Gardeners DarkFest 2026

The Gardener’s Arms, Lewes, will be holding its 10th Anniversary Dark Beer Festival next week, starting Wednesday 25th February to 1st March. Johnny Marshall of the Gardener's said:

“This year we are privileged to be serving the very first cask of the Harvey’s of Lewes and Le Coq Brewery of Tartu, Estonia collaborative ‘Prince of Denmark’ cask-conditioned Imperial Double Extra Stout.”

Miles Jenner, Harvey’s Head Brewer and Joint Managing Director, explained:

“Historically, Extra Stout was brewed by Barclay Perkins Brewery in London, bottled by a Belgian merchant called Albert Le Coq, who shipped it to the Baltic. An Imperial Warrant of Appointment from Catherine the Great gave birth to ‘Imperial Extra Double Stout’. Later, Le Coq was invited by the Tsarist government to brew this legendary beer within the Russian Empire, and in 1912 production commenced in Tartu, the former province of Livonia, now Estonia. Although the brewery remained in existence, production of their original brand had long ceased when, in 1998, an American importer approached a UK agency to source an authentic version of this beer. The Tartu Brewery agreed to provide the provenance and asked that it should be brewed by a small, independent brewery with experience of Porter style beers. Harvey’s seemed to fit the bill and took up the challenge.

In the last few years, Le Coq Brewery had resurrected the style and visited Harvey’s to compare notes. The opportunity for a collaborative brew was seized and Peep Akkel, Le Coq’s Business Development Director, and Lauri Lipping, their Head Brewer, mashed a brew of ‘Imperial Extra Double Stout’ with Harvey’s Head Brewer, Miles Jenner.

The brew is currently conditioning in tank prior to bottling at the end of the requisite storage, but some things are too good to wait for. In 2008, Harvey’s racked ‘Imperial Stout’ as a cask-conditioned beer and launched it as ‘Prince of Denmark’ at the Copenhagen Beer Festival. The collaborative brew continues this tradition, and the first ‘Prince of Denmark’ cask is being made available to the Gardeners DarkFest 2026. It has been in cask for four months and comes with the blessing of A. Le Coq.”

The DarkFest list has over 28 dark ales and ciders. Beers rotate during the week, but at any one time there will be 15 cask ales and one cask cider, plus five craft beers on. In addition to Prince of Denmark, highlights of the list include two former GBBF Supreme Champions: Woodforde’s NOG at 4.6% and Siren Craft’s Broken Dream Breakfast Stout at 6%.