Page "Newcastle Brown Ale" Paragraph 5

Newcastle Brown Ale was originally created by Lt.

Colonel James (' Jim ') Herbert Porter ( b. 1892, Burton upon Trent ), a third generation brewer at Newcastle Breweries, in 1927.

Col. Porter had served in the North Staffordshire Regiment in the First World War earning his DSO with Bar before moving to Newcastle.

Porter had refined the recipe for Newcastle Brown Ale alongside chemist Archie Jones over a period of three years.

When Porter actually completed the beer he believed it to be a failure, as he had actually been attempted to recreate Bass ale.

The original beer had an original gravity of 1060º and was 6. 25 ABV, and it sold at a premium price of 9 shillings for a dozen pint bottles.

The day after the beer's release, police begged the brewery to lower the strength of the beer, as the prison cells were full.

When first exhibited, Newcastle Brown Ale swept the board at the prestigious 1928 International Brewery Awards.

The gold medals from these awards are still featured on the label.

Thirty years later Col. Jim Porter became managing director of Newcastle Breweries, Ltd, and was awarded a CBE.

He died in Newcastle in 1973.

His father was John Herbert Porter, who together his grandfather, James ran James Porter & Son, the brewery in Burton upon Trent that bought Robinson & Sons brewery in Burton in 1889.