The Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) is an independent voluntary consumer organisation headquartered in St Albans, which promotes real ale, cider and perry and traditional British pubs and clubs.
Shepherd Neame is an English independent brewery which has been based in the market town of Faversham, Kent, for over 300 years. While 1698 is the brewery's official established date, town records show that commercial brewing has occurred on the site since 1573. Since the brewery's formation in the 16th century, ownership has passed in unbroken succession through five families. The brewery produces a range of cask ales and filtered beers. Production is around 180,000 brewers' barrels a year. It has 303 pubs and hotels in South East England, predominantly in Kent and London. The company exports to 44 countries, including India, Sweden, Italy, Brazil, and Canada.
Aylesford is a village and civil parish on the River Medway in Kent, England, 4 miles (6 km) northwest of Maidstone.
The River Medway is a river in South East England. It rises in the High Weald, West Sussex and flows through Tonbridge, Maidstone and the Medway conurbation in Kent, before emptying into the Thames Estuary near Sheerness, a total distance of 70 miles (113 km). About 13 miles (21 km) of the river lies in East Sussex, with the remainder being in Kent.
Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. was established in 1979 by homebrewers Ken Grossman and Paul Camusi in Chico, California, United States. The brewery produced 786,000 US bbl (922,000 hl) in 2010, and as of 2016, Sierra Nevada Brewing is the seventh-largest brewing company in the United States and is the third largest privately owned brewery in the United States.
Hadlow is a village and civil parish in the borough of Tonbridge and Malling in Kent, England. It is situated in the Medway valley, north-east of Tonbridge and south-west of Maidstone.
Little Creatures is a brewery based in Fremantle, Western Australia, operating as a subsidiary of the Japanese firm Kirin Company. It is owned by Little World Beverages, a wholly owned subsidiary of Lion which is itself a wholly owned subsidiary of Kirin.
The Medway Valley line is the name given to the railway line linking Strood in the Medway Towns via Maidstone West to Tonbridge. High Speed services also link between Maidstone West, Snodland, Strood and London St Pancras International. The section from Maidstone West to Paddock Wood passes through some of Kent's most picturesque countryside along the narrower sections of the River Medway.
Beer has been brewed in England for thousands of years. As a beer brewing country, it is known for top fermented cask beer which finishes maturing in the cellar of the pub rather than at the brewery and is served with only natural carbonation.
Eccles is a village in the English county of Kent, part of the parish of Aylesford, and in the valley of the River Medway.
Ditton is a large village and civil parish in the borough of Tonbridge and Malling in Kent, England. The village is 4.6 miles (7.4 km) west-northwest of Maidstone and 1.8 miles (2.9 km) east of West Malling. The parish, which is long and narrow, straddles the A20, with farmland to the south and industry to the north. It lies in the Medway Valley, on the northern edge of the Kent Weald, and adjoins the ancient parishes of Larkfield, Aylesford and Barming. In 2011 it had a population of 4,786.
Tovil is a civil parish in the Borough of Maidstone, in Kent in the South East of England. It is a mixture of residential and industrial zoning, with an increase in commercial usage towards the centre of Maidstone, and more arable use on the outskirts.
Stalisfield is a village in the borough of Swale in Kent, England, located on a secondary road about 1½ miles (2.4 km) north of Charing and 5 miles south west of Faversham. The parish includes the hamlet of Stalisfield Green.
Charrington Brewery was founded in Bethnal Green, London, in the early 18th century by Robert Westfield. In 1766, John Charrington joined the company, which then traded as Westfield, Moss & Charrington from the Anchor Brewery in Stepney. It merged with United Breweries of London in 1964, and with Bass Brewery in 1967 to become the largest UK brewing company, Bass Charrington. The brewing operations of the company were bought by Interbrew in 2000, while the retail side were renamed Six Continents. In 2003, Six Continents split into a pubs business, now known as Mitchells & Butlers, and a hotels and soft drinks business, now known as InterContinental Hotels Group.
Heineken N.V. is a Dutch brewer which owns a worldwide portfolio of over 170 beer brands, mainly pale lager, though some other beer styles are produced. The two largest brands are Heineken and Tecate; though the portfolio includes Amstel, Fosters, Sagres, Cruzcampo, Skopsko, Affligem, Żywiec, Starobrno, Zagorka, Zlatý Bažant, Laško and Birra Moretti.
Alvinne is a small brewery in the hamlet of Moen near the Belgian city of Zwevegem, founded in 2002.
The history of Maidstone and its environs goes as far back as Mesolithic times. It has seen settlement by the Romans and the Normans and played a role in pivotal moments of English history such as the Peasants' Revolt and the English Civil War. It has also hosted an Army barracks since Napoleonic times and was an important centre for Kent's brewing and papermaking industries.
T&R Theakston is a British brewery in Masham, North Yorkshire and the sixteenth largest brewer in the United Kingdom by market share. It is the second largest under family ownership, after Shepherd Neame, and is known for its Old Peculier beer.
Fremlin's was a brewery in Maidstone, Kent, England. It was established by Ralph Fremlin in 1861, who eschewed the pub trade and focused on bottled beer, on religious grounds. The beer was known for the distinctive elephant logo on the bottles. The brewery expanded to become the largest in Kent, before going into decline after being purchased by Whitbread in 1967.
