Newcastle Brown Ale is a famous brand of dark brown beer. It has been brewed in Newcastle upon Tyne since 1927 by Newcastle Breweries (now a part of Scottish and Newcastle), and has been granted Protected Geographical Indication status by the EU. However, in April 2004, Scottish and Newcastle announced that they would be closing the Tyne Brewery in 2005 and moving production across the river to Dunston Federation Brewery in Gateshead. As such they will apply to the EU to have the PGI status revoked.

The blue star logo has adorned Newcastle Brown Ale's label since its inception in 1927. The five points of the star represent the five founding breweries of Newcastle, the site of Britain's first commercial breweries.

In Newcastle, the beer is often called 'Dog' (or simply 'Broon'). The 'Dog' name comes from the euphemism "I'm going to walk the dog" - meaning "I'm going to the pub" - and was further popularised by a 1980s advertising campaign.

Unlike many British beers Newcastle Brown Ale is always served cold, ideally from a bottle, and drunk from a half-pint or Wellington glass so as to minimise warming, with a pronounced frothy head (never flat).

The beer was widely unavailable in southern and midland England until a successful promotional campaign in the late 1980s, but is now one of the country's leading bottled ales.

Like the better-known Guinness brands, Newcastle has been promoted with some success in the United States and is fairly well available in bottles and on draught.

External links

• Official website.