IT’S A DOUBLE MAX SELL-OUT

The return of Double Maxim has proved a huge success with drinkers in Sunderland who have shown they can’t get enough of the former Vaux favourite.

The beer was relaunched in the Borough pub, and customers got through 120 cases – or 1,440 bottles – during its comeback last weekend.

Demand was so high that the first batch of Double Maxim ran out by Saturday, leaving bosses at the pub frantically sending out for more.

It massively outstripped sales of rival beer Newcastle Brown Ale, which only sells about two cases in the pub each weekend.

Borough manager Shaun Carroll says the huge demand has continued throughout the week.

He said: “People are over the moon to see it back. It was always very popular. It was a sad day when they stopped making Double Maxim because it was right at the heart of the Vaux tradition.

“I thought we would have enough to get us through the weekend but we ran out on Saturday night. A lot of people are happy with it. They’re saying it tastes more or less the same but isn’t as gassy. They say it’s a lot smoother and goes down a lot easier. It will go down well with the football supporters on matchdays.”

Double Maxim was saved from the scrapheap by two former Vaux directors Mark Anderson and Doug Trotman, who were part of the team that tried to buy the Sunderland brewery. They are delighted at success of the beer’s return.

Mr Trotman said: “It’s great news. Everybody has been really supportive and we’ve had a really good reaction. Double Maxim has always been one of the big beer brands in the North East and this shows how much people have missed it, and how well respected it was.

“We were very hopeful that it would do well because it’s very difficult as a small business to get everyone to support you. Now we’re going to concentrate on getting the beer in as many places as possible.”

The pair have set up the double Maxim Beer Company on Wearside and have recruited the expertise of Vaux head brewer Jim Murray.

The beer is set to make a welcome return to ex-Vaux pubs next week, after negotiations were held with new owners Pubmaster and Enterprise Inns.

A string of major breweries has agreed to stock Double Maxim, and the beer will also appear in Safeway stores in the North East from November 5.

The beer is now being brewed at the Robinson’s brewery in Stockport, which was chosen because its water is almost identical to Vaux’s. It has taken brewers nine months to perfect the Double Maxim taste.
The beer was originally launched as Vaux’s Maxim Ale in 1091 to celebrate Major Ernest Vaux’s return from the Boar War.

The new millennium-style Double Maxim has a see-through bottle, replacing the old brown bottle, and bears the slogan “all flavour no flannel”. The name has also been streamlined, with the accent on Maxim.