This is the short history of Anglian Craft Brewers.
The first East Anglian region home brew club started back in March 2004. The very first meeting was set up by the Craft Brewers Association leader, James McCrorie.
After some discussion, an inaugural meeting was held at The Bell Hotel in Clare, Suffolk, where Mike Rumsey was appointed as the East Anglia regional organiser. The meeting adjourned with a tour of the Nethergate Brewery.
In the early 2000’s there were not that many homebrew clubs around. Due to this fact, home brewers would come from far and wide to meet and share beers. Members came from all East Anglian regions: Cambridgeshire, Essex, Norfolk, and Suffolk. Even as far away as the East Midlands.
These early meetings were held on the first Saturday of the month in the most geographically central location, The Cannon Brewery & Pub, Bury St Edmunds. However, it was found that Bury was not the easiest place to travel to by rail, and so it was decided to hold meetings in the county towns/cities of the four counties on a rotation basis:
- Colchester, Ipswich, Cambridge, and Norwich.
Members from Cambridge found travelling to the Essex venue particularly difficult, so they formed Cambridge Craft Brewers as a separate CBA section, meeting on the second Saturday every three months.
After a period of regular meetings and venues, it was suggested that we should have a name for the club rather than CBA. After more discussions, the members settled on the now infamous name: “The Shed Brewers”.
In circa 2013, it was decided to change the name from ‘Shed Brewers’ to ‘Anglian Craft Brewers’. The club then consisted of Essex, Norfolk and Suffolk brewers.
Since this time in around 2021, the Norwich brewers grew significantly, and they decided to create their own club. The ACB still meets on the first Saturday of the month, rotating between Essex and Suffolk locations. We still attend each other’s meetings and support our home brew competitions.
We continue the club and have a constant turnover of new members. These brewers continue to write the next chapters and keep the history of the club going.
If you’re looking for a local home brew club in the East Anglian Region, please reach out to find out when you can join us at a monthly or mid-weekly meeting.
Regions meet on the first Saturday of the month and on the third Wednesday for mid-week meetings. Saturday meetings always have an agenda and beer challenge associated, with member-led presentations. There is always an any other beer (AOB) section for any beers brewer’s want evaluation and feedback on. Mid-week meetings are relaxed with no agenda and an open house on beers. Anglian Craft Brewers have a range of BJCP certified beer judges to give a well-informed opinion.