Dog on the Tyne (Newcastle Brown Ale)

Member Name: meah

Product:	Newcastle Brown Ale
Date:	08/08/02 (2125 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Crisp and full bodied, Available world wide

Disadvantages: Best out of a glass

There cannot be many people who have not heard of Newcastle Brown Ale, it is obviously synonymous with Newcastle upon Tyne and has been brewed in the City since 1927 at Newcastle Breweries situated in Barrack Road, Gallowgate opposite St. James Park Football Ground.

Newcastle Breweries was opened in 1890 and part of the original brewery is still in use although it has been extended many times over the years. The creator of Newcastle Brown Ale was Jim Porter and he took over three years to perfect the Ale before eventually releasing it. In 1928, only one year after its release it was so popular it won three gold medals in the International Brewers Exhibition in London and after this success the famous blue star was added to the bottle.

From it’s introduction in 1927 until 1937 it was only available in bottles with a screw top but in 1937 the brewery started to produce the Ale in cans and in 1951 the screw top bottle was changed to a metal top and this metal top is still found on the bottles today.

In the 1980’s the design of the bottle was changed slightly and the words “The One and Only” were added to the bottle just below the neck and in 1999 special edition bottles were released to celebrate Newcastle United Football Club making it to the last F A Cup Final of the Century.

The bottles today contain 550ml of Ale (originally the bottles contained one pint), the alcohol volume is 4.7% and the label on the back of the bottle also has a star on it with the instructions:

‘Serve cool, Newcastle Brown Ale has the same distinctive full-bodied flavour that has made it a legend for over 70 years. And just so you’ll know when your Newcastle Brown Ale is at your preferred drinking temperature, we’ve turned the star on this back label into a thermometer – it begins to turn blue at about 12 degrees centigrade. The darker the blue, the colder your Newcastle Brown Ale.’

The
Ale is a very deep dark brown in colour, is aromatic and can certainly be described as full-bodied. It has a unique crisp flavour that some people describe as tasting of hops and others would say was slightly nutty. Some pubs in the North East serve draught Newcastle Brown Ale but you should always go for a bottle and drink it from a half-pint glass. Clint Eastwood has publicly stated that Newcastle Brown Ale is his favourite drink.

If you ask for a bottle of broon, a newkie broon, a bottle of the golden nectar or a bottle of dog in the Newcastle area you will be given a bottle of Newcastle Brown Ale. During the 1980’s an advertising campaign was launched showing men telling their wives they were going to walk the dog and then they were seen in the pub drinking Newcastle Brown Ale and this is the most likely explanation for the nick name bottle of dog.

Newcastle Brown Ale goes down well with most meals containing meat and is on sale worldwide and it is so popular Boston, Massachusetts, USA that it is available on draught in most pubs there.

As for the price of Newcastle Brown Ale this various considerably depending on where you are but it always compares favourably with all other bottled beers bearing in mind most other beers are in 330ml bottles and Newcastle brown Ale is in 550ml bottles.

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