On this Labor Day weekend, finding cause to relax with a beer amongst family or friends should hardly be a daunting task. Summer – or at least the summer state of mind – may be fading, but beaches and barbecues have one last, glorious gasp left in them.
Should you need some prodding, some flicker of inspiration, know that on this very day in 1720, the English brewer Samuel Whitbread was born in the village of Cardington in Bedfordshire, England. Coming from an old family – with lineage in Bedfordshire dating back to at least 1314 according to the Bedfordshire Historical Records Society – Whitbread became a brewer’s apprentice at age 14. By the time he was 22, Whitbread ventured out on his own, partnering with Thomas Shewell to form what would eventually become the Whitbread & Co. brewery.
Whitbread bought out his partner in 1765, and largely on the success of his brewery – which by that time was producing in excess of 64,000 barrels of beer per year, second in London only to Calvert and Company – was elected to Parliament in 1768. The brewer was the first in a line of Whitbreads (including his son, Samuel II) to represent Bedford in Parliament for more than a century – continuously for all but a brief stretch (1835-1852) from 1768-1895.
Those with time on their hands and an interest in genealogy may be curious do decipher how it is that Whitbread’s descendants are also listed as descendants of William the Conqueror. For the rest of us, the genealogy of Whitbread’s brewery is complicated enough. While Whitbread & Co. spent the latter part of the 20th century aggressively acquiring regional breweries (including Boddington’s) and expanding brewing operations (becoming a contract-brewer for Heineken in the late ‘60s), the company also began expanding into restaurants, hotels, and other businesses.
By 2000, with no members of the Whitbread family any longer serving on the board of directors, the company sold its brewing operations to Interbrew. Interbrew, of course, is now InBev. Soon, it appears, to be Anheuser-Busch InBev. A brewing behemoth with a massive family of beers including Beck’s and Brahma, Stella Artois and Staropramen, and countless others.
Meanwhile, that Whitbread Pale Ale sitting on the shelf of your local purveyor of fine brews? A perfectly enjoyable malty libation, though a far cry from the stouts and porters that vaulted Whitbread to early success. Not, however, in the InBev family. The name is licensed.
Is it even British? Check the label. And enjoy on this fine weekend for a beer. See you next Tuesday.
