Beers – Ingredients

Left: Barley is the principal ingredient in all good beer. After harvesting, it goes to the maltings where the grains are steeped in water and allowed to germinate – a process which converts the starch in each grain into sugar. The grains are then kilned to terminate this process, thereby producing malt. The next stop is the mash tun, where the malt is immersed in hot water: the sugar in the malt dissolves, thus producing the sweet 'extract' from which beer is made. These processes are celebrated in old English folk songs such as 'John Barleycorn', although in that lyric the extract eventually meets its fate in the distiller's pot. Photograph by M. Connors.

Good ingredients are the key to good beer, and we have always chosen the best available to us. While we want our business to be successful, we believe that quality rather than cost-cutting is the key to success.

Our malt is supplied by Muntons, an East Anglian maltster with over 80 years' experience. We are currently using Optic, one of the newer varieties of malt, which produces a good extract and is becoming popular throughout the brewing industry. Traditional pale malt forms the bulk of our 'grist', but we use smaller quantities of other types, such as amber and crystal malt, to adjust the flavour, and chocolate malt for colour.

We use only Grade 1 hops, and blend both English and American varieties in our beers. Our English hops include traditional favourites such as Fuggles, East Kent Goldings and Whitbread Variety Goldings, plus newer varieties such as Northdown and Challenger. We also use American hop varieties such as Cascade, which helps to produce the citrus notes found in many of the new golden ales, including our own Sussex Gold. America now has a thriving micro-brewing industry, so it makes good sense to keep an eye on what's happening 'across the pond'.