Watercress Awakens the Dorset Giant in You
It’s suggested that May Day celebrations at the ancient site of
the Giant of Cerne earlier this month have caused a serious stir
as the huge naked chalk figure, thought by many to be an Iron
Age fertility symbol, has been awakened by the aphrodisiacal
powers of watercress having glugged on new craft beer,
Watercress Warrior, made with watercress seed.
The ancient festival of Beltane, better known now as May Day
has fertility as its central theme; it is the time when the earth is
reborn. The annual celebrations at the historic Dorset site
began at 4.00am where over 100 local revellers including Morris
men welcomed the dawn. All were lubricated by the latest
tipple from Cerne Abbas Brewery - Watercress Warrior. At the
end of the celebrations the giant was rewarded with a glug from
the barrel to promote good luck and fortune. It may have been
a trick of the light but he appeared revived in all his faculties
and now clutches a handful of watercress alongside his familiar
truncheon!
Caught on camera just after dawn by staff from the local
watercress company that had supplied the seed and spring
water for the beer, all they could do was run for the hills and
wonder what they’d started!
With the interest in craft beers increasing, The Watercress Company, which grows crops in Dorset
and Hampshire, decided to collaborate with Cerne Abbas Brewery, named after the village where
the Giant is found, to try its hand at brewing a limited-edition watercress inspired ale.
The resultant Watercress Warrior is a 4.5% ABV light and floral Pilsner which features watercress
seed as its key ingredient to provide the unique peppery flavour. In addition, the beer is made using
1000 litres of spring water taken from the natural mineral rich springs used to grow watercress at
the Company’s farm in Waddock. Special Flyer hops selected from the British Hop Institute’s
experimental variety programme and not yet commercially available have been used to complete
the ingredients. The combination of these unique ingredients results in a delightfully hoppy brew
with a refreshing citrus bite which contrasts deliciously with the peppery hit of the watercress.
Vic Irvine, Head Brewer at Cerne Abbas Brewery who use the Giant’s image on all their beers said:
“We love a challenge and were fascinated by the prospect of a watercress beer when The
Watercress Company approached us. The fact that we can use spring water direct from the
watercress farm adds to the story and local provenance and we think that Watercress Warrior is a
truly uplifting drink!”
But you’ll have to be quick to get your hands on any - only 150 cases or 1,800 bottles of Watercress
Warrior will be made. It will be on sale in selected independent retailers and pubs (visit
www.thewatercresscompany.co.uk to find out where) and from the Watercress Company stand at
the Watercress Festival in Alresford, Hampshire on Sunday 21 May, held to mark the beginning of
the UK watercress season.
Today, watercress is recognised as a genuine health-giving superfood containing more than 50 vital
vitamins and minerals. Gram for gram watercress contains more calcium than milk, more folate
than banana, more vitamin c than oranges and more vitamin e than broccoli. Recent research
suggests that watercress can reverse the signs of ageing in skin and there is also a significant link
between watercress and the prevention of cancer.
We suggest you take a sip of Watercress Warrior and add a fistful of watercress to your daily diet to
help you feel fighting fit too.
-endsFor further information about this press release and hi res images, contact:
Sophie Peel at Currant Communications on [email protected]
or 020 3638 0323/07552 451264
Notes to Editors:
The village of Cerne Abbas grew up around the great Benedictine abbey, Cerne Abbey, which was
founded there in AD 987. The abbey was surrendered to Henry VIII in 1539 with the Dissolution of
the Monasteries and was largely destroyed; just a portion of the Abbot's Porch and Abbey
guesthouse remain. St Augustine's Well, reputedly blessed by the saint, also remains and crops like
watercress would have been grown in the spring water for their medicinal properties, as well as
using the natural springs for brewing beer.
In the centuries after the Dissolution, the village thrived as a small market town. Its underground
water made the village famous for the quality of its beer, which was sold as far away as London and
even exported to the Americas, making the village wealthy. At one time, Cerne Abbas had over a
dozen public houses.
The iconic and hard to forget attraction of Cerne Abbas is the Giant, a 55-metre (180 ft) naked figure
carved into the chalk hillside. The giant, owned by the National Trust, is thought by many to be an
Iron Age fertility symbol. Many scholars now think that it was created in the mid-17th century,
although there is evidence of Iron Age settlement on the downs nearby. The link between
watercress and it being a natural health warrior and the giant is a playful suggestion.
Cerne Abbas features in Thomas Hardy's Wessex as "Abbots Cernel" so we felt this would be another
interesting link as Thomas Hardy mentions watercress in several of his novels.