Double Diamond Burton Pale Ale Explained

Double Diamond Burton Pale Ale is an English pale ale, first brewed in 1876 by Samuel Allsopp & Sons. It was one of the highest selling beers in the United Kingdom in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s.

History

Samuel Allsopp & Sons of Burton upon Trent first brewed Double Diamond in 1876 as an India Pale Ale.[1] [2] [3] Allsopp merged with Ind Coope in 1935. Bottled Double Diamond began to be advertised heavily from 1946, becoming one of four nationally distributed beers by the 1950s.[4] Under reciprocal trading agreements Ind Coope would agree to stock a rival brewer's beer if they replaced their supply of Bass or Worthington with Double Diamond.[5] The keg version was launched in the 1960s, and in the 1960s and the 1970s, it was advertised heavily by Ind Coope, especially on TV, with the tagline: "A Double Diamond works wonders."[6]

Carlsberg UK discontinued off-trade sales in 2003, although it continues as a keg beer.[7] It has been claimed that small scale production of the bottled variant continued as it was Prince Philip's favourite beer, with Paul Burrell attesting that Philip drank a small bottle nightly.[8] The keg version is currently known as Double Diamond Pale and is 2.8% ABV.[9] Ind Coope Burton Ale (4.5% ABV), a cask conditioned version of bottled Double Diamond first brewed in 1976, is currently produced by Carlsberg UK.[10]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Argh no! Otley and Protz in Burton Ale fail!. Zythophile. 2 August 2011 .
  2. Book: Cunliffe , Barry W. . The Penguin atlas of British & Irish history. 30 December 2010. 2001. Penguin. 978-0-14-100915-5. 72.
  3. Book: The New Encyclopædia Britannica: Micropædia. 30 December 2010. 1995. Encyclopædia Britannica. 978-0-85229-605-9. 180.
  4. Web site: Shut up about Barclay Perkins. barclayperkins.blogspot.co.uk. 28 March 2010 .
  5. Strategic And Organizational Change: From Production to Retailing in Uk ... By Alistair Mutch 57.
  6. Web site: Carlsberg to drop bottled D Diamond. Marketing Week.
  7. Web site: Double Diamond delisted. TheGrocer.co.uk. 2013-05-08. 2011-09-29. https://web.archive.org/web/20110929144832/http://www.thegrocer.co.uk/articles.aspx?page=articles&ID=84624. dead.
  8. A Royal Duty By Paul Burrell
  9. Web site: Archived copy . 2013-05-08 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20120412193910/http://www.carlsbergwedelivermore.co.uk/uploads/price_list_2012.pdf . 2012-04-12 .
  10. Web site: Burton Ale: back from the dead. beer-pages.com. 2013-05-08. 2020-11-11. https://web.archive.org/web/20201111200337/http://www.beer-pages.com/protz/features/burton-ale.htm. dead.