Newcastle United fans, Brown Ale and those neon blue stars
You may well wonder why we are talking about bottles of dog on Blog on the Tyne but surely the topic of Newcastle Brown Ale moving to Yorkshire is yet another slap in the face for Geordies.
Twice Newcastle Breweries were associated with the Magpies and on both occasions they resulted in what we now know for sure was success, especially compared to the last 12 months.
Cockneys running Newcastle United, Broon Ale being brewed in Yorkshire, relegation, one of club's greatest ever players being treat shoddily in Alan Shearer and perhaps saddest of all Sir Bobby Robson passing away at a time when St James's Park is almost in ruins - you have to say 2009 has been a nightmare so far for most Geordies.
I mean what is going on now, haven't we endured enough?
Can you imagine no Heineken HQ in Amsterdam?
Or no Staropramen brewery in Prague or no Guinness HQ in Dublin?
Has somebody missed a trick here in Newcastle, why is there no landmark for Broon Ale in our own city just like elsewhere, instead it's getting flogged down the road to blinking Tadcaster!!!
What are you going to take away next, the Tyne Bridge? The Angel of the North?
Whitley Bay Lighthouse?
Newcastle Brown Ale's sad departure from Gallowgate was bad enough in 2005 - but at least it was still part of the family over in Dunston.
For many of us growing up and heading up to the match, the overwhelming smell of yeast was simply part of the match day experience.
And it was Scottish & Newcastle who had a major part in bringing Kevin Keegan the player to St James's Park in the 1980s - never to be forgotten times.
Their return to the club in the early 1990s also coincided with KK's return, this time as boss, in 1992 when Special K led us to the promised land of the Premier League and beyond in Europe producing scintillating football along the way.
United won promotion donning the blue star kit in 1993 (McEwan's Lager for away games and TV matches) and if anybody can remember those days I do seem to recall that in Newcastle Breweries pubs, those with the big neon blue star on them, your local boozer (the Grey Horse in Shiremoor for me) would replay the old First Division games as we topped the old second tier in style.
Think of some of the players who wore the Blue Star kits, KK, Terry Mac, Chrissy Waddle, Peter Beardsley then later Micky Quinn, Mark McGhee, Ned Kelly, Lee Clark, Andy Cole, Scotty Sellars and John Beresford to name but a few.
Somebody had that half decent idea of taping the match on a VHS and then replaying them in the pub on a Sunday, long before the days of Sky+, HD and umpteen channels screening every match - and long before everybody had the luxury of Sky TV at a time when all day drinking just didn't exist in pubs.
Life seemed much simpler then before Facebook, Twitter, iPods and being stalked by people you didn't even like when you were at school let alone now!
It's hard to believe we are only talking about the previous decade.
But football and drinking on Tyneside have always gone hand in hand in for most of us - including Broon Ale.
Who can forget their first ever slug of Dog and pretending it tasted lush?
Moving swiftly on and how could anybody forget the famous grandad collar Toon shirt in which we nearly won the league?
Think of the players who wore that, the ones who played then like we dream now!
Ginola, Beardo, Tino, Alan Shearer, Keith Gillespie, Rob Lee, Albert - the list goes on and on.
Has there ever been a better Toon kit - or has there ever been a Toon kit that holds more memories and oozed as much class?
Not in my opinion.
And since it left our shirts we've had to put up with pants sponsors like NTL (remember them?) and Northern Rock (do they still exist?)
Yes, when Broon Ale starts to roll down the road from Dunston to Tadcaster it will take with it another part of our heritage but the memories will always remain here on Tyneside.
Another sad loss to the region during a sad time for the Geordie lads and lasses.
Raise those schooners, long live Broon Ale!
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Lee Ryder - Proudly born and bred on Tyneside, the Chronicle's chief sports writer has followed the fortunes of the club over the last three decades as a Toon fan and football writer.
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They will have to change the name can't call it Newcastle Brown Ale anymore. I have lived just outside London since moving south 29 yeras ago & Broon like the Tyne Bridge & even the Angel of the North have symbolised my home. Now they have taken away the most iconic beer in the UK and possibly the world. I for one will not be drinking it anymore.
SAD DAY but another kick in the scrots for us Geordies.
If its not brewed in Newcastle it isn't Newcastle Broon. So it's not worth drinking ...
Well said Lee...
There goes another bit of Geordie heritage doon the pan...t' Yorkshire of aal places (and I live there!)
NEWCASTLE Broon Ale is its name not Tadcaster Brown Ale...and I'll not be drinkin' it ANY MORE!
Sad times.
Bottle o' Dog R.I.P
Most people up here seem to prefer lager and awful John Smith's anyhow and the move has been on the cards for a while. Stick to the Jarrow brewery - there's something there for everyone if you've got taste.
I just returned from a five week holiday in the toon. I walked the length and breadth of the town and the suburbs hoping for a pint of exhibition and I couldn't get it anywhere. The blank looks from the bar staff when I asked if they could tell me where it was made me feel like the idiot.... Anyway I settled for some great real ales at the bodega at the bottom of elswick road so it worked out ok . Howay the lads.
Ryder's reply: Next time try Parkers at the Park Hotel in Tynemouth, they still serve Ex.
Hi Lee,
I must admit i can't drink the stuff but its a sad day really as i have all the shirts and the memories to go with it.
I did hear this rumour a while ago and now its now its out there, and all we can hope that it will come back home and like newcastle united we can look forward to some good time's.
Whenever that is right?????
Exiled gateshead lad from leam lane.
Andrew
After being away working abroad for four years a while back, I satisfied myself in the last few months of the contract with my plan to head straight to the Toon on my arrival back in UK for a bottle of Amber, a bottle of Dog and a pint of Exhibition. I arrived back six weeks too late to get the Amber (they'd stopped brewing the stuff and remaining bottles were changing hands for silly money) and I had to eventually go half way across the pennines before finding a pub with Exhibition on. What made it a worthwhile trip was standing on the bridge necking a bottle of dog and catching up with me marras. Now even Dog's future as a Geordie symbol is threatened by the short-sighted plan to brew it in, of all places, Yorkshire. So much for S&N's promises when they got the prtection order lifted to be able to brew it outside of the Toon. About as much cop as those given by a fat shopkeeper of our aquaintance. He hasn't got a major shareholding in S&N has he?
A wonder if Ashley has a finger in this somewhere.Another bit of PROUD TO BE A GEORDIE,going south of the bridge.
In 2006 I really watched "football" for the first time--during the World Cup. I decided that this European soccer may be worth watching, so I decided to adopt a Prem League team to follow and see if I could enjoy the game.
Having never been to England, I went into the team selection process with a clean slate: I couldn't have told you what a cockney, Geordie, or monkey hanger were, but I was determined to find a team to follow. I immediately eliminated the "top 4" (couldn't be a bandwagon type of fan); and eliminated the bottom 8 or so (couldn't take a chance on a team that was relegation fodder--ironic now, eh?). After some more brief research, I was left with Portsmouth, Newcastle, and Spurs.
I dived into the teams's histories, famous fans, and yes, the color of the "jerseys" (I've since learned that they are called "shirts"). Anyhow, Portsmouth was elimiated. It comes down to the Toon and Tottenham. So, what was the deciding factor for a guy with zero experience with England or footy? It was the fact that I had a case of Newcastle Brown Ale in my fridge, and I figured anyplace that brewed a beer that good had to have a team that I would love.
I've never regretted my decision to follow the Toon--it's been some ups and a lot of downs, but I've adopted the team as my own. This news of Newcastle Brown not being brewed in Newcastle is tough news, sad news.
Well, thanks for reading this silly post. Just thought a story of a yank's association of the Broon with Newcastle and thus with the Toon was worth sharing.
All the best to those losing their jobs at the hands of the Dutch robber barrons.
good blog lee i cant wright what i want to say on here without F ing and blinding ranting and raving but i think youve said it all anyway
its just part of a long cycle of decline as far as i am concerned.
No terracing at the leazas and gallowgate, cr*p team, swan hunters shut, redeveloped ponced up quayside, lager displacing dog as the peoples choice of prefered brew - its a cycle man. The worlds gone southern - and now the beer and owners of the team are too.
Geordie nation - what a joke - we're finished.
even the summers are hot and the winters warm.
We've nothing left.
Lambicpeach:
I believe The Moor house in Seaton Burn still sells Ex. Get your grandfather to buy it. Its cheaper for seniors