Newcastle Brown Ale is a brown ale, originally produced in Newcastle upon Tyne, but now brewed by Heineken at the John Smith's Brewery in Tadcaster, North Yorkshire. Launched in 1927 by Colonel Jim Porter after three years of development, the 1960 merger of Newcastle Breweries with Scottish Brewers afforded the beer national distribution and sales peaked in the United Kingdom during the early 1970s. The brand underwent a resurgence in the late 1980s and early 1990s with student unions selling the brand. By the late 1990s, the beer was the most widely distributed alcoholic product in the UK. By the 2000s, the majority of sales were in the United States, although it still sells 100 million bottles annually in the UK. In 2005, brewing moved from Newcastle to Dunston, Tyne and Wear, and in 201