Independence days could soon end

Gordon Brown could well be the next Prime Minister so we should listen carefully to what he says. His remarks now are an indication of the policies he will pursue when he makes the hop, skip and a jump from 11 to 10 Downing Street.

Twice in recent weeks he has

said that Britain must welcome globalisation and the takeover of British companies by international groups. It is a frightening view of the future where brewing is concerned.

Three of the four brewing giants that dominate the British market are foreign-owned. I don't say this as a narrow nationalist, but out of concern for the fact that such companies do not begin to understand the nature

of the British beer market, which is made up of many segments and niches.

Our home-grown Scottish & Newcastle is an international player and its role abroad reflects on its domestic activities. It owns the French beer brand Kronenbourg and brews it in the biggest beer factory

in Europe, near Strasbourg. A version of the beer is also produced in this country.

S&N has formed a partnership with Carlsberg that is the biggest player in the Russian and Baltic markets, with the Baltika brands. Its position in Russia has been built by taking over dozens of once-independent breweries.

S&N's role as an international brewer has had a major impact here. It has closed both its Edinburgh and Newcastle plants, which brewed ale as well as lager. Its ale production is concentrated at John Smith's plant in Yorkshire. The John Smith's brands remain important to the group, but I wonder for how much longer it will bother with such under-promoted beers as Courage Best and Directors.

Coors, the American company that owns the former Bass breweries in Burton-on-Trent, reminds me of the old joke about Sir Walter Raleigh introducing Elizabeth I to tobacco.

An incredulous queen asks: "You mean, Walt, you put it in a pipe and set fire to it?"

I feel Coors executives must have had a similar reaction when they were introduced to cask beer: "You mean, you put it in a barrel with live yeast, leave it for several days before you can serve it and then it goes sour before the week is out?"

It's little wonder that Coors has phased out all cask-beer production at Burton in order to devote itself to the profitable delights of Carling.

InBev is following a similar course. Its Belgian executives are being elbowed aside by Brazilians who came on board when Interbrew merged with AmBev in Latin America. InBev shows a decreasing lack of interest in the ale market, with both Draught Bass and Boddingtons farmed out to contract brewers. Both beers lack support or promotion to the extent that such once-mighty cask ale brands could ultimately vanish.

The fourth group used to be called Carlsberg-Tetley but the Danish owners have stopped such nonsense and it's now known simply as Carlsberg, to reflect the Danes' priorities.

The Tetley beers are not under threat and remain leading brands in the ale market. But the Danes' determination to build the lager side of its business from its factory in Northampton prompts the thought that, at some stage, Tetley could be sold off, perhaps to its management in Leeds.

The lessons from the globalisation of British brewing are that mammoth conglomerates are driven by the need to maximise their profits from international brands such as Carlsberg, Kronenbourg and Stella Artois. As a result, they have little

or no interest in minority styles, especially those that require the skills of tapping and spiling rather than connecting kegs to a gas line.

The marketing muscle that global groups can exercise by offering heavily discounted beer to pub companies means less choice for licensees and consumers.

And the frightening logic of the global market means that further mergers along the lines of InBev cannot be ruled out. The partnership between Carlsberg and S&N could clearly become a formal merger at some stage.

So, Mr Brown, globalisation for beer drinkers has bought woe and not joy. Ponder that when you next raise

a wee dram of the malt, distilled in Scotland but owned by a global drinks group.