[Drinking] Dark Star to leave Sussex

[Arthur]

Sad times.

Asahi to close Dark Star Brewery

Asahi is set to close Dark Star Brewery at its Partridge Green site due to the brewery operating at "significantly below capacity".

www.thedrinksbusiness.com

 

[CheeseRolls]

Indeed and worth it's own thread!

Dark Star produced a vast range of different beers over the years. if all that is left is a pale imitation of a pale to be sold as "craft" in Fuller's pubs, it really is the end of an era.

 

[Dick Knights Mumm]

Yep. It'll be a sad day. Inevitable though once even Fullers got involved.

 

[CheeseRolls]

Yep. It'll be a sad day. Inevitable though once even Fullers got involved.

It leaves the West of the county seriously under brewed compared to the East. I know the origins were in Brighton, but it was sort of filling a King and Barnes size whole. Not sure which is the next biggest brewer in West Sussex, they all look pretty small scale.

 

[Insel affe]

Sadly, I predict a fair few local brewery taps and craft beer breweries all over the country will struggle as the recession bites deeper as we head into a long cold winter. That new one in Fiveways next to the pub, I give until the end of January if that.

 

[METALMICKY]

Have Chelsea bought them?

 

[beorhthelm]

start a new one in Evening Star...
if this matters to people, the way forward is for a collective buy in to a brewery to keep it from large corporations as it grows.

 

[Springal]

Not surprised. A small brewing operation like that would never bring economy of scale to a big macro brewer.

Same thing happened up in the Lakes with a brewery I forget - Colston Moors has been slowly reducing them down until shutting recently

 

[Arthur]

That new one in Fiveways next to the pub, I give until the end of January if that.

@Biffer what do you reckon?

 

[attila]

The way the originators were treated...the corporate takeover....
utter disgrace.
Simple lesson:
Beer, music - DIY, keep it small, run it yourself, have fun.
Football, it gets more complicated

 

[Springal]

The way the originators were treated...the corporate takeover....
utter disgrace.

why did they sell ? Did they give up their shares at some point in time ? I genuinely don’t know.

But difficult one, as a business owner why wouldn’t you want a pay out at some point, but agree these things rarely work out well as big global corps have no room for sentiment.

 

[jakarta]

It leaves the West of the county seriously under brewed compared to the East. I know the origins were in Brighton, but it was sort of filling a King and Barnes size whole. Not sure which is the next biggest brewer in West Sussex, they all look pretty small scale.

Have you driven up the A29 lately? The Hepworths Brewery is at least as large as Dark Star was. Arundel doing OK and there are a fair few Craft Breweries around RH20.

Dark Star should have never got into bed with Fullers, it was only going to go one way...

 

[Bodian]

Not surprised. A small brewing operation like that would never bring economy of scale to a big macro brewer.

Same thing happened up in the Lakes with a brewery I forget - Colston Moors has been slowly reducing them down until shutting recently

Jennings.

However, we do have a ridiculous amount of micro-breweries up here.

 

[vegster]

Sad day but tbh, i'm part of the problem. i don't get to go out drinking as much as i used to and I can't justify the journey to partridge Green and back given the off dales price they charge. Genuinely not drank a Dark Star beer for about a year now, don't even see their decent beers in bottles at the supermarket. I will carry on with my current brewer, Goldmark.

 

[Dick Knights Mumm]

Sad day but tbh, i'm part of the problem. i don't get to go out drinking as much as i used to and I can't justify the journey to partridge Green and back given the off dales price they charge. Genuinely not drank a Dark Star beer for about a year now, don't even see their decent beers in bottles at the supermarket. I will carry on with my current brewer, Goldmark.

You'd think it would be cheaper going to the brewery to purchase. I did not understand that.

 

[Dick Knights Mumm]

That new one in Fiveways next to the pub, I give until the end of January if that.

£6 for the "session" pale ale. I have been in there a couple of times and whilst wincing, tbh I'd rather pay an additional quid than drink Greene King.

 

[Arthur]

You'd think it would be cheaper going to the brewery to purchase. I did not understand that.

Pint of Gun Zamzama in my local is £4.85 (which is exceptional value to be fair). At the brewery tap a month or so ago and it was £5.95 a pint and £3.50 a half (robbing bastards).

 

[Insel affe]

£6 for the "session" pale ale. I have been in there a couple of times and whilst wincing, tbh I'd rather pay an additional quid than drink Greene King.

I would rather drink at home than drink in a place that appears to look devoid of character.
Sorry if that sounds harsh.

 

[beorhthelm]

Have you driven up the A29 lately? The Hepworths Brewery is at least as large as Dark Star was. Arundel doing OK and there are a fair few Craft Breweries around RH20.

Dark Star should have never got into bed with Fullers, it was only going to go one way...

Arundel IPA is lovely too, bit different to all the other IPAs.

 

[jackalbion]

Have you driven up the A29 lately? The Hepworths Brewery is at least as large as Dark Star was. Arundel doing OK and there are a fair few Craft Breweries around RH20.

Dark Star should have never got into bed with Fullers, it was only going to go one way...

Big fan of Hepworths, plenty of West Sussex Non-League clubs have introduced me to that tipple.