Newcastle Brown Ale

[AndrewThornton]

Having read some of the comments on the "Remembrance Day" thread about Newcastle Brown Ale, there is a link between "Broon" and the Great War.

The "inventor" of Newcastle Brown Ale was James Porter. He came from a well-known Burton-on-Trent brewing family. He had studied brewing and malting at Birmingham University and then joined Tyne Brewery as a "Premium Pupil Brewer" shortly before the outbreak of the war. During the war he joined the 6th Battalion, North Staffordshire Regiment, Burton's Territorial infantry battalion, which had many officers drawn from brewing families and many of the other ranks were employees of the major breweries in the town. He was commissioned and later achieved the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel and was awarded the Distinguished Service Order. After the war, he returned to Tyne Brewery and Newcastle Brown Ale was created in 1927.

[michaeldr]

Wot Cheor, Geordie

I think that I am right in saying that Colonel Porter became Chairman of Newcastle Breweries Ltd. He was one of the old school, a highly respected figure on Tyneside and popular with the ex-serviceman in the hard times after WWI. The brewery was sited on a huge block making up one side of the Haymarket, a very busy part of town indeed and a good place to sell newspapers. A man who could satisfy the Colonel that he had served in the war could get a letter from him confirming that he had his permission to sell newspapers on the brewery steps and thereby be immune from the over zealous attentions of the Newcastle City police force.

Regards

Michael D.R.