Southwold Bitter’s packaged and cask beers are slightly diffrent brews, that hail from separate lineages. The bottled version started life as Suffolk Strong Bitter (SSB) and its recipe was similar to the one used for Extra, a strong 4.5% cask bitter. By contrast, our regular cask bitter, was first brewed in 1967, under the name Adnams Best Bitter. Although SSB still bore the name, its branding later evolved to look more like the cask Southwold Bitter branding. SSB’s strength was eventually lowered to bring it more in line with the cask beer that shared its branding, and at the same time, the name on the bottles and cans changed to avoid any confusion. The slight difference in abv remains for fans of the bottled format, so it didn’t stray too far from the original. Today, Southwold Bitter’s branding depicts local icon, Southwold Jack. This small wooden figure guards the brewery and represents a young soldier from the 15th Century Wars of the Roses. Named ‘Jack the Smiter’ he stands at 4 feet 4 inches tall and is constructed of painted wood. The brewery’s Jack is based on an original ‘Clock Jack’, in nearby St Edmunds Church, who strikes the hours on the church bell with his battle axe. The 'Jack Brand,' or 'Southwold Jack,' is Adnams oldest trademark and we incorporated him into our brand identity to highlight our sense of place. It was for this reason we chose him to be the emblem for Southwold Bitter in its re-branding in 2011.