Gale's Ales

Less of a blog today more of a photo gallery. Gale’s of Horndean marketed their wonderful Prize Old Ale in ultra traditional shouldered bottles with the brewery name embossed on the reverse. The effect was very pleasing on the eye. During the 80s and 90s they extended the concept to on a number of commemorative brews which sported a variety of attractive labels.

I’ve displayed here the classic POA bottle form the mid 70s. There was no indication of strength on  the label. The O.G. was added some time towards the end of that decade. At this time POA was also sold in crown corked nips.

The label was completely re-designed for the 80s. The gravity was indicated on the right hand side. A bit garish for me. Red and green should never be seen?

The 90s saw the introduction of a stylish new label with the year of production on the reverse. A photo of the brewery was displayed which, ironically, was still used once Fuller's had closed the brewery.

 

Here I’ve shown a few of the commemorative bottlings for your interest. The Silver Jubilee Ale of 1977 is very rare in corked form. It was mostly produced in crown corked nips. The others are an eclectic bunch produced for other royal, national and local anniversaries. It should be noted that these special brews were not re-badged prize Old Ale.

The gravities ranged from a paltry 4.6% for Peter & Julia’s Wedding (who?) from 1989 to a whopping 12% for the Golden Jubilee Ale of 1982. They can sometimes can be picked up on eBay at a cheap price and may be worth a punt, especially the stronger examples which should have matured nicely.

To view a full list of these and other commemorative brews up to 1999 see the excellent Association of Bottled Beer Collectors (ABBC) reference at Bottled beer list

 

Thomas Hardy's Ale

The more observant amongst you will have noticed that I have a passion for Thomas Hardy's Ale.

At the birth of CAMRA there were four classic bottled conditioned beers in the U.K.

Hardy’s Ale was one, the others being Gale’s Prize Old Ale, Courage Imperial Russian Stout and Guinness.

Russian Stout disappeared in 1993 and Guinness has not been bottle-conditioned for donkeys’ years. The name Prize Old Ale lives on but Gales’ has closed and new owners Fuller's brew it at Chiswick sans the iconic corked bottles. Hardy’s Ale limped on until 1999. Eldridge Pope couldn’t even be bothered producing a vintage for the Millennium.

The final vintage from Eldridge Pope

Thomas Hardy’s Ale was brewed to an impressive 12% strength. This robustness explains why it is still sought after today, over 10 years after the last bottles were filled.  More of a barley wine than an ale, (that isn’t a cue for an argument please), I’ve tasted examples from the mid 70s which had matured beautifully like vintage port. I suspect that corners were cut in the final years which don’t have the same depth of flavours. Note though, that I’ve rarely had a bad bottle no matter how decrepit or faded the label may look.

The prime reason that Hardy’s Ale was never a commercial success was poor marketing. The original commemorative vintage from 1968 had a sticker on the bottle stating ‘DO NOT OPEN BEFORE JULY 1969’. When the ale was revived as a regular brew in 1974 the sticker said ‘DO NOT OPEN BEFORE JUNE 1978’ and by 1979 it stated DO NOT OPEN UNTIL 1989. Yes, you were told not to drink it for a whole ten years!! What terrible fate would befall anyone who ignored this doom-laden warning is unclear, but it meant that Thomas Hardy’s Ale was a museum piece from the start. Many people bought a bottle or two to stash away as a souvenir for a future event but few people actually drank the stuff. I know that this is true because I’ve still got two bottles purchased in a London branch of Waitrose in 1988. Of course, this has become a blessing in disguise for a new generation of drinkers because there are still numerous bottles hidden away in nooks and crannies and which are regularly advertised for sale on eBay. I’ve learned that brewery employees were given cases of the ale in the 90s as gifts, presumably because they weren’t selling in the pubs and off licenses. A lot of these cases are still intact lurking in pantries and garages.  By various means I’ve managed to amass a collection of about 200 bottles which will keep me going for some time yet.

In the 80s the brewery presumably saw the error of its ways and merely advised that the ale would keep for 25 years. However, the damage had been done and the perception remained that the ale shouldn’t be drunk too young. Sales in Britain were rarely exceptional and it was the export market, in particular to the U.S. that allowed production to continue as long as it did.




My sort of party ¹

  The demise of Eldridge Pope saw the right to the Thomas Hardy’s Ale name purchased by the American company Phoenix Imports. There was much rejoicing when they commissioned O'Hanlon's with a brief to re-create the ale as faithfully as possible. This they did with details that included the much-loved neck medallions and individual bottle numbers which had both been lost as Eldridge Pope cut costs. However, the joy was short-lived as the new ale lasted only 4 years before O’Hanlon’s pulled the plug citing the expense of producing a specialist ale in small quantities. It is believed that they were pushed into this decision by advisors after taking part in a reality-type TV programme.

Given the increased interest in unusual and rare brews mostly of high alcoholic strength it is to be hoped that Phoenix will resurrect Hardy’s Ale for a second time in the none too distant future.

Photo courtesy of Stan Hieronymus