The Beers
Trade orders for beers should be directed to Andy Dwelly
Tel:
01273 467527 Email:
info@adurbrewery.com
For retail sales see current range of outlets on the brewery website
at
www.adurbrewery.com/where-to-buy
All our beers are bottle-conditioned (what CAMRA
calls ‘Real Ale in a bottle’) and throw a harmless yeasty sediment in the
bottle. Although rich in B vitamins, drinking the yeast can change the
flavour and mouthfeel of the beer, so we suggest you pour gently, leaving
the last half inch in the bottle
Ropetackle 3.4% ABV
Golden Ale
Ropetackle
is a light, refreshing, golden ale, exciting on the palette and ideally
suited for a summer’s day. Initial sweetness and delicate aroma is balanced
by a drier finish. It can appeal to habitual lager drinkers as a first step
into the ale world.
t is
named after the Ropetackle building in Shoreham-by-Sea, where the brewery’s
offices are located. The
building, which overlooks the River Adur, also contains an arts centre and
throughout 2009 we will donate 10p from every bottle sold to the Ropetackle
Trust that runs the centre.
More information on the arts centre at:
www.ropetacklecentre.co.uk
Suggestions:
It’s an ideal companion for summery foods and salads – take it with you for
your picnic. Try it with sardines marinated in orange and lemon juice,
garlic and rosemary. It also pairs well with most barbecued foods, and is a
great accompaniment to a curry.
Ideal serving temperature 9°C (48°F)
Ropetackle Golden Ale is available in 500 ml bottles. Casks available by request.
Hop Token:
Amarillo
4% ABV Bitter
Hop Token: Amarillo is an amber-coloured bitter showcasing the Amarillo hop, which was discovered and introduced by Virgil Gamache Farms Inc in Washington State. It is a versatile hop, giving both flavour and aroma.. The aroma is described as flowery, spicy and citrus-like, more specifically you can detect hints of peach and grapefruit. The hoppiness carries over into the taste, together with notes of toffee, malt and grapefruit. There is a good bitterness, and a long dry finish.
The name Hop Token relates
to the token given to the old-time hop pickers of Sussex and Kent each time
they filled a hop pocket (sack). At the end of the week these would be
exchanged for cash or goods. Whole families would travel down from London
for the hop picking which served as their annual holiday.
There are many people around today who have happy memories of the days spent in the hop fields and the nights around the campfire or in the village pub. Now hop picking is done by machine, and most of the Sussex hop fields are long gone. This beer keeps alive the memory of those hard working hop pickers who plucked the green cones to give our beers their delightful aroma and flavour.
Hop Token:Amarillo is the first in a range of hoppier Adur beers, each
featuring a single hop variety for distinctive aroma and flavour. At 4.0%
ABV it is an easy drinking beer which will appeal to a wide range of tastes.
Suggestions:
Just right when you need a
satisfying, thirst-quenching bitter, but with the added interest of the
speciality hop. Like Velocity, it is a great
accompaniment to any kind of ‘pub’ food – ploughman’s lunch, pies or
pasties.
Ideal serving temperature 10-13°C (50-55°F)
Hop Token is
available in both 500 ml bottles and cask.
Velocity
4.2% ABV
Best Bitter
Velocity
is a traditional English best bitter with a fresh flavour at the lower end
of the bitterness scale. As a result, this beer has proved to have a wide
appeal, even to people who thought they didn’t like bitter! We add a
handful of German Hallertauer hops just before the beer is fermented and
this gives an excellent aroma and just a hint of an old fashioned marmalade
in the taste.
The splendid artwork for the label captures the spirit of the great record-breaking steam locomotives of the early twentieth century - a time when the Steyning line was still in its prime, and the town still had a local brewery. The railway line is long gone, but from 2008 the town once again has its own brewery!
“In summer time the locals rode
To spend their days on beach and pier,
To swim and paddle in the sea,
While fathers sampled local beer.”
From ‘The Lost Railway’ by Hannah M Hunt, quoted in ‘Steyning & the Steyning Line’ by George Cockman
While we can no longer take the local Steyning Line for a day by the sea, we can still commemorate the glory days of the railways and share our nostalgia for steam trains while tasting a local beer – at last Steyning has its own brewery again!
Suggestions: As well as being an excellent thirst quencher, Velocity is a great accompaniment to any kind of ‘pub’ food – ploughman’s lunch, pies or pasties. But also try making your batter with it, then drinking it along with your fish and chips.
Ideal serving temperature 10-13°C (50-55°F)
Velocity is available in both 500 ml bottles and cask.
Black
William 5% ABV
Stout
Black William is a rich black coloured stout with a creamy head. Powered by Target hops, it is in the middle of the bitterness scale and contains a very high proportion of chocolate malt that contributes to the dark chocolate aroma and roasted flavours.
William de Braose, lord of Bramber and owner of lands in the Welsh Marches, was a tough fighter, so hated by the Welsh that they named him ‘Black William’ This stout is brewed on what was once part of his Sussex estate, and because of its colour and explosion of roasted malt and dark chocolate flavours, we named it after him. The artwork for the label contains marginal decorations in the style of the Bayeux tapestry, although we are not aware that the latter includes a jester’s hat!
More information on this (in)famous Norman family at: freespace.virgin.net/doug.thompson/BraoseWeb/frames.htm
Suggestions: Stout has always had a reputation as a restorative, and used to be prescribed for convalescents. Even if you don’t need to build up your strength, stout is renowned as an accompaniment to oysters and other shell fish – try it with garlic prawns and some crusty bread. It’s also great with barbecue ribs – use some stout in the marinade for a really special treat. Perhaps best of all, its roasty, chocolate flavours make it an amazingly good match to desserts such as chocolate mousse.
Ideal serving
temperature 10-13°C (50-55°F)
Black William is available in 500 ml bottles. Casks available by request.
Robbie's
Red 5.2% ABV
Strong Red Ale
Robbie’s Red, a strong red-brown ale, with an aroma of malt and hops, is the latest addition to the Adur Brewery range (June 2010). Slight initial sweetness leads into complex flavours including smoky orange peel and a satisfying bitterness which persists into the long finish
The dramatic label reflects the fact that it was commissioned for the Elva racing car enthusiasts club (see www.elva.com). Robbie's Red is named for Robbie Mackenzie-Low who was living in Bexhill in the 1950’s when he joined the Elva Racing team as a ‘works’ driver. He collected many trophies before moving to the States, but was reunited with his Elva-Climax at the first Goodwood Revival in 1998.
Suggestions: Try it with cheese, a sharp Cheddar or a strong blue. It also pairs well with meat, particularly beef or game. Enjoy the beer, enjoy the cars - but not both at the same time!
Ideal serving temperature 10-13°C (50-55°F)
Robbie’s Red is available in
both 500 ml bottles and casks from the Adur Brewery,
and the bottled version is also available from Roger Dunbar via the
elva website.
Merry
Andrew 6.2% ABV
Strong Dark Ale
Our first commercial beer, Merry Andrew is a dark strong ale with a complex aroma and a good balanced, rounded flavour. The initial sweetness is nicely balanced by dryer middle and finish:
Comments received include:
“A dark, smooth beer with fruity flavours and a bitter finish”
“Smells good and tastes very good . . . very, very moreish”
“Punching above its weight.”
The name Merry Andrew has obvious reference to the name of the head brewer, Andy, and to festive occasions, but also has local links. The old word ‘merry-andrew’, meaning a clown, refers to Dr Andrew Borde, a physician in the time of Henry VIII. The merry medic is said to have given humorous talks on medicine at country fairs, and so people trying to imitate his witty delivery were named merry-andrews. The local connection comes from the fact that his home was at Borde Hill House, near Haywards Heath
The jester’s hat logo inspired by this story has become a feature of all the brewery’s labels.
Suggestions: An ideal winter warmer, but great throughout the year as an accompaniment to sausage, coarse pâté and any dark meats – try it with bangers and mash, or a hearty beef stew (to which you have added some Merry Andrew during the cooking).
Ideal serving
temperature 10-13°C (50-55°F)
Merry Andrew is available in both 500 ml bottles and cask
St
Cuthman’s Red Wheelbarrow 10.5% ABV
Belgian Abbey-style Triple
Belgian abbey beers are traditionally named after local saints so this was named after the local saint of Steyning – or at least after his famous wheelbarrow! The story goes that St Cuthman came to Steyning out of the west. He had wheeled his crippled mother endless miles across rough country in a barrow supported by a makeshift rope of elder twigs round his neck. The rope broke at Steyning, and St Cuthman founded his church on that spot. We created this Belgian abbey-style beer to commemorate his sheer unadulterated, single-minded, pig-headed persistence – even though the brewers are not Trappist monks!
St. Cuthman’s Red Wheelbarrow is a premium beer, requiring costly ingredients and, above all, long fermentation and maturing times. The flavour is complex, with hints of caramel, fruit and spice, and there is a long, warming aftertaste. It is a very strong beer which, like the top Trappist ales with which it has been favourably compared, will repay ageing in the cellar by developing even more complex flavours. And in best Belgian fashion, a special glass has been produced for it.
Suggestions: Follow the Belgian example of sipping a strong abbey beer as an aperitif. Wheelbarrow also makes a fine accompaniment to sweet, soft cheeses. And of course it’s wonderful as a digestif or a nightcap, circumstances where you might otherwise drink a fine brandy.
Store at around 14°C (57°F) and serve between15-18°C (59‑64°F) in order fully to appreciate the complex flavours.
St. Cuthman’s Red Wheelbarrow is available in 330 ml bottles. Casks available by request.
New Beers: The Adur Brewery pursues a dynamic policy of creating new beers with character and style. Details will appear in the free newsletter Beer E-News (details here) and also on the website whenever new beers are on the way.
We’re very interested in your opinion about what will appeal to the real ale fans of West Sussex. Would you like to see a mild, another hop variety in the Hop Token range, a porter, a really hoppy IPA, a fruit beer or an Imperial stout? Email us with your views.
Custom beers: We are always interested in designing beers for special commissions and can help you find the right recipe for a beer which fits the image of your organisation.
We can also provide any of our range of bottled beers with custom labels to give that personal touch to your special event. Contact us for details.