21st October - Burton Civic Society Talk - "Taste of Brewing"

Along with a small group from the Burton Beer Circle I joined some 30 interested people for a talk, hosted by the Burton Civic Society, by Dr Paul Hegarty who is the Head of Communications for Molsun Coors here in the UK.

Paul's talk covered :

• how beer is made -he included a tale that the company received complaints after they started emphasising that they only used 100% British grain in their beers despite the fact they always had. He noted that areas where grain for beer making is grown are carefully chosen to be where there are low levels of rain fall as this help prevent problems during growing and harvesting. We were then offered round samples of different malts to get our teeth into to show the different types of grain (how they varied in colour, taste, etc) that are commonly used in British beers. Paul mentioned the brewing grew up in areas with good local water suppies e.g. Burton where the high levels of gypsum adds to the flavour associated with Burton and gave a water suited to brewing ales (as against soft water on the continent which is good for lager , etc.) Interesting that the water drawn from the wells around Burton originates in rain falling in the Matlock area and is estimated to take 20 years to find itas way to Burton. despite Burton being upon Trent they use well water and so were unaffected by the recent poison scare in the river.
• tasting beer / health benefits- many of the different flavours we get in beers are down to the yeast that is chosen. Beer is likened to liquid bread and some interesting statistics are to be found on Milksucks.com including that 1l of beer provides 10% of daily protein requirements, 20% ish of the fibre. As ABV increases so do the calories but an average beer is only 19o calories as against 300 for a packet of crisps for example. It isn't the beer that make you fat, it what you eat with it (Ed's note - why does it make you hungry?)
  

On to tasting some of the beers Paul had brought along :

• Coors Light - an American light ale
• Golsch - a continental lager
• Kasteel Cru Rose - an Alsace lager made with champagne and flavoured with Elderflower and Elderberries
• White Shield - their classic IPA
• Blue Moon - an Amercian craft beer (wheat beer) produced by The Blue Moon Brewing Company

Further bits of trivia - Carling originated in Canada.

In Elizabethen times there was an allowance of 2 gallons of beers per day for a woman.

Finally that whilst the duty on beer and whisky increases as the strength does this is not true for e.g. cider or wine.

After the talk, our party moved to the Coopers in a failed attamept to try some of the beers due on for the festival starting the next day but alas to no avail (except one!). Sampled there were Milton Mild from Howard Town brewery, as well as Guerilla from Blue Monkey.