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Iconic ’70s beer makes a comeback

31 October 2024 By Sarah Neish

A cult favourite beer, which was discontinued in 2003, has returned to select pubs across the UK on tap. But what is it, and where can you get your hands on a pint?

A popular beer that hasn’t been seen inside British pubs for 30 years is about to make a reappearance to the hand pumps, but it won’t be forever.

First brewed in 1876 as an Indian Pale Ale (IPA), Double Diamond was a smash hit, regularly selling more than 50million pints in a year. It was one of the UK’s biggest selling pints throughout the 1950s through to the 1970s, but the pale ale fell out of favour in the 1980s and by the 2000s had largely been discontinued in pubs, being scrapped for good in 2003.

Now Allsopp’s Brewery is reintroducing it, with a slightly tweaked recipe. The new version takes inspiration from the original 1922 release but has a new recipe that uses Citra, Columbus and Mosaic hops, and with an ABV of 3.8%.

“This sessionable Pale Ale is the next iteration of Double Diamond and we hope will find a place in the affections of new drinkers, as well as those that haven’t tasted it in 30 years,” said James Allsopp, who after finding a ledger containing original Allsopp recipes believed these beers should not be consigned to history books.

“Double Diamond is our A-list star, a beer so popular it was up in lights on Piccadilly Circus, so famous the government considered nationalising it, a beer that worked such wonders it sold 50 million pints a year,” added Allsopp.

Its popular TV slogans included: “Double Diamond works wonders” and “You’re only here for the beer”.

Where to drink a pint of Double Diamond

Will your local be stocking it? For a full list of where you can get your hands on a pint of Double Diamond now, see below. Allsopp’s has revealed it will be expanding the ale’s distribution, and db will be updating the list as and when new stockists are announced.