Beer in Sussex

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Beer in Sussex is beer produced in the historic county of Sussex in England, East Sussex and West Sussex. . [1][2]

History

Medieval period

Ale was known to have been brewed by monks at the Hallend roundabout Lewes Priory as the water was too contaminated to drink.[3] 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.[4]

Parts of the Rose & Crown public house at Fletching date from around 1150

From the late 14th century hopped beer was being imported into

Waldron in the Weald.[7] By 1500 "beer was being sold almost everywhere" in the county. This was due to Sussex's ties with the Low Countries; in many English villages outside Sussex no hopped beer was sold well into the 16th century and later.[8] 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.[9]

Sussex's oldest

public houses date from the medieval period including the Rose & Crown at Fletching (c 1150, mostly rebuilt 17th century),[10] the Mermaid Inn at Rye (1156, rebuilt 1420), the George & Dragon at Houghton (1276),[11] the Olde Bell at Rye (1390), the George at Alfriston (first licensed 1397),[12] the Blackboys Inn at Blackboys in the parish of Framfield (14th century),[13] the Seven Stars, Robertsbridge (14th century), the Spread Eagle, Midhurst (c1435),[14] the Star (originally the Star of Bethlehem, Alfriston, c. 1450).[15]

Tudor period (1485–1603)

In 1524 a licence was granted for

Mary I
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.[17]

Stuart era (1603–1700)

From the 1620s and 1630s, Sabbatarianism gained ground across parts of Sussex.[18] During Cromwell's interregnum, Rye stood out as a Puritan 'Common Wealth', a centre of social experiment and rigorous public morality.[19] The people of Rye seem in general to have ignored the strict sabbatarianism enforced by the constables, particularly where 'immoderate drinking' was concerned.[19]

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 was known to enjoy. Old Stingo is also mentioned in Charles Dickens' Martin Chuzzlewit in which Mrs Gamp is known to partake in the celebrated staggering ale of Brighton Stingo.[20]

Harveys Brewery was founded in 1790 in Lewes and is the oldest brewery in Sussex. The beer cocktail named huckle-my-buff that was created in Sussex and is sometimes considered to have been the world's first cocktail.[21] 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.[21]

19th century

Using the slogan 'beef, beer and bacca', the

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 34 imperial gallons (150 litres) of beer per year.[22]

Various customs and

Tom Paine, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Richard Cobden and the Devil.[24]

20th century

Published in 1911,

The Four Men: a Farrago is Hilaire Belloc'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'.[25]

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

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.[2] The 2002 change to beer taxation implemented by Gordon Brown, known as Progressive Beer Duty, halved the amount of duty for small brewers and helped Sussex's small brewers to expand.[2]

In February 2001, Ray Welton moved his brewery (Weltons Brewery) 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.[26] 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 60 miles (97 km) miles from its brewery at Lewes.[27]

Sussex's first micropub, Anchored in Worthing, opened in 2013 in Worthing[28]

Notable breweries in Sussex include

Dark Star
.

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.[29]

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.[30]

Hepworth's Sussex Pale Bitter has been described as one of England's best organic beers.[31]

Old ale

Several Sussex breweries produce a weaker style of

Harveys (4.3% ABV) These are typically consumed on draught dispense. Hepworth encourages consumers to 'gently mull' its dark Classic Old Ale which it describes as a "traditional style of winter beer"[33]

Sour beers

Monolith from Burning Sky has been described as one of the UK's best sour beers.[34]

Ingredients

Hops

Oast house for drying hops at Great Dixter, Northiam

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 [35] and challenger hops are grown in Sussex.[36] A type of wild hop discovered in a hedgerow at Northiam in 2005 is now called the Sussex Hop which has earthy, grassy minty aromas.[37][38]

Malt

Malt was historically produced from barley often grown in Sussex especially on the South Downs. 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

Former breweries

See also

Footnotes

  1. ^ The boundary between old ale and mild is blurry, simply because, historically, old ale was mild ale, but aged.

Citations

  1. ^ Vowles, Neil (4 April 2017). "No small beer – Sussex's £40m brewing trade". The Argus.
  2. ^ a b c "Sussex at the peak of the craft beer explosion". Sussex Life. 19 January 2017. Retrieved 22 January 2018.
  3. ^ "The first Cluniac Priory in Britain". Lewes Priory Trust. Retrieved 4 January 2018.
  4. ^ Carlin & Rosenthal 1998, p. 67
  5. ^ a b c Mate 1998, p. 64
  6. ^ Hornsey 2007, pp. 303–304
  7. ^ a b c Mate 1998, p. 65
  8. ^ Bennett 1996, p. 81
  9. ^ Muggleton 2017
  10. ^ Rice, Katy (9 May 2015). "A rose by any other name would smell as sweet". The Argus. Retrieved 14 January 2018.
  11. ^ "History". The George and Dragon, Houghton. Retrieved 14 January 2018.
  12. ^ "14th Century Inn". The George, Alfriston. Retrieved 14 January 2018.
  13. ^ "Come and visit our beautiful East Sussex 14th Century Inn". The Blackboys, Blackboys. Retrieved 14 January 2018.
  14. ^ Newman 2017
  15. ^ "Domesday Reloaded - The Star Inn, Alfriston". BBC. Retrieved 14 January 2018.
  16. ^ "The 16th CE. The earliest evidence". Oast and Hop Kiln History site. 7 October 2015. Retrieved 29 January 2018.
  17. ^ Simpson 2009
  18. ^ Phillips & Smith 2014, pp. 143–144
  19. ^ a b Lowerson 1980, pp. 104–105
  20. ^ Arscott 2007, p. 40
  21. ^ a b Leo, Ben (24 March 2014). "Harveys in Lewes brings back 300-year-old Huckle My Buff drink". The Argus. Retrieved 22 January 2018.
  22. ^ "A History of Mid Sussex in the 20th Century - Part 1 - 4". Mid Sussex Times. 1 July 2004. Retrieved 29 January 2018.
  23. ^ Bickerdyke 2017
  24. ^ Brandon 2010
  25. ^ Greenwell, Andrew (6 February 2012). "Baptism by Beer: Hilaire Belloc's The Four Men: A Farrago". Catholic Online. Retrieved 29 January 2017.
  26. ^ Oliver 2011, p. 421
  27. ^ Vowles, Neil (10 August 2016). "Thousands of pounds spent as Harvey's finally adds an apostrophe". The Argus. Retrieved 9 January 2018.
  28. ^ Leo, Ben (24 September 2013). "Sussex's first micropub opens in Worthing". The Argus. Retrieved 4 January 2018.
  29. ^ Catchpole, Andrew. "Tastings School - Hampshire, Kent and Sussex: In the garden of England". TastingBeers.com and Paragraph Publishing. Retrieved 30 January 2018.
  30. ^ Moyle, Nick (24 July 2017). "10 best traditional British beers". The Independent. Retrieved 22 January 2018.
  31. ^ Moyle, Nick (23 November 2017). "10 best organic beers". The Independent. Retrieved 29 January 2018.
  32. ^ Cornell, Martyn (22 May 2012). "Endangered Beers". Retrieved 30 January 2018.
  33. ^ Oliver 2011, p. 847
  34. ^ Tierney-Jones, Adrian (1 July 2015). "10 of the best sour beers in the UK". The Telegraph. Retrieved 22 January 2018.
  35. ^ Oliver 2011, p. 155
  36. ^ Oliver 2011, p. 238
  37. ^ "Sussex". British Hop Association. Retrieved 9 January 2018.
  38. ^ Norbury, Darren (30 October 2017). "East Sussex microbreweries booming says study". Beer Today. Retrieved 9 January 2018.

Bibliography

External links

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