Ruddles Brewery (G. Ruddle & Co) was a

brewery A brewery or brewing company is a business that makes and sells beer. The place at which beer is commercially made is either called a brewery or a beerhouse, where distinct sets of brewing equipment are called plant. The commercial brewing of be ...

Rutland Rutland () is a ceremonial county and unitary authority in the East Midlands, England. The county is bounded to the west and north by Leicestershire, to the northeast by Lincolnshire and the southeast by Northamptonshire. Its greatest len ...

, England. The brand is now owned by

Greene King Greene King is a large pub retailer and brewer. It is based in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, England. The company owns pubs, restaurants and hotels. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange until it was acquired by CK Assets in October 2019. ...

who still brew beers under the Ruddles name in Suffolk, although the current recipes are not those used at the original brewery. The brewery, established in 1858 in Langham,

, was bought by George Ruddle in 1912. Langham remained the home of the brewery until its closure in 1999. The company lost its independence in 1986 and passed into the ownership of

Watneys James Watney (18 December 1800–16 March 1884) was an English brewer and landowner who resided at Haling Park, Croydon, and Beddington, Surrey. He was born to Daniel Watney (1771–1831) of Mitcham, Surrey and Mary Galpin (1771–1830), ...

, and then

Grolsch Grolsch Brewery (Koninklijke Grolsch N.V. - "Royal Grolsch"), known simply as Grolsch (), is a Dutch brewery founded in 1615 by Willem Neerfeldt in Groenlo. In 1895 the de Groen family bought the brewery. They had started their own brewery in E ...

in 1992. The value of the brewery and brands had dropped to £4.8m when it was sold to Morland & Co in 1997. Morlands moved production to Abingdon only for that site to be closed by Greene King which took over Morlands in 2000. The local Langham well water was said to give the beer a unique character and quality which enhanced the brewery's reputation. The difficulty in reproducing elsewhere the taste of the beers has led to the premier beer being jocularly referred to as "Ruddles Counterfeit". In 1996, Rutland bitter was the third of British beers to have achieved

Protected Geographical Indication Three European Union schemes of geographical indications and traditional specialties, known as protected designation of origin (PDO), protected geographical indication (PGI), and traditional specialities guaranteed (TSG), promote and protect nam ...

status; this followed an application by Grolsch Ruddles. Since Greene King closed the Langham brewery, they cannot take advantage of the registration. However, in 2010 former Ruddles head brewer Tony Davis revived Rutland Bitter, brewed at his Grainstore Brewery in Oakham, Rutland. A television commercial for Ruddles in 1993 featured the last appearance of

Vivian Stanshall Vivian Stanshall (born Victor Anthony Stanshall; 21 March 1943 – 5 March 1995) was an English singer-songwriter, musician, author, poet and wit, best known for his work with the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, for his exploration of the British upper ...

narrating as Hubert, brother of Sir Henry Rawlinson of

Rawlinson End ''Rawlinson End'' was a series of thirteen 15-20 minute radio broadcasts, created and performed by Vivian Stanshall (formerly of the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band) for BBC Radio 1 between 1975 and 1991. The early sessions, recorded between 1977 and 197 ...

played by

Mel Smith Melvyn Kenneth Smith (3 December 1952 – 19 July 2013) was an English comedian, actor and director. Smith worked on the sketch comedy shows ''Not the Nine O'Clock News'' and ''Alas Smith and Jones'' with his comedy partner, Griff Rhys Jones. S ...

and a

cross-dressing Cross-dressing is the act of wearing clothes usually worn by a different gender. From as early as pre-modern history, cross-dressing has been practiced in order to disguise, comfort, entertain, and self-express oneself. Cross-dressing has play ...

Dawn French Dawn Roma French (born 11 October 1957) is a British actress, comedian, presenter and writer. French is known for writing and starring on the BBC comedy sketch show ''French and Saunders'' with her best friend and comedy partner, Jennifer Saunde ...

. In 1996, Ruddles Best won the gold medal in the ordinary bitter category at the first

World Beer Cup The World Beer Cup is an international beer competition organized by the Brewers Association, a trade group representing America's small and independent craft brewers. It is the largest competition in the beer industry and has been described as " ...

. Ruddles Best took silver in the bitter category at the

Champion Beer of Britain The Champion Beer of Britain (also known as CBOB) is an award presented by the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA), at its annual Great British Beer Festival in early August. Qualification and judging Beers can qualify for the Champion Beer of Brit ...

in 1997. Greene King have now inverted the horseshoe emblem on Ruddles branding. Ruddles also are part of Aldi's ‘Inspired Cuisine' line with their beer in the Beef filled Yorkshire Pudding.

Beers

* Ruddles County * Ruddles Best * Ruddles Organic * Ruddles Rhubarb

In popular culture

Being regarded as one of England's cheapest beers, it is used as a reference in the HBO series

Veep ''Veep'' is an American political satire comedy television series that aired on HBO from April 22, 2012, to May 12, 2019. The series was created by Armando Iannucci as an adaptation of his sitcom ''The Thick of It''. The protagonist of ''Veep'' ...

References

Companies established in 1858 Defunct breweries of the United Kingdom 1858 establishments in England {{beer-stub