to produce an acceptable pint for most of the time - but not all of the time. Our margins were eaten into by significantly higher wastage than other real ales - more needed to be drawn off. Delivered quality from the brewery was also a problem with smone barrels returned - our supply was via Carlsberg-Tetley. All in all it seems a difficult beer to keep well and to serve a consistent quality ...