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Courage Brewery was an English
brewery A brewery or brewing company is a business that makes and sells beer. The place at which beer is commercially made is either called a brewery or a beerhouse, where distinct sets of brewing equipment are called plant. The commercial brewing of be ...
, founded by John Courage in 1787 in
London, England London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a major s ...
.


History

Courage & Co Ltd was started by John Courage at the Anchor Brewhouse in Horsleydown,
Bermondsey Bermondsey () is a district in southeast London, part of the London Borough of Southwark, England, southeast of Charing Cross. To the west of Bermondsey lies Southwark, to the east Rotherhithe and Deptford, to the south Walworth and Peckham, ...
in 1787. He was a
Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...
shipping agent of
French Huguenot The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster Bez ...
descent. It became Courage & Donaldson in 1797. By 1888, it had been registered simply as Courage. In 1955, the company merged with Barclay, Perkins & Co Ltd (who were located at the nearby Anchor Brewery) to become Courage, Barclay & Co Ltd. Only five years later another merger with the
Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word recognition, orthography (spelling) ...
based Simonds Brewery led to the name changing to Courage, Barclay, Simonds & Co Ltd. In 1961, Georges Bristol Brewery was acquired. By the late 1960s, the group had assets of approximately £100m, and operated five breweries in London, Reading, Bristol, Plymouth and Newark-on-Trent. It owned some 5,000 licensed premises spread over the whole of Southern England, a large part of South Wales and an extensive area of the East Midlands and South Yorkshire. It was employing some 15,000 people and producing around of beer annually. Its name was simplified to Courage Ltd in October 1970 and the company was taken over by the
Imperial Tobacco Imperial Brands plc (formerly Imperial Tobacco Group plc), is a British multinational tobacco company headquartered in Bristol, England. It is the world's fourth-largest international cigarette company measured by market share after Philip Mor ...
Group Ltd two years later. Its vast Worton Grange (later the Berkshire) brewery was opened on the
Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word recognition, orthography (spelling) ...
/
Shinfield Shinfield is a village and civil parish in the English county of Berkshire, just south of Reading. It contains and is administered by the unitary authority of Wokingham District. Shinfield Park is the northern part of the parish, becoming ph ...
border in 1978. The Anchor Brewery closed in 1981 and all brewing was transferred to Reading. Imperial Tobacco was acquired by the Hanson Trust in 1986 and it sold off Courage to
Elders IXL Elders Limited, formerly known as Elder, Stirling & Co., Elder Smith and Co. and Elder Smith & Co. Ltd, is an Australian agribusiness that provides agricultural goods and services to primary producers in Australia. History Early history (183 ...
who were renamed the Foster's Brewing Group in 1990. The following year the Courage section of Foster's merged with the breweries of
Grand Metropolitan Grand Metropolitan plc was a leisure, manufacturing and property conglomerate headquartered in England. The company was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index until it merged with Guinness plc to form D ...
. Its
public house A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...
s were owned by a joint-company called Inntrepreneur Estates. Scottish & Newcastle purchased Courage from Foster's in 1995, creating Scottish Courage as its brewing arm. In January 2007, the rights for the production, marketing and sales of the Courage brands were sold to Wells & Young's Brewing Company of
Bedford Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population of the Bedford built-up area (including Biddenham and Kempston) was 106,940, making it the second-largest settlement in Bedfordshire, behind Luton, whilst t ...
which reverted to Charles Wells, once Wells bought out Young's shares in the venture. This is managed by a venture called Courage Brands Ltd. Heineken retained a 17 per cent stake in the venture until 2011, when Wells & Young's acquired complete control. The Berkshire Brewery closed in April 2010. Courage Best has undergone a significant decline in sales from almost 421,000
hectolitres The litre (international spelling) or liter (American English spelling) (SI symbols L and l, other symbol used: ℓ) is a metric unit of volume. It is equal to 1 cubic decimetre (dm3), 1000 cubic centimetres (cm3) or 0.001 cubic metre (m3). ...
(9.3 million gallons) in 2003 to under 142,000 hectolitres (3.1 million gallons) in 2012.Alcoholic Drinks: Euromonitor from trade sources/national statistics The decline of Courage Directors has levelled off at around 60,000 hectolitres (1.3 million gallons), which is down from 140,000 hectolitres (3.1 million gallons) in 2003. Wells & Young's reintroduced the historic brew, Courage Imperial Russian Stout, which was first brewed in the 18th century by Thrale's brewery; but this has mainly proved to be produced for distribution in the US, with limited amounts available in the UK. In 2017, Marston's Brewery acquired the brand as part of its acquisition of Charles Wells's Eagle Brewery.


Beers

Beers bearing the Courage name include: *Courage Best Bitter (4 percent ABV in cask and keg, 3.8 percent in bottles and cans). It is described as "pale in colour, fully balanced with a malty flavour and distinctive hop character, ndmakes for an easy drinking session beer". Courage Best Bitter sponsors local events within its south west of England heartland. It remains one of the UK's top ten ales. *Courage Directors (4.8 percent ABV in cask, keg, bottles and cans). Available in cask, bottles and cans. Courage Directors was originally brewed at the Alton brewery under the name of Alton Red and was served exclusively in the Courage's Directors dining rooms. Following the suggestion of Courage's director Peter Rowe, Alton Red was renamed Directors Bitter and marketed to the general public. It is described as "full bodied with a clean, bitter taste, balanced with a sweet burnt, malty and fruity notes with a distinctive dry-hop aroma and flavour". It has a strong following in London and the South East, and across the UK as a whole remains in the top ten premium cask ales, and the top twenty bottled ales. It is brewed with English
Target Target may refer to: Physical items * Shooting target, used in marksmanship training and various shooting sports ** Bullseye (target), the goal one for which one aims in many of these sports ** Aiming point, in field artillery, ...
hops, burnt Pale and Crystal malts. *Courage Dark Mild (3 percent) A
mild ale Mild ale is a type of ale. Modern milds are mostly dark-coloured, with an alcohol by volume (ABV) of 3% to 3.6%, although there are lighter-hued as well as stronger milds, reaching 6% abv and higher. Mild originated in Britain in the 17th century ...
available in keg form only. *Courage Light Ale (3.2 percent) 10 fl oz bottles often used to make "light and bitter" with Courage Best Bitter. *Courage Imperial Russian Stout (10 percent) (retired 2003, reinstated 2011) *Courage Velvet Stout (5 percent) *Courage 1945 Ale (5 percent) (retired) *Courage Ceremonial Ale (4.8 percent) (retired) *Courage Directors Winter Warmer (5.5 percent) (retired) Beers bearing the John Courage name include: *John Courage (4.7 percent) (retired) Bitter. *John Courage Amber (unknown percentage) (retired) Bitter/Amber Ale. *John Courage Export Lager (unknown percentage) (retired) *John Courage Strong Pale Ale (4.2 percent) (retired)


Advertising

Since the 1950s the brewery used the slogan "Take Courage" The Rockney duo
Chas & Dave Chas & Dave (often billed as Chas 'n' Dave) were a British pop rock duo, formed in London by Chas Hodges and Dave Peacock. Hodges died in 2018. They were most notable as creators and performers of a musical style labelled ''rockney'' (a port ...
's songs " Gertcha", " The Sideboard Song", "
Rabbit Rabbits, also known as bunnies or bunny rabbits, are small mammals in the family Leporidae (which also contains the hares) of the order Lagomorpha (which also contains the pikas). ''Oryctolagus cuniculus'' includes the European rabbit specie ...
", "What a miserable Saturday Night", "That's what I like" and "
Margate Margate is a seaside town on the north coast of Kent in south-east England. The town is estimated to be 1.5 miles long, north-east of Canterbury and includes Cliftonville, Garlinge, Palm Bay and Westbrook. The town has been a significant m ...
" were adapted for a series of television commercials for Courage Bitter shown in the
South of England Southern England, or the South of England, also known as the South, is an area of England consisting of its southernmost part, with cultural, economic and political differences from the Midlands and the North. Officially, the area includes Gr ...
in the 1980s. Also, the Director's Bitter is a favourite of the British television character
Alan Partridge Alan Gordon Partridge is a comedy character portrayed by the English actor Steve Coogan. A parody of British television personalities, Partridge is a tactless and inept broadcaster with an inflated sense of celebrity. Since his debut in 1991, h ...
. He shares this passion during his short-lived friendship with Dan, who states that he has it 'coming out of his taps' in the episode "Brave Alan".


Sponsorship

The brewery sponsored
Reading FC Reading Football Club ( ) is a professional football club based in Reading, Berkshire, England. The team play in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. The club is managed by Paul Ince. Reading are nicknamed ...
from 1984 until 1990. Courage sponsored the English Premiership rugby union league for ten years from 1987 until 1997. Courage Best Bitter is a sponsor of
rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...
club the
Exeter Chiefs Exeter Chiefs (officially Exeter Rugby Club) is an English professional rugby union club based in Exeter, Devon. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. The club was founded in 1871 and since 2006 has played its home m ...
.


References

{{Reflist British companies established in 1787 Defunct breweries of the United Kingdom 1787 establishments in England Food and drink companies established in 1787