Every year there are certain brew days I particularly look forward to, and our green hop beer with Canterbury Christ Church University is definitely one of them.
We’ve been doing this together since 2015, but every year is slightly different. The hops change, the beer changes and there is normally another Canterbury story to tell.
This year’s beer is called Sword’s Point.
The hops are grown at Canterbury Christ Church University and picked by staff, students and volunteers. They then have to get to us at The Foundry quickly because, unlike most brewing hops, these haven't been dried.
They come into the brewery properly fresh from the plant and we brew with them that day.
For a brewer that's quite special.
Why green hops?
Most of the hops we use throughout the year have been dried so they can be stored and used when we need them.
Green hop brewing is different. You get this very short window around harvest when you can take the hop straight from the bine and put it into the beer.
It retains oils and aromas that change when the hop is dried, and the resulting beer has a freshness that's difficult to recreate at any other time of year.
There's also something I really like about the whole process.
The hops are grown in Canterbury. People come together to pick them. They make the short journey across the city to our brewery and a few hours later they're in the beer.
You can't get much more local or seasonal than that.
An 800-year brewing connection
One of the things I love about this particular partnership is that there's much more behind it than simply growing some hops.
Much of Christ Church University's campus occupies part of the former precinct of St Augustine's Abbey, and one of the surviving medieval structures is the gable wall of the old monastic brew and bakehouse.
So people were brewing on that site hundreds of years before The Foundry existed.
That connection helped inspire the university's brewing project in the first place, and we've been fortunate enough to be the people who actually turn their hops into beer.
As someone who has spent most of his life making food and drink, I find that continuity fascinating. Ingredients, techniques and equipment change, but people have been growing things, fermenting them and sharing the results for a very long time.
So why Sword’s Point?
This year's name takes us from St Augustine's Abbey across Canterbury to the Cathedral.
2026 marks 40 years since the Altar of the Sword's Point sculpture was installed at Canterbury Cathedral.
Created by Giles Blomfield, it commemorates the place where Thomas Becket was murdered in 1170. The sculpture uses swords and their shadows to represent the four knights involved.
It's a striking piece of Canterbury history and became the inspiration for this year's beer and the label artwork by Jessica Fry.
We were also joined for the brew by The Reverend Dr Emma Pennington, who blessed the hops before they went into the beer.
Not something that happens on an average brew day at The Foundry.
And most importantly, what's the beer like?
We've brewed Sword's Point at 4.6% ABV, using East Kent Goldings, Canterbury Whitebine, Bramling Cross and Early Prolific hops.
It's floral and citrusy, with lovely spicy marmalade and mandarin notes.
But perhaps what I like most about this beer is that you can trace its story.
The place the hops grew. The people who picked them. Canterbury's brewing history. The Cathedral. The university. And finally our brewery at The Foundry where everything comes together in the glass.
That's exactly the sort of thing I think independent brewing should be about.
Jon
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