End of an era

This rather sorry-looking building represents the end of an era for Edinburgh. The old McEwans Fountain brewery is almost gone, down to the splintered remains (plus the strangely resilient chimney). It used to look like this – the huge brewery and bottling plant resembling a small power station. One of Edinburgh’s elder statesmen founded the operation back in 1856 – local politician William McEwan. He also funded a hall that bears his name in the city, where generations of students have filed through to accept their degreees from Edinburgh University.

Back in the day, McEwan’s were top dog – predating the rival Caledonian brewery by over ten years, they exported all over the world. Pinching their logo from a famous Frans Hals painting – Edinburgh’s laughing cavalier doffed a pint at thirsty ex-pats across the Empire. At the peak, McEwan’s produced two million barrels a year. Even today, they take 22% market share north of the border (presumably their city rivals and a certain Glasgwegian lager-pusher make up most of the rest). Yet not a single drop emanates from their historic base, clearly.

Like many British breweries that reach a certain size, the reason for this is a series of takeovers and mergers. In 1931 McEwan’s joined forces with William Younger & Co to form Scottish Brewers. Less than thirty years later Newcastle Breweries arrived, and Scottish & Newcastle became one of the firm fixtures of British brewing – becoming a plc along the way. S&N acquired a series of brands (Courage, Hartwall and Bulmers) over the late 1990’s/early 2000’s – which came back to bite them in the end.

In 2004, S&N needed to reign in the spending, due to the saturated drinks market in changing economic times. One of the first decisions taken was to close the Fountain Brewery, where it all started. The buildings above were constructed in 1973, so effectively became obsolete within thirty years. 170 people lost their jobs, and production of McEwan’s brands was contracted out to the keg facility at their one-time rivals Caledonian, with other beer being produced at John Smith’s Tadcaster brewery.

Of course, the one thing we haven’t touched on yet is the actual beer that they made. A range of traditional Scottish styles – 60/- through to 90/- are augmented by big-hitters such as McEwan’s Champion Ale (7.3%). Their 80/- is the most commonly-seen, certainly in Edinburgh pubs – sometimes badged as Younger’s IPA (so a beer branded after one old local brewery, re-packaged as another, is produced at a third). Unfortunately, none of them are any good. The Champion Ale can be decent at times, but for me, there’s nothing I’d pick, ever.

So maybe I’m guilty of misty-eyed nostalgia at old breweries passing by – when in reality what we’re losing is an abandoned 70’s steel monstrosity that resulted in beer I would never actually choose to drink. Nothing came out of the Fountain Brewery after June 2010 anyway, other than flocks of pigeons and the occasional bat (you used to be able to watch them skim above the canal for insects). It’s just a shame that a city once famed for brewing, renowned for aromas of malt on the breeze, will very soon be down from over 40 facilities, to just one.

The future of the Fountain site is, as is usually the case these days, one of mixed residential/retail opportunity. The planned look is something like this…