Could Bass Flow Back to Burton?

A most interesting report in the British newspaper, The Times, indicates that it is possible Anheuser-Busch InBev may be ready to all but quit the UK ale market, disposing of the Boddingtons, Flowers and the once-iconic Bass brands.

The report suggests that the fortunes of all three brands have dropped under ABIB ownership, with Bass in particular now selling”a tiny fraction of the amount sold in its heyday in the 1980s.” For decades, Bass was known far and wide as an ale brewed in Burton-on-Trent, and is in fact still stealthily brewed there still, under contract by Marston’s. A sale to Marston’s or Molson Coors, the latter of whom operates the former Bass brewery in Burton, would see a proud repatriation of the brand to the city that spawned it.