kitchenware
Adnams Beers
Adnams Bitter | Broadside | Explorer | Lighthouse | Gunhill | East Green | Innovation | Spindrift | Tally Ho | Champion | Mixed 12 bottle pack | Poly-pins (35 pints) | Mini Casks | More beer...
Brewing at Adnams
Our aim at Adnams is to produce quality beers each with its own character. All the barley we use is grown and malted locally in East Anglia, this saves on food miles but it is also one of the best regions in the world for growing malted barley. Most of the hops we use are grown in England, but we also use some hops from America and Slovenia. Different hop varieties deliver different flavours, but as well as variety, the growing conditions, the climate, and the soil also have a big effect on the flavour.
What we do
Like winemakers use sugars from the grape to make wine, we use sugars from the barley to make beer. In barley, those sugars are initially stored in the barley corns as starch so we need to get barley to break it down into sugars for us. We do this by crushing the barley and mixing it with hot water (known as liquor in brewing circles), this allows the barley to convert the starch to sugar. We steep the mixture for an hour and then separate the liquid (called wort) from the solid in a big sieve and the clear wort is then boiled. At various stages during the boil we add hops.
Hops are essentially a herb used to flavour beer, they add bitterness, lots of other flavours and aroma. After the boil we cool the wort down and put it into a fermentation vessel where we add our own in-house yeast which we have used since the 1940s. Our yeast uses the sugars from the barley and produces alcohol, carbon dioxide and lots of other flavours. Once the fermentation has reached the level we need for that beer, we cool the beer down and it's left to mature. At the end of maturation the beer for bottling will be filtered and bottled. The difference in flavours between the brews is all down to the different amounts and varieties of raw materials used and also to how we control the brewing process.
Written by Adnams’ Brewer Fergus Fitzgerald
Adnams Beers
Adnams Spindrift
NEW! Previously only available in cask.
2009 Tally Ho
An unashamedly strong Winter Warmer.
Adnams Champion Beer pack
Six of our best-selling beers in a six-bottle 'Champion' box.
Adnams 12-bottle Beer pack
A selection of four Adnams Beers - Lighthouse, Explorer, Gunhill and Bitter.
Adnams Bitter 4.5% ABV
A copper bronze beer brewed with Pale Ale malted barley and some Crystal malt to give a malty backbone to the beer.
We use a blend of hop varieties at the start of the boil and then add Fuggles late in the boil to preserve the aroma of this traditional English hop. This hop adds herbal and grassy flavours to the beer.
Broadside 6.3% ABV
Our best selling bottled beer is brewed with Pale Ale malted barley. We only use one hop variety in this beer, called First Gold, and it is responsible for adding the orange marmalade flavours to the beer. This dark ruby red beer is full of fruitcake flavours and is best savoured with some strong cheddar.
2009 International Beer Challenge GOLD medal winner (Strong Ale category)
Explorer 5.0% ABV
We use Tipple malt to provide the biscuity backbone of this blonde beer but it's the hops that give it its personality. We use two American hops grown in the Yakima Valley in Washington. These hops, called Columbus and Chinook, add wonderful grapefruit flavours to the beer.
Lighthouse 3.4% ABV
The Lighthouse recipe is based on an award-winning beer that we used to brew called 'Champion Pale Ale'. This is a traditional pale ale brewed with traditional ingredients. We use Pale Ale malted barley and some Crystal malted barley to add a touch of caramel and toffee. The hop blend is made up of two traditional tall hop varieties called Fuggles and Goldings. These hop varieties have been used in combination for decades, because they work so well together. They give beer a spicy, herbal tone that fills the palate.
Gunhill 4.0% ABV
This beer can be described as a dark mild. We use a blend of 4 different malts to give a rich dark beer that belies its low ABV. The toffee, chocolate and spicy flavours come from the Chocolate, Crystal and Aromatic malted barleys and the sweetness left from the Tipple malted barley is balanced by the bitterness from the Boadicea hops.
Highly Commended in The World Beer Awards 2009 in the 'New Release' category.
East Green 4.3% ABV
East Green is a pale blonde beer that began life as an effort to produce an environmentally responsible beer that had flavour and integrity in equal balance. We wanted to design a beer that uses a minimum amount of energy without compromising on quality. We use Pale Ale malted barley which is grown and malted in East Anglia, we also use Boadicea hops, which are grown in Suffolk's only commercial hop yard. We chose Boadicea as not only is it available locally but it is also an aphid resistant hop. Aphids, as anyone who has a hop plant growing in their garden will know, love hops, and so aphicides are sprayed during the season to rid the plant of aphids. Boadicea is naturally resistant to aphids and so this cuts down on the amount of pesticides that have to be used. All that aside, I also think it is a great hop. It has a fantastic grassy lemon quality that works so well with this beer. We use the hops at 3 stages during the brewing process in order to maximise the flavour we get from it.
2009 International Beer Challenge COMMENDED (Golden Ale 4.1-5% category)
Innovation 6.7% ABV
Originally brewed as a one off to celebrate the opening of our new brewhouse and our new distribution centre, we have decided to repeat the beer again in 2009. It came first in its class at the 2008 World beer awards and has also won a Gold medal at the 2008 BBI (British Bottlers Institute) awards. The beer was created under the direction of our Chairman, Jonathan Adnams, whose instruction was to 'Brew something to wow me'.
The beer, our version of an American IPA, is brewed with a blend of Wheat and Pale ale malts to give a spicy, biscuity undertone to the beer, but it is in the hops where the beer really shines. A blend of hops from England, Slovenia and America (namely Boadicea, Columbus and Stryian Goldings) combine to give a wonderful grapefruit and tropical fruit aroma and bitterness that is balanced by the sweetness of the barley.
Highly Commended in the World Beer Awards 2009 in the 'Special Pale Ale' category.
2009 International Beer Challenge SILVER medal winner (Golden Ale 5.1%+ category)
Fergus Fitzgerald
Learn more about Adnams and our beers by joining one of our brewery tours in Southwold. Please call 01502 727225 or book online.
Having a party?
We have 'poly-pins' (inflatable bags encased within a sturdy box) available for special purchase. They hold 35 pints of beer.
How to order:
Please call your local Cellar & Kitchen Store - the staff there will call the brewery and find out when the beer will be available for collection. The poly-pins are brewed to order, so please allow at least two weeks between ordering and receiving your beer, as they are delivered to the store directly from our brewery. You can order poly-pins of Adnams Bitter, Adnams Broadside and Adnams Explorer, plus the occasional Seasonal brew such as Old Ale in the Winter - please ask our store staff for details. As yet, poly-pins are not available to order via the website.
How much?
Adnams Bitter is £49 and all the others are £55
Storage
When you receive your poly-pin, please allow 24 hours for the contents to settle. Full instructions are printed on the box. The poly will serve 35 pints, and will last between 3 and 4 days if kept in a cool place.
NEW
Have you tried our Mini Casks?
We have a pack of two Adnams Bitter Mini Casks, each cask contains 5L of beer, that's enough for around 17 pints in total.
Available Now - a pack of two Adnams Broadside Mini Casks, each cask contains 5L of beer, approximately 17 pints in total.
Bitburger
The Adnams / Bitburger partnership is longstanding - since 1995 Adnams and Bitburger have worked together to supply the finest pubs, bars and clubs throughout the UK with a range of premium beers. The fit of Bitburger Pils within the Adnams portfolio is a good one with many similar characteristics and philosophies being shared by the two companies. We are both proud of our heritage, yet modern in outlook. Adnams and Bitburger have a strong sence of provenance and are meticulous in producing the very finest crafted beers that the ever-discerning consumer demands.
Spindrift 4% ABV
(Available in kegs in selected outlets)
Spindrift is a modern, premium English beer brewed in Southwold from a blend of East Anglian malted barley, Boadicea and First Gold hops and lots of high-grade malted wheat.
After the normal fermentation, the beer is chilled and filtered and then kegged. Unlike most keg beers we don't pasteurise it, so it retains the fresh flavours of the wheat, barley and hops.
The beer is pale blonde with hints of spice and fruit on the aroma, the wheat provides enough body and fullness to balance the underlying bitterness and citrus flavours of the hops. Spindrift is gently carbonated and dispensed through a chilled font at 5 degrees Centigrade.
Mythos 4.7% ABV
If you've been to Greece, you're probably very familiar with Mythos - Greece's top-selling 'Heritage' beer. Serve ice cool and enjoy this refreshing, well-made lager. There's nothing better on a hot day.