York is an ancient city steeped in history. It Ouses from every pore of every building. Whether it's the ancient history of the Vikings and Romans or the modern history of the chocolate industry, York has a bit of all of it.
The history I am going to write about today began in the mid-'90s, the 1990s that is. A pub chain manager had recently been made redundant and was contemplating his future while drowning his past in the pub. He came up with a wonderful idea (as one often does in the pub). Unlike many such ideas, he actually remembered the idea the next day. It was, to start a brewery within the walls of York city. The first in many a year.
York brewery is the result. Tucked away in the shadows of the city walls, this small brewery produces an excellent range of beers to slake the thirst of native Yorkies and us tunnel-visioned tourists.
The tour begins in the bar where the tour group congregates and sups a warm-up pint. Be aware, tours only happen at specified times so it's as well to check then plan around it. We started in the malt store where we were given a brief history of the brewery as well as an introduction to the malts and the hops used.
Next we move into the main room which houses the mash tun and the copper. As far as the process goes, it is a fairly standard one however the tour is rich in supplementary information. It was hear that I learned about the process of Burtonisation where minerals are added to water in order to give it a similar chemical profile to Burton on Trent: apparently the best water for beer making. We also had an introduction to the mechanics of cask fermentation which turned into a bit of a highlight. My particular favourite was the discussion on yeast strains. York brewery has carefully selected their yeast to ensure it ferments at the top of the fermenter and not the bottom. This prevents carbon dioxide from bubbling through the drink as it conditions and gives it a wonderful smoothness as well as reducing the acidity caused by carbon dioxide dissolving in the drink.
Once we had finished the tour it was back to the bar for a couple of well-earned samples that were included in the price. The tasting wasn't as formal as many I've been to. Rather than talking us through each beer at a time, the staff cheerfully pulled pints (well halfs) and were more than happy to discuss the beers in great detail.
My only major complaint would be the gift shop. It was pleasant and discreet and only really had beer relevant products. Unfortunately they no longer have home-brew kits I saw advertised on the way in. It would have been nice to get my hands on one and have a go at making Yorkshire beer myself.
Despite the above paragraph, it was an excellent tour and one of the highlights of our few days in York. It certainly represented value for money on the entrance price and was a proper beer nerds tour given the detailed descriptions and technical discussions that were going on I especially liked that aspect. Either way, nerd or no nerd, go and have a look round.
TDB
The history I am going to write about today began in the mid-'90s, the 1990s that is. A pub chain manager had recently been made redundant and was contemplating his future while drowning his past in the pub. He came up with a wonderful idea (as one often does in the pub). Unlike many such ideas, he actually remembered the idea the next day. It was, to start a brewery within the walls of York city. The first in many a year.
York brewery is the result. Tucked away in the shadows of the city walls, this small brewery produces an excellent range of beers to slake the thirst of native Yorkies and us tunnel-visioned tourists.
The tour begins in the bar where the tour group congregates and sups a warm-up pint. Be aware, tours only happen at specified times so it's as well to check then plan around it. We started in the malt store where we were given a brief history of the brewery as well as an introduction to the malts and the hops used.
Next we move into the main room which houses the mash tun and the copper. As far as the process goes, it is a fairly standard one however the tour is rich in supplementary information. It was hear that I learned about the process of Burtonisation where minerals are added to water in order to give it a similar chemical profile to Burton on Trent: apparently the best water for beer making. We also had an introduction to the mechanics of cask fermentation which turned into a bit of a highlight. My particular favourite was the discussion on yeast strains. York brewery has carefully selected their yeast to ensure it ferments at the top of the fermenter and not the bottom. This prevents carbon dioxide from bubbling through the drink as it conditions and gives it a wonderful smoothness as well as reducing the acidity caused by carbon dioxide dissolving in the drink.
Once we had finished the tour it was back to the bar for a couple of well-earned samples that were included in the price. The tasting wasn't as formal as many I've been to. Rather than talking us through each beer at a time, the staff cheerfully pulled pints (well halfs) and were more than happy to discuss the beers in great detail.
My only major complaint would be the gift shop. It was pleasant and discreet and only really had beer relevant products. Unfortunately they no longer have home-brew kits I saw advertised on the way in. It would have been nice to get my hands on one and have a go at making Yorkshire beer myself.
Despite the above paragraph, it was an excellent tour and one of the highlights of our few days in York. It certainly represented value for money on the entrance price and was a proper beer nerds tour given the detailed descriptions and technical discussions that were going on I especially liked that aspect. Either way, nerd or no nerd, go and have a look round.
TDB
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