Old Speckled Hen
Encyclopedia
Ale
Ale is a type of beer brewed from malted barley using a warm fermentation with a strain of brewers' yeast. The yeast will ferment the beer quickly, giving it a sweet, full bodied and fruity taste...
from the Morland Brewery
Morland Brewery
Morland was a brewery in Abingdon in the English county of Oxfordshire . They first brewed in West Ilsley in 1711. It was purchased and closed by Greene King in 2000; and production of the Morland beers was moved to their brewery in Bury St. Edmunds in Suffolk.-History:West Ilsley in Berkshire was...
, now owned by Greene King Brewery
Greene King Brewery
Greene King is a British brewery established in 1799 in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk. It has grown to become one of the largest British owned breweries in the UK through a series of takeovers which have been the subject of some criticism. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent...
. Old Speckled Hen was first brewed in 1979 in Abingdon
Abingdon, Oxfordshire
Abingdon or archaically Abingdon-on-Thames is a market town and civil parish in Oxfordshire, England. It is the seat of the Vale of White Horse district. Previously the county town of Berkshire, Abingdon is one of several places that claim to be Britain's oldest continuously occupied town, with...
, Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire is a county in the South East region of England, bordering on Warwickshire and Northamptonshire , Buckinghamshire , Berkshire , Wiltshire and Gloucestershire ....
, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the MG car factory there. Since 2000, when Greene King bought Morland and closed down the Abingdon brewery, it has been made in Greene King's Bury St Edmunds brewery. It is available in more than twenty different countries in bottles, cans and on tap from cask and keg. The brand has been expanded to include Old Crafty Hen, a 6.5% abv ale and Old Golden Hen, a golden coloured 4.1% beer.
History
Brewery
A brewery is a dedicated building for the making of beer, though beer can be made at home, and has been for much of beer's history. A company which makes beer is called either a brewery or a brewing company....
was asked by MG to create a commemorative beer for the factory's 50th anniversary. Daniel O'Leary, a cooper and former brewer, developed the recipe for the beer. Ian Williams was a personnel officer at the MG factory in Abingdon in 1979 and it was he who thought of using the name for the new ale.
After the MG factory moved in 1980, production declined and Old Speckled Hen was almost exclusively available in pubs operated by Morland
Morland Brewery
Morland was a brewery in Abingdon in the English county of Oxfordshire . They first brewed in West Ilsley in 1711. It was purchased and closed by Greene King in 2000; and production of the Morland beers was moved to their brewery in Bury St. Edmunds in Suffolk.-History:West Ilsley in Berkshire was...
due to financial constraints and a different direction being taken by the brewery
Brewery
A brewery is a dedicated building for the making of beer, though beer can be made at home, and has been for much of beer's history. A company which makes beer is called either a brewery or a brewing company....
- mistakenly believing its future lay in the production of lager
Lager
Lager is a type of beer made from malted barley that is brewed and stored at low temperatures. There are many types of lager; pale lager is the most widely-consumed and commercially available style of beer in the world; Pilsner, Bock, Dortmunder Export and Märzen are all styles of lager...
. Within a few years, Morland began to re-explore the avenue of ale production, reviving Old Speckled Hen and launching the draught
Draught beer
Draught beer is beer served from a cask or a pressurised keg.-History of draught:Until Joseph Bramah patented the beer engine in 1785, beer was served directly from the barrel and carried to the customer. The Old English word for carry was dragen which developed into a series of related words,...
version in 1990 with considerable success, with Old Speckled Hen proving to be a beer that Morland could market outside their own estate.
In January 1993, Old Speckled Hen was featured as Michael Jackson's
Michael Jackson (writer)
Michael Jackson was an English writer and journalist. He was the author of several influential books about beer and whisky.-Life:...
"Beer of the Month" in his regular column for The Independent
The Independent
The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
. The relaunch was thought to be behind an 8.9% interim profits rise for Morland in June 1997.
Greene King announced in December 2003 that, in the light of what it called "foaming" sales of Old Speckled Hen in particular, it was expanding its brewing capacity, having previously been operating at 96% capacity.
Fiona Hope, marketing director for Greene King
Greene King Brewery
Greene King is a British brewery established in 1799 in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk. It has grown to become one of the largest British owned breweries in the UK through a series of takeovers which have been the subject of some criticism. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent...
speculated in April 2009 that Old Speckled Hen could follow GK's IPA and be made available in the so-called "dual pour font" whereby the tap version is available in two different styles, though this is, as yet, unconfirmed.
Availability
Old Speckled Hen is available in bottles, cans and kegs. The alcohol by volumeAlcohol by volume
Alcohol by volume is a standard measure of how much alcohol is contained in an alcoholic beverage .The ABV standard is used worldwide....
of both the canned and bottled versions is 5.2%, making it a relatively strong, premium ale, however, the cask version was reduced to 4.5% abv in 2006 to make it more of a "sessionable beer
Beer
Beer is the world's most widely consumed andprobably oldest alcoholic beverage; it is the third most popular drink overall, after water and tea. It is produced by the brewing and fermentation of sugars, mainly derived from malted cereal grains, most commonly malted barley and malted wheat...
", resulting in a 60% increase in availability. Upon acquiring Morland, Greene King almost immediately decided to place emphasis on multi packs, rather than the sale of individual bottles and cans.
Marketing and rebranding
Old Speckled Hen was, in 2008 and 2009, rebranded to appeal to a younger audience. As part of this, Greene King, through the Speckled Hen brand, has embarked on a marketing campaign involving sponsorship of the NorthamptonshireNorthamptonshire County Cricket Club
Northamptonshire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Northamptonshire. Its limited overs team is called the Northants Steelbacks. The traditional club colour is Maroon. During the...
and Derbyshire County Cricket Club
Derbyshire County Cricket Club
Derbyshire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the England and Wales domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Derbyshire...
s and, most notably, the digital television
Digital television
Digital television is the transmission of audio and video by digital signals, in contrast to the analog signals used by analog TV...
channel Dave. The ten second adverts, which feature a "crafty fox" seeking out an "elusive hen" and feature the catchphrase "It's different, But it's not a hen.", are shown eight times per hour after 9PM on weekdays. Greene King's marketing director said of the deal, "The fit between Dave and Old Speckled Hen is absolutely spot on. Both offer something a little different, witty, and quintessentially British". The Old Speckled Hen livery also appears on fifteen black cabs in the Central London
Central London
Central London is the innermost part of London, England. There is no official or commonly accepted definition of its area, but its characteristics are understood to include a high density built environment, high land values, an elevated daytime population and a concentration of regionally,...
area.
The advertising campaign is part of a drive to appeal to younger drinkers which has also included the weakening of the draught version and the introduction of the advertising slogan "a not so traditional English ale" which featured on an oil painting reproduced in broadsheet newspapers and at 250 London Underground
London Underground
The London Underground is a rapid transit system serving a large part of Greater London and some parts of Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Essex in England...
stations. Additionally, the campaign saw the total revamping of the brand's website, again aimed at a younger audience and to provide more information as a follow on from the ad campaign. The campaign was masterminded by Fallon Worldwide
Fallon Worldwide
Fallon Worldwide is an international advertising agency headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota with affiliate offices in London, Singapore, Hong Kong, São Paulo and Tokyo. It is a subsidiary of Publicis.-History:...
, the company that devised Cadbury's Gorilla campaign, although the contract was later taken up by the Miles Calcraft Briginshaw Duffy
Cossette Communication Group
Cossette Inc. is a marketing and communications company, headquartered in Quebec City, Canada. It has been listed as one of the top 15 advertising agencies in North America, and it numbers among the 25 leading agencies worldwide. Cossette's offices are in Quebec City, Edmonton, Montreal, Toronto,...
agency, who devised the television campaign, which cost £
Pound sterling
The pound sterling , commonly called the pound, is the official currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, British Antarctic Territory and Tristan da Cunha. It is subdivided into 100 pence...
3.5 million.
According to Rob Flanagan, brand controller for Old Speckled Hen, the aim of the campaign was to attract up to 3 million new drinkers to the brand, while appearing to retain its "niche" status amongst established customers.
The relaunch appeared to be successful almost immediately, with Greene King reporting "major success".
Exports
Old Speckled Hen's acclaim has not been limited to the United Kingdom. The Hen has been exported to over 40 countries, including SingaporeSingapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
, where 200 pints a day are sold in a single pub, the USA, where it is available in 32 of the 50 states and reportedly popular in New York City, and Canada. Old Speckled Hen is also available in Italy, Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
, Ireland, France, Belgium, Finland, Sweden and Norway.
Old Crafty Hen
