The Caskaway

Young’s London Special. There was a time when your pint was brewed on your doorstep and delivered to the local pubs by horse drawn drays or wagons. Pretty much what you drank was determined by how far the horses could go in a day. Now a few breweries still deliver locally using Shire horse drawn vehicles which are wonderful creatures and absolutely lovely to see. If you are a fan of local heritage I strongly recommend watching out for the deliveries from Hook Norton, Wadworth and Samuel Smiths breweries.

Then along came the Industrial Revolution and railways and refrigeration and all sorts of things happened. Good quality beer could be quickly and efficiently produced and delivered to all parts of the country. Then a very clever person in accounting worked out it would be possible to brew lots of beer in one place thanks to some clever chemistry* you could make all sorts of savings on wages and property. Then all of a sudden, the vast majority of beer was produced by a handful of global companies.

*Essentially adding different salts to alter the mineral composition and PH level mimicking the water breweries use often drawn from natural springs such as the hard water in Burton-on-Trent. To achieve hard water Gypsum or hydrated calcium sulphate is added making it particularly suitable for hoppy style ales. This process has become known as ‘Burtonisation’.

Here we go round the Beery-go-round with Young’s

Which brings us to the incredible journey of Youngs beers. In 2006 the London based pub company closed it’s famous Ram brewery and formed a joint venture with Bedfordshire based Charles Wells to brew its beers. The original yeast strain was used at Charles wells Eagle brewery and the water was treated to match the former London supply as near as possible. This arrangement continued after the end of the joint venture.

In 2017 Charles Wells sold the Eagle brewery alongside the Courage and McEwan’s brands it had acquired and the rights to the Youngs beers to Marstons. Charles Wells kept their brands which went onto to be made at a new bespoke brewing facility know as Brewpoint. The Youngs beers continued to be made at the Eagle until the operation was sold to Estrella Damm, and their production was moved to Bank’s brewery in Wolverhampton another part of the Marstons portfolio.

But it doesn’t end there, further consolidation of the UK brewing industry continued as Marstons combined their brewing assets with the giant Carlsberg in 2020. Four years later they sold their forty per cent share to Carlsberg to reduce corporate debt. Carlsberg then went on to announce the closure of the Wolverhampton site in Autumn 2025 consolidating their real ale production at Burton-on-Trent where Youngs will presumably be brewed in future.

My London Special Tasting Notes

I’m not luddite and understand both progress and cost-efficient production. I enjoy pints like Sharps Doom Bar and Fuller’s London Pride and believe that some brands are nurtured and cared for as part as a large portfolio of drinks. My points are sometimes it makes it difficult to establish just where your pint is produced and who is making it if that is important to you, and not all corporate owners care for all of their brands equally. More importantly there are always concerns that with something so incredible as an amazing pint of freshly brewed beer any changes to any of the ingredients, the water supply, the yeast, even the type of brewing vessel can change the beer for ever.

London Special has its origins in the 1950’s as a strong pale ale. It was renamed Special London Ale in the late nineteen eighties and won a string of awards as a bottle conditioned beer including CAMRA Champion Bottled Beer of Britain in 1999. I tried a draft pint in the Wheatsheaf pub in Borough Market, and it was an attractive copper colour with a clean, creamy white head. There was a gentle sweet malty aroma with a hint of orange and banana fruits.

The beer is not over fizzy and smooth to drink. The flavours are stewed fruit with a little bit of peppery spice from the hopping. There is a malty sweetness almost a nutty edge. The flavours are nice and the whole thing comes together but personally I prefer a little more bitterness and balance. I would have another pint, but I wouldn’t choose it as one of my favourite quaffs. You could pair London Special with a range of English food from smoked salmon to roast chicken, gammon ham or a pie.

Draught Young’s London Special