Ballantine Brewery - Specialty Products

Specialty Products

Through the years Ballantine offered a range of products in addition to its flagship Ale and Lager; other specialties included a Porter; a Brown Stout; a dark lager; and a Bock beer. Also in regular production was a now legendary and very highly regarded world-class India Pale Ale (an intensely bitter and aromatic brew which, like the Brown Stout, was aged 1 year in wood prior to bottling).

Also of note was a special Burton Ale (which was aged from 10–20 years in wood prior to bottling). The Burton Ale was never a commercially sold product, rather, it was a special strong brew in the barleywine style which was given as a gift at Christmas to Ballantine distributors and VIPs. Surviving unopened bottles are still bought, sold and traded to this day among collectors, more than 60 years after being brewed. Because of the long aging and generous hopping as well as an ABV content comparable to barleywines, the beer had remarkable keeping qualities. Still, it could be argued that since the beer was already long aged prior to bottling, it was probably already at its peak primewhen finally bottled. Reports of modern day tastings indicate that properly handled vintage bottles of this unique beer can still yield a complex (though somewhat faded) taste experience.