Courage Brewery

Courage
Industry Brewing
Founded 1787
Founder John Courage
Products Beer
Owner Wells & Young's

Courage Brewery was an English brewing company, founded by John Courage in London in 1787. Its beers, Courage Best (4% ABV), Directors (4.8% ABV) and Courage Imperial Russian Stout (10% ABV), are now brewed by Wells & Young's.

History

Courage & Co Ltd was started by John Courage at the Anchor Brewhouse in Horsleydown, Bermondsey in 1787. He was a Scottish shipping agent of French Huguenot descent.[1] It became Courage & Donaldson in 1797. By 1888, it had been registered simply as Courage. In 1955, the company merged with Barclay, Perkins & Co Ltd (who were located at the nearby Anchor Brewery) to become Courage, Barclay & Co Ltd. Only five years later another merger with the Reading based Simonds' Brewery led to the name changing to Courage, Barclay, Simonds & Co Ltd. In the late 1960s, the group had assets of approximately £100m, and operated five breweries in London, Reading, Bristol, Plymouth and Newark-on-Trent. It owned some 5,000 licensed premises spread over the whole of Southern England, a large part of South Wales and an extensive area of the East Midlands and South Yorkshire. It was employing some 15,000 people and producing something like 75 million imperial gallons (340,000,000 L) of beer annually.[2] Its name was simplified to Courage Ltd in October 1970 and the company was taken over by the Imperial Tobacco Group Ltd two years later.

Its vast Worton Grange (later the Berkshire) brewery was opened on the Reading/Shinfield border in 1978. The Anchor Brewery closed in 1981 and all brewing was transferred to Reading. Imperial Tobacco was acquired by the Hanson Trust in 1986 and it sold off Courage to Elders IXL who were renamed the Foster's Brewing Group in 1990. The following year the Courage section of Foster's merged with the breweries of Grand Metropolitan. Its public houses were owned by a joint-company called Inntrepreneur Estates. Scottish & Newcastle purchased Courage from Foster's in 1995, creating Scottish Courage as its brewing arm.

In January 2007, the rights for the production, marketing and sales of the Courage brands were sold to Wells & Young’s Brewing Company of Bedford. This is managed by a venture called Courage Brands Ltd[3] Heineken retained a 17 per cent stake in the venture until 2011, when Wells & Young's acquired complete control. The Berkshire Brewery closed in April 2010.[4] Courage Best has undergone a significant decline in sales from almost 421,000 hectolitres in 2003 to under 142,000 hectolitres in 2012.[5] The decline of Courage Directors has levelled off at around 60,000 hectolitres, which is down from 140,000 hl in 2003.[5] Wells & Young's recently announced that it has reintroduced the historic brew, Courage Imperial Russian Stout, which was first brewed in the 18th century by Thrale's brewery.[6]

Beers

Beers bearing the Courage name include:

Advertising

The Rockney duo Chas & Dave's single "Gertcha" was used in a series of television commercials for Courage Bitter shown in the South of England in the 1980s. Also, the Director's Bitter is a favourite of televisions own Alan Partridge who states that he has it 'coming out of his taps'.

Sponsorship

The brewery sponsored Reading FC from 1984 until 1990.[13] Courage sponsored the English Premiership rugby union league for ten years from 1987 until 1997.[14] Courage Best Bitter is a sponsor of rugby union club the Exeter Chiefs.[15]

References

  1. International directory of company ... - Google Books. Books.google.co.uk. 2008-09-22. Retrieved 2011-05-07.
  2. "PudneyCh5_Sixties". Takecourage.info. Retrieved 2011-05-07.
  3. Wells and Youngs Buy Courage Brands - Wells & Young's Brewing Company Ltd - www.wellsandyoungs.co.uk
  4. "Job fears as brewery set to close". BBC News. 2008-02-12. Retrieved 2010-04-30.
  5. 1 2 Alcoholic Drinks: Euromonitor from trade sources/national statistics
  6. Courage Imperial Russian Stout Launched | News | Wells and Young's Brewing Company
  7. 1 2 3 "Courage Best Bitter | Our Ales | Wells and Young's Brewing Company". Wellsandyoungs.co.uk. Retrieved 2011-05-07.
  8. Euromonitor, 2012
  9. 1 2 3 "Courage Directors | Our Ales | Wells and Young's Brewing Company". Wellsandyoungs.co.uk. Retrieved 2011-05-07.
  10. 1 2 "Directors - Courage". Couragebest.co.uk. Retrieved 2011-05-07.
  11. Euromonitor, 2011
  12. http://www.marstons.co.uk/docs/PBA_REPORT_2011_FINAL.pdf
  13. "Reading - Historical Football Kits". Historicalkits.co.uk. Retrieved 2011-05-07.
  14. "Rugby Football History". Rugby Football History. 1997-11-01. Retrieved 2011-05-07.
  15. "Chiefs Sponsors - The home of rugby in Exeter and Devon". Exeterchiefs.co.uk. Retrieved 2011-05-07.
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