333rd Extra Special Bitter 5-Gallon Beer Making Ingredient kit

333rd Extra Special Bitter — 5 Gallon Kit

This beer is named in honor of the 333rd Field Artillery Battalion, a segregated African-American artillery unit that served with distinction in World War II. Like most Black units of that era, the 333rd was led primarily by white officers — my father among them, serving in Battery B. Before D-Day the battalion spent several months stationed in England, and I like to imagine the men found their way to a pub or two and enjoyed a proper English bitter when the chance came up. It seemed like the right style to name in their honor.

The 333rd went on to fight through Normandy, the siege of Brest and across northern France before arriving in the Ardennes in October 1944 — a sector everyone assumed would stay quiet. It didn’t. When the Battle of the Bulge began on December 16th, the battalion was overrun by German forces. Eleven men of the 333rd who escaped the initial assault were later captured and killed after surrendering — an atrocity that went largely unrecognized for decades while a similar massacre of white soldiers nearby became well known history. The survivors of the 333rd went on to help defend Bastogne, earning the Presidential Unit Citation, the Army’s highest unit honor, for their actions.

My father had his own close call that winter. On Christmas Eve his battery was setting up near a farmhouse, and he expected to spend the night inside out of the snow. Instead his battery commander, Captain Ray Chapple, ordered him out to sleep near the guns with the gunners while the captain stayed in the house. That night German bombers hit the area. The farmhouse was destroyed. Captain Chapple was killed. My father wasn’t.

I exist because of an order given on a cold night in Belgium. This beer is named for the men of the 333rd who served together, and for the ones who didn’t come home.

Extra Special Bitter is a quietly serious style — stronger and more assertive than an Ordinary Bitter, with sharper bitterness and more body, but without the loud hop character of an IPA. Traditional English hops and ale yeast give it a deep, complex character that rewards patience rather than demanding attention. A fitting beer for honoring something that deserves to be remembered carefully.

No Temperature Control Required 

Our kits use a specially selected ale yeast that ferments cleanly across a remarkably wide temperature range — all the way up to 94°F — with no special equipment or monitoring required. Pitch the whole packet and let it work. Brew in July or January and it performs the same way.

The Dry Malt Difference
Our kits are made exclusively with dry malt extract. It’s more expensive than liquid malt extract but it doesn’t darken or pick up off flavors with age and temperature the way liquid extract does. Fresher ingredients, truer flavors — that’s why we’ve always used it and always will.

Color: Amber

Body: Medium

Bitterness: Medium-High

Hop Aroma and Flavor: Medium

Alcohol: 5.4% ABV

IBU: 42

Kit includes: Dry malt extract blend, specialty grains, hops, dry yeast, muslin grain bag, priming sugar, bottle caps and step-by-step instructions.

To brew this kit you’ll need: A 5-gallon or larger brew pot, a 6.5-gallon or larger fermenter with airlock, siphoning and bottling equipment, and about 53 clean bottles. A kitchen scale is helpful too.