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Bass (beer)
Encyclopedia
The Bass Brewery was founded as a brewery in 1777 by William Bass
in Burton upon Trent
, England. The main brand was Bass Pale Ale
, which was once the highest selling beer in the UK. The company became one of the main breweries in the UK, and Bass Pale Ale was exported throughout the British Empire
, the distinctive red triangle becoming the UK's first registered trademark
.
The company took control of a number of other large breweries in the early 20th century, and in the 1960s merged with Charrington United Breweries
to become the largest UK brewing company, Bass Charrington. The brewing operations of the company were bought by Interbrew
(now Anheuser-Busch InBev
) in 2000, while the retail side (hotel and pub holdings) were renamed Six Continents plc. The UK government's Competition Commission
were concerned about the monopoly implications arising from the deal, and instructed Interbrew to dispose of the brewery and certain brands (the Carling
and Worthington
brands) to Coors
(now Molson Coors Brewing Company
), but allowed Interbrew to retain the rights to the Bass Pale Ale brand. In 2010, it was widely reported that AB-InBev are attempting to sell the rights to the Bass brand in the UK for around £10-15 million.
Draught Bass (4.4% ABV
) has been brewed under contract in Burton by Marston's for AB-InBev since 2005. Bottled and keg versions (5.1% ABV
) are brewed at AB-InBev's own brewery in Samlesbury for export. Bass Ale is a top ten premium canned ale in the UK, with 16,080 hectolitres sold in 2010.
in 1777 and was one of the first breweries in Burton upon Trent
. Prior to establishing his brewery, Bass transported ale for another brewer by the name of Benjamin Printon; Bass sold this carrier
business to the Pickford
family, using the funds to establish his own brewery.
Early in the company's history, Bass was exporting bottled beer around the world with the Baltic
trade being supplied through the port of Hull
. Growing demand led to the building of a second brewery in Burton upon Trent in 1799 by Michael Bass, the founder's son, who entered into partnership with John Ratcliff. The water produced from boreholes in the locality became popular with brewers, with 30 different breweries operating in the mid-19th century. Michael's son, another Michael, succeeded on the death of his father in 1827, renewed the Ratcliff partnership and brought in John Gretton, and created the company of 'Bass, Ratcliff and Gretton' as it traded in the 19th century.
The opening of the railway through Burton in 1839 led to Burton becoming pre-eminent as a brewing town. In the mid-1870s, Bass, Ratcliff and Gretton accounted for one third of Burton's output, and the strong export market meant that Bass could boast that their product was available "in every country in the globe". The company became a public limited company in 1888, following the death of Michael in 1884, who was succeeded by his son, another Michael, later Lord Burton
.
Both Michael Bass and Lord Burton were considerable philanthropists with extensive charitable donations to the towns of Burton and Derby
. Early in the 20th century, in a declining market, many Burton breweries closed down. The numbers fell from twenty in 1900 to eight in 1928. Bass took over the breweries of Walkers in 1923, Worthington
and Thomas Salt
in 1927 and James Eadie
in 1933.
Bass was one of the original FT 30
companies on the London Stock Exchange when the listing was established in 1935. Over the next half-century, Bass maintained its dominance in the UK market by the acquisition of other brewers such as Birmingham
-based Mitchells & Butlers
(1961), London brewer Charringtons
(1967), Sheffield
brewer William Stones Ltd
(1968) and Grimsby
-based Hewitt Brothers Limited (1969) (with the overall company being known as Bass, Mitchells and Butlers or Bass Charrington at various times).
By the end of the 20th century, following decades of closures and consolidation, Bass was left with one of the two large breweries remaining in the town. It also had substantial holdings in hotels, now owned by InterContinental Hotels Group
(IHG). The Mitchells and Butlers name lives on as the company that retained the license
d retail outlet business when it was separated from the Six Continents plc
company (the successor to Bass plc
) in 2003.
Bass Charrington Timeline
Bass plc's brewing business was bought by the Belgian brewer Interbrew
(now InBev
) in June 2000, when the remaining hotel and pub holdings were renamed Six Continents plc.
After the Competition Commission
had considered the potential monopoly concerns arising from the deal, Interbrew disposed of Bass Brewers Limited (including the Carling
and Worthington
brands) to Coors
(now Molson Coors Brewing Company
), but retained the rights to Bass beer production.
The beer was produced under licence by Coors, which retained the Bass brewing capacity. Bass Brewers Limited was renamed Coors Brewers Limited
. The production licence came to an end in 2005, and the licence to brew draught Bass has been taken up by Wolverhampton & Dudley Breweries PLC, who started production at the Marston's
Brewery, also in Burton. Bottled and keg Bass, the types exported to the USA with a higher abv, are no longer brewed in Burton and are now imported by Anheuser-Busch
from the Baldwinsville, NY brewery.
Next to the brewery, the Bass Museum of Brewing, renamed the Coors Visitor Centre & The Museum of Brewing, was Burton upon Trent's largest tourist attraction until closed by Coors in June 2008. A steering group was established to investigate re-opening the museum and the museum relaunched in May 2010 as the National Brewery Centre.
Bass was a pioneer in international brand marketing. The Bass Red Triangle was the first trademark
to be registered under the UK's Trade Mark Registration Act
1875, as trade mark number 1. The 1875 Act came into effect on 1 January 1876 and that New Year's Eve, a Bass employee waited overnight outside the registrar's office, in order to be the first in the queue to register a trademark the next morning. In fact, Bass, Ratcliff & Gretton Limited received the first two registrations, the first being the Bass Red Triangle for their pale ale, and the second the Bass Red Diamond for their strong ale. The trademarks are now owned by Brandbrew SA, an Interbrew subsidiary based in Luxembourg
.
Bottles of Bass with the Red Triangle logo have occasionally appeared in art and literature. Bottles of Bass Pale Ale bearing the triangle can be seen in Edouard Manet
's 1882 painting Bar at the Folies-Bergère. Bottles of Bass can also be seen in over 40 paintings by Picasso
, mostly at the height of his Cubist
period around 1914. In the "Oxen of the Sun" episode of James Joyce
's Ulysses
, Bloom remarks upon the Bass logo.
and Derbyshire
heartlands. It is also available in 500ml cans. It is described as "a classic ale with a malty, fruity, nutty aroma and a complex, satisfying flavour". It is brewed by Marston's
in Burton upon Trent in Yorkshire squares, uses English hops, and is dry hopped. It has previously been a 4% and 4.3% ABV beer. Sales in 2010 were less than a third of those in 2004.
called Shandy Bass, introduced in 1972. It is a shandy
made with Bass
beer, which is mixed such that it contains 0.5% ABV
. It is made by Britvic
. Its greatest popularity is in Northern England.
based brewers Beamish and Crawford
. The beer proved popular until the 1980s, when sales began to decline. The Bass slogan in Ireland, "Ah that's Bass!", became part of everyday language in Ireland to describe relief from thirst. Many metal signs bearing the slogan are still visible on many pubs across Ireland. It enjoyed somewhat of a resurgence in the early 1990s under Tennents Ireland but once again fell away possibly due to a lack of any concerted advertising campaign. Attempts to revive the beer under InBev
also failed.
Bass sold in Ireland differs from the version on sale in Britain in that it consists of a fizzier sweeter ale than the common version enjoyed in England. It is still sold in many bars in Dublin and in pint bottles in Ireland's South East region.
. However Bass seems to have suffered under the custodianship of InBev
and later Anheuser-Busch InBev
as it is undergoing heavy decline in American consumption, with 242,000 hectolitres sold in the country in 2010. AB InBev have pledged funding to support the Bass brand in America, and Bass will be brewed in the United States for the American market.
William Bass (brewer)
-Career:William Bass was the son of William Bass and his wife Hannah Fish. He had a carrier business with his brother John at Hinckley, Leicestershire...
in Burton upon Trent
Burton upon Trent
Burton upon Trent, also known as Burton-on-Trent or simply Burton, is a town straddling the River Trent in the east of Staffordshire, England. Its associated adjective is "Burtonian"....
, England. The main brand was Bass Pale Ale
Pale ale
Pale ale is a beer which uses a warm fermentation and predominantly pale malt. It is one of the world's major beer styles.The higher proportion of pale malts results in a lighter colour. The term "pale ale" was being applied around 1703 for beers made from malts dried with coke, which resulted in a...
, which was once the highest selling beer in the UK. The company became one of the main breweries in the UK, and Bass Pale Ale was exported throughout the British Empire
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
, the distinctive red triangle becoming the UK's first registered trademark
Trademark
A trademark, trade mark, or trade-mark is a distinctive sign or indicator used by an individual, business organization, or other legal entity to identify that the products or services to consumers with which the trademark appears originate from a unique source, and to distinguish its products or...
.
The company took control of a number of other large breweries in the early 20th century, and in the 1960s merged with Charrington United Breweries
Charringtons
Charrington United Breweries Ltd was an English brewery company founded in 1738 which merged with Bass in 1967.-History:Robert Westfield, a member of the Brewers' Company from 1738, owned a brewery in Bethnal Green, London, prior to 1757, when he took Joseph Moss into partnership and moved to new...
to become the largest UK brewing company, Bass Charrington. The brewing operations of the company were bought by Interbrew
Interbrew
Interbrew was a large Belgium-based brewing company which owned many internationally known beers, as well as some smaller local beers. In 2004 Interbrew merged with Brazilian brewer AmBev to form InBev, which is the now largest brewer in the world by volume, with a 13% global market share now...
(now Anheuser-Busch InBev
Anheuser-Busch InBev
Anheuser-Busch InBev N.V. is a Belgian-Brazilian publicly-traded company, based in Leuven, Belgium. It is the largest global brewer with nearly 25% global market share and one of the world's top five consumer products companies by EBITA....
) in 2000, while the retail side (hotel and pub holdings) were renamed Six Continents plc. The UK government's Competition Commission
Competition Commission
The Competition Commission is a non-departmental public body responsible for investigating mergers, markets and other enquiries related to regulated industries under competition law in the United Kingdom...
were concerned about the monopoly implications arising from the deal, and instructed Interbrew to dispose of the brewery and certain brands (the Carling
Carling
Carling brands are currently owned by the Molson Coors Brewing Company. In South Africa it is distributed by SABMiller.Carling Black Label is the name of a brand of Canadian lager in Australia, Canada, Ireland, the United Kingdom and South Africa...
and Worthington
Worthington Draught bitter
-History:The Worthington Brewery was founded in 1761 by William Worthington, although William had brewed his first ale in 1744. WH Worthington pioneered brewing science in 1866 by employing a chemist, Horace Tabberer, who lead the world in separation and cultivation of pure yeast strains. In 1880...
brands) to Coors
Coors Brewing Company
The Coors Brewing Company is a regional division of the world's fifth-largest brewing company, the Canadian Molson Coors Brewing Company and is the third-largest brewer in the United States...
(now Molson Coors Brewing Company
Molson Coors Brewing Company
Molson Coors Brewing Company is a company that was created by the merger of two of North America's largest breweries: Molson of Canada, and Coors of the United States, on February 9, 2005...
), but allowed Interbrew to retain the rights to the Bass Pale Ale brand. In 2010, it was widely reported that AB-InBev are attempting to sell the rights to the Bass brand in the UK for around £10-15 million.
Draught Bass (4.4% ABV
ABV
ABV is a three-letter acronym that may refer to:* Alcohol by volume, a measure of the alcohol content of alcoholic drinks* Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, Nigeria, from its IATA airport code...
) has been brewed under contract in Burton by Marston's for AB-InBev since 2005. Bottled and keg versions (5.1% ABV
ABV
ABV is a three-letter acronym that may refer to:* Alcohol by volume, a measure of the alcohol content of alcoholic drinks* Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, Nigeria, from its IATA airport code...
) are brewed at AB-InBev's own brewery in Samlesbury for export. Bass Ale is a top ten premium canned ale in the UK, with 16,080 hectolitres sold in 2010.
History
The Bass & Co Brewery was established by William BassWilliam Bass (brewer)
-Career:William Bass was the son of William Bass and his wife Hannah Fish. He had a carrier business with his brother John at Hinckley, Leicestershire...
in 1777 and was one of the first breweries in Burton upon Trent
Brewers of Burton
Burton upon Trent had a unique position in the history of brewing, exporting beer throughout the world and accounting for a quarter of UK beer production at one time; emulation of Burton water is a prevalent brewing technique called Burtonisation. The town itself was dominated by the industry...
. Prior to establishing his brewery, Bass transported ale for another brewer by the name of Benjamin Printon; Bass sold this carrier
Common carrier
A common carrier in common-law countries is a person or company that transports goods or people for any person or company and that is responsible for any possible loss of the goods during transport...
business to the Pickford
Pickfords
Pickfords is a moving company based in the United Kingdom, part of the Moving Services Group UK Ltd.The business is believed to have been founded in the 17th century, making it one of the UK's oldest functioning companies. The earliest record is of a William Pickford, a carrier who worked south of...
family, using the funds to establish his own brewery.
Early in the company's history, Bass was exporting bottled beer around the world with the Baltic
Baltic Sea
The Baltic Sea is a brackish mediterranean sea located in Northern Europe, from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from 20°E to 26°E longitude. It is bounded by the Scandinavian Peninsula, the mainland of Europe, and the Danish islands. It drains into the Kattegat by way of the Øresund, the Great Belt and...
trade being supplied through the port of Hull
Kingston upon Hull
Kingston upon Hull , usually referred to as Hull, is a city and unitary authority area in the ceremonial county of the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It stands on the River Hull at its junction with the Humber estuary, 25 miles inland from the North Sea. Hull has a resident population of...
. Growing demand led to the building of a second brewery in Burton upon Trent in 1799 by Michael Bass, the founder's son, who entered into partnership with John Ratcliff. The water produced from boreholes in the locality became popular with brewers, with 30 different breweries operating in the mid-19th century. Michael's son, another Michael, succeeded on the death of his father in 1827, renewed the Ratcliff partnership and brought in John Gretton, and created the company of 'Bass, Ratcliff and Gretton' as it traded in the 19th century.
The opening of the railway through Burton in 1839 led to Burton becoming pre-eminent as a brewing town. In the mid-1870s, Bass, Ratcliff and Gretton accounted for one third of Burton's output, and the strong export market meant that Bass could boast that their product was available "in every country in the globe". The company became a public limited company in 1888, following the death of Michael in 1884, who was succeeded by his son, another Michael, later Lord Burton
Michael Bass, 1st Baron Burton
Michael Arthur Bass, 1st Baron Burton KCVO , known as Sir Michael Bass, 1st Baronet, from 1882 to 1886, was a British brewer, Liberal politician and philanthropist...
.
Both Michael Bass and Lord Burton were considerable philanthropists with extensive charitable donations to the towns of Burton and Derby
Derby
Derby , is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands region of England. It lies upon the banks of the River Derwent and is located in the south of the ceremonial county of Derbyshire. In the 2001 census, the population of the city was 233,700, whilst that of the Derby Urban Area was 229,407...
. Early in the 20th century, in a declining market, many Burton breweries closed down. The numbers fell from twenty in 1900 to eight in 1928. Bass took over the breweries of Walkers in 1923, Worthington
Worthington Draught bitter
-History:The Worthington Brewery was founded in 1761 by William Worthington, although William had brewed his first ale in 1744. WH Worthington pioneered brewing science in 1866 by employing a chemist, Horace Tabberer, who lead the world in separation and cultivation of pure yeast strains. In 1880...
and Thomas Salt
Salt's Brewery
Thomas Salt and Co. was a brewery that operated in Burton upon Trent for 150 years.The brewery was founded in 1774 as Joseph Clay and son by Joseph Clay, described in The "British Directory" of 1791 as one of the famous "nine common brewers of Burton-on-Trent." Joseph Clay came originally from...
in 1927 and James Eadie
James Eadie
James Eadie was a Scottish brewer who founded an eponymous brewery in Burton on Trent which operated for 90 years.Eadie was born at Blackford, Perthshire one of the 14 children of William Eadie and his wife Mary Stewart and was baptised on 12 Jan 1827...
in 1933.
Bass was one of the original FT 30
FT 30
The FT 30 is a now rarely used index that is similar to the Dow Jones Industrial Average. It has since been superseded by the FTSE 100, introduced in 1984....
companies on the London Stock Exchange when the listing was established in 1935. Over the next half-century, Bass maintained its dominance in the UK market by the acquisition of other brewers such as Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
-based Mitchells & Butlers
Mitchells & Butlers
Mitchells & Butlers plc runs around 2,000 managed pubs, bars and restaurants throughout the United Kingdom. The Company's headquarters is in Birmingham, England, United Kingdom...
(1961), London brewer Charringtons
Charringtons
Charrington United Breweries Ltd was an English brewery company founded in 1738 which merged with Bass in 1967.-History:Robert Westfield, a member of the Brewers' Company from 1738, owned a brewery in Bethnal Green, London, prior to 1757, when he took Joseph Moss into partnership and moved to new...
(1967), Sheffield
Sheffield
Sheffield is a city and metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. Its name derives from the River Sheaf, which runs through the city. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, and with some of its southern suburbs annexed from Derbyshire, the city has grown from its largely...
brewer William Stones Ltd
William Stones Ltd
Stones Brewery was a brewery founded in 1868 by William Stones in Sheffield, West Riding of Yorkshire, England, and purchased by Bass in 1968 before closing in 1999. Its most famous brand, Stones Bitter, is owned by the Molson Coors Brewing Company who continue to market it.William Stones had...
(1968) and Grimsby
Grimsby
Grimsby is a seaport on the Humber Estuary in Lincolnshire, England. It has been the administrative centre of the unitary authority area of North East Lincolnshire since 1996...
-based Hewitt Brothers Limited (1969) (with the overall company being known as Bass, Mitchells and Butlers or Bass Charrington at various times).
By the end of the 20th century, following decades of closures and consolidation, Bass was left with one of the two large breweries remaining in the town. It also had substantial holdings in hotels, now owned by InterContinental Hotels Group
InterContinental Hotels Group
InterContinental Hotels Group plc is a global hotels company headquartered in Denham, United Kingdom. It is the largest hotels company in the world measured by rooms , and has over 4,500 hotels across over 100 countries...
(IHG). The Mitchells and Butlers name lives on as the company that retained the license
License
The verb license or grant licence means to give permission. The noun license or licence refers to that permission as well as to the document recording that permission.A license may be granted by a party to another party as an element of an agreement...
d retail outlet business when it was separated from the Six Continents plc
Six Continents
Six Continents was a large British-based retail business which was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.-History:...
company (the successor to Bass plc
Public limited company
A public limited company is a limited liability company that sells shares to the public in United Kingdom company law, in the Republic of Ireland and Commonwealth jurisdictions....
) in 2003.
Bass Charrington Timeline
Bass Charrington Timeline
This page represents the time-line for the breweries of Charrington and Bass with the merges, takeovers and separations throughout their recorded history....
Separation of brewery and beer
Interbrew
Interbrew was a large Belgium-based brewing company which owned many internationally known beers, as well as some smaller local beers. In 2004 Interbrew merged with Brazilian brewer AmBev to form InBev, which is the now largest brewer in the world by volume, with a 13% global market share now...
(now InBev
InBev
InBev is a subsidiary of Anheuser-Busch InBev. The company existed independently for several years - since the merger between Interbrew and AmBev and until the acquisition of Anheuser-Busch. InBev has operations in over 30 countries and sales in over 130 countries...
) in June 2000, when the remaining hotel and pub holdings were renamed Six Continents plc.
After the Competition Commission
Competition Commission
The Competition Commission is a non-departmental public body responsible for investigating mergers, markets and other enquiries related to regulated industries under competition law in the United Kingdom...
had considered the potential monopoly concerns arising from the deal, Interbrew disposed of Bass Brewers Limited (including the Carling
Carling
Carling brands are currently owned by the Molson Coors Brewing Company. In South Africa it is distributed by SABMiller.Carling Black Label is the name of a brand of Canadian lager in Australia, Canada, Ireland, the United Kingdom and South Africa...
and Worthington
Worthington Draught bitter
-History:The Worthington Brewery was founded in 1761 by William Worthington, although William had brewed his first ale in 1744. WH Worthington pioneered brewing science in 1866 by employing a chemist, Horace Tabberer, who lead the world in separation and cultivation of pure yeast strains. In 1880...
brands) to Coors
Coors Brewing Company
The Coors Brewing Company is a regional division of the world's fifth-largest brewing company, the Canadian Molson Coors Brewing Company and is the third-largest brewer in the United States...
(now Molson Coors Brewing Company
Molson Coors Brewing Company
Molson Coors Brewing Company is a company that was created by the merger of two of North America's largest breweries: Molson of Canada, and Coors of the United States, on February 9, 2005...
), but retained the rights to Bass beer production.
The beer was produced under licence by Coors, which retained the Bass brewing capacity. Bass Brewers Limited was renamed Coors Brewers Limited
Coors Brewers
Molson Coors Brewing Company is the UK arm of Molson Coors Brewing Company. Its headquarters is in Burton-upon-Trent, Staffordshire, the company originates from Bass Brewers Limited...
. The production licence came to an end in 2005, and the licence to brew draught Bass has been taken up by Wolverhampton & Dudley Breweries PLC, who started production at the Marston's
Marston's
Marston's is the colloquial name for the brewer and pub operator Marston's plc . The company is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index...
Brewery, also in Burton. Bottled and keg Bass, the types exported to the USA with a higher abv, are no longer brewed in Burton and are now imported by Anheuser-Busch
Anheuser-Busch
Anheuser-Busch Companies, Inc. , is an American brewing company. The company operates 12 breweries in the United States and 18 in other countries. It was, until December 2009, also one of America's largest theme park operators; operating ten theme parks across the United States through the...
from the Baldwinsville, NY brewery.
Next to the brewery, the Bass Museum of Brewing, renamed the Coors Visitor Centre & The Museum of Brewing, was Burton upon Trent's largest tourist attraction until closed by Coors in June 2008. A steering group was established to investigate re-opening the museum and the museum relaunched in May 2010 as the National Brewery Centre.
Marketing
Trademark
A trademark, trade mark, or trade-mark is a distinctive sign or indicator used by an individual, business organization, or other legal entity to identify that the products or services to consumers with which the trademark appears originate from a unique source, and to distinguish its products or...
to be registered under the UK's Trade Mark Registration Act
United Kingdom trade mark law
A trademark is a way for one party to distinguish themselves from another. In the business world, a trademark provides a product or organisation with an identity which cannot be imitated by its competitors....
1875, as trade mark number 1. The 1875 Act came into effect on 1 January 1876 and that New Year's Eve, a Bass employee waited overnight outside the registrar's office, in order to be the first in the queue to register a trademark the next morning. In fact, Bass, Ratcliff & Gretton Limited received the first two registrations, the first being the Bass Red Triangle for their pale ale, and the second the Bass Red Diamond for their strong ale. The trademarks are now owned by Brandbrew SA, an Interbrew subsidiary based in Luxembourg
Luxembourg
Luxembourg , officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg , is a landlocked country in western Europe, bordered by Belgium, France, and Germany. It has two principal regions: the Oesling in the North as part of the Ardennes massif, and the Gutland in the south...
.
Bottles of Bass with the Red Triangle logo have occasionally appeared in art and literature. Bottles of Bass Pale Ale bearing the triangle can be seen in Edouard Manet
Édouard Manet
Édouard Manet was a French painter. One of the first 19th-century artists to approach modern-life subjects, he was a pivotal figure in the transition from Realism to Impressionism....
's 1882 painting Bar at the Folies-Bergère. Bottles of Bass can also be seen in over 40 paintings by Picasso
Pablo Picasso
Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso known as Pablo Ruiz Picasso was a Spanish expatriate painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, and stage designer, one of the greatest and most influential artists of the...
, mostly at the height of his Cubist
Cubism
Cubism was a 20th century avant-garde art movement, pioneered by Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque, that revolutionized European painting and sculpture, and inspired related movements in music, literature and architecture...
period around 1914. In the "Oxen of the Sun" episode of James Joyce
James Joyce
James Augustine Aloysius Joyce was an Irish novelist and poet, considered to be one of the most influential writers in the modernist avant-garde of the early 20th century...
's Ulysses
Ulysses (novel)
Ulysses is a novel by the Irish author James Joyce. It was first serialised in parts in the American journal The Little Review from March 1918 to December 1920, and then published in its entirety by Sylvia Beach on 2 February 1922, in Paris. One of the most important works of Modernist literature,...
, Bloom remarks upon the Bass logo.
Sponsorship
- Bass sponsored Derby County Football ClubDerby County F.C.Derby County Football Club is an English football based in Derby. the club play in the Football League Championship and is notable as being one of the twelve founder members of the Football League in 1888 and is, therefore, one of only ten clubs to have competed in every season of the English...
from 1984–86. - Bass were the main sponsors of Bristol RugbyBristol RugbyBristol Rugby is a rugby union club based in Bristol, England. The club currently plays in the RFU Championship and competes in the British and Irish Cup. They rely in large part on the many junior rugby clubs in the region, particularly those from 'the Combination'...
for 2006–07. - Bass are also a major sponsor of Pontypridd RFCPontypridd RFCPontypridd Rugby Football Club, known as Ponty, are a rugby union team from Pontypridd, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales, currently playing in the British and Irish Cup, Principality Premiership, and are the current SWALEC Cup champions....
during the 2009–2011 seasons.
Draught Bass
This is the 4.4% ABV cask conditioned and canned version of Bass, and is the Bass generally found in the UK. It is a top ten cask ale, although most commonly found close to its Burton upon TrentBurton upon Trent
Burton upon Trent, also known as Burton-on-Trent or simply Burton, is a town straddling the River Trent in the east of Staffordshire, England. Its associated adjective is "Burtonian"....
and Derbyshire
Derbyshire
Derbyshire is a county in the East Midlands of England. A substantial portion of the Peak District National Park lies within Derbyshire. The northern part of Derbyshire overlaps with the Pennines, a famous chain of hills and mountains. The county contains within its boundary of approx...
heartlands. It is also available in 500ml cans. It is described as "a classic ale with a malty, fruity, nutty aroma and a complex, satisfying flavour". It is brewed by Marston's
Marston's
Marston's is the colloquial name for the brewer and pub operator Marston's plc . The company is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index...
in Burton upon Trent in Yorkshire squares, uses English hops, and is dry hopped. It has previously been a 4% and 4.3% ABV beer. Sales in 2010 were less than a third of those in 2004.
UK keg ales
- Bass Extra Smooth - A 3.6% ABV pasteurised keg version of Bass, brewed to the same recipe, and most popular in the South West of England.
- Bass Mild XXXX - A 3.1% ABV keg mild.
- Bass Best Scotch - A 3.4% ABV keg beer in the North East of England Scotch ale style. It was formerly brewed to 3.8% following its launch in 1986.
Shandy Bass
In the UK there is also a carbonated soft drinkSoft drink
A soft drink is a non-alcoholic beverage that typically contains water , a sweetener, and a flavoring agent...
called Shandy Bass, introduced in 1972. It is a shandy
Shandy
Shandy, or shandygaff, is normally a beer mixed with citrus-flavored soda, carbonated lemonade, ginger beer, ginger ale, or cider. The proportions of the two ingredients are adjusted to taste, normally half-and-half. There are also non-alcoholic shandy mixes known as “rock shandies”...
made with Bass
Bass (beer)
The Bass Brewery was founded as a brewery in 1777 by William Bass in Burton upon Trent, England. The main brand was Bass Pale Ale, which was once the highest selling beer in the UK...
beer, which is mixed such that it contains 0.5% ABV
ABV
ABV is a three-letter acronym that may refer to:* Alcohol by volume, a measure of the alcohol content of alcoholic drinks* Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, Nigeria, from its IATA airport code...
. It is made by Britvic
Britvic
Britvic plc is a British producer of soft drinks. It is the number two soft drinks producer in the UK. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index...
. Its greatest popularity is in Northern England.
Ireland
Bass was introduced in Ireland in the 1960s by CorkCork (city)
Cork is the second largest city in the Republic of Ireland and the island of Ireland's third most populous city. It is the principal city and administrative centre of County Cork and the largest city in the province of Munster. Cork has a population of 119,418, while the addition of the suburban...
based brewers Beamish and Crawford
Beamish and Crawford
Beamish and Crawford is the longest-established brewery in Cork, Ireland. Established in 1792 by William Beamish and William Crawford on the site of an existing porter brewery, it has had a number of owners over the centuries...
. The beer proved popular until the 1980s, when sales began to decline. The Bass slogan in Ireland, "Ah that's Bass!", became part of everyday language in Ireland to describe relief from thirst. Many metal signs bearing the slogan are still visible on many pubs across Ireland. It enjoyed somewhat of a resurgence in the early 1990s under Tennents Ireland but once again fell away possibly due to a lack of any concerted advertising campaign. Attempts to revive the beer under InBev
InBev
InBev is a subsidiary of Anheuser-Busch InBev. The company existed independently for several years - since the merger between Interbrew and AmBev and until the acquisition of Anheuser-Busch. InBev has operations in over 30 countries and sales in over 130 countries...
also failed.
Bass sold in Ireland differs from the version on sale in Britain in that it consists of a fizzier sweeter ale than the common version enjoyed in England. It is still sold in many bars in Dublin and in pint bottles in Ireland's South East region.
United States
Substantial amounts of Draught Bass have been exported to America since at least 1966. In 2001, 665,000 hectolitres of Bass was sold in the United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. However Bass seems to have suffered under the custodianship of InBev
InBev
InBev is a subsidiary of Anheuser-Busch InBev. The company existed independently for several years - since the merger between Interbrew and AmBev and until the acquisition of Anheuser-Busch. InBev has operations in over 30 countries and sales in over 130 countries...
and later Anheuser-Busch InBev
Anheuser-Busch InBev
Anheuser-Busch InBev N.V. is a Belgian-Brazilian publicly-traded company, based in Leuven, Belgium. It is the largest global brewer with nearly 25% global market share and one of the world's top five consumer products companies by EBITA....
as it is undergoing heavy decline in American consumption, with 242,000 hectolitres sold in the country in 2010. AB InBev have pledged funding to support the Bass brand in America, and Bass will be brewed in the United States for the American market.
See also
- Black & Tan, a British drink popular in the US, is often made with Bass and Guinness Draught.
External links
- The Coors Visitor Centre (formerly Bass Museum of Brewing) in Burton upon Trent, which closed in June 2008.
- Official website
- Bass Logo- Design and History