Stones Bitter is a
beer
Beer is one of the oldest and the most widely consumed type of alcoholic drink in the world, and the third most popular drink overall after water and tea. It is produced by the brewing and fermentation of starches, mainly derived from ce ...
manufactured and distributed in the United Kingdom by the North American brewer
Molson Coors
The Molson Coors Beverage Company is an American-Canadian multinational drink and brewing company incorporated under Delaware General Corporation Law and headquartered in Golden, Colorado and Montreal, Quebec.
Molson Coors was formed in 2005 ...
. It is a
bitter
Bitter may refer to:
Common uses
* Resentment, negative emotion or attitude, similar to being jaded, cynical or otherwise negatively affected by experience
* Bitter (taste), one of the five basic tastes
Books
* '' Bitter (novel)'', a 2022 nove ...
with a straw-golden hue. Stones Bitter was first brewed in 1948 by
William Stones Ltd at the Cannon Brewery in
Sheffield
Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...
. It was designed for the local steelworkers and became successful in its local area, becoming one of Sheffield's best known products.
The brewing giant
Bass Charrington acquired William Stones in 1968, and began to heavily promote the
keg
A keg is a small barrel.
Wooden kegs made by a cooper were used to transport nails, gunpowder, and a variety of liquids.
A keg is normally now constructed of stainless steel, although aluminium can be used if it is coated with plastic on th ...
variant of Stones Bitter, which eventually became the highest selling bitter in the country. However the keg version was promoted at the expense of the traditional un
pasteurised
Pasteurization American and British English spelling differences#-ise, -ize (-isation, -ization), or pasteurisation is a process of food preservation in which packaged and non-packaged foods (such as milk and fruit juices) are treated with mi ...
and
unfiltered cask conditioned
Real ale is the name coined by the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) for beer that is "brewed from traditional ingredients, matured by secondary fermentation in the container from which it is dispensed, and served without the use of extraneous car ...
version. In the 1990s, the
ABV
Alcohol by volume (abbreviated as ABV, abv, or alc/vol) is a standard measure of how much alcohol (ethanol) is contained in a given volume of an alcoholic beverage (expressed as a volume percent). It is defined as the number of millilitres (mL) o ...
of Stones was gradually reduced, and, as ale sales declined, Stones reverted from a national into a regional brand. Following the closure of the Cannon Brewery, Stones has been brewed at a number of different breweries. When Bass exited its brewing business, Stones became a
Coors brand (later Molson Coors).
Stones was promoted through a series of television advertisements in the 1980s that starred
Michael Angelis
Nicolas Michael Angelis (29 April 1944 – 30 May 2020) was an English actor. He was best known for his television roles as Chrissie Todd in ''Boys from the Blackstuff'', Martin Niarchos in '' G.B.H.'' and as a UK narrator of the British child ...
and Tony Barton. It eventually became the United Kingdom's longest ever running bitter campaign. Stones sponsored the
Rugby Football League Championship
The Rugby Football League Championship First Division was the top division of rugby league in England between 1895 and 1996, when it was replaced by the Super League.
History
1895–1904: Foundations
The first season of rugby league (189 ...
and its successor the
Rugby Super League throughout the 1980s and 1990s.
History
The head brewer Edward "Ted" Collins first produced Stones Bitter at the Cannon Brewery in 1948. It was designed for the steelworkers of Sheffield's
Lower Don Valley
The Lower Don Valley, or historically the East End of Sheffield, is the mainly industrial north-east quarter of Sheffield, England. Located on the River Don, it encompasses the areas of Attercliffe, Brightside, Darnall, Tinsley and Wincobank. ...
.
The product was formulated as the working classes began to favour bitter over the
dark mild style of beer.
The beer's straw colour made it reasonably unusual for the time, and its individuality helped it to become an immediate success.
By the 1960s its local reputation was "colossal", and it accounted for 80 per cent of William Stones' sales. Stones had such a strong local following that it was described as being "more of a religion than a beer."
From 1979, keg Stones began to be promoted heavily nationwide, and the beer was introduced to the South of England for the first time. The beer was promoted following the withdrawal of the unpopular Brew Ten, which was itself intended to replace Bass's regional ales.
Originally the beer would be produced at the Cannon Brewery and then transported to Bass' Hope & Anchor brewery, also in Sheffield, for pasteurisation and kegging, but eventually demand for Stones Bitter became too great for the Cannon alone, and production was also extended to other Bass breweries.
In the early 1980s Stones Bitter was produced at Bass'
Runcorn
Runcorn is an industrial town and cargo port in the Borough of Halton in Cheshire, England. Its population in 2011 was 61,789. The town is in the southeast of the Liverpool City Region, with Liverpool to the northwest across the River Mersey. ...
brewery, although this ceased after drinkers complained of headaches from the poorly manufactured beer.
The Runcorn beer had been brewed at a higher temperature, which increased the amount of
hangover
A hangover is the experience of various unpleasant physiological and psychological effects usually following the consumption of alcohol, such as wine, beer, and liquor. Hangovers can last for several hours or for more than 24 hours. Typical sympto ...
-inducing
fusel oil
Fusel alcohols or fuselol, also sometimes called fusel oils in Europe, are mixtures of several higher alcohols (those with more than two carbons, chiefly amyl alcohol) produced as a by-product of alcoholic fermentation. The word ''Fusel'' is Ger ...
s in the beer.
Stones Bitter became the highest selling beer for Bass Breweries from 1981, when it overtook
Worthington E in sales. Stones was the ninth most popular beer in the United Kingdom in 1989, with two per cent of all beer sales. Demand was such that the Cannon Brewery was paying up to £1.5 million per month in duty by 1991.
Cask conditioned Stones won silver in the Bitter category in the
CAMRA
The Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) is an independent voluntary consumer organisation headquartered in St Albans, England, which promotes real ale, cider and perry and traditional British pubs and clubs. With just under 155,000 members, it is 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 1991. Stones was the highest selling bitter in the UK by 1992, a million barrel a year brand, described by Bass as "a tremendously important brand with untapped potential".
That same year, Bass were criticised for reducing the ABV of Stones from 4.1 per cent to 3.9 per cent ABV in order to reduce the impact of beer duty. The current packaging was introduced in 1994, and evokes
Vulcan
Vulcan may refer to:
Mythology
* Vulcan (mythology), the god of fire, volcanoes, metalworking, and the forge in Roman mythology
Arts, entertainment and media Film and television
* Vulcan (''Star Trek''), name of a fictional race and their home p ...
, the Roman god of fire and blacksmiths, and protector of craftsmen.
In 1997, the ''
Yorkshire Post
''The Yorkshire Post'' is a daily broadsheet newspaper, published in Leeds in Yorkshire, England. It primarily covers stories from Yorkshire although its masthead carries the slogan "Yorkshire's National Newspaper". It was previously owned by ...
'' described the beer as "one of Sheffield's most famous exports", and "a name which carries as much pride as the Made in Sheffield stamp."
In 1997,
Bass decided to deprioritise Stones in order to concentrate on promoting Worthington as their national ale brand.
[ Competition Commission Beer Report 1997, Chapter 4: The Market] Stones' ABV was further reduced to 3.8 per cent in August 1998, and then to 3.7 per cent a few months later leading to its derision in the ''
Yorkshire Evening Post
The ''Yorkshire Evening Post'' is a daily evening publication (delivered to newsagents every morning) published by Yorkshire Post Newspapers in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The paper provides a regional slant on the day's news, and traditio ...
''. Following the closure of the Cannon Brewery in 1999, canned Stones has been brewed in
Burton upon Trent
Burton upon Trent, also known as Burton-on-Trent or simply Burton, is a market town in the borough of East Staffordshire in the county of Staffordshire, England, close to the border with Derbyshire. In United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011, it had a ...
and keg Stones in
Tadcaster
Tadcaster is a market town and civil parish in the Selby district of North Yorkshire, England, east of the Great North Road, north-east of Leeds, and south-west of York. Its historical importance from Roman times onward was largely as the ...
.
The cask conditioned variant was brewed by
Highgate Brewery of
Walsall
Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands County, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located north-west of Birmingham, east ...
,
Thwaites Brewery
Thwaites Brewery is a regional brewery founded in 1807 by Daniel Thwaites in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, and now located near Mellor in the Ribble Valley. Part of the company's beer business was sold to Marston's in March 2015, and the ori ...
of
Blackburn
Blackburn () is an industrial town and the administrative centre of the Blackburn with Darwen borough in Lancashire, England. The town is north of the West Pennine Moors on the southern edge of the Ribble Valley, east of Preston and north-n ...
and finally
Everards
Everards is a regional brewery based in Leicester and founded in 1849 by William Everard and Thomas Hull. It produces cask ales and owns over 170 tenanted pubs, mainly around the Leicestershire area. Its chairman is fifth generation Richard Ever ...
of
Leicester
Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands.
The city l ...
. It was restored to 4.1 per cent ABV and its original recipe in August 2006, with Coors claiming that it would be "like
owStones used to taste." The product was discontinued in 2011.
In 2006, ''Off Licence News'' identified the canned variant as "continuing a slow but sure decline that has seen its status redefined from national brand to Yorkshire regional over the last decade." As of 2012, Stones Bitter is among the twenty highest selling ales in the United Kingdom, with estimated annual volumes at over 100,000 hectolitres.
Cask conditioned Stones Bitter returned in 2021, brewed under licence by Sheffield brewer TrueNorth.
Recipe and flavour
The recipes for brewery conditioned and cask conditioned Stones differed:
Brewery conditioned Stones is brewed with a blend of
hops
Hops are the flowers (also called seed cones or strobiles) of the hop plant ''Humulus lupulus'', a member of the Cannabaceae family of flowering plants. They are used primarily as a bittering, flavouring, and stability agent in beer, to whi ...
from America (
Columbus
Columbus is a Latinized version of the Italian surname "''Colombo''". It most commonly refers to:
* Christopher Columbus (1451-1506), the Italian explorer
* Columbus, Ohio, capital of the U.S. state of Ohio
Columbus may also refer to:
Places ...
and
Zeus
Zeus or , , ; grc, Δῐός, ''Diós'', label=Genitive case, genitive Aeolic Greek, Boeotian Aeolic and Doric Greek#Laconian, Laconian grc-dor, Δεύς, Deús ; grc, Δέος, ''Déos'', label=Genitive case, genitive el, Δίας, ''D ...
) and Europe (
Magnum and
Admiral
Admiral is one of the highest ranks in some navies. In the Commonwealth nations and the United States, a "full" admiral is equivalent to a "full" general in the army or the air force, and is above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet, ...
). The barley variety used is Pearl. The beer comes in kegs and 440ml cans, and is described as having a "fragrant grapefruit-citrus hop aroma,
hich
Ij ( fa, ايج, also Romanized as Īj; also known as Hich and Īch) is a village in Golabar Rural District, in the Central District of Ijrud County, Zanjan Province, Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also ...
cuts through a characteristically sulphury background with a fruity edge. The unusual salts balance ensures that the bitterness isn’t dry."
Cask conditioned Stones used
Challenger
Challenger, Challengers, or The Challengers may refer to:
Entertainment
Comics and manga
* Challenger (character), comic book character
* ''Challengers'' (manga), manga by Hinako Takanaga
Film and TV
* ''The Challengers'' (TV series), a 1979 ...
hops, and was dry hopped with English
Goldings
This is a list of Plant variety (law), varieties of Hops, hop (''Humulus lupulus'').
As there are male and female plants, the flowers (cones) of the female plant are fertilized by the pollen of the male flowers with the result that the female fl ...
. It was described as having an aroma of hops,
sulphur
Sulfur (or sulphur in British English) is a chemical element with the symbol S and atomic number 16. It is abundant, multivalent and nonmetallic. Under normal conditions, sulfur atoms form cyclic octatomic molecules with a chemical formula ...
and grapefruit, with a salty, moreish and zesty taste.
Advertising
A major television campaign ran nationally from 1983 until 1991 with the tagline (coined by playwright
Peter Whelan
Peter Whelan (3 October 1931 – 3 July 2014) was a British playwright.
Whelan was born and raised in Stoke-on-Trent, England. As a student from 1951–55 Whelan was an inspirational figure in the newly-formed Drama Society at the experimental ...
): "(Wherever you may wander) there's no taste like Stones". The series initially starred
Bernard Hill
Bernard Hill (born 17 December 1944) is an English actor. He is well recognized for playing King Théoden in ''The Lord of the Rings'' film trilogy, Captain Edward Smith in ''Titanic'', and Luther Plunkitt, the Warden of San Quentin Prison in the ...
and Tony Barton, although Hill was replaced by
Michael Angelis
Nicolas Michael Angelis (29 April 1944 – 30 May 2020) was an English actor. He was best known for his television roles as Chrissie Todd in ''Boys from the Blackstuff'', Martin Niarchos in '' G.B.H.'' and as a UK narrator of the British child ...
from 1984 onwards. The advertisements followed the characters of Jeff and Dave as they got into scrapes in various overseas locations, with humorous results. By 1987 it had become the UK's longest running bitter campaign of all time.
From 1993 Stones was only advertised in the north of England. The 1994-96 "Sheffield Gold" campaign was set in a steel foundry: a nod to the city's heritage, although it was filmed in the Czech Republic because Sheffield's own foundries were considered to be too clean and automated for the desired gritty and industrial effect.
A spokesman for Bass explained: "We wanted sparks and goggles." It was to be the final major marketing push for Stones, and as of 2012 the only marketing support for the brand is the provision of Stones branded glassware and bar merchandise for regular stockists.
Sponsorships
Stones Bitter sponsored the
Rugby Football League Championship
The Rugby Football League Championship First Division was the top division of rugby league in England between 1895 and 1996, when it was replaced by the Super League.
History
1895–1904: Foundations
The first season of rugby league (189 ...
from 1986 to 1995, and then its successor the Rugby Super League from 1996–7.
A 1986–8 set of poster advertisements with the tagline "Stones, sheer poetry" supported the sponsorship. In 1995 and 1996, Stones sponsored the
Doncaster Handicap
The Doncaster Mile, registered as the Doncaster Handicap is an Australian Turf Club Group One Thoroughbred handicap race for horses three years old and older, held over 1,600 metres at Royal Randwick Racecourse, Sydney, Australia. Although the ra ...
and the
Park Hill Stakes
The Park Hill Stakes is a Group 2 flat horse race in Great Britain open to fillies and mares aged three years or older. It is run at Doncaster over a distance of 1 mile, 6 furlongs and 115 yards (2,9 ...
horse racing events. Stones Bitter are also sponsors of the
Sheffield Steelers
The Sheffield Steelers are a professional ice hockey team located in Sheffield, England. They were formed in 1991 (see 1991 in sport) and play their home games at the Utilita Arena. They are currently a member of the Elite Ice Hockey League. ...
, they have a sponsor on the bottom of their jersey.
It also sponsored midlands sports show Central Sports Special
References
{{Molson Coors Beverage Company
Molson Coors brands
Beer brands of the United Kingdom
Yorkshire cuisine