 | |
| Industry | Brewing |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1869 |
| Headquarters | Edinburgh, Scotland |
| Products | Beer |
| Owner | Heineken International |
| Website | www |
Caledonian Brewery was a Scottish brewery founded in 1869 in the Shandon area of Edinburgh, Scotland.
| | |
| Industry | Brewing |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1869 |
| Headquarters | Edinburgh, Scotland |
| Products | Beer |
| Owner | Heineken International |
| Website | www |
Caledonian Brewery was a Scottish brewery founded in 1869 in the Shandon area of Edinburgh, Scotland.
When it was founded in 1869, the brewery was named the Lorimer and Clark Caledonian Brewery, after its founders George Lorimer and Robert Clark.
George Lorimer was just 18 years old when his father (George Lorimer Snr.) died in a fire at Edinburgh's Theatre Royal in 1865. Young George was a keen golfer and member of the Bruntsfield Links Golfing Society - which met at the Golf Tavern and played on the adjacent Bruntsfield Links. It was through spending time at the Golf Tavern that George became friends with many of Edinburgh's leading brewers; including Thomas Aitchison, George Bernard and Robert Clark.
In 1868, George Lorimer came of age and inherited his father's estate. George was determined to use the money to start his own brewery. He enlisted the help of Robert Clark, then Head Brewer at the Alexander Melvin Brewery in Edinburgh and together they opened Lorimer and Clark's Caledonian Brewery on the Slateford Road site. In 1892, to designs by the architect Robert Hamilton Paterson, buildings on the site were re-constructed and new brewery and maltings buildings erected. [1]
Although the brewery sold its beers and a number of stouts all over Scotland, its most popular beer was Lorimer's Best Scotch, which was sold predominantly in the north-east of England.
On George Lorimer's death in 1939, The Caledonian Brewery passed into the hands of Sunderland-based Vaux Breweries, who developed Lorimer’s Best Scotch brand into one of the most popular beers in the North East of England. In 1986 they decided to cease brewing in Edinburgh and transfer the operation to their base in Sunderland.
Eventually neglect and lack of investment took their toll and placed the brewery under threat of closure. In 1987, the brewery was saved through a management buy-out led by head brewer, Russell Sharp.
In 2004, the brewery site and production facilities were bought by Scottish & Newcastle (S&N), following their closure of the McEwan's Brewery in Fountainbridge, Edinburgh. Production of McEwan's ales has been transferred to the Caledonian Brewery. [2]
At the same time, a new Caledonian Brewing Company (CBC) was formed by several former shareholders and directors of the pre-2004 business. CBC owned the Caledonian brands and operated the brewery site on behalf of the owners. Whilst S&N took a 30% share in this business, CBC operated on an independent basis. [3]
In January 2006, the Caledonian Brewing Company purchased the Harviestoun Brewery based in Alva, makers of Bitter and Twisted. [4]
In 2008, S&N bought the remaining shares in CBC to take full control of the company. The brands remained unaffected and brewing continued at the site. Harviestoun was not part of the takeover and was retained by Caledonian's shareholders to run as a separate concern. With the takeover of S&N, Heineken controlled the Caledonian Brewery Company. [5]
In 2008, Heineken acquired the UK assets of Scottish and Newcastle which included the Caledonian Brewery. [6] In May 2022, Heineken announced the proposed closure of the Caledonian Brewery with an agreement in principle for Belhaven Brewery to brew its Scottish brands. [7]
In October, JLL was appointed to market the site. It advised the complex had potential for redevelopment into flats, a hotel, or student accommodation. [8]
Caledonian's most well known beers are Deuchars IPA and 80/- (Now rebadged as Edinburgh Castle). They also brew Flying Scotsman, four seasonal beers and several monthly guest ales.
Foster's Lager is an internationally distributed brand of Australian lager. It is owned by the Japanese brewing group Asahi Group Holdings, and is brewed under licence in a number of countries, including its biggest market, the UK, where the European rights to the brand are owned by Heineken International.
Newcastle Brown Ale is a brown ale, originally brewed in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. Launched in 1927 by Colonel Jim Porter after three years of development, the 1960 merger of Newcastle Breweries with Scottish Brewers afforded the beer national distribution and sales peaked in the United Kingdom in the early 1970s. The beer underwent a resurgence in the late 1980s and early 1990s with student unions selling it. By the late 1990s, the beer was the most widely distributed alcoholic product in the UK. By the 2000s, the majority of sales were in the United States, although it still sells 100 million bottles annually in the UK. Brewing moved in 2005 from Newcastle to Dunston, Tyne and Wear, and in 2010 to Tadcaster. In 2017, the Heineken Brewery in Zoeterwoude, the Netherlands, also began production. As of 2019, it is brewed as well by Lagunitas Brewing Company in Petaluma, California, and Chicago, Illinois, for the American market.
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Scottish & Newcastle plc was a brewing company headquartered in Edinburgh, Scotland, which expanded from its home base to become an international business with beer volumes growing almost tenfold.
Tennent Caledonian is a brewing company based in Glasgow, Scotland.
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Kronenbourg Brewery is a brewery founded in 1664 by Geronimus Hatt in the Free Imperial City of Straßburg, Holy Roman Empire. The name comes from the area where the brewery relocated in 1850. The company is owned by the Danish multinational Carlsberg. The premium brand is Kronenbourg 1664, a 5% abv pale lager.
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Vaux Brewery was a major brewer and hotel owner based in Sunderland, England. The company was listed on the London Stock Exchange. It was taken over by Whitbread in 2000.
Harviestoun Brewery is a craft brewery based in Alva in Clackmannanshire, Scotland.
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Younger's Brewery was a brewery in Edinburgh which grew from humble beginnings in 1749 to become one of the city’s main commercial enterprises, supplying domestic and foreign markets. It should not be confused with another, less renowned Edinburgh brewery, that of Robert Younger, who also brewed in Holyrood at the St. Ann's Brewery or that of George Younger, who brewed in Alloa.
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Castle Eden Brewery was a brewery that operated in the village of Castle Eden in County Durham. It was best known for Castle Eden Ale, which continues to be produced at Seaham.
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Media related to Caledonian Brewery, Edinburgh at Wikimedia Commons
