In the year in which Adnams Sole Bay Brewery celebrates its 150th anniversary, it seemed only fitting that the club should organise a visit to this iconic, family business, renowned for its ‘beers from the coast’. So it was that, on a lovely sunny day in early September, 23 members assembled outside the brewery’s Visitor Centre in the delightful seaside town of Southwold. Its white painted Georgian buildings huddled around its landmark lighthouse, beaming out from the Suffolk shoreline.
CMIC members assembled outside the brewery’s Visitor Centre.
Following a short audio-visual introduction to the brewery, the tour proceeded past the smart, glass fronted building housing their award-winning Copper House Distillery, to reach the modern and highly efficient stainless steel heart of the business, which has been cleverly squeezed into the original and imposing brick brewhouse.
Regrettably, owning to unusually high levels of carbon dioxide, which had been exacerbated by the warm weather, we were unable to visit the fermentation tanks across the road, but progressed instead directly to the sampling room, tucked away above the engineering workshop. Here we were treated to a wide selection of both their cask and craft keg beers, ranging from the 0.5% abv version of Ghost Ship, to their creamy Blackshore Stout.
Adnams Brewery Copper House Distillery building.
Sadly, their recent and impressively hoppy collaboration beer, brewed in conjunction with the acclaimed, California based Sierra Nevada Brewery, had already been consumed, but we were able to enjoy a drop of their new anniversary brew, Sea Fog, described as a hazy, 4.5% abv coastal IPA, which could also be found on handpump in the local pubs. And where better to round off a thoroughly enjoyable day out?
Report by John Westlake – CMIC Committee Member