Lorimer and Clark’s in 1979
Lorimer and Clark’s in 1979
By Brian Yorston
(Reproduced from Brewery History Society Newsletter, June 2024)
It was sad to see the closure of the Caledonian Brewery (once Lorimer and Clark) last year and that like most breweries of that era the site will end up as housing. It was the first brewery I worked in as a graduate brewer. At the time it was one of the five breweries owned by Vaux (with Ushers in Edinburgh, Sunderland, Wards of Sheffield and Darleys at Thorne). Prior to taking up the role of shift junior brewer at Vaux in Sunderland I was sent to Lorimer and Clarks in Edinburgh in August 1979 to gain some experience under the head brewer, David Ireland. It was such a long time ago that I may have some of the facts wrong but these are some of my experiences of my time at the brewery in Slateford Road.
The brewery only produced two products about 95% Lorimer’s Scotch at 3.6% and the odd batch of barley wine at about 11% ABV. The barley wine was parti-gyle from a brew of Lorimer’s Scotch. So in effect all they brewed was the Scotch Ale. This was shipped from Edinburgh to Sunderland on a daily basis. Three 120 barrel tankers were sent to Edinburgh from Sunderland on the round trip going up empty returning with rough beer. They were sent in one hour intervals, 5 am, 6 am and 7 am. The route, weather permitting, used the more direct Otterburn route rather than the A1. I was told that when they crossed the Otterburn ranges their distinctive red colour was ideal dummy target practice for any Tornado pilot. Lorimer’s Scotch was then filtered primarily as tank beer to be sold in the pubs and clubs of the north or England. The two main Vaux beers at that time were Samson Ale which had a big following in Teesside whilst Lorimer’s Scotch had a Tyneside slant.
It also introduced me to the wonders of the Brewer’s sample room. People would visit David at lunchtime and take him out to lunch. He would return about two hours later to perform quality checks and record the brew in the Excise book. More people would come to the sample room late afternoon. David would sometimes leave me there to lock up after our visitors departed. To a young brewer this was a fantastic experience as it enabled me to catch up with what was going on in the Industry and free beer! August, in Edinburgh, had the benefit of experiencing the Festival. I managed to see Rowan Atkinson at the beginning of his career. Standing at the back of the Wireworks as it was packed out. Steven Berkoff, a future bond villain, had the lead role in Hamlet.
The details of the brewery are now lost in my memory but what I remember of the brewery was the open coal fired coppers. The boilerman started very early in the morning to get the fire going. The boil on these coppers was very unpredictable and when you walked past these vessels you always kept your eyes on them as quite frequently boiling wort would be ejected from the vessel and you would have to jump out of the way. Later these coal fired coppers were modernised and one of the classy adverts shown on TV at the time featured the retirement of the shovel. It showed an actor, as a brewer, walking through the brewery with a shovel. David had retired by this time and the brewery was managed by Simon Shaw, who was one of my colleagues in Sunderland. Simon, much to his amusement, told me that rather than use the actual shovel they bought a brand new one just for the advert!
A small amount of beer from the brewery was sold locally and so they had a cask washer. One day I remember one of the workers would go across the road to the local fishmonger and get a whole load of fish heads. These would be boiled up in the cask washer area and put out. Never have I seen so many cats descend so quickly onto the brewery to devour the ‘delicious’ meal.
We mashed in quite early and once when working in the brewhouse we could look down across the railway to the row of houses. The milk was delivered by horse and cart. It was fascinating to see the horse stop in the right place only for the walking milkman to grab the empties and efficiently replace it with the fresh milk. To a person who only experienced the electric milk float and young lads jumping on and off the vehicle whilst the driver sat in the cab, it seems to be that the past often got it right.
The brewery at that time had a perfectly kept bowling green but that was replaced in the 1980s again reflecting the trend in breweries that the social aspect was lost to the accountants. Vaux had its own sports ground at that time as did many breweries and the inter brewery cricket matches were always to be relished. The match against Simpson’s malt brought the best buffet and a box of Craster kippers!!
I spent a week at Thomas Ushers, the other Vaux subsidiary in Edinburgh, before taking up my spell in Sunderland. Ushers was closed by Vaux soon after, a few of the brewers I met in Edinburgh became colleagues in Sunderland. In particular the late Stuart Wilson and the recently late Alan McKendrick. Together with Bryan Heard who, like me, worked in the two UK Ushers Breweries.
In 1987 Vaux sold the brewery to a management buyout and the production of Lorimer’s Scotch was taken over by me in Sunderland. A further six 1000 barrel conical fermenters were installed to increase the capacity at the brewery. It is sad to lose the Caledonian Brewery as when I was at Heriot-Watt in the 1970s there were numerous breweries to visit and this was the last of that era but Edinburgh was no exception as this happened to many of the subsequent breweries I worked at. With the Wadworth Folly Road brewery replacing the original brewery there is only Shepherd-Neame brewery left on this list. UK beer production peaked in 1979 and like society the whole landscape of the Industry has changed greatly since then.
Brian Yorston