Boddington's Bitter
Created | Updated Jan 28, 2002
The City of Manchester in Northern England is blessed with a number of breweries, all of the producing distinctive beers, but arguably the most famous is BODDINGTONS.
From a site adjacent to the (in)famous Strangeways Prison a unique and creamy golden bitter beer has been produced for over two centuries.
Boddington's Best Bitter ( as it used to be known)was for many years something of a magnet for drinkers, as it could only be obtained within Manchester and one or two lucky chosen outlets...certainly none in the South where the beer drinkers were regarded as lacking in certain discernment in such matters.
Ultimately, as is the way of the world, Boddington's sold their brewery to Whitbread, a mass prodcuer of among other brands Carling lager. Interestingly, Boddington's retained their own chain of public houses, believing that more profit lay in selling beer than did in brewing it.
The net effect of this transfer of ownership was to make "BODDIES" available throughout the country. true Boddies fans wept into their pints; not only could effete Southerners enjoy 'the Cream of Manchester' but popular opinion at the time had it that the volume of Boddies now being produced to satisfy countrywide demand was far in excess of the capacity of the Strangeways brewery, and that the new owners were making Boddies elsewhere and 'passing it off' as the original item.
This of course proved totally false; a beer brewed elsewhere would not have the distinctive flavour of the genuine article as the water source for true Boddies lies in a well deep inside the Strangeways brewery precincts.
The increase in production means that drinkers everywhere can enjoy the Cream of Manchester; even Joey Trebbiani and Chandler Bing from "Friends" enjoyed it while in London for Ross Geller's ill-fated marriage to Emily.
Even as your researcher writes, it has been announced that Whitbread have sold their entire brewing operation ( including of course Boddies)to a Dutch Company thus removing The Cream of Manchester still further from its roots.
From a site adjacent to the (in)famous Strangeways Prison a unique and creamy golden bitter beer has been produced for over two centuries.
Boddington's Best Bitter ( as it used to be known)was for many years something of a magnet for drinkers, as it could only be obtained within Manchester and one or two lucky chosen outlets...certainly none in the South where the beer drinkers were regarded as lacking in certain discernment in such matters.
Ultimately, as is the way of the world, Boddington's sold their brewery to Whitbread, a mass prodcuer of among other brands Carling lager. Interestingly, Boddington's retained their own chain of public houses, believing that more profit lay in selling beer than did in brewing it.
The net effect of this transfer of ownership was to make "BODDIES" available throughout the country. true Boddies fans wept into their pints; not only could effete Southerners enjoy 'the Cream of Manchester' but popular opinion at the time had it that the volume of Boddies now being produced to satisfy countrywide demand was far in excess of the capacity of the Strangeways brewery, and that the new owners were making Boddies elsewhere and 'passing it off' as the original item.
This of course proved totally false; a beer brewed elsewhere would not have the distinctive flavour of the genuine article as the water source for true Boddies lies in a well deep inside the Strangeways brewery precincts.
The increase in production means that drinkers everywhere can enjoy the Cream of Manchester; even Joey Trebbiani and Chandler Bing from "Friends" enjoyed it while in London for Ross Geller's ill-fated marriage to Emily.
Even as your researcher writes, it has been announced that Whitbread have sold their entire brewing operation ( including of course Boddies)to a Dutch Company thus removing The Cream of Manchester still further from its roots.
