Green’s Dictionary of Slang

a beer brewed in Newhaven, Sussex, with a nationwide reputation.

1840		Sussex Advertiser (Newhaven) 17 Feb. 3/4: The Queen’s brewer gave several buckets of good old tipper beer to any person who chose to drink the Queen’s health.
1843–4		Dickens Martin Chuzzlewit (1995) 320: Requiring... a pint of the celebrated staggering ale, or Real Old Brighton tipper, at supper.
a.1860		M. Lower Patronymica Britannica 348: The peculiar, but excellent, ale called tipper [...] The peculiarity of [tipper] arises from its being brewed from brackish water, which is obtainable from one well only; and all attempts to imitate the flavour have hitherto failed .
1864		N. Devon Jrnl 13 Oct. 7/4: In Newhaven Churchyard, Sussex [...] inscibed on the tombstone of the original inventor of the ‘Tipper Beer’ [...] ‘To the memory of Thomas Tipper [...] The best old Stingo he both brewed and sold’.