Are you ready for a Ruddles?

Are you ready for a Ruddles is a long forgotten advertising slogan for Ruddles beers, their two brands being Best and County. As a young man I recall these were big brands and County in particular had cult status in the cask ale market and also very popular in its unique stumpy bottles with rip cap in the take home market. Sadly, after a succession of takeovers resulted in various new owners these statements are no longer true. So what is the story of Ruddles and how did it fall from its once lofty perch?

Situated within England's smallest county of Rutland, Ruddles was originally founded in 1858 by Henry Parry in Langham (known as the Langham Brewery). On Parrys death in 1909 the brewery and its pubs were sold to George Ruddle, the then Brewery manager.  Success came and by the mid 1970's Ruddles sold off their 38 pubs to Everards to allow more focus on brewing and supplying beer to supermarkets. 

In 1986 Ruddles was acquired by Grand Metropolitan. Their ownership was not to last as in 1991 to circumvent the 1989 Beer Orders, Grand Met entered into a brewery's for pubs deal with Courage who in turn rapidly moved the brewery on again, selling to Dutch brewing giant Grolsch for a reported £30m. Despite a major investment in marketing, the Ruddles brands were losing their shine as new cask ale brands began to prosper, driven by the changes from the Beer Orders. By the time Morland Brewery of Abingdon acquired Ruddles in 1997 for £4.8m, Best and County were in serious decline and the once powerful brewery at Langham was only brewing to a third of its capacity at 100,000 barrels.

I worked for Morland at the time and we knew it made commercial sense to close the brewery at Langham and transfer brewing to Abingdon. As part of the Morland taste panel we worked hard with the brewing team to taste match the Best and County brewed in Oxfordshire to those from Rutland. The senior management at Morland had good intentions for the brands being reluctant to close Langham if there was any doubt the beers did not taste as they should. At one stage this lead to a postponement of the closure for six months to allow for more refinement. However eventually the closure sadly took place with brewing moved to Abingdon.

Morland had big plans for Ruddles and a new Brand Manager was appointed, the pump clips redesigned and a new advertising campaign themed around the countryside was created. However the golden touch that Morland had with Old Speckled Hen did not work with Ruddles and the decline could not be arrested. Shortly Morland befell the same fate to the Langham Brewery as they themselves were taken over by Greene King in 1999 and the Abingdon brewery closed. The brewing of all brands including Ruddles were now transferred to Bury St Edmonds.

Greene King primarily purchased Morland for its premium Thames Valley pub estate and the Old Speckled Hen brand. The Ruddles brands came as part of the package but were never likely to receive much love and attention in GK's mighty war chest of beer brands and this soon proved to be the case. Best was thrown on the bonfire as they say, being offered to JD Wetherspoons as their value brand and County was allowed to wither further on the vine as it took a back seat to the likes of Abbot Ale etc.

Stumpy bottle

Rip Cap

In the take home market the once iconic stumpy bottle was long gone. This had been Ruddles point of difference but as the premium bottled beer sector grew and the 500ml bottle became the dominant force, the stumpy bottle appearing as poor value for money and not nearly as premium, Ruddles was repackaged in the new size format but it became one of many and lost its appeal against other brands. 

So in 2021, not withstanding the current issues with Covid, tracking down a Ruddles to drink is more challenging. However, I recently tried a four-pack of County cans with its 4.3% abv - I remember this originally being 4.9% and then 4.7%. I really wanted to like this beer as it was once a classic beer and equally iconic brand, but disappointingly it was not a beer I particularly enjoyed, although the can design itself is strong and offers good shelf stand out.

As regards the future, hopefully Ruddles will continue as a valuable niche brand for GK and survive the current craft beer onslaught. Who knows, one day it may yet return to favouritism as drinkers seek out brands with heritage and credibility as it certainly has plenty of those to its name.