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Wells snaps up Courage by Willard Clarke, 02/07 Wells & Young's Brewing Company has bought two iconic cask beers, Courage Best Bitter and Directors Bitter, from global giant Scottish & Newcastle. The move means W&Y; becomes a major player in the cask beer sector, vying for prominence with Greene King and Marston's.    A new joint venture business has been created, Courage Brands, in which W&Y; will control 83% of the equity. As well the two cask beers, the deals also includes a keg Courage Dark Mild and Pale Ale in bottle. The beers will be brewed at the W&Y; plant in Bedford and is worth an additional 100,000 barrels a year, taking the company up close to full capacity of 580,000 barrels a year. There is room for expansion at Bedford as the design of the modern and flexible plant, which produces ale and lager, means additional vessels can be bolted on. Courage Best and Directors had languished under S&N;'s ownership but W&Y; plans to promote and sell the beers enthusiastically. W&Y; managing director Nigel McNally says the deal gives his company the best portfolio of cask beers in the country. S&N; will continue to sell the Courage beers through its own distribution network. Courage Best was a once-famous Cockney beer, brewed at the historic Courage brewery on the Thames and close to London Bridge. In the 1980s it was the best-selling cask beer in the capital, outselling not only Fuller's and Young's brands but also Charrington's IPA. Directors Bitter was brewed originally at Courage's plant in Alton, Hampshire. Its name stems from the fact that it was a house beer produced solely for the directors of the brewery. When an employee took a sample of the beer to a local pub, news of its quality spread like wildfire and it quickly became a commercial brand and Courage's premium cask product.    When the London brewery closed, both beers moved to Courage's Bristol plant. The company was subsequently taken over by S&N;, Bristol closed and the two famous southern beers ended up, incongruously, at the John Smith's brewery in Tadcaster, Yorkshire. Wells & Young's is the result of a merger between Charles Wells of Bedford and Young's on Wandsworth, south London, last autumn. The Young's plant subsequently closed. As well as the Courage brands, W&Y; also owns Wells' Eagle Bitter and Bombardier and Young's Bitter and Special. The Bedford brewery also produces Cobra, Kirin and Red Stripe lagers. also... *Wolverhampton & Dudley Breweries has been renamed Marston's to reflect the strength of its major premium cask beer, Marston's Pedigree, brewed in Burton-on-Trent. The Wolverhampton plant continues to produce Banks's Original and Bitter.

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