Dark Star is a small brewery in currently located in Ansty, in the county of West Sussex, England.

Contents 1 Name 2 History 3 Beers 4 Awards 5 References 6 External links

[edit] Name

Dark Star was originally the name of a porter developed by Rob Jones when he was emoloyed by the Pitfield Brewery. The name comes from the Grateful Dead song. It was highly successful, being voted Champion Beer of Britain in 1987. He took the recipe with him when he moved to the brewery based at the Evening Star.^[1] The beer itself is now known as Dark Star original.

[edit] History

The Dark Star Brewing Company was born in 1994 in the cellar of The Evening Star Pub, in Brighton. It was soon apparent that the brewery could not keep up with the growing thirst of the Evening Star’s drinkers, let alone the demand for its beers from other pubs. In 2001 the brewery relocated to a new purpose-built brewery in Ansty, near Haywards Heath, from where it still supplies the Evening Star with a selection of its beers, along with its sister pubs: The Stand Up Inn, Lindfield and The Duke of Wellington, Shoreham-by-Sea. It also supplies beer to many other pubs both in Sussex and the rest of the UK.

A third move to a 16,000 square foot site in Partridge Green has been announced. It is hoped that production will be increased fourfold. ^[2]

[edit] Beers

The Dark Star Brewery currently makes about 20 different beers. Although the range changes year-to-year, some stalwarts remain:

• Hophead 3.8%
• Best Bitter 4.0%
• Old Ale 4.0%
• Espresso 4.2%
• Festival 5.0%
• Dark Star Original 5.0%
• English Pale Ale 4.5%
• Sunburst 4.8%
• Summer Meltdown 4.8%
• Porter 5.5%
• Critical Mass 7.8%
• Winter Meltdown 5.0%
• Amsinck Black 4.2%
• Nut Brown Ale 4.5%
• Spring Equinox 4.0%
• IPA 6.2%
• Mild for May 3.6%
• Summer Solstice 4.2%
• American Pale Ale 4.7%
• Hophead Extra 5.8%
• Autumn Equinox 4.5%
• Golden Gate 4.5%
• Smoke 5%
• Winter Solstice 4.2%
• Ivebin Piloct Ale 4.5%
• Rampaging Otter Ale 7.1%
• Over the Moon 3.8%
• Imperial Stout 10.5%
• Natural Blonde 4.5%
• Oatmeal Stout 4.2%

[edit] Awards

The brewery has won many awards, including:-

• Dark Star Espresso Stout has been crowned the world's best speciality beer.^[3]
• Dark Star American Pale Ale (APA) was voted best golden ale at the 2009 Great British Beer Festival.^[4]
• Dark Star Dark Star (also known as Dark Star Original) has been voted supreme champion of champions in the 1996 Great British Beer Festival.^[5]

[edit] References

This article does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (February 2008)

[edit] External links

• Official website
• The Evening Star

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