beer in Sussex
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Beer in Sussex is beer produced in the historic county of Sussex in England, East Sussex and
West Sussex West Sussex is a county in South East England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the shire districts of Adur, Arun, Chichester, Horsham, and Mid Sussex, and the boroughs of Crawley and Worthing. Covering an ...
. .


History


Medieval period

Ale was known to have been brewed by monks at the Hallend roundabout
Lewes Priory Lewes Priory is a part-demolished medieval Cluniac priory in Lewes, East Sussex in the United Kingdom. The ruins have been designated a Grade I listed building. History The Priory of St Pancras was the first Cluniac house in England and h ...
as the water was too contaminated to drink. The Normans introduced cider to Sussex in the 11th century. Nevertheless in the late 14th and early 15th centuries it is recorded that even in regions with a cider drinking history such as Sussex, ale was a more popular drink than cider. From the late 14th century hopped beer was being imported into
Winchelsea Winchelsea () is a small town in the non-metropolitan county of East Sussex, within the historic county of Sussex, England, located between the High Weald and the Romney Marsh, approximately south west of Rye and north east of Hastings. The ...
. The first recorded hopped beer in Sussex and one of the first in England arrived at
Winchelsea Winchelsea () is a small town in the non-metropolitan county of East Sussex, within the historic county of Sussex, England, located between the High Weald and the Romney Marsh, approximately south west of Rye and north east of Hastings. The ...
from the
Low Countries The term Low Countries, also known as the Low Lands ( nl, de Lage Landen, french: les Pays-Bas, lb, déi Niddereg Lännereien) and historically called the Netherlands ( nl, de Nederlanden), Flanders, or Belgica, is a coastal lowland region in N ...
in 1400. At this time ale produced in the countryside was typically weak and flat and quickly deteriorated. Adding hops instead of spices produced a drink that would last longer and which was favoured by some drinkers. It is recorded that in 1426-27 beer was being bought for Sir Thomas Etchingham and workers that he employed. Hops were being imported into Sussex and since no manufactured beer was being imported, beer must have been manufactured locally in Sussex, usually by foreign residents. In 1460 hopped beer was being bought in Rye. By the 1490s records from the
leet Leet (or "1337"), also known as eleet or leetspeak, is a system of modified spellings used primarily on the Internet. It often uses character replacements in ways that play on the similarity of their glyphs via reflection or other resemblance. ...
and
rape Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual penetration carried out against a person without their consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or ...
courts show hopped beer was being sold at Brede (at the time near the coast),
Alfriston Alfriston is a village and civil parish in the East Sussex district of Wealden, England. The village lies in the valley of the River Cuckmere, about four miles (6 km) north-east of Seaford and south of the main A27 trunk road and part ...
(on the South Downs) and at Laughton and Waldron in the Weald. By 1500 "beer was being sold almost everywhere" in the county. This was due to Sussex's ties with the
Low Countries The term Low Countries, also known as the Low Lands ( nl, de Lage Landen, french: les Pays-Bas, lb, déi Niddereg Lännereien) and historically called the Netherlands ( nl, de Nederlanden), Flanders, or Belgica, is a coastal lowland region in N ...
; in many English villages outside Sussex no hopped beer was sold well into the 16th century and later. Henry Stanton was accused in Crawley in 1602 of stealing nutmeg and cinnamon, the spices are likely to have been to flavour hopped beer rather than unhopped ale. Sussex's oldest
public house A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and wa ...
s date from the medieval period including the Rose & Crown at
Fletching Fletching is the fin-shaped aerodynamic stabilization device attached on arrows, bolts, darts, or javelins, and are typically made from light semi-flexible materials such as feathers or bark. Each piece of such fin is a fletch, also known as a ...
(c 1150, mostly rebuilt 17th century), the Mermaid Inn at Rye (1156, rebuilt 1420), the George & Dragon at
Houghton Houghton may refer to: Places Australia * Houghton, South Australia, a town near Adelaide * Houghton Highway, the longest bridge in Australia, between Redcliffe and Brisbane in Queensland * Houghton Island (Queensland) Canada *Houghton Township, ...
(1276), the Olde Bell at Rye (1390), the George at
Alfriston Alfriston is a village and civil parish in the East Sussex district of Wealden, England. The village lies in the valley of the River Cuckmere, about four miles (6 km) north-east of Seaford and south of the main A27 trunk road and part ...
(first licensed 1397), the Blackboys Inn at Blackboys in the parish of
Framfield Framfield is a village and civil parish in the Wealden District of East Sussex, England. The village is located two miles (3 km) east of Uckfield; the settlements of Blackboys, Palehouse and Halland form part of the parish area of 6,700&nb ...
(14th century), the Seven Stars, Robertsbridge (14th century), the Spread Eagle,
Midhurst Midhurst () is a market town, parish and civil parish in West Sussex, England. It lies on the River Rother inland from the English Channel, and north of the county town of Chichester. The name Midhurst was first recorded in 1186 as ''Middeh ...
(c1435), the Star (originally the
Star of Bethlehem The Star of Bethlehem, or Christmas Star, appears in the nativity story of the Gospel of Matthew chapter 2 where "wise men from the East" (Magi) are inspired by the star to travel to Jerusalem. There, they meet King Herod of Judea, and ask hi ...
, Alfriston, c. 1450).


Tudor period (1485–1603)

In 1524 a licence was granted for Edward Guildford to export hops from Rye and Winchelsea. The earliest
oast house An oast, oast house or hop kiln is a building designed for kilning (drying) hops as part of the brewing process. They can be found in most hop-growing (and former hop-growing) areas and are often good examples of vernacular architecture. Many re ...
s date from 1585 in Rye and
Salehurst Salehurst is a village in the Rother district of East Sussex, England, within the civil parish of Salehurst and Robertsbridge. It lies immediately to the north-east of the larger village of Robertsbridge, on a minor road; it is approximately ...
in 1597. Many Sussex brewers at this time were from the Low Countries. Cornelis Roetmans from Flanders was a brewer in Playden until his death in 1530. Dirick Carver, also from Flanders, was a brewer at the Black Lion in Brighton. Carver was burnt at the stake at Lewes during the reign of
Mary I Mary I (18 February 1516 – 17 November 1558), also known as Mary Tudor, and as "Bloody Mary" by her Protestant opponents, was Queen of England and Ireland from July 1553 and Queen of Spain from January 1556 until her death in 1558. She ...
in 1555. There is a legend of the Brede Giant, who devoured a child every night for supper. According to the story, local children made a vat of beer for the giant to drink. Whilst in a drunken state the giant was sawn in two at Groaning Bridge by some children from the east of the county on one side of the saw and some from the west on the other side. The story is said to have been based on Goddard Oxenbridge, a Catholic former sheriff of Sussex, perhaps at a time when many people were suspicious of Catholics. Local smugglers may have encouraged the stories to keep people away from Oxenbridge's landholdings so that they could be used for contraband.


Stuart era (1603–1700)

From the 1620s and 1630s,
Sabbatarianism Sabbatarianism advocates the observation of the Sabbath in Christianity, in keeping with the Ten Commandments. The observance of Sunday as a day of worship and rest is a form of first-day Sabbatarianism, a view which was historically heralded ...
gained ground across parts of Sussex. During Cromwell's interregnum, Rye stood out as a Puritan 'Common Wealth', a centre of social experiment and rigorous public morality. The people of Rye seem in general to have ignored the strict sabbatarianism enforced by the constables, particularly where 'immoderate drinking' was concerned.


18th century

One notable brew from the 18th century is a strong beer from Newhaven brewer Thomas Tipper known as Old Stingo which English king
George IV George IV (George Augustus Frederick; 12 August 1762 – 26 June 1830) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from the death of his father, King George III, on 29 January 1820, until his own death ten y ...
was known to enjoy. Old Stingo is also mentioned in Charles Dickens' ''
Martin Chuzzlewit ''The Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit'' (commonly known as ''Martin Chuzzlewit'') is a novel by Charles Dickens, considered the last of his picaresque novels. It was originally serialised between 1842 and 1844. While he was writing it ...
'' in which Mrs Gamp is known to partake in the celebrated staggering ale of Brighton Stingo.
Harveys Brewery Harvey's Brewery is a brewery in Lewes, East Sussex, England. Harvey's estate includes 45 tied houses, mostly in Sussex, and three in London: Royal Oak, Southwark, The Cat's Back, Wandsworth and The Phoenix, Stockwell. It sells and distri ...
was founded in 1790 in Lewes and is the oldest brewery in Sussex. The
beer cocktail A beer cocktail is a cocktail that is made by mixing beer with other ingredients (such as a distilled beverage) or another style of beer. In this type of cocktail, the primary ingredient is usually beer. List of beer cocktails * Black and ...
named huckle-my-buff that was created in Sussex and is sometimes considered to have been the world's first cocktail. Huckle-my-buff is a hot drink consisting of brandy, eggs, beer, sugar and nutmeg. It was originally made with smuggled French brandy and Harveys porter beer.


19th century

Using the slogan 'beef, beer and bacca', the Skeleton Army riots against the temperance message of Salvation Army across the county resulted in disturbances at several places and the Riot Act having to be read at Worthing. By the late 19th century people in Sussex each drank an average amount of of beer per year. Various customs and
drinking song A drinking song is a song sung while drinking alcohol. Most drinking songs are folk songs or commercium songs, and may be varied from person to person and region to region, in both the lyrics and in the music. In Germany, drinking songs are ...
s in Sussex were associated with the drinking of beer. During harvest time there was a custom that each of around 20-30 men at a table would drink a glass of beer placed on top of a tall hat and when finished had to catch the glass inside the hat. They would then need to repeat the exercise with more drinks until completing the task while the group sung ''Turn The Cup Over'', a song which begins "I've been to London, I've been to Dover...". Belloc himself writing two drinking songs relating to the drinking of beer in Sussex: the Sussex Drinking Song and the West Sussex Drinking Song, which was included in Belloc's novel, The Four Men: a Farrago. Sung at the annual dinner of the now-defunct Men of Sussex Society, ''The Song o' the Sussex Men'', written in Sussex dialect by Arthur Beckett, celebrates Tom Tipper a brewer from Newhaven alongside other important characters associated with Sussex including
St Wilfrid Wilfrid ( – 709 or 710) was an English bishop and saint. Born a Northumbrian noble, he entered religious life as a teenager and studied at Lindisfarne, at Canterbury, in Francia, and at Rome; he returned to Northumbria in about 660, and ...
, St Cuthman, St Dunstan, John Dudeney,
Tom Paine Thomas Paine (born Thomas Pain; – In the contemporary record as noted by Conway, Paine's birth date is given as January 29, 1736–37. Common practice was to use a dash or a slash to separate the old-style year from the new-style year. In th ...
, Percy Bysshe Shelley,
Richard Cobden Richard Cobden (3 June 1804 – 2 April 1865) was an English Radical and Liberal politician, manufacturer, and a campaigner for free trade and peace. He was associated with the Anti-Corn Law League and the Cobden–Chevalier Treaty. As a you ...
and the
Devil A devil is the personification of evil as it is conceived in various cultures and religious traditions. It is seen as the objectification of a hostile and destructive force. Jeffrey Burton Russell states that the different conceptions of ...
.


20th century

Published in 1911, '' The Four Men: a Farrago'' is
Hilaire Belloc Joseph Hilaire Pierre René Belloc (, ; 27 July 187016 July 1953) was a Franco-English writer and historian of the early twentieth century. Belloc was also an orator, poet, sailor, satirist, writer of letters, soldier, and political activist. H ...
's novel in which the four characters walk 90 miles across Sussex visiting several pubs and celebrating Sussex beer. Belloc's characters largely live on a diet of cheese, bacon and Sussex beer and Belloc refers to their 'baptism by beer'. The Arundel Brewery was founded in 1992 and the Dark Star Brewery founded at the Evening Star pub in Brighton in 1994.


21st century

The
King and Barnes {{no footnotes, date=March 2013 King and Barnes was a family-owned English brewery in Horsham, Sussex. History The brewery, founded around 1800 as Satchell & Co., was later bought out by maltster James King and renamed King & Sons. In 1906, anot ...
brewery at Horsham was taken over in 2000 by Dorset-based Hall and Woodhouse who closed and demolished the brewery building. After the closure head brewer Andy Hepworth was determined to keep the maintain the tradition of brewing in this part of Sussex by starting his own brewery, Hepworth in 2001. The take-over and closure of King and Barnes left a gap in the Sussex market which was a factor in the expansion of the Dark Star brewery. The 2002 change to beer taxation implemented by
Gordon Brown James Gordon Brown (born 20 February 1951) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 to 2010. He previously served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in Tony B ...
, known as Progressive Beer Duty, halved the amount of duty for small brewers and helped Sussex's small brewers to expand. In February 2001, Ray Welton moved his brewery (
Weltons Brewery Welton's Brewery is an independent brewery founded by Ray Welton in 1995 in Capel, Surrey, Capel, Surrey, England, before it was moved to Dorking. Welton now brews in Horsham, West Sussex. On average, Welton's brew in excess of 40 different beers ...
) into Horsham. Ray had been brewing since 1995 and was taught commercial brewing by Fred Martin the retired head brewer of King & Barnes. Fred handed on the Old Ale recipe which Weltons have been brewing since 2001 and continue to brew to this day. In December 2006 Harvey's popular best bitter Harveys Best was removed from sale from the Lewes Arms in Lewes; a 133-day boycott of the Lewes Arms by the people of Lewes ensued until Harveys Best was reinstated. A rebranding in 2016 saw Harveys include the strapline '' We wunt be druv'', the unofficial motto of the county of Sussex. This comes as part of a planned expansion beyond its traditional reach of miles from its brewery at Lewes. Sussex's first
micropub A micropub is a very small, modern, one room pub founded on principles set up by Martyn Hillier of the first micropub, The Butchers Arms in Herne, Kent, which are "based upon good ale and lively banter". Definition A micropub, according to ...
, Anchored in Worthing, opened in 2013 in Worthing Craft beer grown in Sussex. Notable breweries include Harveys of Lewes, Dark Star
Langham Brewery
Burning Sky, Hepworth, Laine Brew Co, Bartleby's, Brighton Bier, Two Tribes, Arundel Brewery. Burning Sky was set up in 2013 by Mark Tranter, formerly of Dark Star where he was head brewer.


Styles

A range of diverse styles of beer is produced in Sussex. Historically well-hopped, Sussex beers were traditionally slightly sweeter than beers from neighbouring Kent.


Bitter

Nutty and bitter, Harveys's Sussex Best Bitter has won the 2005 and 2006 awards for the champion best bitter at the CAMRA beer festival and has been called one of the best traditional British beers. Hepworth's Sussex Pale Bitter has been described as one of England's best organic beers.


Old ale

Several Sussex breweries produce a weaker style of old ale with some resemblance to a
mild ale Mild ale is a type of ale. Modern milds are mostly dark-coloured, with an alcohol by volume (ABV) of 3% to 3.6%, although there are lighter-hued as well as stronger milds, reaching 6% abv and higher. Mild originated in Britain in the 17th centur ...
.The boundary between old ale and mild is blurry, simply because, historically, old ale was mild ale, but aged. Examples include
King and Barnes {{no footnotes, date=March 2013 King and Barnes was a family-owned English brewery in Horsham, Sussex. History The brewery, founded around 1800 as Satchell & Co., was later bought out by maltster James King and renamed King & Sons. In 1906, anot ...
(later W. J King) (4.5% ABV), Weltons Beers (4.5% ABV) (primed with molasses) and Harveys (4.3% ABV) These are typically consumed on draught dispense. Hepworth encourages consumers to 'gently
mull Mull may refer to: Places *Isle of Mull, a Scottish island in the Inner Hebrides ** Sound of Mull, between the Isle of Mull and the rest of Scotland * Mount Mull, Antarctica *Mull Hill, Isle of Man * Mull, Arkansas, a place along Arkansas Highway ...
' its dark Classic Old Ale which it describes as a "traditional style of winter beer"


Sour beers

Monolith from Burning Sky has been described as one of the UK's best
sour beer Sour beer, also known as Sours, is beer which has an intentionally acidic, tart, or sour taste. Traditional sour beer styles include Belgian lambics, gueuze and Flanders red ale, and German gose and Berliner Weisse. Brewing Unlike modern bre ...
s.


Ingredients


Hops

The dried flowers of hop plants are used to give beer its distinctive taste. Hops have been grown in Sussex since the 16th century. Hops continue to be grown in Sussex, mostly in the north-east of the county to the north of Hastings. Bramling Cros hops and challenger hops are grown in Sussex. A type of wild hop discovered in a hedgerow at
Northiam Northiam is a village and civil parish in the Rother district, in East Sussex, England, 13 miles (21 km) north of Hastings in the valley of the River Rother. The A28 road to Canterbury and Hastings passes through it. Governance Northiam ...
in 2005 is now called the Sussex Hop which has earthy, grassy minty aromas.


Malt

Malt was historically produced from barley often grown in Sussex especially on the
South Downs The South Downs are a range of chalk hills that extends for about across the south-eastern coastal counties of England from the Itchen valley of Hampshire in the west to Beachy Head, in the Eastbourne Downland Estate, East Sussex, in the eas ...
. Brewing malt is currently produced at Goodwood.


Water

Various Sussex breweries use their own springs to produce beer including Harveys of Lewes and Gun Brewery of Gun Hill.


Breweries in Sussex


Current breweries

* Dark Star Brewery *
Harveys Brewery Harvey's Brewery is a brewery in Lewes, East Sussex, England. Harvey's estate includes 45 tied houses, mostly in Sussex, and three in London: Royal Oak, Southwark, The Cat's Back, Wandsworth and The Phoenix, Stockwell. It sells and distri ...
*
Weltons Brewery Welton's Brewery is an independent brewery founded by Ray Welton in 1995 in Capel, Surrey, Capel, Surrey, England, before it was moved to Dorking. Welton now brews in Horsham, West Sussex. On average, Welton's brew in excess of 40 different beers ...
* Hepworth Brewery * Langham Brewery


Former breweries

*
King and Barnes {{no footnotes, date=March 2013 King and Barnes was a family-owned English brewery in Horsham, Sussex. History The brewery, founded around 1800 as Satchell & Co., was later bought out by maltster James King and renamed King & Sons. In 1906, anot ...


See also

* Culture of Sussex * Sussex wine *
Beer in England Beer has been brewed in England for thousands of years. As a beer brewing country, it is known for top fermented cask beer (also called real ale) which finishes maturing in the cellar of the pub rather than at the brewery and is served with ...
* Beer in the United Kingdom *


Footnotes


Citations


Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *


External links


CAMRA
{{British beer Sussex