On St. George’s Day 2023, after a long days’ walking, I visited The New Crown in Southgate for some much need libation. Upon browsing the extensive selection of cask ales, I cast my eyes on Patron Saint (4.2%) from Elgoods, with its distinctive pump-clip that blared the St George’s cross. Launched only the year before, it was described as a premium ale with a balance well-rounded roasted malt flavours and bittersweet elements; overall it was fairly standard for a best bitter but it did the trick. It cast my mind to what other themed beers brewed especially for St. George’s Day are out there. Incidentally there a small but discernible number of examples that are currently in production, they tend to fall into three categories, limited-edition one-offs, yearly seasonals and regularly brewed products that have usually grown from being one off/ seasonal products. These beers also tend to be on the sessionable side, usually a Bitter, although there are some Golden Ales or Pales, even a few red ales have even been produced in a wry reference to the colours of the English flag. There have been a number of instances of breweries over the years promoting the cause for St. George’s Day, in 2003 the Publican and Charles Wells initiated a campaign for pubs to help raise awareness for St. George’s Day through organising themed events and including limited-edition beers[1], they steadily gathered support from a number of organisations, by 2006 there efforts paid off with the likes of brewers including Hook Norton, Greene King and Young’s throwing their backing behind the campaign, where they launched their own respective events. Hallmarks of these efforts to promote St. George’s Day have also been seen in events from all over the county, where pubs have organised their own St. George’s Day beer festivals. The Willougby Arms in Kingston, is a notable example, where they’ve been holding an annual beer festival since 1996 featuring around 50 beers and ciders, along with entertainment. Even brewers have got it on the act, Towcester Mill Brewery holds an annual beer-fest on-site which takes place over a two-day period, and since 2017 Brentwood Brewing Co. have annually organised a yearly St George’s Day beer festival which has been held on the brewery grounds. The beer festival includes a number of their draught and craft beers, including their seasonal offering George and the Dragon (3.8%) brewed especially for the occasion.
There is a myriad of examples out
there, however they tend not be easily identifiable due to the limited
seasonality of the product. Some have even appeared (only) briefly, for
instance in April 2011, Great Newsome took advantage of two celebrations that
month when they released England’s Pride (4.7%), which was made to mark
both St. George’s Day and the Royal Wedding between William and Kate, that took
place the same month. More recently in April 2024, Nethergate produced their
limited-edition special Green and Pleasant Land (4.1%), although not a
direct reference to St. George, its title is borrowed from a line in the hymn ‘Jerusalem’
by Hubert Parry (derived from the poem by William Blake), which since he adapted
it into song in 1917, it has become an unofficial English national anthem and
is frequently sung in churches across the country. Some brewers have released a
successive number of specials like Woodfordes with the likes of Patron Saint
(4.1%) and St. George’s Shield (4%) respectively. Greene King has been
equally prolific, producing the likes of Saint George (4.7%), Down the Dragon (4.8%), Patron
Saint’s Ale (4.5%), an ESB special released in 2017, and last year they retailed
George & The Flagon (4.5%), across their pubs. Don’t be fooled, but
they openly admitted at the time that this was merely a rebranded offering of
their annual Spring seasonal Spring Break (4.5), though thankfully this
is only a rare example of this devious practise.
The majority of these themed
beers brewed specifically for St. George Day, tend to be seasonal releases,
which are often sold annually. One of the longest-standing is Dragon’s Den (4.5%)
– Enville Ales, which has been treading the boards since 2008, it was once memorably
described as a perfectly balanced mid-strength ale, perfect for slaying a
monstrous thirst or simply celebrating St George’s Day in patriotic style. Many
of these releases have become established yearly favourites with punters for
many years like St George’s Glory (4.2%) – Bateman’s, Saint
George (4%) – Acorn, St George’s Legend (4%) – Milestone and St
George’s Ale (3.8%) – Wolf, for instance. While others offer a dual purpose
like England’s Glory (4.1%) – Hog’s Back, which is used to celebrate both
the Six Nations Cup and St. George’s Day, which take place around a similar
period. There have been occasional examples that have gone against the grain,
like St George’s Ale (5%) - Wantsum which is a strong hoppy golden ale flavoured
with Chinook and Mozaic hops that has been impressing drinkers’ tastebuds since
2015. Although most of these examples
tend to be lightly advertised, Bradfield has commonly promoted their Ye Olde
English Ale (4.6%), it can even be viewed permanently on their website. Due
to the business structure of these breweries, most of these beers tend to be
hard to find pubs, as they usually only appear in selected pubs as guest ales,
and rarely feature beyond the counties where the respective breweries are
based. This is a different matter for some brewers that have wider presence,
notably Greene King have retailed a number of their seasonal products across
their estate of 2,700 pubs, while Manchester based brewer Hydes had sold the
likes of St. George’s Bitter (4.3%) and Dragon’s Demise (4.2%) around
their managed, tenanted and free trade houses across Greater Manchester,
Lancashire and Cheshire. Similarly, the likes of Ascalon (4%) by
Everards, is retailed across their estate of 150 pubs around the East Midlands respectively.
Named after the sword St. George used to slay the dragon with[2],
the story is reflected on the pump-clip design and has been described as a courageous
blend of English hops including among others Challenger and Admiral, this
classic number has appeared on an annual basis across their pubs since 2014.
While the vast number of these
seasonal/ one off releases were cask only, some were released in bottles or cans,
in order to take advantage of the additional market. St George’s Ale (5.2%)
– Young’s was an early example of this practise, in addition to being sold in
cask at Young’s pubs, it was also sold in bottle form.[3]
Likewise, Dragonfire (3.8%) – Shepherd Neame followed a similar business
model, it was additionally retailed in bottle, available in beer shops and their
managed pubs across the South-East. And over in Birmingham, long-established
brewer Davenports used to sell England’s Glory (4.3%) in both cask and
bottle across their network of pubs. Many of these bottled beers used creative
name to entice drinkers, Hook Norton took this to full advantage with the
release of 303AD (4%), which commemorated the year St. George died,
following its launch event in April 2006 which was held at the brewery to their
membership club and local CAMRA members, it subsequently was retailed in
bottles for a while. More recently in April 2020 due to the lockdown conditions
at the time, this forced Windsor & Eton to retail George (4.2%) initially
in cans, described as a fresh modern take on the traditional English bitter, it
notably featured dandelion and burdock root in the mix, following its ensuing popularity
it was additionally sold in cask form from 2022 onwards. Meanwhile some beers
that started life as seasonal/ one off releases have gone onto to becoming part
of the brewery’s core ranges, the likes Dragon Slayer (4.5%) – Banks &
Taylor initially began as a one-off product before ensuing popularity led it to
becoming regularly brewed and sold. In more recent times there have been occurrences,
Brampton boasts two examples Ascalon (3.8%) and Jerusalem (4.6%)
respectively, which have grown from limited edition releases, to becoming fully
fledged parts of their core range, where it is sold in cask and bottle all year
round.[4]
Rather intriguingly, Harvey’s repeatedly
muddy the boundaries between seasonal and regularly produced beers, where they
follow the unusual practise of selling bottled versions of their seasonal
products all year round. Georgian Dragon (4.7%) is a notable example,
originally released to coincide with St. George’s Day in April 2010, the name
actually references Dr. Gideon Mantell, the original father of Palaeontology
who came from Lewes. He was regarded for being one of the first scientists to
identify prehistoric reptiles as dinosaurs. Quite appropriately for the
occasion it was brewed as a hop-forward ruby ale with a distinctive bitterness and
a malty backbone that leads off to notes of sweetness, berry fruits and fruit
cake. The beer proved popular with punters, which encouraged the brewery to
re-release it on an annual basis where it continues to be sold in cask every
April across Harvey’s managed pubs. The beer is also sold in a bottled version,
available all year round, and it has won a number of awards including the
International Beer Challenger 2012 – Silver and Beer Bottlers Institute 2019 –
Gold, rather unique for a beer originally brewed for St. George’s day.
Currently, around 24 breweries based across England produce beers specifically produce beers for St. George’s Day. For a number of years, brewers have valiantly endorsed and retailed these special beers at pubs, although many of these beers tended to be strictly localised, some of the larger regional brewers like Greene King, Everards, Shepherd Neame, Hydes, Davenports and Young’s have been able to retail these seasonal beers widely across their extensive estate of managed, tenanted and free-house pubs. While a few of the examples have been limited-edition one-offs, some have become established seasonal favourites, appearing annually every April; there has even been the odd example that has become a regularly brewed core range product. Throughout the country, there are a cornucopia of examples of breweries developing special beers to tie with St. George’s Day, which continues to recent times with timely launch of St George’s Ale (4.1%) – Daleside, earlier this month. Yet concerningly, from looking at the scope of examples out there, this stubbornly remains a cottage industry, and it still receives far less coverage from English breweries, than over other events like Halloween, Oktoberfest or Christmas for that matter. In order to maintain the efforts to promote St. George’s Day, spearheaded by a number of breweries over the years, more brewers should do their effort and produce their own St. George’s Day themed beers, honouring equally the legacy first initiated by Charles Wells two decades ago, and the enduring memory of our country’s patron saint.
[1]
This grew out of their initial campaign to push the government to issuing St.
George’s Day as a public holiday, which they launched in 1999. The brewer also
successfully managed to persuade the Government to extend the opening hours of
30 of their managed Eagle pubs on St. George’s Day.
[2] Legend
says that when St. George became injured, he sought protection under a mythical
orange tree which both healed and gave him power. When the dragon attacked, St George raised
his sword, named Ascalon and plunged it deep into the dragon, slaying the
beast.
[3] When
Young’s merged with Wells & Young in 2006, the beer continued to be sold in
bottle under their Eagle brand.
[4] These instances blur the lines between seasonal and regularly brewed beers, which could lead some to question whether these above examples are genuine St. George’s Day’s beers, though some would argue that this is a natural process where some beers become so popular they become regular produced, despite their intended seasonality.
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