Editing John Smith's Brewery (section)

===1970–present: Courage takeover and the growth of John Smith's Bitter===
[[File:John Smith's Brewery, Tadcaster.jpg|thumb|left|William Smith's 1884 brewery, Tadcaster]]
In October 1970, Courage purchased John Smith's in a [[friendly takeover]] which valued the company at £40&nbsp;million (equivalent to £{{Inflation|UK|40|1970}}&nbsp;million in {{Inflation/year|UK}}).{{inflation-fn|UK}}<ref name=autogenerated3 /> By this time John Smith's owned around 1,800 licensed premises throughout the north of England, and as far south as Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire and parts of Cambridgeshire and Shropshire.<ref name=autogenerated3 /> The merged company held [[asset]]s worth £137 million.<ref name=guardian>{{cite news|last=McLachlan|first=Sandy|title=Courage bids £34m for John Smith's|newspaper=The Guardian|date=11 July 1970}}</ref> By combining Courage's strength in the South of England, and John Smith's in the North, a national brewing company was created.<ref>"Courage." Times [London, England] 18 May 1971: 19. The Times Digital Archive. Web. 5 March 2014.</ref> John Smith's bottled Magnet Pale Ale was selected for nationwide distribution across the group, and the takeover facilitated the wider distribution of Courage brands such as Tavern Keg.<ref name="guardian"/>

The Tadcaster brewery was substantially redeveloped and expanded throughout 1974.<ref name=modern>{{cite journal|last1=Dixon|first1=C.|title=The Changing Structure of the British Brewing Industry|journal=Geography|date=April 1978|volume=63|issue=2|pages=108–113|doi=10.1080/20436564.1978.12219474 |jstor=40568891}}</ref> Courage closed down the Barnsley brewery in 1976 with the loss of 200 jobs.<ref name=ft>{{cite news|title=The Taste of Economics in Your Beer|newspaper=Financial Times|date=17 August 1974}}</ref> Barnsley Bitter was replaced by John Smith's bitter.<ref name=ft/> Courage argued that modernisation of the Barnsley site would have required "massive" investment.<ref name=barnsleybitter>{{cite news|last1=Kershaw|first1=Ronald|title=The bitter truth at Barnsley Brewery|work=The Times|date=22 February 1973}}</ref> It was reported in ''The Times'' that landlords were generally indifferent to the change, as the taste profiles of John Smith's bitter and Barnsley bitter were similar.<ref name="barnsleybitter"/>

After successful test marketing from 1974, John Smith's Bitter was distributed in the South of England from 1979 onwards, accompanied by an extensive marketing budget.<ref>''The Times'', Thursday 5 December 1974 p.23</ref><ref name="yep">''Yorkshire Evening Post'', 10 November 2004 We 'ave it!</ref> As research by Courage indicated that Southern drinkers considered Yorkshire bitter to be superior, the beer was sold there under the name John Smith's Yorkshire Bitter.<ref name=autogenerated9>{{cite news|title=Advertising in the 80s: Financial Times Survey: Yorkshire Double Act Pays Off|newspaper=Financial Times|date=29 October 1982}}</ref> Sales of the beer doubled in 1981 owing to the increase in free trade outlets in the South stocking the beer.<ref name=autogenerated8>"Yorkshire Double Act Pays off", ''Financial Times'', 29 October 1982, p.19. ''Financial Times. Web''. 19 August 2011.</ref> By 1982 it was the highest selling Courage brand and the highest selling canned bitter in the United Kingdom.<ref name=autogenerated9 /><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.hertsale.org.uk/newsletter/HN11.PDF |title=The Campaign for Real Ale : Hertforshire Letter |date=December 1978 |website=Hertsale.org.uk |access-date=25 September 2016 }}{{dead link|date=November 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

In 1982, the John Smith's brands included Yorkshire Bitter, Magnet Pale Ale, Export Pale, Sweet Stout, Double Brown and Magnet Old.<ref name=bmj>{{cite journal|last1=Smith|first1=Richard|title=The politics of alcohol|journal=British Medical Journal|date=8 May 1982|volume=284|issue=6326|pages=1392–5|pmc=1498300|pmid=6803990|doi=10.1136/bmj.284.6326.1392}}</ref> In December 1983, John Smith's Cask (3.8% [[ABV]]) was re-introduced, seven years after it had been phased out.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.huntscamra2.org.uk/news/ot137-years-ago.asp |title=Huntingdonshire CAMRA, Opening Times 137 |work=huntscamra2.org.uk |access-date=19 September 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140106182458/http://www.huntscamra2.org.uk/news/ot137-years-ago.asp |archive-date= 6 January 2014 }}</ref> By June 1985, John Smith's produced {{convert|1.7|e6hl|e6impbbl|abbr=off}} of beer annually.<ref name=coal>{{cite news|title=NCB|work=The Times|date=24 June 1985}}</ref> In November that year, a new brewhouse was opened, at the cost of £5 million.<ref name=harris>{{cite news|last1=Harris|first1=Derek|title=Australia brews change for beerage|work=The Times|date=19 September 1986}}</ref> Production of [[Foster's Lager|Foster's lager]] began in 1987.<ref name=gibbs>{{cite news|last1=Gibbs|first1=Geoffrey|title=Courage deal gives extra strength to Mansfield|work=The Guardian|date=1 December 1987}}</ref>

In 1993, John Smith's Extra Smooth was launched in cans.<ref>[http://www.johnsmiths.co.uk/brands/extra-smooth.html Official John Smith's Website] Official John Smith's Website</ref> It was introduced in kegs in February 1995, and distributed to 10,000 pubs and venues.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.marketingweek.com/1995/02/03/courage-unveils-extra-smooth-keg-bitter/|title=Courage unveils Extra Smooth keg bitter|first=Marketing|last=Week|work=marketingweek.com|date=3 February 1995 |access-date=19 September 2016}}</ref> It is a [[nitrogen]]ated version of the pasteurised beer, which was renamed to John Smith's Original in order to differentiate the two products.

In 2005, Scottish & Newcastle claimed that John Smith's was available in 40,000 outlets across the United Kingdom.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sportsguidelimited.com/PDFs/js_grand_national_guide.pdf |title=The John Smith's Grand National Information Guide 2005 |access-date=13 September 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060507233728/http://www.sportsguidelimited.com/PDFs/js_grand_national_guide.pdf |archive-date=7 May 2006 }}</ref> In 2007, Scottish & Newcastle moved production of John Smith's Cask from Tadcaster to [[Burtonwood]] near Warrington, and production of John Smith's Magnet to [[Camerons Brewery]] of [[Hartlepool]]. In 2008 three limited edition beers were released to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the brewery.<ref>{{cite news|title=Right track for Winner's Tipple|url=http://www.morningadvertiser.co.uk/Drinks-Brands-News/Right-track-for-Winner-s-Tipple|access-date=3 September 2012|newspaper=Morning Advertiser|date=21 February 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|first=Gemma |last=Charles |url=http://www.marketingmagazine.co.uk/news/840270/ |title=John Smith's launches 'Finest Hour' ale to mark RAF anniversary |publisher=Marketing magazine |date=19 August 2008 |access-date=3 September 2012}}</ref> In 2010 Heineken discontinued production of cask conditioned John Smith's Magnet, although it remains available in kegs.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.beer-pages.com/2010/01/magnet-loses-its-pulling-power.html |title=Beer Blog with Roger Protz: Magnet loses its pulling power |publisher=Beer-pages.com |date=21 January 2010 |access-date=3 September 2012}}</ref> By 2011, production of John Smith's Cask had moved to Cameron's. As of 2012, John Smith's is the sixth highest selling beer brand in the [[United Kingdom]] and the highest selling bitter in the world.<ref name=autogenerated1/> From February 2013, John Smith's Extra Smooth and Original were reduced from 3.8 to 3.6% ABV.<ref name="autogenerated4">{{cite web|url=http://news.sky.com/story/1038421/john-smiths-brewer-denies-tax-saving-claims|title=Brewer Denies Weakening Bitter To Save Tax|work=sky.com|access-date=19 September 2016}}</ref> According to Heineken, the decision was taken in order to bring the product in line with the strength of its major competitors such as Tetley, Boddingtons and Worthington.<ref name="autogenerated4"/>