Empire strikes back
Following a period of consolidation, W&DB has embarked on product development - starting with Old Empire IPA. Mark Stretton reports.
The Mark Twain quote on the wall reads: "Keep away from those who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that but the really great make you believe that you too can become great."
It is one of a clutch of inspiring phrases that line Alistair Darby's brewery office.
Another says: "Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbour. Catch trade winds... explore... discover."
The captain of brewing and brands on the good ship Wolverhampton & Dudley Breweries (W&DB) has thrown off the bowlines and embarked on a period of new product development which started yesterday (Thursday) when he and his team launched Marston's Old Empire India Pale Ale.
The recipe reflects the traditional IPAs of the 19th century, brewed at high gravity and destined for the Indian colonies of the old British Empire.
"The first quote is fairly self-explanatory," said Alistair. "The second says don't think of your current situation but what you could achieve. It's a very powerful quote and makes an amazing difference to people when they read it - work becomes more exciting, success becomes more achievable and more rewarding."
Since defeating Pubmaster's hostile takeover bid two years ago, W&DB has tidied and trimmed its businesses, reducing costs by closing two breweries and transferring a raft of managed houses to tenancies.
Following this period of consolidation the group, led by chief executive Ralph Findlay, is ready to kick forward on all fronts. "We have done a good job of consolidating and rationalising the business," said Alistair. "We have improved margins against a reduced capital base, which is a great piece of housekeeping, but you can only close a brewery once. You can't save your way to prosperity."
In the managed pub estate, Wolves is scouring the market for acquisitions and was recently linked to Eldridge Pope. The brewing division, best known for Marston's Pedigree and the Banks's brands, has set itself some bold targets, according to Alistair, that will see a line of new and interesting beers rolling out of the breweries.
"We want to bring products out that will surprise people and stretch the envelope," he said. "This is a journey that we are starting and we are not going to get there in three or six months.
"Old Empire is simply the beginning. It's a great product and we have high hopes for it but it is just one part of a much bigger picture."
In recent times, the company has released a string of limited edition and seasonal ales like Burton Cathedral and Double Drop, fine beers but the type that all too often only appeal to real ale drinkers, not to mention the beardy-weirdies. "The name Burton Cathedral does not exactly get you up off your deathbed," Alistair said. "Part of the nature of ale is inherent conservatism. You have to balance quality with a hook."
A main ambition is to recruit new drinkers to beer. "We want to develop beers that are interesting," he said. "We want to present beer in new ways and get to a position where perhaps people are drinking beer without knowing it.
"That is what Smirnoff Ice and Bacardi Breezer have done. Drinks like vodka and bitter lemon have been around since the 1920s. We won't be doing alcopops but why don't we give people something in beer that they want to drink?
"We would like to do that in harmony with our core brand portfolio," he continued. "We want to protect the crown jewels while innovating in other areas. We also need to do it in a regional brewer way - we don't have monstrous budgets to blow, but innovating and pushing the boundaries shouldn't just be the preserve of the big four brewers."
Talking of the big boys, a common view among the national brewers such as Interbrew is that the beer market is polarising between power brands such as Stella Artois or Carling and speciality brews like some of the Belgian abbey beers.
Unsurprisingly, Alistair does not subscribe: "I don't think anyone would deny that Stella is the number one power brand in the UK but the English beer market is characterised by choice and diversity. It would be tragic if the market became anodyne."
Wolves sits in the middle of the beer market, along with a clutch of other regional brewers, making beers to service local tastes in its heartland as well as achieving national reach with Marston's Pedigree.
Plans are afoot for some more creative concepts, such as Firestoker, which includes strains of vanilla. The company also has big plans for Banks's, and Old Empire is part of a strategy to drive the Marston's brand forward. Alistair says Marston's Bitter has big potential.
Another quote on the wall in his office originated from astronaut Buzz Aldrin: "There can be no meaningful success without the opportunity to fail."
Beneath the banner is an ageing bottle of Banks's Curry Beer, complete with multi-coloured label, which was launched a few years ago to accompany spicy foods.
"We made a mistake there," explained Alistair. "The idea was good, the beer writers loved it, it was a great liquid and perfect with spicy foods but we called it Curry Beer, and people thought it would taste of curry."
The lesson is that often the answers are very simple and obvious. "When you go to a great pub, the licensee isn't necessarily doing anything clever," he said. "It's clean, doesn't smell, the quality of the beer or food is excellent and the staff behind the bar look as though they're enjoying serving you.
"You can over-intellectualise about beer. If we were to start telling the majority of our core Banks's drinkers that it is a cracking product that goes well with scallops on a bed of rocket salad with ciabatta, we wouldn't be very popular."
The company has just announced a £1.7m investment programme at the Marston's brewery at Burton-upon-Trent. "That is a classic example where some people would say 'why the hell are you doing that?'," Alistair said.
"It allows us to keep brewing great beer and shows that we have a two brewery strategy and are in Burton to stay. There are very rational commercial reasons for doing it but it's also symbolic. The really important thing is that this is the start of a period of exciting news coming from W&DB. "The regional brewer tag can sometimes be a bit negative. We want to change the paradigm of what makes a regional brewer.
"That is probably quite hackneyed but you could ask people what their view is of a regional ale brewer. You might get some positive comments but there would also be some very challenging ones. We have to show that we can innovate in surprising ways.
"With the resurgence of Fuller's, Greene King, Adnams and us, we should be seen as exciting and innovative companies. Ultimately we just want to be seen as a really great brewer in the UK."
Pictured: Alistair Darby stands proud as Wolverhampton & Dudley unveils Marston's Old Empire IPA.
Related articles:
W&DB makes an IPA return with Marston's Old Empire (16 May 2003)
