Once Brewed

Once Brewed (also known as Twice Brewed or Once Brewed/Twice Brewed) is a village in Northumberland, England. It lies on the Military Road (Northumberland) B6318. A motorist arriving over the B6138 from the east will see the place name shield "Once Brewed", while those coming from the west will read "Twice Brewed".

Name

According to a sign in the Once Brewed Youth Hostel, there first was a Twice Brewed Inn, and the youth hostel was therefore called "Once Brewed". The "Once Brewed" closed in 2015/6 and was rebuilt as "The Sill". The Sill opened in August 2017.

Location

The village consists of the Twice Brewed inn, a YHA youth hostel and a visitor centre to the Northumberland National Park, and also some farms. One of the farms is a bit further away, and is called "West Twice Brewed" on the Ordnance Survey maps.

Both the Twice Brewed Inn and the youth hostel are popular sleeping places for walkers on the Hadrian's Wall Path and the Pennine Way.

Twice Brewed Inn

There are several stories which explain the name of the inn. The most romantic story has it that on the eve of the Battle of Hexham in 1464, Yorkist foot soldiers demanded their beer be brewed again because it lacked its usual fighting strength. The ploy worked as the Lancastrian army fled after an early morning raid. A more prosaic explanation is that 18th-century farmers tended to brew (and serve) weak ale, and hence "twice brewed" meant the inn offered stronger ale. A third theory is that Hadrian's Wall snakes its way across the brows, or "brews", of two hills where there is also a meeting of a pair of drovers’ roads.

The antiquarian William Hutton walked the length of Hadrian's Wall in 1801 and stayed one night at the Twice Brewed inn. He describes how a pudding was cooked "as big as a peck measure" and "a piece of beef ... perhaps equal to half a calf." Although the inn was full the landlady was able to find him a bed for the night.