To celebrate 195 years of Davenports’ brewing excellence, the brewery has revived a customer favourite from across the years, the hugely popular, Top Brew Deluxe, as a celebration edition! This quality ale with a real reputation, is the most requested product by customers shopping on Davenports ‘Beer at Home’ website and reminisced about fondly in pubs on a weekly basis. In celebration of this milestone anniversary, the bottle and heritage label has been given an uplift with striking gold foil and additional anniversary logo elevating the moody bottle. The brewery is also producing a limited-edition celebration cask version to be sold in some of their pubs.
Brewed to the original multi-award-winning recipe, this extra strong ale stands at 7.2%ABV and in line with the drink responsibly message, will be served in half pint glasses in Davenports Pubs.
Whilst looking through archives, the team found some interesting old marketing material for Top Brew Deluxe, with calendars featuring female staff proudly promoting the ale. Commenting on this Katie McPhilimey Associate Marketing Director said; “It used to be the case that ‘sex sells’, that was the old way of marketing – beautiful women promoting products. From old stories that have been passed down, the staff were all in competition to be featured in the calendar, it certainly wasn’t a request from above, it was something the ladies in the office all wanted to be involved in and had fun shooting! Times change, and the ale industry is not about gimmicks, it is serious business! So, to launch our anniversary celebration edition Top Brew Deluxe, we turned to a master of the tipple, The English Beer Gentleman. He is an immensely popular influencer who knows his ales. We left it to him to announce the revival of this iconic ale to his tens of thousands of followers during a live stream!”
Baron Wayne Davenport, Managing Director said; “Everyone remembers Top Brew Deluxe, people are always asking us to bring it back, so it was the ideal choice for our 195th anniversary. Whilst Davenports can be traced back even further than 1829, the company uses this date as a safe ‘stick in the ground’ to work from. There aren’t many breweries that can boast the heritage and the wins of Davenports, from pioneering ‘Beer at Home’ in 1902, to defending the service in a national beer hawking case in the Victoria Law Courts in Birmingham in 1905 – paving the way for other companies to follow. Davenports were also early pioneers of technology and recycling and in the 1930s the company could produce 120,000 bottles of beer every day and recycle 12,000 bottles an hour. This ale serves up a taste of the good old times and will bring back great memories for some whilst introducing a whole new generation of ale drinkers to an absolute classic.”
Amber coloured, there is a pronounced hoppiness in both bitterness and aroma, which is bought about by a series of dry hopping during the brewing process. It is also warming and delivers a balanced malty taste along with subtle fruity bitterness derived from English and
American hops. A satisfying drink, this strong English premium ale carries a white creamy head and due to its strength, it should be drunk responsibly for maximum enjoyment.
Brewery Director, Paran Sandhu added; “Top Brew Deluxe had a reputation all its own, a strong ale, it was savoured slowly, something we still recommend you do with this celebration edition. Hugely popular, iconic really, it was the right choice to celebrate such a milestone.”
Damian Bardell, the English Beer Gentleman added; “I was honoured to be asked to reveal the celebration Top Brew Deluxe, with such an incredible heritage, Davenports are like brewing royalty. My followers love to be the first to hear industry news, and this was a great scoop!”
You can purchase the anniversary edition Top Brew Deluxe to enjoy at home or as a gift for someone, shop the Beer at Home service www.davenports.co.uk A case of 12 bottles costs £36, plus delivery.
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For more information, please email katie.mcphilimey@davenports.co.uk
@davenportsbrewery @english.beer.gentleman
Davenports Brewery Interesting Facts
Davenports was established in 1829.
1902: A new branch of the business started – manufacturing, bottling, and delivering Davenports non-deposit ale and stout.
1904: Davenports C.B Ltd, registered to supply ‘pure bottled ale and stout at the cheapest possible price’. Quickly reaching delivery to 15,000 homes.
Famous Legal Battle: In 1905 Davenports was accused of ‘Beer Hawking’, selling beer by retail at a place where they were not authorised (beer at home), It was viewed as a hugely important prosecution, fought brilliantly, and won by the very theatrical barrister, Mr Marshall-Hall K.C, on behalf of Davenports in the Victoria Law Courts. Marshall-Hall was later knighted. Davenports had paved the way for other brewers to follow a similar scheme.
The Co-operative beer bottle…A Double Inducement: Within a month of the dismissal of the beer hawking accusation, C.B Ltd launched its prospectus to potential shareholders in the company, which already had proven ‘progressive, substantial, and satisfactory.’ Half of the shares were Ordinary and were divided equally between the three directors and John Davenport and Sons brewery, and half were advertised as customers’ shares. Those who bought them had to commit to buying ten shillings’ worth of bottled ale (CB) or Stour (CS) over a six-month period; if they did not do this, they had to sell their shares at the paid-up value. Holders of these shares were entitled to a 5% cumulative preference dividend and half of the surplus profits of the company in proportion to what they had spent in the year
after 5% had been paid to the Ordinary shareholders. The FT wryly dubbed the scheme ‘A Co-operative Beer Bottle,’ more seriously and optimistically, Davenports advertised it as ‘devised to give EVERY shareholder a double inducement to further the interests of the Company.’
Early pioneers in advertising. By 1910, it was obvious that much thought was put into making advertisements lively, pertinent, and appealing. With Davenports seen in national press.
1922 Motorised lorries expanded delivery capability.
Technology: in 1930, The Birmingham Daily Gazette stressed that few of Davenports’ rivals could claim to be as modern in equipment as Davenports which boasted ‘The very latest appliances that science and mechanics have evolved’. In total, three batteries of machines with ten machines in each turned out 120,000 bottles of beer every day!
Continued Investment: More investment in the bottling plant meant that a few years later, Davenports were capable of 24,000 bottles per hour!
Pioneers of Recycling: In the 1930’s, Davenports championed recycling bottles that were returned by customers. Scrupulously cleaned and chilled for reuse in two automatic bottle washing machines at the rate of 12,000 per hour.
1937: More than 250,000 regular customers.
Famous Slogan: In 1939, the ‘Beer at Home Means Davenports’ slogan was first introduced.
That Jingle: Davenports gained much publicity from an advert that featured marketing director Carl Daniels and a catchy ditty:
Beer at Home means Davenports,
That’s the beer, lots of cheer.
The finest hops with malt and yeast
Turns a snack into a feast.
Straight from brewery to your home,
Why collect, we’ll deliver.
Soon you’ll know why folks all say,
Beer at Home means Davenports.
Costing little to make, it was credited with boosting sales to such an extent that in 1973 Davenports’ profits reached just under £1million compared to £86,000 in 1961.
2021: Despite the terrible impact of the pandemic on the industry, Davenports managed to acquire new pubs and venues, refurbish existing pubs whilst also launching ‘Beer at Home’.
Making A Difference: Reducing box size and lessening void fills all adds to reducing lorries on roads each year.
2022: The Queens Head opened its doors on Steelhouse Lane Birmingham
2022: The Coach House wins Best Pub or Bar in Coventry & Warwickshire 2022 at the Foodie Awards.
2022: The Coach House wins Best Pub, Bar or Restaurant at The Stratford Herald Business & Tourism Awards.
2022: Davenports returns the brand to Kidderminster with the opening of The Post House, formerly the site of The Red Man pub.
2023: January, Davenports add the award-winning Littleton Arms in Penkridge to their portfolio.
2023: February, Davenports launches Drum Bitter, 3.6% ABV.
2023: C.B Original Bitter wins GOLD at the SIBA Independent Beer Awards 2023, in the regional cask section.
2023: The Coach House is the only Midlands pub through to the prestigious Finals of Great British Pub Awards 2023. Four pubs from London, on from Liverpool and The Coach House!
2023: The Coach House is through to the finals of the West Midlands Combined Authority Tourism Awards 2024, Best Pub…the winner is announced March 2024
2023: Davenports Brewery invest over £250,000 into new brewery facilities at their HQ. John Spellar MP unveils a plaque to celebrate the investment.
2023: The Coach House wins Best Pub, BAR OR Restaurant and Best Customer Experience at the prestigious Stratford Herald Business & Tourism Awards 2023.
2023: Old Ale is relaunched in time for Christmas.
2024: The Post House rebrands as a My Local by Davenports.
2024: February, launch of the new My Local pub, The Butler’s Bell
2024: May, Davenports launches its brand-new Loyalty Card at The Met, which will be rolled out to
2024: August, Davenports acquire The Crown in Kings Heath which will be refurbished and rebranded into a My Local by Davenports.
2024: October: The Kings Arms (formerly The Crown in Kings Heath) opens its doors as a My Local by Davenports.
For more information, please email katie.mcphilimey@davenports.co.uk
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