Tetley's sidelined?It's just not cricket

So Carlsberg has dropped Tetley. It seems awfully clumsy of the Danish group­ like an England slip fielder grounding a straightforward catch from Brian Lara, who then goes on to make a double century. Cricket analogies may not cut much ice in Copenhagen. Perhaps the Danes will grasp the enormity of their decision if I say it is like dynamiting the statue of the Little Mermaid and removing all books by Hans Christian Andersen from public libraries. Tetley may be yet another over-hyped national brand, with most of the money going to promote the nitro-keg "smooth" version of the bitter. But Tetley is a beer with a bit of history and tradition, and we should take seriously the decision to sideline it. Joshua Tetley was a maltster who founded his brewery in Leeds in 1822. Tetley was one of the earliest Yorkshire brewers to use the "stone square" method of fermentation as a result of the work of the great scientist Dr Joseph Priestley. Priestley lived next door to the brewery and used its facilities to unravel the mysteries of "fixed air" or carbon dioxide. The scientist's work led to the creation of carbonated soft drinks. More importantly, it encouraged brewers to take a close look at the natural gas created by fermentation and how to use it to meet the demands of discerning drinkers in the 19th century. Tetley was at the forefront of the pale-ale revolution. While dark milds and porters were produced in abundance, brewers used better quality malts to make new pale ales. Joshua Tetley, with his experience as a maltster, was one of the first brewers to see that pale malt was easier to brew with and resulted in an attractive gold or bronze beer. Glass was replacing pewter in pubs and drinkers wanted beer clear of dregs. The brewers had to remove yeast from their beers and present them, bright and sparkling, in glass tankards. In Burton-on-Trent, home of the pale-ale revolution, the "Burton union" method of fermentation removed yeast during fermentation. Further north, the "Yorkshire square" performed a similar function. A stone square is a two-storey vessel. Fermentation starts in the lower chamber and the liquid rises through a porthole into the top section. The fermenting beer runs back into the lower chamber, leaving most of the yeast behind, which is collected for future use. The result is a bright beer with a high level of natural carbonation that creates the famous "Yorkshire head" when the beer is served in pubs. Tetley still uses Yorkshire squares, though today they are made of stainless steel. In 1989 a new brewhouse was opened in Leeds to cope with the demand for Tetley's beers. In 1996 15 new square fermenters were added, making the Leeds plant the single biggest cask-ale brewery in Britain, if not the world. It should have been a source of enormous pride. But then attitudes started to change. Carlsberg-Tetley was the result of a merger between the Danish lager brewer and Allied Breweries, later renamed Allied Domecq. When Allied decided to leave brewing and sold its pubs, the breweries became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Carlsberg of Copenhagen. The Danes rapidly concentrated brewing in Northampton, a dedicated lager-only site, and Leeds. The historic Ind Coope brewery in Burton is now owned by Coors, while the large chain of Firkin brew-pubs disappeared, part of a sale to Bass and Punch Taverns. The Tetley Wharf complex in Leeds, built at a cost of £6m in the early 1990s, which traced the history of brewing in Leeds with actors and other imaginative presentations, was closed. While the cask version of Tetley Bitter is still a major brand, Carlsberg puts its considerable muscle behind its Northampton lagers and nitro-keg ale. From its Danish experience, pasteurised and artificially gassed-up beers have longer shelf life,produce better profits and remove all that fiddle-faddle in pub cellars with the tapping and venting that give cask beer its unique character and flavour. We have lost Bass and Whitbread. Now Tetley, its history and its tradition, are being shunted into a siding. The giant global brewers want to be known only by their big-selling lager brands. Will Scottish & Newcastle become Kronenbourg UK? It's a racing certainty. l See City ­ p10