WHEN Scottish and Newcastle went to the European Union in 1996 to beg for protection of the "One and Only" Newcastle Brown Ale, it was to safeguard a regional treasure.

Champagne, Parma ham, Wensleydale cheese and Cornish pasties have all, at one stage or another, similarly sought the sanctity of the official Protective Geographical Indicator - a badge of honour that stops impostors flooding the market with cheaper replicas.

Regular "Broon" drinkers and pub traditionalists would not entertain replacements, and that paternal nature has led to the idiosyncrasies associated with Newcastle Brown Ale.

Packaged in a large bottle and served accompanied by a small glass - it is probably the only half pint you are ever likely to see in any self-respecting Geordie's hand.

Connoisseurs have it that Brown Ale could never be served in a pint pot, it's flavour and enjoyment being enhanced by regularly topping up the smaller glass to maintain a bubbly head.

Such was its appeal, the brew became synonymous with an evening out.

Brown Ale earned the nickname "dog" as patrons told their partners they were "nipping out to walk the dog", a euphemism for popping out to the pub for a pint.

Newcastle Brown Ale, branded in merchandising as the "One and Only" has since grown in popularity and is exported to 40 countries worldwide.

The brand's biggest markets are the UK, and in the US, where it is one of the fastest growing imported beers with annual growth in excess of 12 per cent.

And it is because of this popularity that few would have considered that S&N would then send it across the river less than a decade after applying for the original protective licence.

But Newcastle's loss has become Gateshead's gain and the merry-go-round of brewing on the Tyne has continued.

John Barras started the region's commercial brewing legacy in 1770 with his original company on the south side of the Tyne.

More than a century later, he switched production to the present day Tyne Brewery site on the Newcastle side of the river, carrying with him the foundation stone from the original brewery.

As the Barras empire grew, he took on board four smaller breweries from around the region, creating Newcastle Breweries Ltd - a move which would later see the creation of the famous Blue Star, with each point representing the five original brewing houses.

It was not until after the First World War that the Federation brewery was founded as a means of supplying cheap beer to workingmen's clubs.

A total of 13 organisations joined forces to brew their own beer and, until yesterday's announcement, that figure had grown to 303 member clubs.

Initially, the brewery was located in close proximity to the Tyne Brewery's current site in Newcastle, but in 1979 a new £18m facility was built across the Tyne in Dunston.

Stakeholders revelled in the organisation's independence, as the only brewing enterprise in the country to be run on a co-operative basis, and its order list stretched to include being the official supplier to the House of Commons for more than four decades.

Now that independence is lost.

Those drinkers who remain loyal to the brew will eye with a touch of irony the events of yesterday.

How surprising that the brewing heritage of Barras and The Fed have been finally tied together, and how apt that this should take place as a new entente cordiale sweeps NewcastleGateshead.