Horsham Royal British Legion members brew their own beer for Remembrance

To the Fallen, a Flemish brown ale made with Draft Pick Brewing Company, raises money for the RBL.

Members of the Royal British Legion in Horsham have swapped parade duties for brewing. They have helped make To the Fallen, a beer for Remembrance created with Sussex brewery Draft Pick Brewing Company. All the money raised from the beer goes to the RBL.

The idea came from Dan “Spence” Spencer, managing director and co-owner of Draft Pick, which runs alongside the long-established Goldmark brewery in Arundel. Spence served fifteen years in the Royal Air Force, including time on the Chinook fleet and with the medical and emergency response flight. He says he has not always found Remembrance easy. That is why he wanted to give people another way to mark it.

“It’s about giving everybody the opportunity to mark Remembrance,” he said. You can march on parade, or you can quietly raise a glass.

Brewed by the Legion, from start to finish

Spence felt strongly that the beer should be made by the people who organise Horsham’s Remembrance service every year. Head brewer and co-owner Ethan Belfield wrote the recipe. Ethan is a qualified brewer with the Chartered Institute of Brewers and Distillers and spent three years at Horsham’s Brolly Brewing. Members of Horsham RBL then did all the brewing by hand. They added every bit of grain and malt and tasted the wort on brew day.

They also came back for packaging day. Spence says this is the day most people skip after a collaboration brew, because it is hard, back-breaking work. “Every single drop of it that will be drunk has been at the hands of these guys from start to finish,” he said.

A taste of Flanders

The Flemish brown style was chosen to honour Flanders Fields, the old battlefields of Belgium and the poppy. Ethan’s recipe is his own, not a copy of a traditional one. Spence missed brew day, but he tried the beer on packaging day. He says the first sip took him straight back to a small bar across from the Menin Gate in Ypres, where he and RBL friends have shared dark Flemish beer.

The RBL also helped shape the pump clip. Draft Pick’s designer Emma worked through several drafts with the Legion’s feedback. The result is far from the brewery’s usual playful style.

Where to find it

To the Fallen is available at several venues in Horsham, as well as in Worthing and Felpham. Spence hopes the beer will become a yearly tradition. He also hopes to work with the RBL again, perhaps on a beer for Armed Forces Day.

His message is simple: “Just keep remembering.”