Bass Brewery

Lore & Background

Before founding the brewery, William Bass transported ale for brewer Benjamin Printon, then sold that carrier business to the Pickford family to fund Bass & Co Brewery in 1777. Early on, the company exported bottled beer to the Baltic region via Hull. Growing demand led Michael Thomas Bass (1760–1827) to build a second brewery in 1799 with John Ratcliff. His son, Michael Thomas Bass (1799–1884), renewed the partnership and brought in John Gretton, creating 'Bass, Ratcliff and Gretton'. The opening of a railway through Burton in 1839 boosted the town's brewing prominence; by the mid-1870s the firm accounted for one-third of Burton's output. In the 1880s, the brewery gained unwanted publicity through Frederick Gretton, a heavy drinker and racehorse owner who died in 1883. Bass became a public limited company in 1888. In the 20th century, Bass acquired Walkers (1923), Worthington (1927), and Thomas Salt (1927), among others. It merged with Charrington United Breweries in the 1960s to become Bass Charrington, the largest UK brewing company. The company's brewing operations were sold to Interbrew in 2000; the Competition Commission then required Interbrew to sell the Bass brewery and certain brands to Coors, while Interbrew retained the Bass brand rights. Since 2005, draught Bass has been brewed under contract by Marston's in Burton, while bottled products for export are brewed at AB-InBev's Samlesbury brewery. Bass is also brewed locally in the United States and Belgium.

Reader's Guide

Bass Brewery's significance lies in its early dominance of the global beer market and its role as a pioneer in branding and trademark law. The red triangle, registered as the UK's first trademark, became an iconic symbol of British brewing. By 1877, Bass was the largest brewery in the world, with exports reaching every continent. The company's history reflects the consolidation of the British brewing industry through mergers and acquisitions, including the takeover of Worthington and Mitchells & Butlers. The 1989 Beer Orders, which limited the number of pubs a brewer could own, forced Bass to divest many of its tied houses. The sale of its brewing operations in 2000 to Interbrew, followed by regulatory intervention that split the brand from the physical brewery, left Bass Pale Ale as a brand owned by AB-InBev but brewed under contract by former competitors. Despite these changes, Bass remains a top ten premium canned ale in the UK, with 16,080 hectolitres sold in 2010, and continues to be produced for export and local markets in the US and Belgium.

Did You Know?

• Bass's No. 1 Ale was the first beer marketed as barley wine, around 1870.
• In 2010, AB-InBev reportedly attempted to sell the UK rights to the Bass brand for £10 million to £15 million.