CAMRA has warned against continuing to describe Doom Bar as a Cornish beer beyond 2026
Multi-national brewing group Molson Coors has announced that it is to close Sharp’s brewery in Rock, Cornwall by the end of this year.
The marketing power of Molson Coors – owner of brands including Carling, Madri, Staropramen and Aspall cider – ensured that Doom Bar became the best-selling real ale in the UK for many years, only losing that title last year when overtaken by Timothy Taylor Landlord. It is a staple in many pubs, including Wetherspoons (Oxford’s Four Candles pictured on home page).
With Doom Bar sales in deep decline, Molson Coors has now decided to cut its losses and close Sharp’s by the end of 2026, when all production will probably move to Burton-on-Trent. Closure will cause around 50 redundancies at the site and 150 elsewhere.
Since acquiring Sharp’s in 2011, Molson Coors has invested more than £20 million to expand capacity in Cornwall, although not all Doom Bar is now produced there.
Molson Coors says it is considering other options such as producing Doom Bar and other Sharp’s brands in partnership with a third party. Other cask ales include Atlantic and premium ruby beer Sea Fury.
But the closure is widely seen as further proof that big international brewers are moving away from real ale, following the closure of several previously independent brewers by Marston’s, whose brewing operations are now 100% owned by Carlsberg, and Heineken.
CAMRA chief executive Tom Stainer said: “This is just another example of a global brewing giant destroying the nation’s cask brewing heritage. Sharp’s has been brewing cask for more than 30 years and this will just be dismantled overnight. Trying to produce iconic Cornish beers outside of the Duchy would be a disgrace.
“We are losing far too many cask brands and the breweries who craft them at the hands of global brewers more interested in profit than our brewing heritage, and making sure drinkers can enjoy authentic products. Not only does it impact our local pubs and consumer choice, but it damages Cornish and UK brewing heritage, culture and of course jobs.
“This once again puts a spotlight on the stranglehold global brewing giants have over our pubs. The government must use its Access to Market Review to ensure that local, independent brewers and cider makers can get their produce on offer at the bar, so the wide range of beer styles that the UK’s pubs are known for can be protected and expanded.”
Former editor of the Good Beer Guide, Roger Protz, wrote: “The global brewers have set out their priorities – to promote their lager brands at the expense of cask beer.
“Molson Coors bought the business in 2011, turning Doom Bar into a national brand. It tinkered with the recipe, much to the distress of its followers. I was told by a former brewer at Rock that the number of hops was reduced and instead of conditioning for a week, the beer was sent out to pubs as soon as it left the fermenters. Drinkers were being served immature ‘green beer’, as the taste proved.
“It will now need a new home, presumably the main breweries in Burton that MC took on when Bass left brewing in 2000. The bottled version of Doom Bar has been brewed in Burton for several years, making a mockery of its claim to be a ‘Cornish beer’.
“The history, heritage and popularity of cask is lost on Carlsberg, Heineken and Molson Coors. Their aim is a simple one: to make the same liquid in every market where they operate and to give it a long shelf life, aided by filtration, pasteurisation and a heavy dose of carbon dioxide.”
CAMRA has already called out Carlsberg, and Marston’s before it, for describing Wainwright as a “Lake District original” when it is no longer brewed in Cumbria. Likewise, Young’s beers are still described as London Original and London Special when they haven’t been brewed in the capital for 20 years.