Where To Buy Watney's Red Barrel Beer?

Watney's Red Barrel was a bitter beer that was highly popular in the United Kingdom during the 1960s and 1970s. It was introduced in 1931 as an export keg beer that could travel long distances due to its stability through filtering and pasteurisation, making it the first keg beer. While it is no longer produced by the brewery, it was considered a symbol of all that was wrong with industrial brewing and national brands. Despite its reputation, some sources suggest that it may not have been as bad as people thought, and it was even considered a prime quality beer in the United States, where it was available for approximately 30 years.

Watney's Red Barrel is no longer being produced by the brewery

Watney's Red Barrel was a bitter beer that was highly popular in the United Kingdom during the 1960s and 1970s. It was introduced in 1931 as an export keg beer that could travel long distances due to its stability through filtering and pasteurising, making it the first keg beer.

The beer was produced by Watney Combe & Reid, a leading London brewery and constituent of the FT 30 index of leading companies on the London Stock Exchange during its peak in the 1930s. The company was formed in 1898 through the merger of James Watney & Co., Combe Delafield and Co., and Reid and Co.

In 1958, Watney, Combe, Reid & Co. Ltd merged with Mann, Crossman & Paulin Ltd to form Watney Mann. The company was then taken over by Grand Metropolitan, a hotels and catering group, in 1972 and closed in 1979.

Watney's Red Barrel was reformulated and relaunched as "Watney's Red" in 1971. This change in recipe and name is believed to be what turned consumers against the brand, as the new version was sweeter and fizzier. The brand was eventually retired from the UK market in the late 1970s, although it lingered on as an overseas brand in markets where the politics of 'real ale' were less potent.

While the beer is no longer being produced by the brewery, some drinkers have shared their memories of drinking Watney's Red Barrel, with reviews ranging from "excellent" to "vile".

It was a bitter that sold highly in the UK during the 1960s and 1970s

Watney's Red Barrel was a bitter that sold highly in the United Kingdom during the 1960s and 1970s. It was introduced in 1931 as an export beer that could be transported over long distances. This was achieved by filtering and pasteurising the beer, making it the first "keg beer".

During the 1960s and 1970s, Watney's Red Barrel was a highly popular beer in the UK. It was a flagship product, marketed nationally in print and on television. It was also showcased by the UK at the 1964 New York World's Fair, indicating that it was considered a high-quality beer.

However, the beer's reputation took a hit in 1970-71 when it was reformulated and relaunched as "Watney's Red". This new version was sweeter and fizzier, and it is this version that is thought to have turned people against Watney's. The company's advertising campaigns during this period, which drew on imagery of totalitarianism, also did not help.

The Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) emerged as a vocal critic of Watney's and its beer, advising drinkers to 'Avoid like the plague'. By the late 1970s, the Watney's Red brand was retired from the UK market, although it lingered on in overseas markets.

Despite its eventual decline, Watney's Red Barrel remains a bitter that was highly popular and sold well in the UK during the 1960s and early 1970s.

It was the first keg beer, introduced in 1931

Watney's Red Barrel was introduced in 1931 as the first keg beer. It was an export beer that could travel long distances by being made stable through filtering and pasteurising. It was launched as an alternative to cask beer for venues that were not equipped to dispense it.

After World War II, it became a flagship product, marketed nationally in print and on television. In 1970-71, the beer was reformulated and relaunched under the name Red. This sweeter and fizzier version is what turned people against Watney's, with the Campaign for Real Ale advising drinkers to "avoid like the plague". The Watney's Red (Barrel) brand was retired from the UK market in the late 1970s, but lingered on as an overseas brand.

In the 2010s, some brewers began recreating the original Red Barrel beer, and in 2016, Brands Reunited brought the Watney's brand back to market, using the name and the stag logo, but not the red barrel or the original typography.

It was regarded as a prime quality beer in the US

Watney's Red Barrel was a bitter beer that was highly popular in the United Kingdom during the 1960s and 1970s. It was introduced in 1931 as an export keg beer that could be transported over long distances due to its stability, achieved through filtering and pasteurisation. This made it the first keg beer in the world. In the US, it was regarded as a prime quality beer.

In the US, Red Barrel was priced the same as Fuller’s London Pride and Charles Wells Bombardier Ale, with only Samuel Smith Brown Ale and Orval Trappist Ale, both new-generation imports with a craft-like cachet, fetching more money. In 1980, an ad in Ithaca, New York, offered a six-pack of Red Barrel for $5.99, a dollar more than the imported Bass Pale Ale. In 1988, a case of Red Barrel was the most expensive of all beers on offer at $16.49.

In terms of critical opinion, Red Barrel was well-regarded. Michael Weiner, in his 1978 book 'The Taster's Guide to Beer', gave the bottled beer "six mugs", or "almost perfect" in his rating scheme. John Porter, in the 1975 book 'All About Beer', included Red Barrel among his four picks for best imported English brews. James Robertson, in his 1978 book 'The Connoisseur's Guide to Beer', noted a "sour" element in Red Barrel, likely due to its malt adjunct or sugar component, which lessens malt sweetness and body. Robertson considered the draft beer "a much better product" than the bottled version.

In a 1971 non-blind beer tasting conducted by New York Magazine, Red Barrel was placed third out of 57 brews. In 1982, an Anglophile from Connecticut threw a party to honour the traditions of St. George and chose a keg of Watney's Red Barrel for the occasion.

In the US, Red Barrel was a star performer and was regarded as a quality product in pre-craft America.

It was reformulated and relaunched as Watney's Red in 1971

Watney's Red Barrel was a bitter that was highly popular in the United Kingdom during the 1960s and 1970s. It was first introduced in 1931 as an export keg beer that could travel long distances. It was made stable through filtering and pasteurising, making it the first keg beer. In 1970-71, the beer was reformulated and relaunched under the name Watney's Red. This change was acknowledged in a contemporary internal training film, which described the new beer as having:

> "a new smooth pleasant taste. We’ve also given it a much better head and altogether a more attractive appearance. Gone is any suggestion of bitter after palate; instead, there is a pleasant malty mealiness.… We’ve studied flavour, studied people’s reaction to flavour, and produced experimental beers, testing out all the variations we can think of in such things of sweetness or bitterness."

This reformulation was likely the beer that turned people against Watney's, as it was sweeter and fizzier. A pervasive advertising campaign that drew on the imagery of totalitarianism also did not help the brand's reputation. Watney's Red (Barrel) was eventually retired from the UK market in the late 1970s, although it lingered on as an overseas brand.

Frequently asked questions