Originally Posted by
LapLap
Before I was drinking age, I remember it being used a lot in British comedy sketches. It was the sort of beer English holiday makers travelling on charter flights on package tours to Spanish resorts would demand. Pubs that provided it proved very popular with these visitors. Otherwise they'd complain for the entire trip how they couldn't get hold of it.
That sounds plausible based on what I remember. Eric Idle would go on and on about Watney's bleeding Red Barrel. I think he was complaining about British tourists who wanted to surround themselves with the familiar while on vacation in foreign parts.