Twenty breweries: Adnams
When I first began drinking cask ale, it was Beer From The Coast at a pub that's almost as far away from the sea as you can be in Great Britain. I've still never asked why the Carpenter's Arms in Dale Abbey, Derbyshire, serves Adnams beer from Suffolk but I'm grateful that it does.
A pint of Broadside became my regular Sunday mid-country-walk tipple. When holidaying in Norfolk, their Bitter became a go-to beer wherever I went. And whereas some regional brewers seem content with recipes from days of yore, Adnams experiment continuously with style and re-interpretation. After all, they didn't name a beer 'Innovation' for nothing.
Rightly proud of their environmental policies, adventurous with their specials, reliable with their regulars, Adnams are a fresh breeze in a regional brewing scene that is too often shoegazing in sepia.
Why try? Balanced core beers and interesting specials
What to look for? Broadside, Explorer and bottles such as Innovation and Spindrift.
Where to buy? Adnams pubs throughout East Anglia and beyond. Bottles can be bought direct from their own website.
Agreed, a benchmark real ale for me in my early drinking days. Adnams Broadside was one of the first meatier ales I consumed. A great and sadly overlooked brewery.
ReplyDeletecheers for the mention
ReplyDeleteFergus
totally agree — the anticipation of Adnams Best Bitter at the Lord Nelson or the Anchor in Walberswick with the sight of the North Sea over the pebbles always makes the heart quicken
ReplyDeleteI think Adnams are great and also important as they can satisfy the full range of beer drinkers. Broadside was one of the first beers for me as well, always drinking it at our local pub at uni. Their new bottles and casks, worldly inspired, are also really interesting developments.
ReplyDelete@Adrian - made it to Southwold last year for the first time. This year, Walberswick is firmly on the radar.
ReplyDelete@Fergus - keep 'em coming, I'll keep drinking 'em ;-)