Water & Soil

Where does the water for a Faversham beer come from? From deep underground. According to tradition, the Shepherd Neame brewery was founded over an artesian well, a well where water rises naturally from the rock below. The brewery says it still draws its brewing water from its own depths today, and well water is part of the origin rules for Kentish Ale.

Much of Kent's soil is chalk. The hills of the North Downs are made of it, and rain seeps through the porous rock, picking up lime and collecting in vast underground reservoirs. Such water is usually high in carbonates, meaning high hardness. That makes brewing pale beers tricky, since the lime keeps the wort from becoming acidic enough and can make the bitterness taste harsher. Fuller, amber-colored beers handle it well.

These days, the brewer matters more than the water source anyway. Almost every brewery treats its water, softening it, adding salts or removing them. The textbook idea that water alone defines a style barely holds true anymore.

The soil shapes the hops above all. In the deep, well-aerated soils of the Weald and around Canterbury in the east, hop plants root deeply. Windbreak hedges and the mild climate along the English Channel are part of the classic picture of a Kent hop garden. Drive through the hills near Brenchley on a September morning and you'll see trellises, hedgerows, and white cowls atop the oast houses.