Shepherd Neame 1698 Celebration Ale

Shepherd Neame is one of my favourite brewers. It has a long and illustrious history and remains an independent family brewer despite pressures from the money market and the unfair treatment of smaller brewers by The Chancellor in the way that excise duty is raised on alcoholic drinks. Not only this but Shepherd Neame has also been unduly affected by cross-channel shopping, Kent being the starting point of both the Channel Tunnel and most of the ferries. It has been said, not entirely tongue-in-cheek, that St Omer is the biggest selling beer in Kent. The St Omer brewery is in Northern France! The brewery was founded in 1698 in Faversham, Kent by one ...  Read the complete review

Boy is this stuff good. You wouldn't want too many of these in an evening. With an ABV of 6.5% it is nearly twice the strength of ordinary beer. DO NOT DRINK AND DRIVE with even ONE bottle of this inside you. Celebration 1698 is a beer which was first brewed in 1998 to commemorate the 300th anniversary of the Shepherd Neame brewery, the oldest brewery in England still in production. The beer was originally supposed to be a limited edition and is almost impossible to find on draught. However, it is now widely available in bottles both here and in the French hypermarkets. ...  Read the complete review

Stronger than other Shepherd Neame products, 1698 is brewed to a 300 year old recipe. - Advantages: Strong, no longer a limited edition, available in bottles - Disadvantages: You get hooked on the stuff