Since 2024 Dark Star beers are brewed at Fullers brewery, Chiswick.
The Dark Star Brewing Company was born in 1994 in the cellar of a pub in Brighton. With a brew plant only marginally bigger than an enthusiastic home-brew kit the characteristic style of hoppy beers was developed and tried out on the willing guinea pigs at the bar. As with all the best ideas, the business was planned on the back of a beer mat, driven by a few beers and funded with money we didn’t have.
A few years on, well 25 years actually, we find ourselves in Partridge Green, just south west of Horsham, West Sussex, with a 45 barrel brewhouse. It’s all been a bit of a blur really. None of us really wanted to leave the cellar of the pub, but apparently more and more people liked drinking the same beers as us, so we needed to brew more…
What’s in a name…: The brewery is named after a song by the band The Grateful Dead, although if you have a heard a different story, use that, never let the truth stand in the way of a good yarn.
In February 2018, Dark Star was acquired by London-based brewer, Fuller Smith & Turner. In January 2019, Fuller Smith & Turner sold its entire drinks business, including The Dark Star Brewing Company, to Asahi Breweries.
The brewery and taproom at Partridge Green was closed in 2022 and production moved to Meantime brewery, and following the closure of that in 2024, production shifted to Fuller’s Griffin brewery.
Half pint on cask at Wenlock Arms, London. Pitch black body without a head. Moderate cocoa aroma. Flavour has got notes of candy chocolates and light roasted coffee beans. Medium palate (19.09.2006)
[Vintage 2005 - sampled October 2006] A dark brown beer with a red shine under a thin brown head. The aroma is sweet with notes of caramel and spices - amongst those anise, but also light notes of alcohol and berries. The flavor is sweet malty with light notes of roasted malt, anise, and alcohol. I don’t find much power - but the alcohol gets very present in the end - and burns slightly in the throat - and leaves You with a dry feeling.
Cask/gravity at The St Albans Beer Festival 29 Sep 06. Dark brown coloured. No head. A rich fruity aroma. A complex flavour of fruits and berries. A not-too-good bitter finish. A different beer.
Dark rusty in colour. Godd clarity. Mixed sweetness in aroma. Taste of dark berries - blackcurrant - and citrus (lemon) fruitiness. Ginger bitterness in the ending. Unusual (Half pint on gravity at The St Albans BF, 29.09.2006).
We enjoyed our last evening in Ipswich at the splendid pub Dove Street Inn (one of the best real ale pubs we have seen in England - great range of interesting and well kept ales, good food and friendly staff and guests). Ruby in colour topped by only a small layer of foam. Nice lacing. Inviting hoppy to the nose. well balanced flavour of roasted malt and caramel. A good touch of hop bitterness in the aftertaste (23.09.2006).
Cask handpull at The Rake, Borough. Chestnut brown colour, bubbly beige head. Nutty malt. Good malty aroma, dry malt in mouth. Some hop on end. Bit flat in mouth, but malty dry finish is lovely. Even a tad sour. Interesting.
Cask at The Dove Street Inn Ipswich 23 Sep 06. Deep red coloured. A small white head. A strong fruity and hoppy aroma. Rich fruity flavour leading to a loooong finish with some dry bitterness little by little. A top beer. Definitely my best mild so far.
Cask, Jan Primus. Clear golden color, short head. Aroma is quite spicy of ginger and some nutmeg, furthermore some lemon and wheat, bit hop. Bitter taste, but also spicy, crisp, bit dry. Nice for 1 pint, but not more.
250ml draught at the Rake (Borough Market 16.09.2006). Rusty brown. No head. Smell of coffee. Roasted malty flavour with dark chocolate and a bitter finish. Quite well done brew!
Cask @ Volunteer Arms, GBBF 2006. Pours a clear golden colour with a longlasting white head. Fruity hoppy citrus aroma. Malty fruity and very hoppy flavor with some hints of citrus. Long hoppy bitter aftertaste.