Newcastle Brown Ale and ale in the Federation Brewery site in Dunston, Gateshead, which was to pass to them with their £7.2m purchase of the Federation Brewery. The purchase and consolidation at Dunston created the new brewing company, Newcastle Federation Breweries. The last production run of Brown Ale in Newcastle came off the Tyne Brewery line in May 2005. Pre-production trial brews were conducted at Dunston to ensure no change occurred in its taste after the move. The Tyne Brewery site was bought by a consortium of Newcastle University, Newcastle City Council, and the regional development agency One NorthEast, as part of the
Old ale secondary fermentation with brettanomyces yeast which was present either in the pitching yeast or in the wooden equipment. Because of the time required for the aging process, some investors would buy mild ale from brewers, age it into old ale, and sell it at the higher price. Eventually, brewers began to keep some beer behind at the brewery, age it themselves and sell it to the pubs. In some cases old ale was a blend of young and old. The "stock ale" was the brewery's very aged ale and was used to inject an "old" quality, and perhaps acidity to