Ruddles Brewery is a former English

English beer

English beer has a long history and traditions that are distinct from most other beer brewing countries.Beer was the first alcoholic drink to be produced in England, and has been brewed continuously since prehistoric times...

 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....

. The brand is now owned by Greene King who still brews beers under the Ruddles name in Suffolk though the current recipes are not those used at the original brewery.

The brewery was established in 1858 in Langham

Langham, Rutland

Langham is a village in the county of Rutland in the East Midlands of England. It is situated about two miles north-west of Oakham.The village is located on the main road, the A606, linking Oakham to Melton Mowbray....

, Rutland

Rutland

Rutland is a landlocked county in central England, bounded on the west and north by Leicestershire, northeast by Lincolnshire and southeast by Peterborough and Northamptonshire....

 but it was not bought by George Ruddle until 1912. Langham remained the home of the brewery until its closure in 1999. The company lost its independence in 1986 and passed through the ownership of Watneys and then Grolsch

Grolsch Brewery

Grolsch Brewery , known simply as Grolsch , is a Dutch brewery founded in 1615 by Willem Neerfeldt in Groenlo. In 1895 the De Groen family bought the brewery. They had started their own brewery in Cuijk the Netherlands in early 1800. It held a significant stake until November 2007...

 before Morland & Co

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...

 took over Ruddles Brewery in 1997. Morlands moved production to 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...

 only for that site to be closed by Greene King in 2000.

The local Langham well water was said to give the beer a unique character and quality which enhanced the brewery's reputation. The difficulty in reproducing elsewhere the taste of the beers has led to the premier beer being jocularly referred to as Ruddles Counterfeit.

Rutland bitter is one of only three UK beers to have achieved Protected Geographical Indication

Protected Geographical Status

Protected Geographical Status is a legal framework defined in European Union law to protect the names of regional foods. Protected Designation of Origin , Protected Geographical Indication and Traditional Speciality Guaranteed are distinct regimes of geographical indications within the framework...

 status; this followed an application by Ruddles. Since Greene King closed the Langham brewery, they can not take advantage of the registration. However in 2010 former Ruddles head brewer Tony Davis revived Rutland Bitter, brewed in Oakham, Rutland, at his Grainstore Brewery.

A television commercial for Ruddles (c. 1994) featured the last appearance of Vivian Stanshall

Vivian Stanshall

Vivian Stanshall was an English singer-songwriter, painter, musician, author, poet and wit, best known for his work with the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, for his surreal exploration of the British upper classes in Sir Henry at Rawlinson End, and for narrating Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells.-The great...

 narrating as Hubert brother of Sir Henry Rawlinson of Rawlinson End played by Mel Smith

Mel Smith

Melvin Kenneth "Mel" Smith is an English comedian, writer, film director, producer, and actor. He is most famous for his work on the sketch comedy shows Not the Nine O'Clock News and Alas Smith and Jones along with his comedy partner Griff Rhys Jones.- Early life :Smith's father, Kenneth, was born...

 and a cross-dressing

Cross-dressing

Cross-dressing is the wearing of clothing and other accoutrement commonly associated with a gender within a particular society that is seen as different than the one usually presented by the dresser...

 Dawn French.

In 1996 Ruddles Best won the gold medal in the ordinary bitter category at the first World Beer Cup

World Beer Cup

The World Beer Cup, known as "The Olympics of Beer Competition", is one of several major international beer competitions. It was founded by Association of Brewers President Charlie Papazian....

.

Beers include:

• Ruddles County
• Ruddles Best
• Ruddles Organic
• Ruddles Rhubarb