Beers Loved Now Lost
Discussion
Stu R said:
kiteless said:
Just had a look in one of my old GBG's.
Vaux Double Maxim, maybe?
That's the chap. A quick google suggests you can still get it - the directors who fled vaux amid it's closure started a new brewery (which I'm ashamed to say is located not 20 minutes from my door and I didn't know about it!). I'll have to investigate Vaux Double Maxim, maybe?
It seems a lot of their other brews went the same way too, though I was never their biggest fan TBH, being from the proper side of the river I always preferred the Fed brewery's offerings
http://www.maximbrewery.co.uk/
You prefer stuff from the Fed ...
kiteless said:
I know us beer lovers are spoiled for choice these days (my local is coming to the end of its second week of its second beer festival this year), but despite all that there are still great beers that deserve remembrance.
Sorry to go OT, but I have a feeling our locals are the same (Crown?)mcflurry said:
Sticks. said:
Fremlins. Long time ago but iirc, clear and crisp taste. Until Whitbread bought them, then it tasted like, well, Whitbread.
Their old brewery location is now a shopping centre..http://www.fremlinwalk.co.uk/
NotKenBlock said:
kiteless said:
I know us beer lovers are spoiled for choice these days (my local is coming to the end of its second week of its second beer festival this year), but despite all that there are still great beers that deserve remembrance.
Sorry to go OT, but I have a feeling our locals are the same (Crown?)
Dangler said:
Does anyone remember Draught Guinness Bitter in the green cans 
Yes, I remember when they launched it, they were giving away free cans at Waterloo station. I was off to play cricket so had a huge sports bag with me and managed to blag about 20 free cans, kept me going for a few days...Although not gone, I miss the original Old Speckled Hen.
I guess I'm probably confusing my old tastebuds with nostalgia, but the recent version of this doesn't taste a patch on what I remember it. Back in the 80's older friends used to buy us bottles, off-licence from the pub and we would drink them in a field round the back of the pub, sharing a packet of 10 JPS between us. That got me the taste of drinking beer out in the Oxfordshire countryside!
I am sure that since Greene King bought the rights to the beer, it has changed from the rough, strong flavoured brew I remember to something much more insipid, like their IPA. Worst of all (and this being PH) is the loss of the MG badge off the label. The story behind naming Old Speckled Hen was that it was named after one of the cars at the MG Factory in Abingdon, down the road from the Morland brewery. Sadly the marketing nobs have made it all chickens and foxes now...
I also miss the strong Morrells Varsity and it's hairy big brother Graduate, seriously strong beers (not sure if I got them the right way round) which bang for buck, used to make your money go a long way! Morrells closed in 1998 I gather - but may be still brewed, but I haven't seen it for a long while.
However, Berkshire & Oxfordshire now have more breweries than I can ever remember, so I'm more than happy trying out the new stuff that seems to be appearing weekly. If it's on a pub bench overlooking fields or the river somewhere outside Henley-on-Thames, them all the better!
I guess I'm probably confusing my old tastebuds with nostalgia, but the recent version of this doesn't taste a patch on what I remember it. Back in the 80's older friends used to buy us bottles, off-licence from the pub and we would drink them in a field round the back of the pub, sharing a packet of 10 JPS between us. That got me the taste of drinking beer out in the Oxfordshire countryside!
I am sure that since Greene King bought the rights to the beer, it has changed from the rough, strong flavoured brew I remember to something much more insipid, like their IPA. Worst of all (and this being PH) is the loss of the MG badge off the label. The story behind naming Old Speckled Hen was that it was named after one of the cars at the MG Factory in Abingdon, down the road from the Morland brewery. Sadly the marketing nobs have made it all chickens and foxes now...
I also miss the strong Morrells Varsity and it's hairy big brother Graduate, seriously strong beers (not sure if I got them the right way round) which bang for buck, used to make your money go a long way! Morrells closed in 1998 I gather - but may be still brewed, but I haven't seen it for a long while.
However, Berkshire & Oxfordshire now have more breweries than I can ever remember, so I'm more than happy trying out the new stuff that seems to be appearing weekly. If it's on a pub bench overlooking fields or the river somewhere outside Henley-on-Thames, them all the better!
Dangler said:
Does anyone remember Draught Guinness Bitter in the green cans
Aye, I do. Not keen on it myself as I've never liked tinned beers with those widget dooferyfirkins in them.Even worse from Guinness was this:
Vile, vile stuff.
NotKenBlock said:
I'm good mates with Martin (Merk), Steve F, Austin etc..?
Well, someone has to 
Actually, not seen Merk and Austin for a while now. Trust they're well?
prand said:
Although not gone, I miss the original Old Speckled Hen.
Same here, won't go near it now.Podie said:
Ruined by Greene King
Aren't they all? - They've even ruined their own, I used to like Abbot, but that's gone down hill...One I miss is Ruddles County. Yep, like spotty chicken, it's still about, but not a patch on the original when Ruddles were at Langham and strength was measured in O.G. (1080-something IIRC). My first memory of the "Oh God" of hangovers was after a night on it at a tender age in the Samuel Pepys in Slipton which was a Ruddles tied house in those days.
Oystercatcher said:
prand said:
Although not gone, I miss the original Old Speckled Hen.
Same here, won't go near it now.Podie said:
Ruined by Greene King
Aren't they all? - They've even ruined their own, I used to like Abbot, but that's gone down hill...One I miss is Ruddles County. Yep, like spotty chicken, it's still about, but not a patch on the original when Ruddles were at Langham and strength was measured in O.G. (1080-something IIRC). My first memory of the "Oh God" of hangovers was after a night on it at a tender age in the Samuel Pepys in Slipton which was a Ruddles tied house in those days.
bazking69 said:
kiteless said:
Out!
Get out, with your tasteless tongue of Canadian brewing foolishness
I remember we used to drink this as teenagers because it was permenantly on offer at the local offy and the guy was so happy to sell it he didn't once ask us for ID!Get out, with your tasteless tongue of Canadian brewing foolishness
To my uneducated 18 y.o. palate, it wasn't a bad drop.
Not seen it for years.
As a young drinker, I went through the stage of really enjoying Courage Tavern on keg.
http://www.retrowow.co.uk/retro_britain/70s/70s_dr...
http://www.retrowow.co.uk/retro_britain/70s/70s_dr...
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