Westerham Brewery launches first new permanent beer for four years

We are proud to announce the launch of ‘Spirit of Kent – XXX Pale Ale’, our first new permanent beer for four years. The beer is being launched in partnership with the owners of the Kent Spitfire and Biggin Hill Heritage Hangar.

The Kent Spitfire TA805 is a Mark IX Spitfire named ‘Spirit of Kent’ by its owner Peter Monk as a tribute to those who lost their lives flying in No. 131 (County of Kent) Fighter Squadron which was formed during 1941. This unique squadron was raised from donations sent in by the good people of Kent with ‘Spirit of Kent’ always flown by the Commanding Officer.

Spirit of Kent – XXX Pale Ale is a deep golden ale with citrus and tropical fruit flavours on the palate. As befits a Mark IX Spitfire, the beer is hopped with 9 Kent bred and Kent grown hops which are added to the beer in 9 separate hop additions. We have also sub-titled the beer ‘XXX Pale Ale’ to remember the Westerham Pale Ale that was taken up to RAF Biggin Hill and racked into the auxiliary fuel tanks of Spitfires in the days following the D-Day landings in June 1944. These ‘delivery’ runs were called ‘Mod. XXX Depth Charges’ and the beer marked ‘XXX Joy Juice’. Click here for more about this story. That really is the Spirit of Kent.