Its good news that Thomas Hardy Ale- a barley wine- is to be brewed again in England. Originally produced by Dorchester brewers Eldridge Pope. Brewing then passed to O’Hanlons and more recently to Hepworths. According to Jessica Mason the brand was bought by an Italian business who wanted to keep the beer alive (as it were) but it has until now not been available in the UK. My thanks also to Edsbeer blog for this information
What struck me most about the announcement was the year it was first brewed- 1968. I probably actually knew this, having drunk a bottle or two back in the day, but in my mind its one of those beers that speaks of tradition dating back to the nineteenth century.
There are other beers in the same category. Fullers ESB is a classic surely always with us (first brewed 1971- at least according to Wiki) while Hook Norton’s Old Hooky dates from 1977.
Some strong beers that are still with us to do have a genuinely long heritage. Adnams Tally Ho was first brewed in 1880 while Robinson’s is marking the 125th anniversary of Old Tom.
A lot of effort is put into making sure our beer heritage survives- rightly so- but as Eric Hobsbawm and Terence Ranger argued ultimately all traditions are invented its just a question of when.
You’ve got the wrong end of the stick there. It’s always been brewed in England, in recent years at Meantime then Hepworth’s, but it’s not been sold in the UK. The company that owns the brand is Italian.
I got the detail from Jessica Mason who is usually well informed. Her story is here https://www.thedrinksbusiness.com/2024/11/historic-and-iconic-thomas-hardys-ale-returns-to-the-uk/
I worked at Hepworth’s when the brewing started there!
As before I took the info from Jessica Mason, perhaps alert her to correct the piece. I’ll amend my post
It’s the Italians having stewardship of the brand you’re misunderstanding. They bought the brand but didn’t have it brewed in Italy. They employed Derek Prentice as their brewing consultant and had it brewed at Meantime, then Hepworths.
Clearly you know a lot about it, perhaps a post from yourself. I presume the Italians brought the brand from O’Hanolans, not sure what the process was there. It was then brewed by pre-Asahi Meantime and, again a presumption, when Asahi appeared it moved to Hepworths. I write about the history & politics of beer, there are plenty of beer writers, a very few of whom make a living. I do like Thomas Hardy Ale tho its far from clear-as I wont be in London on Thursday- how the latest iteration might be acquired