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Brewery Spotlight: Shepherd Neame
Introduction
Established in 1698 Shepherd Neame is Britain's oldest brewer and
can perhaps trace its beer making origins back to the mid-16th century (Britain's
19th oldest company according to Dun & Bradstreet's list of the 50,000
largest UK companies).
Shepherd Neame is situated at Faversham in the heart of Kent's hop
country. Today, it is the only brewery of any size left in the county,
the sole guardian of Kent's unparalleled brewing tradition.
It remains a private limited company with Jonathan Neame, the fifth
generation of the family at the helm, as chief executive. His father,
Robert Neame, took on the role of president in 2005 after serving as
chairman since 1971.
Cask-conditioned beers and ales brewed by Shepherd Neame include:
- Master Brew;
- Bishops Finger;
- Spitfire Premium Kentish Ale;
- Early Bird;
- Goldings;
- Late Red;
- Original Porter.
Brewery Tours
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Brewery Shop Opening Times
Monday - Saturday 10.00am - 4.30pm
A refurbished Visitor Centre and enhanced Brewery Tour, make a
visit to Shepherd Neame better than ever.
With a natural supply of pure water and surrounded by fields that
are ideal for growing hops, it is hardly surprising that Faversham is
famous for it's beer and ale, being home to Britain's oldest brewer - Shepherd Neame.
set in the centre of this historic market town, is now open to
visitors who wish to discover more about this proudly independent
family company and its wide range of award winning beers and
traditional ales.
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When you visit Shepherd Neame, your guide will take you through the
heart of the brewery, enabling you to see how beer is made from barley
to bottle and from hop to hand-pump! En-route you can gaze into the
traditional mash tuns where the hand-crafting of
Kentish Ales such as
Spitfire and Bishop's Finger commences. You will also see the modern
Millennium Brewhouse - the starting point in the production of our
award-winning lagers.
The tour also contrasts historic steam engines with
state-of-the-art packaging lines and will give you an insight into the
company's 300-year heritage. There's also a tutored tasting giving you
the chance to sample some of Shepherd Neame's acclaimed ales and
famous lagers.
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Finally, you can visit the Brewery Shop and pick up a souvenir,
gift or some beer!
The whole visit, including beer and ale tasting, takes approximately 2 hours.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION OR BOOKINGS TELEPHONE 01795 542016.
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The Bishops Finger Charter
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The French have their appelation controlée, the Germans have
their rheinheitsgebot purity laws, but the British had nothing,
until Shepherd Neame unveiled its
Bishops Finger Charter in 2003.
First brewed at the Faversham Brewery in 1958, Bishops Finger
Strong Kentish Ale has been brewed continuously ever since and is
unique in many ways.
It is certainly the only English beer to have its own Charter,
which decrees that the ale must be brewed only on Fridays by the Head
Brewer and that it must be tasted on a weekly basis by a member of the
Board of Directors.
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The Charter further stipulates that the 5.4%abv ale can only be
brewed using pure artesian well water drawn from Kentish Greensand,
winter pearl malting barley harvested by Roddy Loder-Symonds on
Denne Hill Farm at Womenswold between Canterbury and Dover, and
peerless East Kent Goldings hops, grown less than 30 miles away from
the brewery.
Bishops Finger holds the rare distinction of being granted a
Protective Geographic Indicator by the European Union, which means
it’s the only beer in Britain entitled to be known as a Kentish strong
ale.
In fact, Bishops Finger is believed to be unique in that it’s a
product of a single county. It’s brewed in Kent using water from the
Faversham Brewery’s artesian well and raw materials – barley and hops
– grown in Kent.
The ale takes its quirky name from
finger-shaped Kentish wayside signposts which pointed pilgrims the
way to St Thomas à Becket’s shrine in Canterbury Cathedral before it
was destroyed on the orders of Henry VIII in 1538.
This is how Bishops Finger is made . . . from barley to bar and
bottle.
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The basic brewing process of the ale has not changed a great deal in
centuries, even though they have worked hard on modern, environmental
issues to make Shepherd Neame Britain's first "green" brewery.
Hot water is drawn from Kentish Greensand through a 200 feet deep
man-made well dug prior to 1889. It penetrates the upper brick earth
layer then through the green-sand into the basal chalk stratum. Water
is extracted 48ft below the well-head. Although the well is only 100
yards from the sea the pressure from this artesian well keeps salt
water at bay. The water is taint-free, chalky and of medium hardness.
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It then is mixed with malted Winter Barley which has been grown
locally in East Kent on the Downs near Canterbury is converted to malt
in Essex to extract sugar and flavour.
The mixture of the water and the malted barley, know as wort, is
infused only in traditional Mash Tuns of Russian teak built in 1914.
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The wort is then spiced for additional flavour and aroma with
choicest East Kent Goldings Hops, grown within thirty miles of
Faversham. The mixture is cooled and yeast is introduced and it is
fermented to a full 5.4% Alcohol by Volume. The resulting fermentation
converts most of the sugar to alcohol.
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The History of Shepherd Neame
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The Shepherd Neame story began in 1698 when Capt. Richard Marsh of
the Cinque Ports Militia, a mayor of Faversham, founded a brewery over
an artesian well in the town.
At that time, the town of Faversham was a bustling port and already
enjoyed a brewing tradition dating back to the 12th century when King
Stephen founded Benedictine abbey just yards from the present brewery
site. It didn't take the Cluniac monks long to discover that
Faversham's pure spring water could be combined with locally-grown
malting barley to produce a particularly fine ale.
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Records indicate that Richard Marsh was a brewer of some size, far
removed from the innkeepers of the town who brewed on their premises.
When Marsh died around 1727 the brewery, which by this time
included its own maltings, passed to his widow Mary and eventually to
their daughter, Sylvester, who managed the business until her death
aged just 24.
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In 1741 the brewery was acquired by Samuel Shepherd, a member of a
prominent land owning family and already active for some years in
Faversham as a maltster.
With a growing population to serve, Faversham was becoming an
increasingly important brewing town when Samuel Shepherd was joined in
the business by his sons Julius and John. It was at this stage that
the family began buying pubs, several of which are still owned by the
company today.
Julius Shepherd became a key figure in the growth and modernisation
of the brewery.
In 1789, he bought a steam engine from Boulton & Watt - the first
to be installed in any brewery outside London. It revolutionized the
production: grinding malt and pumping water, wort and beer around the
brewery - work previously done by horses.
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As a result, the company's name was proudly refashioned as the
Faversham Steam Brewery.
Julius Shepherd was joined in partnership by his sons, Charles and
Henry, until 1819 when the business was left solely to Henry.
As various partners joined the firm, so the name changed to
Shepherd & Hilton, Shepherd & Mares and, finally, when John Mares died
and 28-year-old Percy Beale Neame joined the partnership in 1864,
Shepherd Neame.
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By 1877 Percy Beale Neame (pictured left) was in sole control and
over the next 10 years he was joined by his eldest son Harry and his
brothers Arthur and Alick.
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Young Harry had trained as a brewer; Arthur established a bottling
department; and Alick concentrated on the wines and spirits side of
the business. |
It was in the late 19th century that the Court Street offices were
extended into the handsome hop-fringed frontage that stands today. And
the acquisition of pubs accelerated so that by the time of Percy Beale
Neame's death in 1913, the brewery owned 85 tied houses. The following
year, Shepherd Neame became a private limited company in which all of
Percy's 10 children became shareholders.
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When Percy died he had laid the foundations of today's successful
brewing concern. Harry continued to run the business on his own until
1925 when he was joined by his son Jasper and six years later by his
younger son Laurie.
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Jasper Neame became managing director in 1940 and chairman the
following year - with Laurie as his hard-working deputy, who took over
as sole managing director in 1961 when Jasper died.
Under the leadership of Jasper and Laurie Neame in the mid-1950s, the
company had bought Mason's Brewery in Maidstone together with its 50
tied pubs and also purchased historic Queen Court Farm at Ospringe to
grow its own hops.
Shepherd Neame realized the need to acquire more tied outlets for
its beers soon after the war. At the end of the 1940s, the company's
freehold properties were valued at £460,000; following the Mason's
purchase this rose to £1 million.
The Seventies saw another 65 houses added to the estate and another
46 were bought in the next decade. In 1986 the brewery opened the
first three of its Invicta Country Inns with their excellent food and
reasonably priced, comfortable accommodation.
At the outset of the 1990s, the company owned 264 pubs of which 206
were tenanted. A major round of acquisitions in the past eight years
has seen this rise to 366.
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Current chairman, Jasper's son Robert (Bobby -
pictured left), joined the company in 1956 and was followed three
years later by his younger brother Rex, who managed Queen Court
Farm until 1967. Laurie's eldest son, Colin, also arrived in 1959 to help his
father in the bottled beer department and when Bobby Neame was
appointed marketing director in 1967, Colin assumed the role of
production director.
Colin left the company in 1984 after 25 years service but in 1972
Laurie's second son, Stuart, had joined the company after working for
five years with IBM.
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Stuart started as company secretary and is currently vice-chairman.
Then in 1991, Bobby's barrister son Jonathan arrived and now sits on
the Board as trade director.
So three centuries after its foundation, Shepherd Neame remains an
independent family brewer committed to its core activities of brewing
and pub retailing.
Robert ‘Bobby’ Neame
Bobby was appointed Chairman in 1971 and served in this role until
October 2005 when he became a Non-Executive Director. He retired from
the board on 30 June 2006. He was a member of Kent County Council from
1965 to 1989 and was Leader of the Council from 1982 to 1984. He is
the company’s first president and in 2006 celebrated 50 years with
Shepherd Neame. In June, 2000, Chairman Bobby Neame was awarded a
Lifetime Achievement accolade by the All Party Parliamentary Beer
Club, only the fourth time the honour has been bestowed by MPs and
peers since the club was formed in 1993.
> Take a look at what Shepherd Neame beers and ales we have available
to buy.
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material. Reproduction is prohibited without prior permission.
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