Admirals Ale, the Worlds Best Bottled Beer!

Launch of Admirals Ale

Crowned the Worlds Best Bottled Beer in 2008, St Austell Brewery's Admirals Ale was voted Supreme Champion at the prestigious International Beer Challenge. However today its no longer brewed so what is the story behind this amazing champion beer?

This story begins in 2005 when St Austell Brewery were encouraged to take part in the celebrations for the Bicentenary of the Battle of Trafalgar, not least because one of their pubs, the Blue Anchor was the second staging post for the famed Trafalgar Way. This was the route route taken by Lt John Lapenotiere who was the messenger for Vice Admiral Collingwood in 1805, carrying news of the famous victory at the Battle of Trafalgar and Admiral Nelsons sad death, 

Sailing in his tiny, fast schooner, HMS Pickle, Lapenotiere returned to British shores across often treacherous, stormy waters. He docked at Falmouth and embarked on a virtually non-stop 271 mile, 37 to 38 hour journey by carriage and horses to the Admiralty in London - the route became known as the Trafalgar Way.

Fast forward now to 2005 and St Austell Brewery decided to not only celebrate the anniversary at the Blue Anchor, but also to brew a special commemorative beer to support the occasion. I recall attending a meeting at Cornwall County Hall in Truro with all interested parties for the celebrations and informing everyone that we would be brewing a new beer and it was to be called Admirals Ale - a name I came up with but that was where my creativeness came to an end and its here where St Austell's then Head Brewer, the late Roger Ryman swung into action.

Roger Ryman

Roger created a fantastic 5% abv dark bronze bottled beer, using Cornish Gold Malt, Styrian Golding and Cascade hops. The beer had a spicy aroma which combined with sweet raisin/dark fruits and toasted biscuit flavours - I came to describe it as the Christmas Pudding of beers and it was certainly a very complex. A similar beer today would be something like Adnams Broadside.

Next came the branding, St Austell employed the services of Drinks Specialist Design Agency W.A Pinfold to undertake the initial work. They proposed a cartoon like illustration in the style of famed artist Gerald Scarfe and the unique Admiral Ale brand was born. It was very different for its time in 2005 and the beer was also very special. Add to this that the public showed great interest in the bicentenary and Admirals Ale became an instant hit!

Admirals Ale was so popular that St Austell Brewery decided to retain the beer as part of its permanent portfolio. It was then that the awards began to flow and in 2008 we were invited to attend the Presentation lunch for the finals of the International Beer Challenge. I attended this along with a colleague representing St Austell. We knew something was up when we were seated opposite the judges on the main table and were thrilled to receive the award for the overall champion and the accolade of the Worlds Best Bottled Beer.

Rogers fame as a brewer was already on the up but this award really put him in the limelight as the local press in the South West and Brewing fraternity began to take notice. Many more awards followed for Admirals Ale including CAMRA's prestigious Champion Bottled Beer of Britain in 2010 and to this day it may still be St Austell Brewery's most decorated beer. However, it is no longer brewed so what happened?

Admirals Ale pump clip

Whilst undertaking a brand review the marketeers at St Austell including myself wanted to make Admirals Ale available on draught as a permanent part the portfolio. It had been tried as a seasonal cask beer which was well received by publicans - I remember taking a stand at Plymouth Beer Festival with St Austell beers and Admirals Ale on draught was the first beer to sell out. So, the signs were good but..... we already had HSD (Hicks) as our 5% strong ale on draught and commercially there was not room for both. We proposed delisting HSD and replacing it with Admirals Ale, the rationale being the latter was a more modern beer, unique design and was an award winner. However, we underestimated the love and loyalty to HSD and there was uproar amongst drinkers when our proposal became public. Wisely we decided to retain HSD but it meant the future for Admirals Ale was limited to bottles or perhaps keg.

Admirals Ale continued in bottled format to circa 2017, by which time both interest and sales had begun to wane. Hops and pale beers were very much in fashion driven by craft beers to which Admirals Ale style did not fit. Roger recognised this and proposed Admirals Ale was replaced with a slightly weaker beer of the same style on keg called Ruby Jack - named after Cornish World Heavyweight Boxing Champion Bob Fitzsimmons. Sadly this was not a success and Ruby Jack suffered the equivalent of a first round knockout as it bombed with both licensees and drinkers alike. I was personally never in favour of delisting Admirals Ale but Roger was correct in that something had to be done to ether rebrand, relaunch etc.

Ruby Jack

So that is how one of St Austell Brewery's most award winning beer came to exist and sadly die in the space of little over a 12 years. Looking now at the branding and the comparing this to the current craft beer designs I think it might actually do quite well as it was certainly quirky. The beer style too might be more appealing to drinkers as craft beers are moving on from just pale and hops and venturing into more elaborate and challenging areas. Personally I would love to see a return for Admirals Ale but I think most unlikely apart from perhaps a special for beer festivals.

So to conclude, I am very proud to be associated with Admirals Ale and to have originated the name. A wonderful beer with a strong brand story, I think its memory is best left as an accolade to Rogers wonderful brewing skills.

.