At last some good news in a beer world beset by brewery and pub closures.

One of Britain’s major brewers and pub retailers, Greene King, is investing £40 million on a new green field site in Suffolk and it will have a strong commitment to real ale.

With 2,600 pubs, Greene King is a powerful presence on the beer scene. As well as its main base in Bury St Edmunds, it also owns the Belhaven Brewery in Dunbar, Scotland, and its beers have a national reach.

Chief Executive Nick Mackenzie, who has such major brands as Greene King IPA, Abbot Ale and Old Speckled Hen in his armoury, says: “We still sell a very significant amount of traditional cask ale. We are the No One cask ale group in the UK, with just shy of a 14 per cent share of the cask sector.

“A big part of why we’re continuing with brewing is our commitment to those beers that are synonymous with Greene King.”

The planned new brewery close to Bury St Edmunds won’t come into production until 2027 but the commitment to traditional ales has been underscored by the launch of two new beers, Old Master Hen and Old Midnight Hen. Master Hen is a strong, seven per cent golden ale, while

Midnight Hen, 4.2 per cent, is joining the rush among brewers to cash in on the remarkable revival of stout.

They join a range of beers in the Speckled Hen family. The main beer, Old Speckled Hen, was first brewed in 1979 by the Morland Brewery in Abingdon to mark the 50th anniversary of the MG car company, which was also based in the Oxfordshire town.

MG had designed a prototype car that never went into production. It had been left in a side room and over the years had become covered in streaks of paint.

The workers gave it the nickname of the Old Speckled ‘Un and Morland used that for the anniversary beer that soon became its major brand.

When Morland closed in 2000 its beers were acquired by Greene King and Old Speckled Hen has become a major brand in its portfolio.

It’s given its name to the Speckled Hen pub on Hatfield Road, formerly the Bunch of Cherries.

Old Master Hen is an annual vintage and has been launched this year in time for Father’s Day. It comes in a handsome box and the beer has been designed by Greene King’s master brewer, Jack Palmer.

Jack has used all English ingredients for the beer, brewed with pale, amber and crystal malt and hopped with Bramling Cross, First Gold, Fuggles and Goldings varieties.

It has a rich biscuit malt aroma balanced by spicy hops, caramel and butterscotch. Biscuit malt dominates the palate but hop bitterness grows with continuing notes of caramel and butterscotch. The finish is bittersweet with spicy hops balancing malt, caramel and toffee.

The beer is bottle conditioned with active yeast and will improve with age.

Old Midnight Hen uses heavily roasted malts to achieve its stout-like appearance. It has a creamy and fluffy head with a big hit of coffee and chocolate on the aroma, with sultana and raisin fruit and spicy hops.

Hops build on the palate balancing the burnt fruit notes with roasted grain and continuing coffee and chocolate notes. The finish is bittersweet with spicy hops, dark fruit, roasted malt, coffee and chocolate.

Both beers will be available in leading supermarkets with Morrison’s offering Old Master Hen and the Co-Op serving Midnight Hen. Both beers can be bought from the Greene King online shop: https://shop.greeneking.co.uk.

And if you’ve got an old MG in the garage, now’s the time to give it a run.