Brewing in Kent

by Johnny Homer

The county of Kent holds a unique place in the history of brewing in Great Britain. When hops were first cultivated in this country around 600 years ago, introduced by Dutch and Flemish merchants, it was at Westbere, just outside Canterbury, where they were grown. Indeed, the Kentish soil proved so suited to the growing of Humulus lupulus, the Latin name for the hop, that the Garden of England soon became the centre of the British hop industry. Perhaps this is why brewing was one of Kent’s major industries for many, many years. The market town of Faversham is home to Shepherd Neame – the oldest surviving brewer in the country with a history that can be traced back to the mid-sixteenth century, perhaps a little earlier.Despite its hop heritage, Kent was not immune to the decline in regional brewing that blighted the post-war years. However, in the last decade or so a spectacular renaissance has taken place, and from the dark days of the mid-1990s when the county had only a handful of brewers, it can now boast in excess of forty. Kent is also the birthplace of the micropub, small and independent pubs that put the focus on locally sourced produce. They have helped revive the brewer’s art in Kent and, in doing so, written the latest chapter in a charming and very colourful history.This fully illustrated book explores both the rich history of brewing in Kent, and all that the county has to offer today.

96 pages, Paperback

Published September 15, 2016

Reviews

[Tim Pendry · Rating 3 out of 5]

A concise and well illustrated account of both the history of brewing in Kent (almost certainly the first place in Britain to brew beer rather than ale and certainly the first place to produce a micro-brewery) and of brewing's resurgence as a craft in recent years (my edition took the story to 2016).

The historical story is a familiar one - a multiplicity of town breweries agglomerated into big combines brewing branded and uninspiring schlock far away from their point of origin, succeeded by a very recent resurgence of small craft brewers, a few linked to particular pubs.

The virtue of the book for Kentish folk is that it encourages locals to seek out native brews and support diversity in the probably vain hope that the cycle will not start all over again, although perhaps 'Capital' will be more subtle in its rape of the industry next time around.

One hopes that most of the brewers presented as of 2016 will have survived the COVID slaughter of the hospitality sector although our own experience and anecdotal evidence suggests that the damage to pubs nationwide has been greater than most of us realise.

Small brewers tend to be resilient and entrepreneurial. Some have made inroads into the supermarkets. A few have become significant national players. But the health of craft brewing as a diverse culture may be in doubt for a few years to come.

In the meantime, this remains an excellent short guide to the state of affairs before the 'deluge' whose excellent illustrations leave one inspired and educated.