Type Milk stout Founded 1907 Products Beer | Industry Alcoholic beverage Headquarters Hythe, Kent, England Owner Anheuser-Busch InBev | |
Mackeson Stout is a milk stout first brewed in 1907. It contains lactose, a sugar derived from milk.
Contents
Milk stout
Milk stout (also called sweet stout, mellow stout or cream stout) is a stout containing lactose, a sugar derived from milk. Lactose cannot be fermented by brewers' yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae), and the residue adds sweetness, body and calories to the finished beer. Mackeson still bears on its label the milk churn that has been its trademark since it was first brewed in 1907.
Milk stout was believed to be nutritious, and was recommended to nursing mothers. In 1875, John Henry Johnson first sought a patent for a milk beer, based on whey, lactose and hops.
History
The beer was originally brewed in Hythe, Kent, by Mackeson's Brewery in 1907. Whitbread acquired the brand in the 1929 and gave it national distribution, eventually turning it into the market leader for milk stout. Brewing discontinued after 1968 at the Hythe plant. The beer was then brewed at the Exchange Brewery in Sheffield. When that was closed in 1993, Whitbread moved production to their Castle Eden and Samlesbury plants. From May 1999, production was contracted out to Young's Brewery of Wandsworth. Whitbread was purchased in 2001 by InBev. Production was then moved to Cameron's Brewery of Hartlepool before moving to Hydes Brewery in Manchester until March 2012.
Advertisements
A long-lasting television advertising campaign with the actor Bernard Miles contained the catch-phrase that Mackeson "looks good, tastes good and, by golly, it does you good."
For some years now, Mackeson has been a 'ghost brand' in the UK - still produced and sold but without advertising or promotion.
Versions
In 2012 its ABV was lowered from 3% to 2.8% in order to qualify for duty relief. It is available in 330ml cans and 275ml bottles.
A 4.9% XXX version is brewed by Carib Brewery in Trinidad for the local market where it is targeted at young men, with the advertising slogan "king of the night". The Trinidadian version is a popular import into Hong Kong, and is among the top twenty highest selling beers there, selling over 5,000 hectolitres a year.
A 5% ABV version called Mackeson XXX was formerly brewed in Cincinnati, Ohio by Hudepohl-Schoenling for the US market.