Royal Wedding Beer - Windsor & Eton, Windsor Knot 2011

Enough, Enough, I have supped enough royal wedding beers from 1981 and at last someone has saved me. My friends at Windsor & Eton Brewery took pity on me having to drink stale ale and kindly sent over a bottle of their Windsor Knot fresh from the fermenter.

Although W&E are a new brewery, they have quickly stamped their mark on the beer scene in London. Their first two beers, Guardsmen and Knight of the Garter were a fine introduction but it was when the Conqueror hit London pubs before Christmas that it became clear that this was no ordinary new microbrewery. Conqueror is a "black IPA" and was considered at the time a risky experiment for such a new boy on the scene. However it really hit the mark and was a great success. I gave it a plug here and can still vouch that it remains a most tasty beer that is still a first choice whenever I see it.



The Royal Wedding beer, Windsor Knot - not the only beer of that name but clearly the one with the strongest provenance - is another beer packed with hop character. Sovereign (UK)and Nelson Sauvin (NZ) to represent the home and away of the Empire, oops I mean Commonwealth.

Golden in colour, with a refreshing taste and aroma of tropical fruits, this beer really hit the spot. Only 4% in strength but with the fortitude to satisfy and a long bitter finish that begs the next sip.

I am a big fan of 330ml beers especially for strong beers or those that need to be drunk cold. However on this occasion it was not enough, I wanted more. This beer was so good that I could have managed a 5 litre mini-cask and still not been satisfied.



On Twitter the other day, @thegunmakers tweeted "I'm calling it : @WindsorEtonBrew is the best new brewery in SE England for a long while ..."

I going to try to get down to the Gunmakers beer festival before the week is out to reacquaint myself with this beer in its cask form - and in a measure greater than 330ml.

You have not got long to take advantage of this year's wedding beers but if you want something with which to toast the happy couple, and the subsequent happy coupling, you should snap up a bottle or even a 5l mini-cask of Windsor Knot. Recommended !

Royal Wedding Beer - King & Barnes, Celebration Royale 1981

This morning I had a plan to open more bottles from my 1981 collection of Royal Wedding beers. Given the experience of those opened thus far, I was expecting to open, pour, sniff, sip and throw away the stale oxidised beers.

However, I was to get a pleasant surprise courtesy of King & Barnes Brewery fermerly of Horsham in Sussex.

As I opened the bottle there was the unsurprising plop of the cap and no discernible condition but upon pouring I knew this was going to be different from the other beers.

The aroma of figs, molasses and sugar candy instantly filling my nose. The first taste was fantastic, a revelation, an epiphany. I was expecting cardboard, I got the the sweetness of an oloroso sherry. An overpowering sweetness maybe but not a stale flavour, a sweet flavour of a very weak oversugared coffee, the sweetest beer you will ever taste but with a lingering bitterness of a high cocoa chocolate.

This is a special beer, the aroma continues to fill the room as I write this and I continue to sip the "extra strong ale"; I'm guessing about 10%. The freshness is disappearing quickly and I know this moment will not last.

As I enjoy the beer, I reminisce about King and Barnes and know that I am the only person on the planet to be enjoying this beer today.

An experiment in beer ageing that in one mouthful changes my honestly held belief that beer is for drinking not storing and an expectation or an ambitious hope that I will find something else as special as this in my box of old beer.

The beer was presented in a 180ml, 6.34 fl oz brown bottle with crown cap and was described as Extra Strong Ale. No abv disclosed on the label.

In 1981 King & Barnes owned 59 pubs in the south east. In 2000 the brewery and pubs were sold to Hall & Woodhouse and the brewery was redeveloped for housing.

Hall & Woodhouse promised to preserve some of the King & Barnes brands and were seen as a preferable buyer to Shepherd Neame or Greene King who were both interested once the family had decided to sell.

Crucially though, it was really the pubs that were seen to have most value and Hall & Woodhouse continue to own and operate many of the old King & Barnes pubs though there remains some sadness at a very local level that King & Barnes is no more.

The closure of King & Barnes Brewery spawned three offspring in Horsham; WJ King run by Bill King (MD of K&B), Welton's and Hepworth's both set up by brewers at K&B.

All three are still operating though Bill King has just retired to take up his hobby of flying aircraft more seriously and sold his brewery in 2010 to Ian Burgess who has spent the last nineteen years at Harvey's in Lewes

And so the brewing family continues to grow and expand at a micro level.

Royal Wedding Beer - Samuel Smith's Strong Porter 1981

Another "stubby" bottle with a ring pull cap this week, this time brewed at Sam Smith's Tadcaster brewery, Yorkshire's oldest.

A rather classy silver label with black background describing a strong porter "brewed to commemorate the marriage of HRH The Prince of Wales to Lady Diana Spencer, 29th July 1981". The bottle is 440ml or 15.5 fl oz and the beer had OG of 1048-50.

Beer poured with no condition and was not drinkable.




Sam Smith's have lasted the test of time and some might say that their company operates on very similar lines and has changed little over thirty years.

However, there is always a part of a London beer drinker's heart that belongs to Sam's for their continued sympathetic stewardship of some of the Capital's finest historic pubs.

I am making a habit in this series of posts of raising a glass to those buisnesses that are still brewing tasty beers some thirty years later.

Cheers today go to Samuel Smith's


By the way, I heard this week that Westerham Brewery's 2011 royal wedding effort will be called Matrimoniale. (I can't find any reference to this so I hope I didn't dream it) - another name more imaginative than the 1981 efforts.

Also Goddards royal wedding beer from the Isle of Wight would be called Windsor Knot - slightly less imaginative as Windsor and Eton Brewery already claim the same name.

Royal Wedding Beer - Theakston's Prince of Ales 1981

A rather natty black and gold label adorned the Prince of Ales from Theakston's Brewery in Masham, North Yorkshire, brewed for the 1981 royal wedding. 275ml or 9.68 fluid ounces in a brown bottle but the point of difference for this beer was the stubby bottle design and the ring pull cap.

Alas after thirty years of being stored in poor conditions and its initial pasteurisation mean the beer is undrinkable.

Theakston's has had an interesting thirty years and has survived despite several set-backs. In 1981 the company had only eight pubs but the name of Old Peculier was already big in the free-trade.

In 1984 the company was taken over by Blackburn brewer, Matthew Brown, which was in turn gobbled up by Scottish and Newcastle in 1987. In 2004 the company returned to private hands when four Theakston brothers bought the company from S&N.

Hopefully we will see a 2011 version of the beer later in the spring.

Royal Wedding Beers - Castle Rock + Windson/Eton

I make no apology for saying that I am looking forward to seeing some of the 2011 Royal Wedding beers hitting the bars in the next month or three. Those from 1981 that I am opening and tasting are pretty much undrinkable.

Two early announcements, Windsor Knot from Windsor and Eton Brewery and Kiss Me Kate from Castle Rock, show at the very least that today's breweries have a bit more imagination about the name of the beers than the pedestrian Royal Ale, Bridal Ale or Prince of Ales from 1981.

This time I intend to drink the damn things rather than stick them in a cupboard for thirty years.

Bring it on guys ....

Royal Wedding Beer - St Austell Royal Wedding Ale 1981

This week's bottle of royal wedding beer brewed in 1981 to celebrate Charles and Diana's wedding is from St Austell Brewery in Cornwall.

Presented in a standard brown 275ml bottle with crown embossed foil top the beer poured completely bright and a dark ruby red colour with a brownish hue. The beer unbelievably had some sparkle to it having been "maturing" in the bottle for thirty years and had a small head that lasted while I drank it.

Although there were signs of age with the usual musty vinous aroma there was also an discernible aroma of leather and tobacco with a very slight fruitiness. The taste was pretty good. The sparkle really encouraged the subtle flavours out, a hint of raisin, perhaps blackberry with a lingering dry bitter finish.

The bottle does not show the alcohol content but I would guess fairly high (6%+) to give it legs for so long. Not delicious but definitely drinkable.


Good Beer Guide 1982 suggests that at that time St Austell Brewery had 132 pubs of which 62 served real ale.

It is gratifying to note that St Austell remain in business, proud of their family-owned independence, after well over 150 years. Real ale is now sold in all 169 pubs and throughout the country's free trade pubs.

In the current micro-brewing boom, I also stand firmly behind the family brewers that have remained loyal to the beer drinker for hundreds of years and I raise my glass in Tribute to St Austell Brewery. (see what I did there ?)

Royal Wedding Beer - Devenish Wedding Ale 1981

The bottle opened this week is from Devenish Brewery. It was presented in a 275ml brown bottle with foil top. It was the first one that I have opened that has any sort of sparkle to it with a comforting pfzz on opening and even a small head when poured. The beer was a ruby red colour and poured completely bright.

These beers are generally not tasting too good, and would be generally considered to be "stale". However the sparkle did give it a lift and through the cardboard flavour and aroma did come some sherry/madeira notes and a hint of toffee/caramelisation.

Again no suggestion as to strength as that was not required to be on the label thirty years ago. Failed to drink the whole bottle.


Good Beer Guide 1982 suggests that there were two Devenish Breweries in 1981, one in Weymouth and one in Redruth. The bottle gives no clue as to its provenance. About 100out of their combined 360 pubs served real ale at that time.

Century of British Brewers published by Brewery History Society suggests that brewing ceased in Redruth as late as 2004 and in Weymouth in 1985.

The pubs were taken over by Boddingtons in 1993 - part of Whitbread's consolidation of the British pub and brewing industry. The pubs I believe, though cannot be absolutely sure, eventually found their way into the Punch Taverns estate via banks and venture capital investors.

Royal Wedding Beer - Paine's Young Rowley 1981

This week's 1981 Royal Wedding beer is Young Rowley brewed by Paine & Co in St Neots, Cambridgeshire.

Another 275ml brown bottle with foil top and crown cap. It is common for beers in this period not to have the ABV on the label.

The beer poured a very dark red colour but was completely flat and had bits floating throughout.

The aroma was stale and not pleasant and , although the taste did have some subtle hints of fruit and sweetness, I decided that a couple of sips was more than sufficient.


This beer was called Young Rowley. I believe that this is a nod to the fact that Charles II was nicknamed "Old Rowley" which was the name of his favourite horse, Prince Charles thus being nicknamed "Young Rowley" by Paine's Brewery.

Some background from A Century of British Brewers published by the Brewery History Society : James Paine acquired the brewery site in St Neots in 1831. The company was renamed Paine & Co in 1896. The business was taken over by a group of travel agents in 1982 and was eventually acquired by Tollemache & Cobbold in 1987 when brewing ceased.

The 1982 Good Beer Guide suggests that 15 of its 23 houses sold real ale plus many free trade outlets.

Royal Wedding Beer - Adnams Prince's Ale 1981

Cracked open the first of my collection of 1981 Royal Weding ales today, Adnam's Prince's Ale described as a strong ale brewed to celebrate the royal wedding 29 July 1981.

Served in a 275ml brown bottle with foil top. The beer poured completely flat but perfectly clear. It was a beautiful red colour reminiscent of Broadside or Tally Ho. The aroma was encouraging for such an old beer and gave off good fruity esters of fig and raisins with a sherry-like character. The taste was let down a bit by being completely lacking in condition but it was identifiable as a strong beer and was definitely still drinkable. There was of course some stale cardboard oxidisation but on balance this was an enjoyable beer and I finished the whole bottle.


Although they would probably say otherwise due to their modern brewery and green credentials, but Adnams has not changed much in the last thirty years.

The 1981 Good Beer Guide says "all 75 tied houses serve real ale, also widely available in the free trade".

Adnams were and have remained one of the country's best family brewers and I raise a glass to them, their beers, longevity and consistency.

Royal Wedding Beers

The summer of 1981 was a big one for me. I was a 19 year old, fledgling beer drinker having matured from keg beers such as Ben Truman (you couldn't taste the hops) and Watney's Special (an oxymoron if ever there was one) onto Young's and Fuller's, great tasting real ales.

I had also just started my first job as a trainee accountant and I had sixty pounds a week (less tax) burning a hole in my pocket (context : beer was about 40p a pint). That summer also brought us a massive royal event, the wedding of Charles and Diana, a match supposedly made in heaven.

In 1977 a few breweries had made special beers to celebrate the Queen's silver jubilee. They were very popular and remarkably collectible with some rarer bottles changing hands for great sums. By 1981 everyone had climbed aboard and about 150 breweries brought out celebration wedding beers, distributed them in great numbers and though many were collected, they never really had the same scarcity or collectible value and even now only fetch about a pound a bottle.

I succumbed to the very English hobby of collecting and in a four to six week period in the lead up to July 1981 I collected over thirty of the special beers but was nowhere near finding a complete set and, once the wedding had come and gone, I had moved onto QPR programmes and the beers were stuck in a cupboard forever.

Last week we heard the announcement that the offspring of that coupling had announced his own nuptials and to mark that event I have decided to open all of my Royal Wedding beers in the lead up to William and Kate's wedding next April and talk about them each week on this blog.

There is, of course, a great difference between aged beers and old beers and I don't expect many of them (if any) to taste any good. Although some are quite strong, bottle conditioning was rare in those days and they would all have been brewery conditioned and mostly pasteurised. They have all seen enough light over decades to spoil each beer ten times over.

What will hopefully be more interesting though is that each bottle, or more specifically each brewery, will have its own story of the last thirty years.

From those companies that have grown most in that period, Marston's and Greene King, through those that they swallowed up such as Jennings, Ringwood, Belhaven and Morland to some hardy family independents like Hall/Woodhouse, Adnams and Fullers to some that disappeared completely as the industry consolidated such as Bruce's Brewery and Godson's, good London micros of their time.

As the wedding approaches on 29 April I am also hoping to find some new beers brewed for the occasion and this time I will be drinking and enjoying them rather than saving for posterity.

My wife will also be most delighted to get one of her cupboards back after all this time.