FOR many people, there’s nothing like a good pint – especially in a beer garden on a summer’s day.

Tim Edgell and Mike Bone say beer has played an important part in the society and culture of Dorset for thousands of years.

Brewhouses were an integral part of many communities in Dorset between the 18th and 20th centuries.

Tim and Mike have written an interesting history about beer, the brewing process and the county’s rich heritage in their new book – Brewing in Dorset.

Brewing in West Dorset dates back as far as 1792 when the Gladwyn family established a brewery in Litton Cheney. According to Brewing in Dorset, malting was carried out nearby at Barge’s Farm.

Further west, Bridport’s Old Brewery was purchased in 1794 by Samuel Gundry & Co. The brewery added new ‘fashionable lighter Burton ales to the traditional range of table beer, porter and old vatted ales’.

The brewery passed from owner to owner until it was purchased in 1896 by J C & R H Palmer. Although Dorset suffered from a long depression in agriculture, their improvements to the brewery site and an introduction of a bottled range resulted in success and survival of the brewery through wars and recessions.

As one of the main breweries in West Dorset, the traditional company maintain their independent and distinctive beers and taste to this day.

Several pubs in Bridport dabbled in brewing too. The Bull, established in the 1500s brewed for centuries until the last brewing under the Knight family in 1920.

In Lyme Regis, larger-scale brewing faltered in the 19th century after six inns and two brew houses burnt down in the Great Fire in 1844.

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