McEwan's

{{Short description|Scottish beer brand}} {{for|the Scottish department store|McEwens}} {{Use dmy dates|date=October 2018}} {{Infobox company | name = McEwan's | logo = File:Mcewans logo.gif | type = | predecessor = | successor = | founded = 1856 | founder = William McEwan | defunct = | hq_location_city = Edinburgh | hq_location_country = United Kingdom | num_locations = | area_served = | key_people = | industry = Alcoholic drink | products = Beer | production = 100,000 hectolitres (2012)<ref name=autogenerated7>{{cite news|last=Wright|first=Scott|title=McEwan's puts it all on Red with new ale brand|url=http://www.heraldscotland.com/business/company-news/mcewans-puts-it-all-on-red-with-new-ale-brand.20831314|access-date=18 April 2013|newspaper=heraldscotland.com|date=18 April 2013}}</ref> | revenue = | owner = Carlsberg Marston's Brewing Company | num_employees = | parent = | divisions = | subsidiaries = | website = | footnotes = }}

'''McEwan's''' is a brand of beer owned by Carlsberg Marston's Brewing Company. It was originally brewed by William McEwan's Fountain Brewery in Edinburgh, Scotland. The McEwan's brand passed to Heineken in 2008 after their purchase of Scottish & Newcastle's British operations. Heineken sold the brand to Wells & Young's in 2011, who sold their brewing operation, including the McEwan brand to Marston's in 2017. Cans and bottles are now brewed in Bedford, England.

==History== William McEwan opened the Fountain Brewery in Fountainbridge, Edinburgh, in 1856. The firm underwent several mergers in the following century, including with local rival William Younger's, and later with Newcastle Breweries to form Scottish & Newcastle. Its popular brands included 80/-, a Heavy beer, and Export, an India Pale Ale. All of the draught beers (except Best Scotch) were brewed at the Caledonian Brewery in Edinburgh, whilst the canned and bottled beers were produced at the Eagle Brewery in Bedford, England.<ref name=":0">{{cite news |title=Brewer buys McEwan's and Younger's Scottish ales |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-business-15167251 |access-date=13 October 2012 |newspaper=BBC News |date=4 October 2011}}</ref> The beers are sold predominantly in Scotland and the North East of England.

Despite being the dominant presence in Scottish brewing for around a century, the McEwan's brands were neglected by Scottish & Newcastle, who concentrated on their global brands.{{fact|date=March 2024}} The McEwan's ales were eclipsed by John Smith's Bitter and Belhaven Best and cask-conditioned beers such as Deuchars IPA, whilst the lager fell behind Tennent's.

McEwan's used a cavalier mascot, broadly based on the Frans Hals painting, the ''Laughing Cavalier'' portrait{{fact|date=March 2024}}, which has been used since the 1930s.{{fact|date=March 2024}} The company was a sponsor of football teams in the 1980s and 1990s, including Rangers F.C and Blackburn Rovers.

The McEwan's brand passed to Heineken in 2008 after their purchase of Scottish & Newcastle's British operations. Heineken sold the brand to Wells & Young's in 2011. In May 2017, Charles Wells Ltd sold its brewing business (including McEwan's) to Marston's.{{fact|date=March 2024}}

===Victorian beginnings=== thumb|upright|McEwan's advert from 1906 William McEwan opened the Fountain Brewery in Fountainbridge, then a suburb on the outskirts of Edinburgh, in 1856, using £2,000 loaned by his mother and his uncle.<ref name="autogenerated5">{{cite news |date=3 March 2010 |title=How the site of the Fountainbridge brewery is earmarked for an ambitious makeover |url=http://www.scotsman.com/news/how-the-site-of-the-fountainbridge-brewery-is-earmarked-for-an-ambitious-makeover-1-819915 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190327222527/http://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/how-the-site-of-the-fountainbridge-brewery-is-earmarked-for-an-ambitious-makeover-1-819915 |archive-date=27 March 2019 |access-date=18 November 2025 |newspaper=The Scotsman}}</ref> The area and the brewery are named after the spring waters from the vicinity, which, in addition to its proximity to the Caledonian railway line and the Union Canal, determined the location of the brewery.<ref name="DallasMcMaster1993">{{cite book |last1=Dallas |first1=John |last2=MCMaster |first2=Charles |title=The beer drinker's companion: facts, fables and folklore from the world of beer |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OkNNdZBo_dAC |year=1993 |publisher=Edinburgh Publishing Company |isbn=978-1-874201-14-4 |page=83 |access-date=18 April 2013}}</ref><ref name="autogenerated2">{{cite news |date=17 April 2009 |title=Pubs raise a glass to the revival of McEwan's Lager |url=http://www.scotsman.com/news/scottish-news/top-stories/pubs-raise-a-glass-to-the-revival-of-mcewan-s-lager-1-1203742 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140322082304/http://www.scotsman.com/news/scotland/top-stories/pubs-raise-a-glass-to-the-revival-of-mcewan-s-lager-1-1203742 |archive-date=22 March 2014 |access-date=18 November 2025 |newspaper=The Scotsman}}</ref> McEwan had employed geologists to identify the prime location for a supply of well water.<ref name="Evans2013">{{cite book|last=Evans|first=Sian|title=Mrs Ronnie: The Society Hostess Who Collected Kings|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=u6q-AgAAQBAJ&pg=PT21|date=17 September 2013|publisher=Anova Books|isbn=978-1-909881-00-6}}</ref> Beforehand, McEwan had engaged in industrial espionage at Bass and Allsopp's breweries in order to learn techniques and assay costs.<ref>{{cite news |date=28 September 2003 |title=Letters reveal brewer McEwan was a 'spy' |url=http://www.scotsman.com/news/scottish-news/top-stories/letters-reveal-brewer-mcewan-was-a-spy-1-1294351 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140322083140/http://www.scotsman.com/news/scotland/top-stories/letters-reveal-brewer-mcewan-was-a-spy-1-1294351 |archive-date=22 March 2014 |access-date=18 November 2025 |newspaper=Scotsman.com}}</ref> After establishing a market share in the industrial regions of the Scottish Lowlands, from the early 1860s, McEwan built up a successful colonial export trade by exploiting his family's shipowning connections.<ref name="oxforddnb1913">{{cite ODNB |last=Donnachie |first=Ian |contribution=McEwan, William (1827–1913) |title=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography |year=2004 |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/50416 |edition=online |url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/50416 |access-date=11 April 2012}} </ref> It was during this time that McEwan's India Pale Ale, the beer that was the foundation for much of the company's reputation, was first labelled Export.<ref name="oxforddnb1913" />

By the 1870s, McEwan's brewery employed 170 men and boys, and its beers were widely available in England.<ref name="Evans2013" /><ref name="University of Edinburgh Journal">{{cite book|title=University of Edinburgh Journal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Li0nAQAAIAAJ|access-date=21 March 2013|year=2005|page=214}}</ref> By 1880, the brewery site covered 12 acres.<ref name="Evans2013" /> McEwan's 80/-, a Heavy beer, was first brewed in the late nineteenth century; the shilling "/-" denotion refers to the wholesale price for a hogshead of the beer.<ref>{{cite news |title=Free can of 80/- for every reader |url=http://www.thefreelibrary.com/FREE+CAN+OF+80%2f+FOR+EVERY+READER.-a060994718 |newspaper=Daily Record (Glasgow, Scotland) |date=28 November 1997 |access-date=23 June 2012}}</ref><ref>The blog of a published beer historian. {{cite web|last=Pattison|first=Ron|title=Classic Horst|date=8 October 2011 |url=http://barclayperkins.blogspot.co.uk/2011/10/classic-horst.html|publisher=Shut Up About Barclay Perkins|access-date=19 April 2013}}</ref> In 1886, as he prepared to enter Parliament, William McEwan appointed his nephew, William Younger, as managing director of the brewery.<ref name="Evans2013" /> When the company was registered in 1889, it was worth £408,000 and had capital of £1 million; and was the largest brewery in the United Kingdom under a single owner.<ref name="oxforddnb1913"/> By the turn of the twentieth century the company had a large share of the market throughout Scotland, a 90% share of the Tyneside market, and was exporting to Scottish expatriates across the British Empire.<ref>{{cite news |last=Murral |first=Sandy |url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/3495417.stm |title=Years of brewing history ending |publisher=BBC News |date=17 February 2004 |access-date=7 May 2011}}</ref> At its peak, the brewery was producing two million barrels of beer a year, much of it for export.<ref name="oxforddnb1913" />

===Twentieth-century mergers=== thumb|left|A ''McEwan's Cavalier'' pub sign In 1907, McEwan's acquired the trade and goodwill of Alexander Melvin & Co of central Edinburgh.<ref>{{cite web |title=Records of William McEwan & Co Ltd, brewers, Edinburgh, Scotland |url=http://archiveshub.ac.uk/features/mcewans.html |publisher= University of Glasgow |access-date=14 October 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20111222184123/http://archiveshub.ac.uk/features/mcewans.html |archive-date=22 December 2011 }}</ref> By 1914, McEwan's bottled beers were distributed across the United Kingdom.<ref name="GourvishWilson2003">{{cite book| first1= Terry| last1= Gourvish| first2= Richard G.| last2= Wilson|title=The Dynamics of the Modern Brewing Industry |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=NQcVEwe0qVIC&pg=PA145 |access-date=6 March 2013|date=1 September 2003|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-0-203-44069-8 |page= 102}}</ref> In December 1930, McEwan's merged with Edinburgh rival William Younger's Brewery to form Scottish Brewers in a defensive move after the Great Depression diminished revenues.<ref name="autogenerated687">{{cite book |last=Hornsey |first=Ian Spencer |title=A History of Beer and Brewing |url=https://archive.org/details/historybeerbrewi00horn |url-access=limited |publisher=Royal Society of Chemistry |year=2003 |page=[https://archive.org/details/historybeerbrewi00horn/page/n704 687] |isbn=978-0-85404-630-0}}</ref> Each entity was initially run separately, and only certain financial and technological resources were amalgamated.<ref name="autogenerated687"/> During this period, the company became an early pioneer of container beer, largely due to its dependence on exports, particularly to the Royal Navy, where beer might be stored on board ships for up to a year.<ref>{{cite news| title= McEwan's Cone Top Cans |url= http://www.cannyscot.com/ConeTop.htm |access-date= 17 October 2012| work= Brewers' Guardian |date=October 1954}}</ref> The NAAFI continued to be an important McEwan's customer throughout the century.<ref>{{cite news |date=14 December 2001 |title=All ale the retiring hero |url=http://www.scotsman.com/business/all-ale-the-retiring-hero-1-936190 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190328043735/http://www.scotsman.com/business/companies/all-ale-the-retiring-hero-1-936190 |archive-date=28 March 2019 |access-date=17 October 2012 |work=The Scotsman}}</ref> In the early-1930s, Jardine Matheson approached the company regarding a potential brewing venture in China, but McEwan's did not welcome the threat to their export business.<ref name="Jones2000">{{cite book|last=Jones|first=Geoffrey|title=Merchants to Multinationals: British Trading Companies in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q-uCPTZMDmQC| year= 2000 |publisher= Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-829450-4|page=312}}</ref>

The company's export trade declined during and after the Second World War, and as a result, the Abbey Brewery in Edinburgh, previously the Younger's brewery, closed down in 1956 and was converted into offices.<ref>{{cite web |title=Records of McEwan–Younger, export, naval and military trade, Edinburgh, Scotland |url=http://www.archives.gla.ac.uk/sba/sbacolls/my.html |publisher= University of Glasgow |access-date=14 October 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20131215162041/http://www.archives.gla.ac.uk/sba/sbacolls/my.html |archive-date=15 December 2013 }}</ref> By the 1950s, McEwan's had become the dominant party in the McEwan Younger venture, and a full merger was undertaken in 1959.<ref>{{cite news |title=Charles Younger |newspaper=The Times |date=12 June 1995 }}</ref> Scottish Brewers continued to increase its market share in the brewing sector, doubling its output after a costly five-year programme of expansion and modernisation undertaken between 1958-63.<ref name=Keir>{{cite book| first= D |last= Keir| title= The Third Statistical Account of Scotland: The City of Edinburgh| publisher= Collins| year= 1966| page= 630}}</ref>

The company merged with Newcastle Breweries in 1960, forming Scottish & Newcastle, a group with market value of £50,000,000.<ref name="autogenerated687"/> William McEwan Younger, the son of William Younger, was the chairman and managing director.<ref name=autogenerated9>{{cite encyclopedia| first= P. E. G. |last= Balfour| title= Younger, Sir William McEwan, of Fountainbridge, baronet (1905–1992)| encyclopedia= Oxford Dictionary of National Biography| publisher= Oxford University Press| year= 2004|doi= 10.1093/ref:odnb/51204| url= http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/51204| access-date= 21 March 2014| url-access= subscription}}</ref> The company dedicated itself to the free trade, and promoted its brands to an extent not previously witnessed in the British brewing industry.<ref name=autogenerated9 /> McEwan's Export became one of the three core brands of the new company, alongside Newcastle Brown Ale and Younger's Tartan Special. Scottish & Newcastle became the dominant force in brewing across Scotland and the North of England.<ref name=autogenerated9 /> From the 1960s, the company began to style itself MacEwan's in export markets, in order to make pronunciation easier.<ref name="Brewing Review">{{cite book |title= Brewing Review| url= https://books.google.com/books?id=pVgEAQAAIAAJ| access-date= 21 March 2013| year= 1969| publisher=Brewing Publications |page=521}}</ref> The company's McEwan's Strong Ale was the highest gravity beer on general sale throughout the world.<ref name="Brewing Review" /> McEwan's Export was alternatively sold as India Pale Ale or Scotch Ale overseas.<ref name="Brewing Review" /> William McEwan Younger retired in 1970.<ref name=autogenerated9 />

The Fountain Brewery was rebuilt in 1973 and pioneered the use of computer control for the entire brewing process.<ref>{{cite book |last=Pearson |first=Lynn F. |title=British Breweries: An Architectural History |page=134}}</ref> The site had a 2 million barrel capacity, and occupied 22 acres on a new site which had formerly been occupied by a British Rubber mill.<ref name=autogenerated5 /> ''McEwan's Export'' became a nationally distributed beer by the 1970s, and was the best -selling canned beer in the United Kingdom by 1975.<ref name="Investors Chronicle">{{cite book |title= Investors Chronicle|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Uz8cAQAAMAAJ|access-date=21 March 2013|year=1973|publisher=Investors Chronicle and Stock Exchange Gazette|page=470}}</ref><ref name=autogenerated6>{{cite book |title= Investors Chronicle| url= https://books.google.com/books?id=FGQcAQAAMAAJ| access-date= 21 March 2013| year= 1975| publisher= Investors Chronicle and Stock Exchange Gazette|page=30}}</ref> McEwan's Lager was introduced in 1976 as the demand for lager increased, but it struggled to gain credibility until the "Alive and kicking" campaign was launched in 1986.<ref>{{cite news|last=Blair|first=Kay|title=McEwan's will score with cup success|newspaper=The Scotsman|date=8 May 1996}}</ref> McEwan's Export was launched in the United States in 1989.<ref name="Impact">{{cite book|title=Impact|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sSUtAQAAMAAJ|access-date=21 March 2013|date=March 1989|publisher=M.R. Shanken|page=96}}</ref> Two bottled ales were launched, McEwan's Champion Ale (7.3%) in 1997 and McEwan's Parliament Ale (5%) in 1999.<ref>{{cite news|title=Scottish courage|newspaper=Brand Strategy|date=21 May 1999}}</ref> In 2000, McEwan's had 13% of the Scottish lager market and around 40% of the Scottish ale market.<ref>{{cite news|title=Scottish Courage rolls out flagship McEwan's brand |newspaper= Marketing Magazine|date=13 April 2000}}</ref> In 2003 ''McEwan's 70/-'' was overtaken by Belhaven Best as Scotland's best-selling ale, and McEwan's Lager was discontinued.<ref>{{cite news |title=Greene King captures Belhaven for £187m |newspaper=The Guardian |date=23 August 2005 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Wheeler |first=Brian |url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3188382.stm |title=Business &#124; The death of cheap lager |publisher=BBC News |date=16 October 2003 |access-date=20 May 2012}}</ref>

===Closure of the Fountain Brewery=== thumb|The Fountain Brewery Bottling Plant, demolished in 2011 In February 2004, Scottish & Newcastle announced the closure of the Fountain Brewery. Production costs at Fountainbridge had become twice as high as those at the company's lowest-cost brewery in Tadcaster, North Yorkshire.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Leopold |first1=John |last2=Harris |first2=Lynette |title=The Strategic Managing of Human Resources |year=2009 |publisher=Financial Times/ Prentice Hall |edition=2nd |page=255 |isbn=978-0-273-71386-9}}</ref> It closed in June 2005, with the loss of 170 jobs.<ref name=autogenerated2 /> Production of McEwan's draught beers was transferred to the Caledonian Brewery with cans of ''McEwan's Export'' being produced at John Smith's Brewery in Tadcaster.<ref name="Last orders for famed Edinburgh brewery">{{cite news |last=Veitch |first=Jennifer |date=3 June 2005 |title=Last orders for famed Edinburgh brewery |url=http://heritage.scotsman.com/ingenuity.cfm?id=609522005 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070610011857/http://heritage.scotsman.com/ingenuity.cfm?id=609522005 |archive-date=10 June 2007 |access-date=18 November 2025 |newspaper=The Scotsman}}</ref> The McEwan's and Younger's brands added around 50,000 barrels to the production of the Caledonian.<ref>{{cite news |title=Only the faintest whiff of city's beer tradition left |newspaper=The Times |date=18 February 2004 |page=4}}</ref> The last regular batch of the cask-conditioned version of McEwan's 80/- was brewed in 2006 after annual production dropped below 10,000 barrels, although the beer made a brief return in June 2011 and has since been brewed seasonally by W&Y.<ref>{{cite web|title=Total Cask Brochure, June 2011 |url=http://www.waverleytbs.co.uk/Branches/WaverleyTBS/WaverleyTBS/Files/Documents/TotalCask/Total%20Cask%20June%202011%20Brochure.pdf |publisher=Waverley TBS |access-date=22 August 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120320154937/http://www.waverleytbs.co.uk/Branches/WaverleyTBS/WaverleyTBS/Files/Documents/TotalCask/Total%20Cask%20June%202011%20Brochure.pdf |archive-date=20 March 2012 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Wells & Young's Scottish ales |newspaper=Morning Advertiser |date=29 March 2012}}</ref> ''McEwan's Lager'' was reintroduced in 2009.<ref>{{cite news |title=McEwan's Lager set for Edinburgh pubs comeback |url= http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/mcewans-lager-set-for-edinburgh-pubs-1019031 |newspaper=Daily Record |date=18 April 2009 |access-date=22 August 2012}}</ref>

===Sale to Wells & Young's=== In October 2011, Heineken sold the McEwan's beer brands to Wells & Young's for around £20 million, and production of McEwan's Best Scotch and canned and bottled brands moved to Bedford.<ref>{{cite news |date=5 October 2011 |title=Cheers! McEwan's and Younger's set for new 'lease of life' after sale |url=http://www.scotsman.com/the-scotsman/scotland/cheers-mcewan-s-and-younger-s-set-for-new-lease-of-life-after-sale-1-1891651 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130923042135/http://www.scotsman.com/news/scotland/top-stories/cheers-mcewan-s-and-younger-s-set-for-new-lease-of-life-after-sale-1-1891651 |archive-date=23 September 2013 |access-date=18 November 2025 |newspaper=The Scotsman}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Scottish beer deal puts Wells and Young's into the top three|url=http://www.bedfordtoday.co.uk/news/business/local-business/scottish_beer_deal_puts_wells_and_young_s_into_the_top_three_1_3116380|access-date=22 August 2012|newspaper=Bedford Today|date=4 October 2011|archive-date=29 March 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120329105151/http://www.bedfordtoday.co.uk/news/business/local-business/scottish_beer_deal_puts_wells_and_young_s_into_the_top_three_1_3116380|url-status=dead}}</ref> The new owners vowed to reintroduce McEwan's as a cask ale brand and launch an expanded premium bottled range.<ref>{{cite news |last=Sharp |first=Tim |title=Export hopes brew for premium beer brands |url=http://www.heraldscotland.com/business/company-news/export-hopes-brew-for-premium-beer-brands.15285519 |access-date=22 August 2012|newspaper=Herald Scotland |date=5 October 2011}}</ref> Together with the Younger's brands McEwan's generated £80,000,000 of sales annually in the UK, with McEwan's the largest Wells & Young's brand.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=autogenerated3>{{cite web |title=Wells & Young's boosts premium ale category with McEwan's |url=http://www.talkingretail.com/products/product-news/wells-youngs-boosts-premium-ale-category-with-mcewans |date=23 April 2012 |publisher=TalkingRetail.com |access-date=17 October 2012}}</ref> It was the highest-selling ale brand in Scotland where it had a 20% market share.<ref name="autogenerated1">{{cite web |last1=Stiff |first1=Peter |last2=Walsh |first2=Dominic |url=https://www.thetimes.com/travel/destinations/uk-travel/scotland-travel/taste-for-scots-ales-lifts-wells-and-youngs-into-top-three-llcq3mrh0kw |publisher=The Times |date=5 October 2011 |title=Taste for Scots ales lifts Wells and Young's into top three |access-date=17 October 2012}}</ref> Like most largely pasteurised ale brands in the UK it had been in a state of managed decline.<ref>Euromonitor 2011, 47.9mn litres in 2001 to 17.6mn litres in 2010.</ref> The beers were sold predominantly in Scotland and the north of England; a small amount was exported to Italy.<ref name="autogenerated1"/> 2012 saw the launch of ''McEwan's Export'' in bottles, and a new seasonal cask-conditioned golden ale called ''McEwan's Gold''.<ref name=autogenerated3 /><ref>{{cite news |newspaper=Morning Advertiser |date=12 July 2012 |title=McEwan's goes for Gold |page=24}}</ref> In 2013, export sales to Canada were resumed, having been discontinued under Heineken.<ref name="autogenerated10">{{cite news |last=Ranscombe |first=Peter |date=18 April 2013 |title=Wells 'rejuvenates' McEwan's |url=http://www.scotsman.com/business/management/wells-rejuvenates-mcewan-s-1-2899100 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160321210045/http://www.scotsman.com/business/management/wells-rejuvenates-mcewan-s-1-2899100 |archive-date=21 March 2016 |access-date=19 November 2025 |newspaper=The Scotsman}}</ref> In April 2013, McEwan's Red was launched, aimed at younger drinkers and with the intention of expanding the brand into England.<ref name=autogenerated7 /> McEwan's beers began to be sold in France in April 2013.<ref name=autogenerated10 /> The bottled beers McEwan's ''Amber'' and ''Signature'' were launched in July 2013.

===Sale to Marston's=== In May 2017, Marston's announced that it had acquired the McEwan's brands as part of the acquisition of Charles Wells's brewing interest with cans and bottles continuing to be brewed in Bedford, England.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-39959394 |title=Charles Wells' Bedford brewery sells to Marston's for £55m |publisher=BBC News |date=18 May 2017 |access-date=8 October 2018}}</ref> In April 2020, Marston's placed its brewing business, including the McEwan's brands, into a joint venture with Carlsberg.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-05-22 |title=Brewers Carlsberg UK and Marston's announce merger |url=http://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/may/22/beer-brewers-carlsberg-and-marstons-announce-uk-merger |access-date=2022-05-28 |website=The Guardian |language=en}}</ref>

===Closure of Caledonian Brewery=== In May 2022, Heineken announced the closure of its Caledonian Brewery which contract-brewed draught McEwan's in Edinburgh. It said its own Scottish brands would be contract-brewed by Greene King's Belhaven Brewery. There was no announcement on where McEwan's draught would be brewed.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2022-05-25 |title=Edinburgh's historic Caledonian Brewery to close after 153 years |language=en-GB |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-61584103 |access-date=2022-05-28}}</ref>

==Current product range== thumb|right|McEwan's<br /> Champion Ale ;'''McEwan's 60/-''' (3.2 per cent ABV) : A beer style known in Scotland as "Light", this dark coloured beer is similar to an English mild ale. ;'''McEwan's Best Scotch''' (3.6 per cent ABV) : A beer that shares style characteristics with both mild and bitter.<ref name="autogenerated8">{{cite web |title=Our Beers |url=http://www.mcewans.co.uk/our-beers/best-scotch/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160802040306/http://www.mcewans.co.uk/our-beers/best-scotch/ |archive-date=2 August 2016 |access-date=19 November 2025 |publisher=McEwan's}}</ref> It sells 23,000 hectolitres annually.<ref name=autogenerated8 /> Sales are concentrated in the Tyneside region, and the beer is not found in Scotland.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Parties |work=Elders IXL Ltd. and Scottish & Newcastle Breweries plc; A Report on the Merger Situations |url=http://www.competition-commission.org.uk/rep_pub/reports/1989/fulltext/244c4.pdf |archive-url=http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20120119184343/http://www.competition-commission.org.uk/rep_pub/reports/1989/fulltext/244c4.pdf |archive-date=19 January 2012 |pages=18–36 |publisher=The Monopolies and Mergers Commission |access-date=17 October 2012 |url-status=usurped }}</ref> Production was moved from the Tyne Brewery in Newcastle upon Tyne to the Federation Brewery in Gateshead in 2005. The Federation Brewery was closed in 2010, and production of ''McEwan's Best Scotch'' was contracted to the Burtonwood Brewery, between Warrington and St Helens, until it moved to Bedford following the Wells & Young's takeover. ;'''McEwan's 70/-''' (3.7 per cent ABV) : Shares many characteristics with an English session bitter. ;'''McEwan's 80/-''' (4.2 per cent ABV) : A Heavy, which until 2000 was brewed to 4.5 per cent ABV.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.thefreelibrary.com/McEwan's+is+a+few+shillings+short+of+the+full+80%2F-.-a061037951 |title=McEwan's is a few shillings short of the full 80/- |newspaper=Scottish Daily Record & Sunday |publisher=Free Online Library |access-date=17 October 2012}}</ref> ;'''McEwan's Export''' (4.5 per cent ABV<ref>{{cite web |title=Age Gate |url=http://www.mcewans.co.uk/our-beers/mcewans-export/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180322130347/http://www.mcewans.co.uk/our-beers/mcewans-export/ |archive-date=22 March 2018 |access-date=19 November 2025 |publisher=McEwans}}</ref>) : The second highest selling canned premium ale in the UK.<ref name="marstons1">{{cite web |url= http://www.marstons.co.uk/docs/Premium_Bottled_Ale_Report_2013.pdf |title=Premium Bottled Ale Report 2013 |access-date=14 December 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20131215002216/http://www.marstons.co.uk/docs/Premium_Bottled_Ale_Report_2013.pdf |archive-date=15 December 2013 }}</ref> In cans, it sold over 30,000 hectolitres in 2012.<ref name="marstons1"/> In Scotland it accounts for 83 per cent of the canned premium ale market.<ref>{{cite web |title=New price mark pack for McEwan's |url=http://www.talkingretail.com/products/product-news/new-price-mark-pack-for-mcewan%E2%80%99s |access-date=17 October 2012 |publisher=TalkingRetail.com |date=21 September 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120929045444/http://www.talkingretail.com/products/product-news/new-price-mark-pack-for-mcewan%E2%80%99s |archive-date=29 September 2012}}</ref> Sometimes sold as ''McEwan's India Pale Ale'' in overseas markets. ;'''McEwan's Champion Ale''' (7.3 per cent ABV) : A Burton or Edinburgh ale, a style known locally as "Wee Heavy". Available across the United Kingdom in 500ml bottles, it is one of the top twenty highest selling bottled ales, selling around 7,000 hectolitres in 2012.<ref name="marstons1"/> A stronger version is sold as ''McEwan's Scotch Ale'' in export markets.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://zythophile.wordpress.com/2007/10/08/come-back-for-the-burtons/ |title=Come-back for the Burtons |website= Zythophile.wordpress.com |first= Martyn |last= Cornell|date= 8 October 2007 |access-date=7 May 2011}} (blog of a noted beer historian)</ref>{{efn|Historically, various McEwan's products have been sold under the name "McEwan's Scotch Ale'", although most recently this has been an 8 per cent version of Champion Ale.}} ;'''McEwan's Lager''' (3.6 per cent ABV) ;'''McEwan's Red''' (3.6 per cent ABV) : An ale with a reddish tinge introduced in 2013.<ref name=autogenerated7 />

==Advertising== thumb|right|120px|McEwan's Scotch Ale (export), with a label used until 2010 Throughout the Victorian period, and into the twentieth century, McEwan's drew heavily from imagery of the British Empire in its branding. The Laughing Cavalier mascot was introduced to the McEwan's brand in the 1930s. Based on the well-known Frans Hals painting,<ref>{{cite news |url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_pictures/7410351.stm |publisher=BBC News |title=In Pictures: Scottish Brewing Archive |date=20 May 2008 |access-date=12 October 2012}}</ref> it has been used extensively in advertisements and branding ever since. During the 1960s, and 1970s, McEwan's was advertised as "The best buy in beer".

From the 1970s until the early 1990s ''McEwan's Best Scotch'' was marketed in the North East of England as "The one you've got to come back for".<ref name="Marketing">{{cite book|title=Marketing|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_G3yAAAAMAAJ|access-date=17 October 2012|year=1978|page=71}}</ref>

The "alive and kicking" campaign for ''McEwan's Lager'' from 1986 until 1997 saw some of the most memorable and radical television advertisements yet produced at the time.<ref>{{cite news|last=Blair|first=Kay|title=McEwan's guns for rival with friendly campaign|newspaper=The Scotsman|date=26 February 1997}}</ref>

===Sponsorship=== During the 1980s and 1990s, McEwan's sponsored six football clubs and two rugby league clubs: * Carlisle United&nbsp;– 1982 to 1988 (''McEwan's Younger'')<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.historicalkits.co.uk/Carlisle_United/Carlisle_United.htm |title=Carlisle United |work= Historicalkits.co.uk |access-date=7 May 2011}}</ref> * Darlington&nbsp;– 1984 to 1987<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.historicalkits.co.uk/Darlington/Darlington.htm |title= Darlington| work= Historicalkits.co.uk |access-date=7 May 2011}}</ref> * Rangers&nbsp;– 1987 to 1999 (''McEwan's Lager'')<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.historicalkits.co.uk/Scottish_Football_League/Rangers/Rangers.htm |title=Rangers |work= Historicalkits.co.uk |date=2 January 1939 |access-date=7 May 2011}}</ref> * Notts County&nbsp;– 1991 to 1994 (away kit only)<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.historicalkits.co.uk/Notts_County/Notts_County.htm |title=Notts County |work= Historicalkits.co.uk |date= 10 February 2010 |access-date=7 May 2011}}</ref> * Blackburn Rovers&nbsp;– 1991 to 1995<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.historicalkits.co.uk/Blackburn_Rovers/Blackburn_Rovers.htm |title=Blackburn Rovers |website= Historicalkits.co.uk |access-date=7 May 2011}}</ref> * St Helens R.F.C.&nbsp;– 1991 to 1999<ref name="Saints Heritage Society">{{cite web |url=http://www.saints.org.uk/saints.org.uk/home/viewpage.php |publisher=Saints Heritage Society |website=saints.org.uk |title=General Pages and Shirt Tales |access-date=20 October 2010 |archive-date=6 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231006220830/http://www.saints.org.uk/saints.org.uk/home/viewpage.php |url-status=dead }}</ref> * Wakefield Trinity Wildcats&nbsp;– 1993 to 1997 * Newcastle United&nbsp;– 1991 to 1996 (away kit only)<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.historicalkits.co.uk/Newcastle_United/Newcastle_United-change-kits.html |title=Newcastle United Change Kits |work=Historicalkits.co.uk |date=27 January 1951 |access-date=7 May 2011}}</ref>

==See also== {{portal|Companies}}

* Beer in Scotland

==References== {{notelist|notes=}}

===Citations=== {{reflist|30em}}

{{Good article}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:McEwen's]}} Category:Beer brands of Scotland Category:1856 establishments in Scotland