Beer

[rufuskins]

When I saw the heading Beer, I thought the thread/post would be about Pecorama . . . .

Alec

[alexnick]

Hahahaha.

If I could go back to Belgian beers, the finest I've tried are the Tripels from Rochefort and Westermalle abbeys.

I'm also keen on German beers - most can be accompanied by an appropriately liveried van for a model railway

AN

[Acorncomputer]

When I saw the heading Beer, I thought the thread/post would be about Pecorama . . . .

Alec

Yes, been there ... no Brewery, just railways

[martinhodgson]

I visited the Jennings Brewery in Cockermouth a couple of weeks ago; the casks in their own bar must be rotated after seven days.

For anyone who enjoys real ale I can recommend the tour; plus the opportunity to sample the Jennings range afterwards (and if that isn't enough, there are plenty of Jennings pubs in the town which also carry the full range!).

[Tonysmedley]

What goes into the brewing of beer is not always obvious!

I was born and educated in Burton upon Trent, the historic brewery capital of Britain, and home to over 30 breweries at one time. The reason is that water drawn from wells in the locality is rich in gypsum which amongst other qualities makes the beer keep better. Burton breweries were able to export beer to remote places without deterioration – remember “India Pale Ale”

When at the local Grammar school I took chemistry lessons, and one of the important things was the “Marsh” test for arsenic, capable of detecting very small amounts of arsenic in things.
In Burton the Marsh test was very important and it is interesting to hear why.

A century ago there developed an epidemic of problems with certain forms of illness in London dock workers and it turned out that they were suffering from arsenical poisoning.

A lot of Burton beer was sent to London and was drunk by the gallon by London dockers and it was eventually found that certain Burton beers from very well known brewers contained minute amounts of arsenic, small but enough to poison you if you drank a lot of the stuff. But where did the arsenic come from?

In theory beer was made from malt, water, yeast and hops. It is maltose, the sugar in the malt, that is broken down by the yeast to produce alcohol.
Barley from which malt is produced was getting more expensive, so that another kind of sugar was added to the brew; it produced exactly the same kind of alcohol at lower cost.. The extra sugar was dextrose, and the arsenic was in the dextrose.

Dextrose was commonly obtained by treating wood sawdust with sulphuric acid.

Further research showed that the sulphuric acid used was the source of the arsenic, but again the question was where did it come from?

The answer lay in the way that sulphuric acid was made. Much of sulphuric acid was made in a system called the “lead chamber process” and the acid was indeed produced in lead chambers which were relatively immune to corrosion from the acid. But the lead contained traces of arsenic, quite common in lead at the time, and the arsenic was not resistant to the effects of sulphuric acid.

Immediate steps were taken to stop any further problems but great efforts were successfully made to hush up the whole affair for a long while. It could nave been disastrous for the Burton brewing industry.

Dextrose was not the only additive, substances such as liquorice were added to give extra colour to the beer, although this was quite harmless.

In modern times quality and content are much more closely controlled and I am sure that no “impurities" go into any beer.

Tony

[theokus]

Tony... Very interesting and instructive!

There is & was a docu on NGC about Heineken beer.
Who control everything including the water.
But it remains cat pee...hahaha

[terrycunliffe]

Tony,
Thanks for that... I thought that I knew a lot about beer, but that was very informative.

But it remains cat pee...hahaha

Can't be.... Cat pee has some aroma to it

[eyore]

On the subject of beer, when I was somewhat younger most pubs served three ales, they were bitter, best bitter and mild.

Whatever happened to mild, I haven't seen it for years?

[stephenholmes]

Ah Phil
A man after my own heart
My favourite tipple was dark mild
It is still available in cans although not quite the same
These days I tend to drink Mackeson Stout when I want an alcoholic beverage
Kind regards Stephen

[terrycunliffe]

Whatever happened to mild, I haven't seen it for years?

There's still plenty of Mild about.
http://www.camra.org.uk/page.aspx?o=mild
It's always suffered the stigma of being an old man's drink, but 'Mild' comes in both light and dark forms, as well as higher strength vesions.
It often amazes me how the Bitish brewers can pack so much flavour into a pint pot
I find that you can't beat a good pint of Cask Conditioned Mild as a thirst quencher on a hot summers day.

[stephenholmes]

That's an interesting list Terry
I'm glad that mild hasn't disappeared altogether
Kind regards Stephen

[ashgray]

I find that you can't beat a good pint of Cask Conditioned Mild as a thirst quencher on a hot summers day.

I find several, in combination with a beer-garden and the afternoon off work, does a more thorough and satisfying job...

Damned hard to find on draught down south though

Ash

[stephenholmes]

Good evening everyone
I wonder why "Mild" was and probrably still is considered an old mans drink?
I'm sure I wasn't the only younger person to actually like drinking it
Kind regards Stephen

[ashgray]

Mild was my ale of choice during the 70's. I too had heard that it was an "old man's drink" but, on trying it, came to the conclusion that the old men knew best - quite possibly from years of experience!

Ash

[oldrocker]

On the subject of beer, when I was somewhat younger most pubs served three ales, they were bitter, best bitter and mild.

Whatever happened to mild, I haven't seen it for years?

If you're ever down this way. try The Bell at Trysull. Country pub serving Holden's beers,

Special Bitter at about 5.1%, ordinary bitter at 3.9% and Mild at 3.7% and an inbetweener, Golden Glow at 4.4%.

Good food as well. and recent local CAMRA Pub of the Year.

Ask Steve for a discount with a Newhampton card and see how far you get !