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WELCOME TO THE MOST EPIC BREWERY TOUR ON STEEMIT! - Bold claims, I know! But if you could feel the amount we enjoyed this tour, and the fun we had documenting it, I'm sure you'd agree, and so, my mission for this post is to pass a bit of that joy and excitement on to you.
Shall we begin friends??
On Valentine's Day @teamhumble and I toured the Marston's brewery in Burton which has been in operation since... wait for it.... 1834! Which is a bit difficult to comprehend.
For reference, that means these guys have been making beer since before Arkansas became a state!
The visitor area is named after the brewery's postcode- @teamhumble led the way this rainy afternoon!
Inside, there's a cozy little gift shop, and a RAD little "nano-brewery" but more about that later...
We had a brief moment to take a selfie in this massive hand-lettered mirror while we waited for the last of the tour participants.
It wasn't long before we were off, cutting across the property to begin the tour.
On our way we had the opportunity to see a massive truck being loaded with "spent grain" which has already served its purpose in the beer making process, and is repurposed to be sold to farmers as fertilizer-kinda cool right?
We gathered around to view a room that used to be the main brewing floor, it's since be repurposed but in the renovations they saved original wood from the floors to rebuild the main door, archways and railings.
Next we climbed the stairs to see the original grain storage system.
The whole operation used to be maintained by this control panel, it took every ounce of self control I had to not press every single button. Apparently, this machine was in operation until not too long ago!
Sometimes the old-school methods are so good, there's no reason to change them.- Digging the resourcefulness Marstons!
Old and new working in concert- kinda cool if you ask me!- This room is only used for tours, but it was great to be able to get up close and personal with some of the equipment.
Sometimes when you see that perfect light coming through a window...
You can't help but get a little artsy with it... ;)
Oh yes, up the ladder we went! Like real-life brewery workers- who also used to get a daily beer allowance while on the job, back in the old days- can't beat those job perks!
Tours usually get to go straight to the brewing floor...
...but the floors had just been redone...
Look at em shine!!!! They looked like they were candy-apple coated!
If you go yourself, and are afraid of heights, try not to look down... also I apologize for this possibly triggering image.
Next, it was time to talk about Malt-baby... "Let's talk about you and me..."- ok I'm done I promise.
We were actually able to taste and smell a few to give us a sense of the final flavors that they impart on the final product.
We moved on to the next part of the tour shortly after, but not before I was able to tell @teamhumble "UR No. 1" ;)
Here's a gigantic reverse osmosis water silo...
And here's a SUPER OLD gigantic water silo...
The town's water is a special part of the brewery's recipe because the local water contains a large amount of minerals from natural occurring gypsum. The water is so valued, that they actually sell it to other huge multi-national breweries after it is purified.
The water and grain used to get mixed with a huge mechanical arm in THIS beast of a machine.
Yes. It echoes. (Don't ask me how I know...)
Next we were brought to my favorite place, the fermentation room... which smelled amazing and yeasty like baking bread...mmm
But the coolest part about this room, is that the barrels they still use today are from the 1800s! They even have a master cooper on staff who's entire job is maintaining these ancient pieces of history so they're in ship shape for use...
More buttons I wanted to press..
As a precaution to keep the barrels intact, there are pressure valves with yeast runoffs above.
To a beer lover, it's like a scene out of Wonka's Factory!
I couldn't resist.. the glow!!!
Here's yeast being added into larger chambers before they're put in the barrels.
mmmm swirly....
Give me daylight and some nice symmetry and I'm a very happy girl with a camera....
The last leg of the tour took us back to where we started, to see the Marston's "Nanno brewery!" A place where tiny batches of experimental flavors are created and tested by the mad scientists they keep on hand...
One of which was an orange pale ale called Flight Suit. It was delicious, and contained ZERO actual orange, the flavor all came from a bavarian variety of hopps!
I SO SO hope you enjoyed this post, and forgive me for it taking ages to post- there were a LOT of photos to go through!
If you're ever in the area I highly suggest taking the tour, it was a lovely part of a perfect Valentines.
Until next time friends!
🍻 Dayleeo
