15 things you (probably) didn’t know about Double Diamond

Ind Coope’s Double Diamond has returned as Dual Diamond, but how much do you know about the original beer? It has a longer history than you may think.

  1. Before the actual name Double Diamond was used, Ind Coope & Co. used a double interlocking diamond mark on casks prior to the 1870s.
  2. The beer can trace its roots back to 1822 when Samuel Allsopp and Job Goodhead allegedly brewed an IPA in a teapot.
  3. The double diamond trademark was registered in 1876.
  4. Following the 1934 merger to form Ind Coope & Allsopp Ltd., the Allsopp Pale Ale was renamed and the words “Double Diamond” first appeared on bottle labels.
  5. By 1938 it was called “Ind Coope’s Double Diamond.”In 1948 Ind Coope & Allsopp Ltd. opened their new bottling stores on Curzon Street to meet the demand for bottled Double Diamond.
  6. By 1958 it was the country’s best selling bottled beer.
  7. Draught Double Diamond appeared as a keg beer in the early 1960s, this was weaker than the bottled version.
  8. “A Double Diamond works wonders!” was once its popular strapline.
  9. Between 1966 and 1971 sales rose astronomically, by 1974 it was selling an incredible 50 million pints per annum!
  10. In 1971 CAMRA formed as a pressure group against keg beers such as Double Diamond, Watney’s Red Barrel etc. and the market for keg began to slowly decline in favour of cask ales.
  11. An amusing badge proclaiming “DD is K9P” was sold at CAMRA Beer Festivals. The identity of the person who did the taste comparison remains a mystery.
  12. HRH The Duke of Edinburgh is Double Diamond’s most famous drinker.
  13. The last brew of Double Diamond at Ind Coope was in 1996 by Kevin Slater in the Samuel Allsopp’s Brewing Company which produced limited runs of beers. A firkin appeared in The Roebuck and it was supped in one dinnertime session.
  14. Dual Diamond first appeared in 2015 as a one off brew to mark the publication of “Ind Coope & Samuel Allsopp Breweries: The History of the Hand.” This was produced by Old Cottage Brewery.
  15. In April 2018 Dual Diamond was brewed once more …

                

3rd Birthday Festival at The Dog


Voted CAMRA pub of the year for the last two years, The Dog on Lichfield Street are hosting their 3rd Birthday Beer Festival between 17 & 20 May. With plenty of beers and ciders to chose from, it promises to be well worth popping in. There is a Meet The Brewer session with Wild Weather Ales https://wildweatherales.com/ from Reading.

More details when we get them.

https://www.facebook.com/thedoginnburton/ @TheDogBurton

Dual Diamond sparkles at The Weighbridge

Burton Old Cottage Brewery Company’s new old beer Dual Diamond is starting to find its way into pubs, one being The Weighbridge (in the Grainwarehouse / Travelodge carpark just off Derby Street). With the sun out on the hottest 19 April in seventy odd years The Beertonian needed no excuse to pop down for a sample and to canvas the opinion of those that really matter; the publican and his regulars.

George Lambert, the Landlord and owner of The Weighbridge is mightly impressed,

“It’s going down really well,” he says, then has to break off the conversation to pull another pint of Dual Diamond for a thirsty customer, in fact all of the pub are on the Diamond, except for one cider drinker and those who are driving. “I put one on last Wednesday night at nine o’clock and it had gone by Thursday at nine, and we closed at half ten on Wednesday and didn’t open until five on the Thursday! We sold a firkin in seven hours.”

In other words that is 72 pints, which is some going! The Weighbridge regulars are also in agreement.

“It’s an excellent brew,” praises Ed Morris. ” I was lucky enough to try a sample from a cask of the first brew; everyone who tried it liked it.”

“Beautiful,” surmises Barry Degg. “George keeps it very well, it’s a nice drink. Be good to have it on here all the time.”

Cliff Croft agrees, “This is my first taste of it, I did have Double Diamond but I can’t remember what it tasted like. This is really nice.”

“One of the better beers,” says Alec Chamberlain. “I am really enjoying it.”

The conversation then turns to the past and the original Double Diamond of which Dual Diamond is a modern day version of.

“Double Diamond was one of the first keg beers with Worthington E, Watney’s Red Barrel” says Alec.

“Double Diamond wasn’t very good!” Laughs George.

Ed drank a lot of Double Diamond in the 1970s, “It was part of the staple diet of pubs and Working Men’s Clubs,” he recalls. “I remember it being a little bit weaker. It was a good session beer.”

“I drank keg Double Diamond years ago, it was fizzier, gassy and sweeter,” says Barry. “It was nice; I used to put a Triple A in it at the end of the night!”

Triple A, Ind Coope’s infamous barley wine, is another beer in need of a comeback but for now the Diamond is sparkling nicely in The Weighbridge.