Real Ale and other Quality Beer, in and from Suffolk, in the Region of East Anglia, England

A Trip Featuring Adnams Brewery, in Southwold

This British Guild of Beer Writers' trip took place in October, 2005. Click here to go to the White Beer Travels Web page covering it.

A Visit to Three Suffolk Breweries

This report is largely based on a June, 2005 British Guild of Beer Writers' trip that covered three of the County's smaller breweries: St Peter's (www.stpetersbrewery.co.uk); Mauldons (www.mauldons.co.uk); and Old Cannon (www.oldcannon.co.uk, not working in May, 2006). Present on the trip from the Guild were: Adrian Tierney-Jones (www.beeralewhatever.com), the trip organiser; Jeff Evans (former editor of CAMRA's Good Beer Guide and author of a number of books, including the CAMRA Good Bottled Beer Guide); Pete Brown (www.pete-brown.co.uk) of Storm Lantern (www.stormlantern.co.uk), a marketing Consultancy, and author of Man Walks into a Pub, and Three Sheets to the Wind; Paul Nunny, the Chief Executive of Cask Marque (www.cask-marque.co.uk), a company that has the laudable aim of improving the quality of Cask Beer in UK pubs; Roy Bailey, the proprietor of "The Lambourn Valley Cider Company" and an expert home brewer; and yours truly, John White. Unless indicated otherwise, all the photos illustrating this report were taken by John White, in June, 2005.

It is clear that Adrian chose the breweries featured in this visit very carefully, as all three produce beers of the highest quality and character. Two of them had associated brewery taps (pubs), both of which proved to be exceptional, from the ambiance and décor, as well as from the beer and the food point of view. All three are relatively new breweries, although one is a replacement of a long-standing one. However, all three have brewers who have had many years' experience in the trade, this being another factor, for sure, when it comes to the excellent beer that they all produce.

St Peter's Brewery, St Peter's Hall, St Peter South Elmham, Bungay, NR35 1NQ
GPS: 52.414205^o N, 1.433891^o E (drive entrance from road)

St Peter's Brewery is installed in former farm buildings, which are now Grade II listed, that are alongside an old Suffolk manor house, parts of which date from the 13th Century, although its lovely moat, which is full of fish (mainly mirror carp), is thought to date from the 10th Century, and thus to have surrounded an earlier structure. The furnishings in the hall today are mainly from the 16th to the 18th Century. It has a supply of well water, filtered through chalk, that has been used for over six hundred years, this being the main reason for the building and commissioning of a brewery in 1996, by the founder and Chairman of St Peter's, John Murphy, who wanted to create a beer brand that could be identified with England abroad; as founder and former Chairman of Interbrand (www.interbrand.com), he was responsible for the naming of the car brands, Mondeo and Metro. Of course, for the brand name for the brewery, he looked no further than the name of the home that he found for it: St Peter's Hall. The water is great for brewing and the setting is superb and peaceful, although, being reached by the most minor of roads, it is not the best place to situate a brewery with export ambitions, from the point of view of getting stuff in and out of the place. Note that, in August, 2005, John Murphy announced that he was looking for a buyer for St Peter's Brewery and its other assets, thee including the Hall (including its Pub and Restaurant), and its two pubs: The Jerusalem Tavern, in London, see below, and the De La Pole Arms, Church Road, Wingfield, IP21 5RA, Suffolk (tel 01379 384545).

In the photo taken around the famous well, above left, are: Jeff Evans and Pete Brown (backs to camera); Mark Slater, the Head Brewer at St Peter's; Kate Abbot of Jungle PR (www.junglepr.com), who handles the PR and publicity for the brewery; Paul Bailey; Paul Nunny (back to camera); and Adrian Tierney-Jones (taking notes). The photo, above right, was taken in the St Peter's Brew House. The vessel in the background is the Mash Tun, the one in the foreground is the Copper, details of these being explained to the Guild members by Mark Slater. There are brewery visits for the general public on Friday, Saturday Sunday and National Holidays from Noon until 4pm on the hour. These cost £4, this including a beer. There is a nice shop on site and a pub and restaurant which are covered soon. Mark has been with St Peter's since 1999. He previously worked with: Ushers; Three Rivers Brewing, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; and with a company that produces a very moderate US Lager, in the UK, under licence.

The first brews from the St Peter's brew plant were produced in 1996, but since then there have been expansions, a new, bigger copper, for example being installed in 2004. Nevertheless, they are still struggling to keep up with demand, so further expansion is inevitable. As well as "conventional" beers (such as Best Bitter (3.7%), Old Style Porter (5.1%) (Suffolk CAMRA's 2005 Beer of the Year), Mild (3.4%) and a Wheat Beer (4.7%)), St Peter's produce unusual beers, such as: King Cnut™ Ale (5%), an unhopped beer, brewed to a first Millennium recipe, that is spiced and flavoured with juniper berries, orange and lemon peel, and stinging nettles; and Spiced Ale (Cinnamon and Apple) (6.5%). Most of the recipes are "turn of the Century ones", i.e. late 19th Century/early 20th Century.

There are slightly different rear labels for the US market, with the usual health warnings, and no information on the history of the bottle. All have the same names, except for Organic Ale (4.5%), which gets a name change to English Ale.

The photo, above left, is St Peter's Hall, which today incorporates the brewery's splendid tap (a two roomed bar), and its elegant restaurant. Click on the photo to see a close up, higher resolution photo of the shields above the doorway, which were painted in 1990, the middle one being dated 1969, the year that the place was restored by John Page-Phillips; by the 1960s, the place had become derelict. In the left, in the photo, above right, is Colin Cordy, the St Peter's Managing Director. He is being presented with a Guild Tankard by Adrian Tierney-Jones, something that Adrian did at the other two breweries visited on this trip. The photo was taken in the restaurant, which is housed in the Great Hall; note the Brussels tapestry in the background. The Great Hall is part of a 1539 extension, the then-owner taken advantage of stone from Caen in Normandy that had been used to build a Nunnery, in the nearby village of Flixton, this being one of the casualties of the truly evil, Henry, the Eighth's Dissolution of the Monasteries, in 1539.  The oldest part of the Hall is the present back bar, which dates from c. 1280.

During the visit, we learnt that most of the Malt used to produce the St Peter's beers comes from East Anglia, i.e. from Crisp Malting (www.crispmalt.info), who are based in Great Ryburgh, Fakenham, in Norfolk, and from Muntons (www.muntons.com), in Stowmarket, in Suffolk. There was a Malt sack from Warminster Maltings (www.warminster-malt.co.uk), in Wiltshire, but this contained Organic Crystal Malt from Germany. Click here for a White Beer Travels Web page covering Warminster Maltings. Whole Malt (i.e. uncrushed Malt) is used, along with whole Hops (i.e. not pellets or extract). Hops come from as far away as New Zealand, especially for Organic ones, although the latter are now also sourced in the UK, mainly from Worcestershire.

80% of the brewery's output is in bottle, the other 20% being Cask Beer; bottling takes place at St Peter's using equipment supplied by Cimec (www.cimecitalia.com), in Canelli (Asti), in Italy; it is a modification of a bottling unit that was originally designed for wine bottles, that has been specially adapted to handle the brewery's unusual bottles. Well over half of the bottled beer is exported, the main markets being the USA (www.eurobrews.com), Canada, Russia, the Nordic Countries, Japan, The Netherlands, Switzerland, Greece, Chile, Australia and New Zealand. Apart from the Wheat Beer, the bottled beers are cold filtered (sterile filtered) before being bottled. This gives them a shelf life of a year, without the requirement to pasteurise. However, the bottled beers that are flavoured with fruit and other extracts are pasteurised, as the extracts block the filter elements far too quickly. Of course, the Cask versions of the fruit beers are unfiltered and unpasteurised. There were experiments with using, for example, whole fruit to produce the Grapefruit beer (which is based on a filtered Wheat Beer), but the results were not consistent, so such beers are now produced using extracts of real fruits, etc, the solvent typically being alcohol; these are supplied by a "Flavour House". Such flavourings are added in the conditioning tanks downstream of the fermenters, where the beer typically stays for a week, or longer, if possible. Additions to the beer such a Nettles are typically added with the Hops in the Copper. Carbon Dioxide (CO₂) is added before bottling, using a Pinpoint Carbonator, the CO₂ level aimed for being 2.3 Volumes/Volume. c.f. 3.2 for poor quality Lagers.

St Peter's Brewery's full range of bottled beers, and a selection of their beers in Cask (Real Ale) form, are available, in their excellent pub, in St Peter's Hall itself (GBG 2006, GBG 2007 page 440), which is open during normal pub hours, apart from on National Holidays, when it is open during the standard Sunday hours. They also have a pub in London, which has both their draught and bottled beers, The Jerusalem Tavern, that is covered below, and they supply a good number of other pubs with Cask Real Ale. In St Peter's Hall the draught beer prices are: £2.65 for those in the ABV (Alcohol By Volume) range 3.7-4.6%; £2.75 for those in the range 4.7-5.4%; and £2.85 for the 6.5% beers. Bottled beers are in the range £2.25 to £2.85, depending on strength. The food that is available in both the Hall's bar and restaurant is very good, examples being: Soup of the Day, accompanied by Metfield Organic Bakery Bread, at £3.95; St Peter's Steak and Ale Pie (the Ale used being Organic Best Bitter), at £8.95; Whole Tail Scampi, Home-made Chips and Garden Peas, at £7.95; Baguettes in the range £4.95-6.25; Dark Chocolate Bread and Butter Pudding, at £4.25; and Farmhouse Cheeses, at £6.25. Wednesday evening is Fish & Chips Night, this dish being £7.95. The Fish is fried in Beer Batter. The prices quoted in this paragraph are from the June, 2005 visit.

It can be difficult to find the St Peter's Brewery; within a short distance of it there is an amazing number of "St Whatever South Elmham" villages, The Saints being a commonly used name for the South Elmham area. Some of the individual Saints are on quite detailed maps such as the AA 1:160,000: "St Cross South Elmham", "St Margaret South Elmham", "All Saints South Elmham", "St James South Elmham" and "St Michael South Elmham", but not the required one, St Peter South Elmham, although it is on the 1:50,000 Ordnance Survey (OS) map, as is St Peter's Hall itself (OS Grid Reference TM 336 854). There are directions given on the brewery's website, click here to see them. My trusty GPS Satellite Navigation System found the brewery for me without any problem. I was travelling NE from Bury St Edmunds on the A143 and the GPS told me to turn right onto the B1062, signed to Flixton. It then duly got me there on a number of unclassified roads, some of which, but not all, had signs to the brewery at junctions. I can see why they call this area full of Saint place names the Suffolk Bermuda Triangle! Bernie Ecclestone (1930-), who runs Formula One Motor Racing hails from St Peter South Elmham, although there are not that many houses in the place for anyone to be born in! His father was a Trawler Captain based in the famous Suffolk fishing port of Lowestoft. The nearest railway station, Halesworth, is about five miles (eight kilometres) from the brewery.

St Peter's Brewery's London Pub: The Jerusalem Tavern

The Jerusalem Tavern is a truly excellent, historic pub in Clerkenwell, London (55 Britton Street (side of St. John's Path), EC1M 5UQ, GBG 2006, GBG 2007 page 280). After a superb restoration by St Peter's, it was reopened by them, in 1996, the present building dating from 1720, although there has been a pub in the area named after the Priory of St John of Jerusalem since the 14th Century, housed in the nearby St John's Gate, which is often described as a fragment of the original building, but which, nevertheless, is particularly impressive; today, it is the headquarters of the St. John Ambulance organisation (www.sja.org.uk), the UK's leading First Aid Care and Transport Charity; it houses an appropriate museum, and guided tours of the splendid building are available; to reach it, turn left out of the side door of the Jerusalem Tavern, into a narrow passageway (St. John's Path), and when this opens out, the splendid gate can soon be seen on the right, going over St John's Lane. The above two photos were taken by John White, in August and June, 2005, respectively. On the left of the photo of the exterior, is the signed entrance to St. John's Path. The photo on the right is of the Tavern's sign, which, as can be seen, features the severed head of St John the Baptist, on a salver (Christ was baptised by St John; he was beheaded at the request of Salome!).

The above two photos were taken inside The Jerusalem Tavern, by John White, in June, 2005. The one on the left shows five of the six draught/tap Real Ales that are always available in the place, these being rotated from the brewery's full range of draught beers. Note that the dispense method used is not the traditional one for Real Ales, and nor is, as it might seem, gravity dispense used; on opening the tap, non-intrusive air pressure (i.e. air that is not in direct contact with the beer itself) gets the beer into the glass, a commonly used method for Real Ale in Scotland, see the White Beer Travels Web page covering Edinburgh. On the June, 2005 visit to The Jerusalem Tavern, the beers on tap were: Golden Ale (4.7%); Honey Porter (4.5%); Organic Best Bitter (4.1%); Cream Stout (6.5%); Fruit Beer (Grapefruit) (4.7%); and Spiced Ale (Lemon and Ginger) (4.7%). Coming on soon after was the Mild (3.7%). The latter and the Best Bitter are £2.50 on draught, the remaining, higher strength beers being £2.60. The brewery's full range of 50cl bottled beers is also available, these all being £2.80, or £26 for a case of twelve bottles, which can be mixed. On my visit, I tried the Honey Porter and the Grapefruit Beer; both were stunning: truly superb drinking experiences.

With a camera (well in my hands anyway), it is difficult to do justice to the marvellous interior of The Jerusalem Tavern, as it has a number of relatively small, separate rooms; it is a splendid mix of old wood and tiles, these being featured in the photo, above right. There is no live music or TV screens to spoil its wonderful atmosphere; this is a true gem that must be visited. Hot food is available at lunchtime, with cheese, pâté and cold meat platters available at all times. I did not try the food on my visit, but what I saw on other people's plates looked really appetising; I will make a point of eating in the place on my next inevitable visit. On my June, 2005 visit, I was made most welcome by barman, Dan Brame, and the manager, Steven Medniuk (his grandfather was from The Ukraine), who both have a very good knowledge of and enthusiasm for the St Peter's beers, and rightly so. Steven's favourite is Ruby Red (4.3%), one of the brewery's seasonal beers (Autumn).

Mauldons Brewery, 13 Church Field Road, Sudbury, CO10 2YA, GPS: 52.044222^o N, 0.755975^o E

The Mauldon family have been involved in brewing in various locations in Sudbury since 1795. Peter Mauldon was running the latest version of the brewery until, on retirement, he sold out, in March, 2000, to Steve and Alison Sims, the present owners of "Mauldons, The Black Adder Brewery". Steve and Alison had both worked at Adnams for a number of years, prior to taking this big step. However, they had not been brewing in the brewery they took on all that long, before they moved to their present, splendid brewery, which is featured in the above two photos. The building itself dates from 1993, but the brewery was only added by Steve and Alison in 2004, but if you did not know this, you would swear that building and brewery were designed together, so good is the fit. The first brew within the building shown in the photo on the left was carried out in the third week of January, 2005, with the official opening day in June, 2005. The photo, above right, shows the brewing vessels. In the photo, the Mauldons Head Brewer, Steve Birch, who has been with the company since 1982, is commenting on aspects of the new brewery to Paul Nunny, of Cask Marque. Peter Mauldon is no longer connected with the brewery, although his son, James Mauldon is an Assistant Brewer in the new Mauldons; Peter Mauldon is now a Cask Marque Inspector. Most of the staff in the new Mauldons were working for Mauldons when it was still in Mauldon family ownership. Both Brew House Vessels (Mash Tun, Copper, Hot and Cold Liquor (Water) Tanks), and Fermenters (the two vessels on the right of the background) can be seen in this photo. The brew plant was installed by ABUK (www.abuk.co.uk), who purchased it from DME Brewing Services (www.dmebrewing.ca), who are based in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada. Whole Hops are used, and pre-crushed Malt from Muntons, which has the slogan "East Anglian Malted Barley".

Mauldons Cask Real Ales include: Mauldons Bitter (3.6%), Mole Trap (3.8%), Suffolk Pride (4.8%), Black Adder (5.3%), White Adder (5.3%), Pickwick (4.2%), Bah Humbug (4.9%) (December), Dickens (4%) (September), and Suffolk Comfort (6.6%). Charles Dickens was a regular visitor to Sudbury, the town of Eatanswill, in Pickwick Papers, being based on Sudbury; Eatanswill Old (4%) is available in December. As already noted, a number of the brewery's seasonal and permanent beers have names of Dickensian origin; others include Micawber's Mild (3.5%) and Peggotty's Porter (4.1%) (February), this having Roasted Rye in its recipe. Black Adder, Suffolk Pride and Bah Humbug are also available bottle-conditioned - Real Ale in a bottle. Black Adder was voted CAMRA's Champion Beer of Britain in both 1991 and 1992. You could argue that today, as it is brewed by different people in a different brewery, it will be a different beer. That may be true, but all I can say is that the draught beer sampled on this trip was absolutely top-notch. We also checked out the bottled beer and this was also magnificent, which does not go without saying as many great draught beers are fairly ordinary in bottle, even when bottle-conditioned, so this really is one to seek out in bottle. One wall in the Visitor Centre is covered with award certificates; there is a 2003 one for Black Adder (i.e. after Steve Sims had took over) in the "Kategorie: Dunkles" (Dark Category), which was awarded at a major brewing industry trade fair, Brau Beviale (www.brau-beviale.de), which is held in Nürnberg (Nuremberg), in Franconia, Germany. In 2007, Brau Beviale runs from Wednesday the 14th, to Friday the 16th of November. A thirty-one page White Beer Travels Guide to Nuremberg is available from the Downloads page.

The Mauldons bottled beers are available to take home in the excellent Visitor Centre at the brewery. Triple packs (3x500ml bottles) are £6.50. Cases (12 bottles) are: £22.20 for Black Adder; £20.32 for Suffolk Pride; and £20.69 for Bah Humbug (December only). These are June, 2005 prices. Note that the bottled beer have a best before date of one year after the date of bottling, and also a Gyle Number, this denoting the exact date of brewing. handpumped beers are also available on certain occasions (group visits, etc) at the Visitor Centre.

The Mauldons bottled beers are bottled by another East Anglian Brewer: Iceni (www.icenibrewery.co.uk), 3 Fouldon Road, Ickburgh, Mundford, IP26 5BJ, in the neighbouring County of Norfolk. Sharing the same address as Iceni is East Anglian Brewers Ltd (www.eastanglianbrewers.com), which is a co-operative of East of England brewers that was founded in 2002. One of its aims is based on the fact that East Anglia produces barley for malting of the highest quality, i.e. as with Warminster Maltings, in a different part of England (click here for more details), it encourages its members to use local Malt, with the eventual goal of being able to say exactly where the Malt came from for a particular brew, perhaps right down to the individual field; this information could be used on bottle labels, etc. East Anglian Brewers also encourages and facilitates making its members' beers available to local communities through farmers' markets and, for example, community shops. With Adnams and Greene King in close proximity, this is important. East Anglia Brewers is open to all brewers in the region eligible for the lower rates of beer duty, i.e. those that produce less than 30,000 hectolitres per year (353 brewers barrels per week); click here for more details. All of the brewers visited on this trip are members. Of course, Adnams and Greene King are not eligible for membership.

Sudbury itself is a most pleasant town, with some excellent pubs. It was the birthplace of one of England's finest painters, Thomas Gainsborough (1727-88) (www.gainsborough.org).

The photo, above left, is a handpump for Black Adder, in the brewery's Visitor Centre; it was rescued from an old Mauldons pub. Through the window, in the background, can be seen some of the brewery's vessels, that are featured in the photo above. In the photo, above right, Steve Sims is showing Guild members the Mauldon Brewery's 1866 Day Book, an accounts book. In the photo, from left to right, are: Steve Sims; Roy Bailey; Adrian Tierney-Jones; Jeff Evans; and Paul Nunny.

Old Cannon Brewery, 86 Cannon Street, Bury St Edmunds, IP33 1JR, GPS: 52.249602^o N, 0.714717^o E

In the photo above right, Richard Eyton-Jones, Old Cannon's Proprietor and Brewer, is behind the servery of the Pub part of this marvellous Brew Pub/Restaurant, the licensee being his girlfriend, Carole Locker, i.e. Carole is the one with her name and the "Licensed to Sell" stuff above the door, in the photo above left, of the exterior of the Old Cannon Brewery. Richard has had extensive experience running and/or setting up small breweries. These include: Old Mill (www.oldmillbrewery.co.uk), in Snaith, in East Yorkshire; Grand Union (www.gubrewery.co.uk), in Middlesex; Goose Eye (www.goose-eye-brewery.co.uk) in West Yorkshire; and one also visited on this trip, St Peter's, see above, which, after setting it up, he was its first brewer. Richard is a graduate of the famous "International Centre for Brewing and Distilling", at Heriot-Watt University, in Edinburgh, Scotland (www.bio.hw.ac.uk/icbd/icbd.htm); he was one year ahead of celebrity brewer, Alistair Hook, of the Meantime Brewing Company (The Greenwich Brewery), in Charlton, in the Borough of Greenwich, in London (www.meantimebrewing.com, White Beer Travels Web page).

Old Cannon Brewery, or The Can, as it is known locally, is the only genuine freehouse in Bury St Edmunds, and it is a Brew Pub (GBG 2006, GBG 2007 page 433); it is on the same site as the original Cannon Brewery, in the St Edmunds Head pub, which commenced operation in 1847; brewing ceased in 1917, the pub then being shut by Greene King, in 1994. It reopened in 1999 as a Brew Pub, its new brew house, being visible from the bar. There is an excellent, very detailed history of Old Cannon on its website. Its own beers are available on handpump, these including: Best Bitter (3.8%) (£2.25), Powder Monkey (4.6%), Blonde Bombshell (4.2%) and Gunner's Daughter (5.5%) (£2.40). There are also other Real Ales, such as Adnams Bitter (3.7%) and ever-changing Guest Real Ales (served in over-sized, lined glasses) and Foreign Draught Beers, the latter including Bitburger Pils (5%), Erdinger Weissbier (5.3%) (www.erdinger.de) and a Guest Beer, the latter on the June, 2005 visit, being a rarity, even in its native Belgium: Val-Dieu Triple (9%) (£3.60) (www.val-dieu.com); click here for a photo taken during a White Beer Travels visit to this Cistercian Abbey Brewery. Food is available, this being covered shortly, and there is accommodation, indeed the Guild group stayed the night here during this trip to Suffolk. The accommodation is to the left of the building shown in the photograph, above left, separated from it by an archway, which leads to the beer garden and the car park. The accommodation area housed the original brewery.

The Can is very much a community pub, with no TV screens, although there are traditional pub games. The brewery supplies other outlets with Cask Ales, and there are plans for an additional pub of their own.

The photo, above left shows the Mash Tun and Copper, which are in The Can's bar, the servery (see photo above these two, on the right) being just to the left of the Mash Tun, the vessel on the left. The rest of the brewery, such as the fermenters shown in the photo, above right, are below the pub. As you can see, the vessels in the bar are particularly splendid, indeed, they are thought to be the only polished stainless steel brewing vessels in the world; there are a lot of brewing vessels made of stainless steel, of course, but they all have a matt finish. It was built by Industrial Techniques Ltd (www.indtec.co.uk), of Needham Market, near Ipswich, in Suffolk. After construction, it was initially on show at an exhibition, in Tokyo, in Japan, but on its return, it was installed in the Old Cannon. Note however, that the bar and its restaurant are extremely popular, so, good as it looks, a move for the brewery is being considered to free up space in the bar. Furthermore, some of the beers will possibly be bottled in the future; if this were to take place, the beers would be bottled by Old Cannon and be unfiltered and unpasteurised, i.e. they would be Real Ale in a Bottle. This plan to bottle would also speed up the decision to relocate the brewery, so, if you want to see the splendid Brew House in the bar, come early, rather than late, but having said this, the place is an exceptional must-visit, even without the in-bar brewery. The pub opens every day of the week except Monday, this being the day on which brewing takes place. It shuts in the afternoon each day. Children under fourteen years of age are not allowed on the premises, including the beer garden at the rear.

Dry Danstar Nottingham British Ale Yeast, from the Canadian company, Lallemand (www.lallemand.com), is used at the fermentation stage. A relatively small packet of this lasts for ages, Richard pointed out, this ensuring consistency from batch to batch of beer.

The Nutshell, the UK's Smallest Pub, until 2006	Cupola, a Grade I listed bar/restaurant

At the time of the visit, there were thirty-five pubs in Bury, thirty-one of which were Greene King houses. The Old Cannon is, of course, one of the four pubs that is not tied to Greene King; it is the most highly regarded pub in Bury by Real Ale fans, and rightly so. The two most famous pubs in Bury are shown in the above photos, which were taken by John White, in June, 2006. They are on the same street, fairly close to Old Cannon: The Nutshell, a CAMRA National Inventory Entry, at 17 The Traverse (North off Abbeygate Street), diagonally opposite this street's Café Rouge (www.caferouge.co.uk), an excellent example of this chain of Parisian Bars/Brasseries), IP33 1BJ, GPS: 52.244928^o N, 0.712650^o E, a Grade II listed pub which was declared by the Guinness Book of Records to be Great Britain's smallest pub, until the opening of The Signal Box Inn, in Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire, in August, 2006 (click here for more information on The Signal Box Inn); and Cupola, (7 The Traverse, IP33 1BT, GPS: 52.245412^o N, 0.712312^o E), an extremely rare example of a bar/restaurant that is housed in a Grade I listed building (click here for a couple more examples). Note that The Nutshell and Cupola House are connected to each other by an underground passageway. On my June, 2006 visit to the Nutshell, Greene King IPA was £2.40, and Greene King Abbot was £2.80; both were in excellent condition. On the wall, there is a notice declaring "Coach parties welcome. Function Room and Dining Area for Parties of 2 or less" (upstairs, near the entrance to the toilet, the only furnishings are a table and two chairs, this clearly being the full extent of the function room). On the ceiling, there are lots of bank notes and hanging from it are a dead cat, mouse and rat! Cupola, the "High House of an Apothecary", according to the historical notes on its website, dates from 1679. Today, it is more a very nice restaurant than a bar, but there are handpumps for Greene King IPA and Adnams Bitter. Cupola has rooms on three floors, all of which are splendid. The food ranges from snacks to full meals, with (June, 2006 prices): Pizza at £7.25 to £8.25; Pasta at £6.50 to £7.25; Salads; Baguettes; Jacket Potatoes; marvellous Apple Pie with Custard at £3.50; and Specials of the Day, including Green Thai Curry, with Monk Fish and King Prawns at £8.25, which I hope is on during my next visit, as it was exceptionally good, as the most charming of waitresses said it would be.

Fairly close to these two pubs on The Traverse, there is a very good Beer Shop, Beer2go, 2 Lawsons House, 1a St Andrews Street South, IP33 3PH, www.beer2go.co.uk (stopped working in July, 2006) . This is open on Tuesday to Saturday from 10am to 6pm, and on Sunday from Noon until 4pm. Over 250 beers are available, these being mainly from the UK. It is run by Paul Garrard and Ginny Buchan. There is one Adnams pub in Bury, The Queens Head, 39 Churchgate Street, IP33 1RG, tel 01284 761554. Bury, although not Suffolk's biggest town, houses the County's only Cathedral, St Edmundsbury Cathedral (www.stedscathedral.co.uk). This is one of a number of major attractions for the general visitor. It and the town gets its name from Edmund, the last King of the East Angles, who was killed by the Danes in 869, the town soon after becoming home to his shrine, i.e. a large monastery was built, in which the martyred King, who was made a Saint, is buried, this having been given Abbey status, in 1020, by King Cnut. The Cathedral is within the site where the Abbey stood, little of which remains. All this and much more is given in the St Edmundsbury website, www.stedmundsbury.gov.uk, which covers Bury and the area surrounding it.

The Old Cannon has a very good restaurant. I was particularly impressed with my Sausages (£10.50), in which the brewery's Gunner's Daughter is part of the recipe, these having been made by D A Clarke, a renowned Butcher, in Long Melford, near Sudbury (Hall Street, CO10 9JL, tel 01787 379905). Other food choices include: Grilled Red Snapper at £12.95; Venison Haunch Steak at £13.95; and Wild Mushroom & Vegetable Paella at £10.50. Dishes come either with a good selection of vegetables and potatoes or with marvellous Granary Bread. The prices quoted for both food and beer, in this section on The Can, are June, 2005 ones.

Visits to other Pubs and Breweries, in Suffolk

This section covers other miscellaneous visits to places of note in Suffolk. It is an expanding section, which misses out many places of merit, which have simply not yet been visited.

The King's Head (The Low House), Gorams Mill Lane, Laxfield, IP13 8DW, GPS: 52.302438^o N, 1.262947^o E,
(GBG 2005, GBG 2006 page 438)

The above photos featuring The King's Head (The Low House), in Laxfield, a world-class, entry in the CAMRA National Inventory, were taken by John White, in May, 2006. In the interior shot on the right, sitting in one of the pubs splendid settles, are my daughter, Julia Skinner, her husband, Paul and their sleeping daughter, Emma.

The above two photos, were taken in and outside The Low House, by John White, in May, 2006. In the one on the left, my glass is being filled with Adnams Explorer, in The Low House's ground floor cellar, straight from an insulated cask. The cask next to it is for Fuller's London Pride, which I sampled later; both beers were marvellous. The Adnams Champagne in the photo on the right is in a summer house at the back of the place's lovely garden, which has ample, covered seating. Note the village church in the background.

Food in The Low house is very good and interesting. It is detailed on blackboards, the following being examples from the May, 2006 visit; Chef's Homemade Soup at £3.95; Dublin Bay Prawns in a Garlic Herb Butter with Homemade Bread at £5.95; Poached Loin of Cod on a bed of Spinach with a Glazed Mousseline Sauce at £9.50; Beef Stroganoff with wild Rice at £8.95; and Lightly Spiced Mediterranean Vegetables braised in Peppers and topped with Feta and Goats' Cheese at £7.95.

The Low House Golden Treasury of Poems for Beer Drinkers, by G J Nason, is available in The Low House. It contains famous poems that have been appropriately modified to fit the booklets's title.

Earl Soham Brewery, The Street (A1120), Earl Soham, Woodbridge, IP13 7RT (www.earlsohambrewery.co.uk),
& its Tap, The Victoria, IP13 7RL, GPS: 52.220270^o N, 1.262947^o E, (GBG 2006, GBG 2007 page 434)

The photo on the left of The Victoria, was taken by John White, in June, 2006. Its brewery is close by, in the old forge building, across from the village green. Next door, the excellent village store/delicatessen Tastebuds, is the only outlet for its bottle-conditioned (Real Ale in a Bottle) beers. Tastebuds incorporates the villages Post Office.

On my June, 2006 visit to Earl Soham, I did not get to the brewery, but sampled a couple of its Real Ales, Victoria Bitter and Sir Roger's Porter, served from old-fashioned handpumps, in the must-be-visited, The Victoria. It is furnished in a most appealing, rustic style, with simple, wooden furniture. The food is very good, example dishes being: Corn Beef Hash at £5.95; Whole Kipper at £3.95; and Blackboard Specials. I will certainly be back to Earl soham for a return to The Victoria, and a brewery visit.

General Information on the Suffolk Beer Scene

Suffolk has three branches of CAMRA, their websites providing up to the minute, pertinent information on the Real Ale and other Quality/Speciality Beer scene in Suffolk: Ipswich and East Suffolk Branch, www.ipswichcamra.com and www.ipswichcamra.blogspot.com; West Suffolk and Borders Branch; and North East Suffolk Branch, www.jkjordan.btinternet.co.uk. The Suffolk CAMRA branches produce an excellent free magazine, Last Orders!, which is available in a good number of Real Ale pubs in the County. Fellow Beer Hunt organiser, Simon van Tromp is based in Suffolk, from where he runs excellent, good-value Beer Hunts; his Beer Traveller Tours & Publications website, www.beertraveller.com, augmented by Simon's blog site, provides full details of these. Click here for Simon's contact details.

John White (1945-), , June, 2005, updated in June, 2007.

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