Shepherd Neame Spitfire

After reviewing Shepherd Neame’s wonderful Bishops Finger I was reminded that I really ought to give one of their other famous brews a mention. Here is my opinion on Spitfire, another Premium Ale from the Kent brewer. ~~~THE BREWERY. A long time ago (in 1698 to be exact) brewing started at the Shepherd Neame Brewery. The company was started, in Faversham in Kent, by Captain Richard Marsh (the Mayor of Faversham). Shepherd Neame say they are the oldest brewery in Britain ~ this story gives weight to this claim! The site has also seen brewing going on since the 12th Century too. Kent is also one of the best hop growing counties, so it hardly a ...  Read the complete review

Real men. That is to say, men who wear cardigans and slippers, drink real ale. As has been proved scientifically (i.e a bloke down the pub said) real men like it warm and flat. (Eh now! Behave!) After a recent visit from my soon to be father-in-law, I was summarily told that all southern beer is pointless, as it has no head and tastes far too much of hops. (He's from Manchester) I was shocked at this dismissal of hundreds of years of brewing tradition and on the return visit a week later (hold on that makes visiting the in laws sound like a cup game - oh well), I decided that I should test his theory. In true man to man bonding style, we went for a swift ...  Read the complete review

Spitfire is the regular strong bitter of the Shepherd Neame family and is available all the year round. At a strength of 4.8% it packs a bit of a punch and can result in the odd hangover if not treated with respect. Shepherd Neame mainly use locally grown hops for their beers and some of those used are only grown in Kent. This is what helps to give their beers their unique flavour. Spitfire is a beer full of character and flavour. It is very "moreish" and bearing in mind the strength of it you need to be careful that you do not yield too much to temptation. Like most Shepherd Neame beers one of the drawbacks to Spitfire is its ...  Read the complete review

Spitfire is a wonderful beer that is very full on flavour. It's quite a dark red colour which makes it look very strong when really it isn't. It has a nice taste which is bitter and refreshing at the same time. To get the full effect from the beer you need to make sure that you get plenty of head and air into the glass, it helps bring out the flavour. Now i haven't had a beer like this before, it's quite weak, about 5% but after a couple i felt giddy, must be something in it. This particular beer goes well with a curry and i would recommend it to anyone! ...  Read the complete review

Anybody reading this will probably know about Spitfire , Shepherd Neame , the strength colour and smell but perhaps do not know that the JD Wetherspoon chain of pubs always serve an excellent pint of this beer at the amazingly low price of £1.29. In fact , I have been to Wetherspoons in Wales and purchased a pint for 99p. Now for such a good pint of beer for such a price one would end up going nowhere else other than Wetherspoons , especially considering they also serve many other cheap and well presented beers , wines and food at under £5 , but on the food side it is worth being subjective as although excellent it can vary according to who the chef is at the ...  Read the complete review