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.
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]