 | |
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| Industry | Brewing |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1777 |
| Founder | William Bass |
| Fate | Brewing operations sold to Molson Coors. Hospitality operations renamed Six Continents |
| Successor | AB InBev (brand rights), InterContinental Hotels Group (hotels), Mitchells & Butlers (pubs and restaurants), Molson Coors (brewing in Burton) |
| Headquarters | Burton-upon-Trent, Staffordshire (brewery); Luton, Bedfordshire (Bass brand) , England |
| Products | Beer |
Production output | 365,000 hectolitres (311,000 US bbl) in 2011[1] |
| Website | www |
Bass Brewery (/ˈbæs/) was founded in 1777 by William Bass in Burton-upon-Trent, Staffordshire, England.[2] The main brand was Bass Pale Ale, once the highest-selling beer in the UK.[3] By 1877, Bass had become the largest brewery in the world, with an annual output of one million barrels.[4] Its pale ale was exported throughout the British Empire, and the company's red triangle became the UK's first registered trade mark.[5]
Bass took control of a number of other large breweries in the early 20th century. In the 1960s it merged with Charrington United Breweries to become the largest UK brewing company, Bass Charrington.[2] The brewing operations of the company were bought by Interbrew (now Anheuser-Busch InBev) in 2000, while the retail side (hotels and pubs) was renamed Six Continents plc. Because at the time Interbrew controlled a large portion of the UK beer market, the Competition Commission instructed Interbrew to sell the Bass brewery along with certain brands to Coors (now Molson Coors), while retaining the rights to the Bass brand.[6] In 2010, it was widely reported that AB-InBev was attempting to sell the rights to the Bass brand in the UK for around £10 million to £15 million.[3]
In the UK, draught Bass (4.4% ABV) has been brewed under contract in Burton by Marston's (formerly a relatively minor competitor) for AB-InBev since 2005,[7][8][9] while bottled products are brewed at AB-InBev's own brewery in Samlesbury, Lancashire, for export.[10] Bass is also brewed locally in the United States and Belgium.[11] Bass Ale is a top ten premium canned ale in the UK, with 16,080 hectolitres sold in 2010.[12]
- ^ Alcoholic Drinks: Euromonitor from trade sources/national statistics
- ^ a b "Molson Coors (UK)". molsoncoors.co.uk. Archived from the original on 4 March 2010. Retrieved 2 September 2009.
- ^ a b "AB InBev to offload Bass beer at bargain price". The Evening Standard. 11 April 2012. Retrieved 4 April 2015.
- ^ "When Brick Lane was home to the biggest brewery in the world". Zythophile. 14 March 2013. Retrieved 4 April 2015.
- ^ Celia Lury (2004). Brands: The Logos of the Global Economy. Routledge. p. 83. ISBN 978-0-415-25183-9.
- ^ "The British government has ruled that it will allow the Belgian brewing conglomerate, interbrew, to keep Bass Brewers if it disposes of the Carling beer business as it had undertaken. (Business Briefs). Europe > Western Europe from AllBusiness.com". allbusiness.com. Retrieved 2 September 2009.
- ^ "Bass Brewers". quaffale.org.uk. Retrieved 2 September 2009.
- ^ "Marston's PLC". marstonsbeercompany.co.uk. Retrieved 4 April 2015.
- ^ M&C Report team (9 September 2004). "Draught Bass moves to Marston's". MCA Insight. Retrieved 12 May 2021.
- ^ "Bar magazine | AB InBev revamps historic Bass pale ale". Bar magazine. 14 November 2018. Retrieved 12 October 2021.
- ^ "Samlesbury (InBev UK – InBev)". ratebeer.com. Retrieved 2 September 2009.
- ^ PBA Report 2011 Archived 9 August 2011 at the Wayback Machine