Norfolk has more microbreweries than any other county in England. With over 50 independent brewers, the county reputation for beer is built on some of the best malting barley in the country, grown in ideal conditions where salty sea mists and warm summers produce grain of exceptional quality. The water is prized by brewers too, with many drawing from their own boreholes and chalk-filtered wells.
Woodfordes Brewery in Woodbastwick has been Norfolk most celebrated brewer since 1981. Their Wherry won CAMRA Supreme Champion Beer of Britain twice, putting Norfolk firmly on the national beer map. The brewery tap, the thatched Fur and Feather, is a destination in itself. Norfolk Brewhouse brews Moon Gazer ales on an arable farm in North Norfolk using chalk-filtered well water, with award-winning gluten-free beers named after the wild hares seen nearby. Grain Brewery at Alburgh, Humpty Dumpty at Reedham in the Broads, Panther at Reepham, and Redwell in Norwich all add depth.
The English Whisky Company at East Harling was the first whisky distillery in England for over 100 years when it opened in 2006. Using locally sourced barley and water from the Brecklands aquifer, it has since won global awards and established Norfolk as a serious spirits producer. Flint Vineyard in South Norfolk produces exceptional wines including a Fume that proves English winemaking is as exciting as the beer. Whin Hill makes cider in an 18th century flint barn at Wells-next-the-Sea.
Cromer crab is Norfolk star food product. The crabs feed off the unique Cromer chalk reef, producing a sweeter taste and higher proportion of white meat than any other UK crab. Jonas Seafood cooks and hand-picks them daily. Mrs Temple at Copys Green Farm in Wighton produces Binham Blue and five other artisan cheeses using milk from Holstein Friesian and Swiss Brown herds. Fielding Cottage makes award-winning goat cheeses with a farm shop and restaurant.
Norfolk is where the UK Agricultural Revolution began. Turnip Townshend of Raynham Hall and Thomas Coke of Holkham pioneered crop rotation in the 18th century, transforming British farming. Montys Mustards continues the county mustard heritage from the Old Dairy in Stanfield, after Coleman left Norwich in 2019 ending 160 years of production in the city.
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