Ok, it's a bit wanky and pointless to lament the passing of another independent brewery (and a beer I really like) into the hands of another global soul-less behemoth, but I'm going to do it anyway. Doom Bar is a lovely beer, full of character and the reason why its sale last week deflated me so much is that, somewhat oddly, just a week or so before I had done the double of enjoying a pint of it on draught in the afternoon and a bottle of it later that same evening. (All of this took place In Frimley Green, west of London, watching darts for the first time in my life - which I can heartily recommend to anyone, incidentally - but that's another story...).
Sharp's Brewery, which makes Doom Bar, was only set up in 1994 and while you can't be too upset at the entirely understandable desire of the previous onwers to cash in, it's still just a wee bit sad to see the brewery acquired by brewing giant Molson Coors (UK).
Based at Rock in Cornwall, Sharp's was the biggest cask beer in the South West and Doom Bar was the number one selling cask brand in the South West and Wales - and the fastest growing cask brand in Greater London, apparently. Me and the population of the South West and Wales see Doom Bar as a lovingly-made drop of beer. Molson Coors sees it as "a tremendous opportunity for growth in volume and distribution".
And it's not romantic idealism at work here. It's just my cold, hard contention that the folks at Sharp's make beer for a different reason from the guys at Molson Coors. Crudely you can sum that distinction up as love v money. I can't see that the brewery will be allowed to carry on exactly as was. I might be wrong, but I doubt it.
Of course, that's what Coors is worried that lots of Doom Bar drinkers will think. Hence the quote in the press release from Molson Coors UK Mark Hunter that he "respects and wants to preserve the unique culture of Sharp’s Brewery and the special appeal of their brands to beer drinkers.” Not unsurprisingly, given that it will have been a condition of the sale, Sharp's MD Nick Baker, is equally positive (at least in the press release), stating: "It was, and is, important to us to know how Molson Coors will manage Sharp’s and their plan to invest in developing the brewery at Rock and the Doom Bar brand is spot on.” But the thing is, once you've sold the business, you don't typically get much of a say in how it develops, no matter how 'important it is to you'.
I also suspect that Molson Coors won't want to advertise the fact that they've bought Doom Bar to Doom Bar drinkers, which tells you something.
All we can hope is that the quality of the beer doesn't suffer from being part of a global business where profit is all. But I won't be holding my breath, and probably like a lot of other beer drinkers, I might be less inclined to plump for a Doom Bar in future now that its heart is no longer in the same place.
