In 1997, having already visited one of the smaller breweries in Kent, the Branch organised an outing to Harvey's Brewery based at Lewes in East Sussex. The tour was particularly interesting with an excellent guide who had a great sense of humour. During the obligatory beer tasting session that followed the tour we discussed with the Head Brewer the possibility of bottling a special brew to raise funds for the Branch. The result was Grenadier Ale.
The Branch Treasurer at the time, John Chapman, ran his own printing business and volunteered to produce an appropriate label for the bottles. After much discussion it was agreed that a series of six labels be produced depicting Grenadier uniforms through the ages and that Grenadier Ale be sold, boxed, as a set of six bottles.
1008 bottles, or 168 sets, of Grenadier Ale were produced and went on sale on Grenadier Day 1998. At the end of the day almost every set had been sold with a large number of Grenadiers buying two sets - one to drink and one to keep.
At the end of the year we were informed by Harvey's that the International Labologists Society (those who collect beer labels) had awarded Grenadier Ale 'Best International Set of Beer Labels' for that year. As a result of the award requests started coming in from all over the world for sets of our labels. It was agreed within the Branch that a limited number be printed for sale to collectors and, although the rush is over, we still get the odd request now and again.
Due to the wonders of technology the labels can now be viewed via the following links:
Label 1 |
Label 2 |
Label 3 |
Label 4 |
Label 5 |
Label 6 |