British Brewing History

The brewing of beer is a universal ancient art. Barley, the main raw material in brewing, was in existence as far back as 3000BC. The early Neolithic people grew wheat and barley and hieroglyphics show that even in early Egyptian times an ancient beverage was derived from barley.

The art of brewing has remained much the same since the invasion of England some 2000 years ago. In the middle ages the most common drink of the day was ale. Until 1400 the ingredients of ale consisted of malted barley, water and yeast. The ale was very sweet, full of protein and carbohydrates, making it a good source of nutrition. It is thought that in the fifteenth century a new version of ale was introduced to England from Holland, with the introduction of hops. Hops added a measure of bitterness and were thought to help preserve the ale.

A black, hoppy beer was developed in London in the early 18th century, which soon became known as ‘porter’ named after the porters in the markets of London with whom the beer was popular. Porter was for many years the main beer sold in many cities. In the 1750s the Irish produced a rich, creamy version known as ‘stout-porter’, later abbreviated to ‘stout’. Irish stout is traditionally very bitter whilst British stout tends to be smoother with a softer flavour.

The most famous British beer appeared in the 1930's and was known as 'India Pale Ale'. It was developed for the British based in India and had a high hop content, which acted as a good preservative on long hot journeys. Marstons Old Empire is a fantastic example of this.

Originally IPA was not sold in Britain, but when a ship bound for India sank en route and its cargo of beer was salvaged and brought back to shore it was an instant hit!!

The brewing process is divided into six stages; grinding, mashing, boiling, cooling, fermenting and racking. The malt is cleaned and crushed, the ground malt called "grist", is mixed with hot water in a vessel called a "mash tun", then this is allowed to stand, the process is called mashing. Subsequently the resulting liquid, now called "wort" is run into coppers where it is boiled with hops. The hopped wort is then cooled and dropped into fermenting vessels, and mixed with yeast, this process lasts about five or six days. At the end of fermentation the product now called beer is run into casks, this is known as racking.