Annual Production: 300 bbl

Contributor: Dennis Cooper

Brandon's Dennis Cooper relates:

Norfolk grown barley is renowned for its excellence in malting and the production of top quality beers and the region is fast becoming hot spot for the production of Real Ale.One of the counties newest microbreweries opened in the summer of 2005 in the busy market town of Brandon. The brewery is situated in the old dairy of a 15th century cottage, which is the only remaining dwelling, in the lane known locally as Grape Alley and is part of the Riverside Hotel and Restaurant complex, which straddles the River Ooze. There is a tea-room and boats for hire.The brewery is owned by Dennis Cooper. His aim is to offer a full product range that has something for everyone, based on traditional styles of strong pale ales, bitters, dark ales and stouts. This includes a variety of brews made from unique recipes that incorporate the best locally sourced ingredients, to give the instantly recognizable flavours and aromas found only in ale produced in small batches by brewers who are unwilling to compromise quality for cost. The brewery is fast gaining a reputation in the Breckland area for the production of fine ale. Brandon is a small town of great antiquity and has a long history of settlement. During the Neolithic period, shafts were sunk to mine the excellent black flint for the manufacture of arrowheads and axes. The working of flint has continued from that time until the present day. The Duke of Wellington would have been nearer the truth if he had said that the battle of Waterloo was won at Ling Heath in Brandon instead of the playing fields of Eaton. The coal black flints that were mined there were superior in both quality and knapping to those of the French. The gun flints would spark and keep on sparking. It therefore seems obligatory that a fine ale should be named to celebrate Brandon's long history of flint knapping.

Updated: May 21, 2006

• Gun Flint
  4.20% abv.

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