Soldier’s ale is celebrated 100 years on

A BELGIAN brewery has honoured a British soldier who made ale for his homesick comrades in the First World War.

Sgt Jack Payne, from Shepreth, Cambs, first produced Silly Scotch Ale on October 13, 1918.

He named it after the town of Silly in western Belgium, where he was stationed with the Suffolk Regiment.

Family from the UK and Belgium gathered at the Brasserie de Silly Brewery to toast his memory with the ale.

Brewery owner Bertrand Van der Haegen said: “Jack wasn’t a brewer but he knew how it should taste.

“The soldiers were happy, but also the Silly people thought it was a great beer and that’s why we still make it today.”