Breweries and Distilleries

Maidstone has a long and interesting history in both distilling and brewing. 

Distilling

George Bishop was the original distiller in Maidstone in 1785 when he was producing approximately 5,000 gallons of gin a week.  This gin was akin to what we would know today a Geneva Gin and was at that time widely drunk by everyone because of the water quality at that time. The gin was then shipped down the River Medway where it went on it's onward journey, mostly to London but also to the Netherlands and France. Whist many distilleries have popped up around the UK, this distillery has an interesting story and history behind it, so taking the tour brings all this to life.  The original gin production site was behind the shops in Bank Street but is now in Market Buildings.

Marden a village close to Maidstone is home to Anno Distillers which offers some great gins and indeed the "strongest gin in the world", amongst some other very interesting flavours.  They also run workshops for people enjoy making their own gin.

Brewing

Maidstone was also famous for the Fremlin Brewery, which had the iconic elephant logo.  Whilst Fremlin Brewery no longer exists its history sits with us in daily use today. 

"Carol Rose, in her book Spirits, Fairies, Leprechauns, and Goblins: An Encyclopaedia, attributes the origin of the Gremlin of English folklore (malicious creatures said to be responsible for sabotaging aircraft) to a combination of the name of Grimm's Fairy Tales and the folklore surrounding Fremlin's beer; a favourite beverage of local Royal Air Force mechanics and pilots. Beginning as early as 1865, Fremlin’s Brewery company tradition included the fabled existence of an unseen, ambivalent house spirit named Robin Hodfellow or Hödfellow; the name being a probable conflation of the woodland sprite Robin Goodfellow and the popular legend of the kobold Hödekin as recorded by folklorist Thomas Keightley.

Hodfellow was said to be a biersal, a type of kobold; (a sprite stemming from Germanic mythology and surviving into modern times in German folklore) that inhabits breweries and beer cellars. Hodfellow was said to ride a miniature elephant (or sometimes was himself a miniature elephant) and kept the brewery machinery in working order when he was paid his due (in beer) and alternatively wrought havoc in the machinery works when not remunerated appropriately. Brewery workers and even publicans were said to leave small jars or dishes of beer out to appease Hodfellow, a tradition that survived at least into the late 20th century in some Maidstone and Canterbury pubs.

Author Roald Dahl is credited with getting the gremlins known outside the Royal Air Force. He would have been familiar with the brewery and the myth, having lived in Kent with his family for ten years from the age of 13 before writing his first children's novel, The Gremlins, in which "Gremlins" were tiny men who lived on RAF fighter stations and who regularly caused technical problems and mechanical damage that could not otherwise be explained.

Maidstone and the surrounding area still offers some amazing brews.  Within the town Goachers Ales are still producing beer and can be tasted at The Royal Paper Mill at Tovil, The Rifle Volunteers and The Flower Pot in Maidstone Town Centre and the Waltnut Tree at Barming and a variety of other pubs across Kent.  

The Musket Brewery can be found at Loddington Farm at Boughton Monchelsea, close to Maidstone.  The Armoury is an excellent tap room who offers great beer, great events, is family and dog friendly and everyone has a great time.