5 Tipples You Need to Try!

There has been a brewery on this very site since 1799, with brewing in Bury St Edmunds traced back as far as 1086. Now Westgate Brewery, home to Greene King and their team of expert brewers, makes beer here twenty four hours a day. There is also an innovation micro brewery on site, which experiments with creating new and exciting craft beers in small batches.

Visit the Greene King website and choose from favourites such as Greene King IPA and the ‘curious’ and uniquely flavoured Old Speckled Hen that you can ‘buy online and enjoy at home’.

You should also try the famous Abbot Ale, synonymous with Bury’s brewing history; this strong, sweet and dark bitter packs a punch. Choose a variety of ales that take your fancy or why not order a selection as a gift for a loved one.

Adnams’ extensive range of beers, wines and handcrafted spirits are all available to choose from at the Adnams shop, housed in an historic building in Bury’s Cornhill.

The online shop has something for everyone including all of the beers brewed in local Southwold, including ‘Ghostship’, deliciously light ‘Sole Star’ and the classic amber beer ‘Lighthouse’.

There is a tempting selection of Adnams flavoured gins, such as ‘Quince’, ‘Habanero and Lime’ and ‘Orange and Sea Buckthorn’. They also stock a unique selection of gifts such as chocolate, coffee, alcohol gift-sets and even Adnams branded kitchenware.

Giffords Hall Vineyard is a family owned, award-winning vineyard on the site of an ancient glacial riverbed near Long Melford in Suffolk and is proud to grow several varieties of grape including Bacchus, Rondo and Pinot Noir. East Anglia is fast becoming a recognisable wine-growing region and has consistently won more gold medals for Bacchus than any other county. Choose from white, sparkling, award winning rose and red wines, all available on the website.

The Giffords Curvee was featured in The Independent’s ‘Best English Sparkling Wines’ and has distinctive fruit flavours with a delicate floral twist- is perfect for an at-home celebration.

The St Edmundsbury Pinot Noir is named after the cathedral, where the vines were grown in medieval times, within the Abbey walls. It has a generous nose and is packed with flavours of plum, rhubarb and cranberry- perfect with a roast.

Established in 2011, Brewshed, as the name suggests, originally brewed their fantastic beer in a shed in the grounds of a beerhouse. When they inevitably outgrew the space they moved into new premises with a 12 barrel craft brewery.

Two of their seasonal beers won the West Suffolk CAMRA awards in 2019 and they even brew bespoke beer for master chocolatiers ‘Hotel Chocolat’. We recommend placing an order for the Pale Ale; a light golden, clean and refreshing pale ale with a simple light malt character balanced with enough hop complexity to create a distinctive and refreshing bite.

For something a little bit different, try the American blonde which is inspired by modern American IPA's and is brewed using the distinctive American citra hops. It has crisp bitterness but is balanced with a rich malt character and a citrus fruit nose.