Courage beers bought by Wells & Young's

January 17, 2007: Scottish and Newcastle (S&N) has sold its Courage beer brands to the Wells & Young's Brewing Co (W&YBC), of Bedford.

The most famous brands are Courage Directors and Courage Best, although the deal also includes the transfer of Courage Mild and Courage Light Ale.

The beers will be under the umbrella of a new business, Courage brands, with Wells & Young's owning 83% and Scottish and Newcastle having the balance. The latter will also continue to distribute the beers.

The transfer of brewing, from S&N's Tadcaster brewery, in Yorkshire, will take place over the next few months. S&N's John Smith's brand is not affected by the change.

Nigel McNally, managing director of Wells & Young's, said: "This is a significant first major acquisition for Wells & Young’s and firmly cements our commitment to brew and develop speciality cask ale.

"The Courage portfolio compliments the W&YBC portfolio and gives us further authority to speak to the trade, both in the on and off trade sectors as category leaders of cask ale.

"These Courage beers are iconic within the brewing heritage of this country. The Courage name, which we are committed to retaining, underpins all that is great about our industry.”

John Dunsmore, managing director of S&N UK, said: "These new arrangements are part of S&N's continuous strategy to find the right organisational and ownership solutions for our brand equities. The Courage brands are an excellent fit with W&YBC's existing specialist beer portfolio and they have already proven excellent brewers of a number of our brands over the years, so part of this strategy is to optimise the use of the excellent brewing facilities that they have at Bedford.

"Our sale of the Theakston brands back to family members in 2002, has proved that this type of innovative deal structuring can be beneficial for both parties and for the development of niche brands.

"Importantly, there should be no negative impact on Courage stockists or drinkers. Indeed, under the stewardship of W&YBC, we will see substantial new investment in these classic cask ale brands which will be able to flourish under the new arrangement."

Courage was founded by John Courage in London in 1787 and has undergone many buyouts and mergers in its history. It was acquired by S&N in 1995.