The Tale Of Tennent’s
A new £1m visitor centre raises a glass to the fascinating history of the famous lager – and 500 years of brewing at its Glasgow home
THERE are few more recognisable brands in Scotland, and beyond, than the red T of Tennent’s Lager. You’d be forgiven for thinking it was the invention of a bright, young ad executive in the 1960s.
In fact, The Tennent’s Story, a new £1m state-of-theart visitor centre in Glasgow’s east end, reveals that the famous red T was first registered legally back in 1876.
Proving there is nothing new under the sun, this red letter had been used commercially since 1740 when the Drygate Brewery, under founders Hugh and Robert Tennent, expanded to sell its beers to retail premises.
Today, Tennent’s Lager is the most famous beer associated with the brewery, which sends its distinctive hoppy aroma into noses all over the country.
As you quickly realise, once immersed in The Tennent’s Story, Tennent’s Lager was a latecomer to the party. It was launched after a young Hugh Tennent – great-great grandson of co-founder Hugh Tennent – discovered pilsner-style beer on a tour of Bavaria.
Young Hugh returned to Glasgow to pioneer Tennent’s Lager in 1885, believed to be the UK’S first lager. This special brew wasn’t received well by the press, with one newspaper calling it “a madman’s dream”.
By 1893, however, it had won the top award at the Chicago World’s Fair. It went on to become the world’s first canned, draught and keg lager. Tennent’s Lager now makes up six of every 10 pints poured in Scotland. It even has vegan and gluten-free varieties, making up more than 15 types around the world of which more than 210 million pints are sold annually.
Brewing began in this part of Glasgow in 1556 when beer was first made on the Molendinar Burn, near Tennent’s current home. There was no registered company until 1740, however, when brothers Hugh and Robert opened H&R Tennent at the Drygate Brewery site. It became J&R Tennent when Hugh’s children, John and Robert, took over in 1769 and then expanded to the Wellpark Brewery site we know today. By 1860, J&R Tennent’s ale was the world’s biggest bottled beer export.
Various artefacts are gathered from the first days of brewing at Wellpark dating back to 1556 right up to the present day. Motion capture animations have been created by design teams at Glasgow School of Art and include Glasgow’s patron saint, St Mungo, describing the early days of brewing in this part of Glasgow. Elsewhere “Young” Hugh Tennent talks of his battle to tempt beer drinkers with his newfangled lager.
One of the most intriguing items is a 150-year-old bottle of stout, which is one of Britain’s oldest beers. It was found by Australian diver Jim Anderson off the coast of Melbourne, in all likelihood the last wreckage found from a clipper called The Light Of The Age which sank on January 16, 1868, on a voyage from Liverpool.
It is said that at Christmas in 1745 Bonnie Prince Charlie and his men stopped at the brewery for refreshment on their long march north to Culloden, while
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