Carlsberg "retires" Marston's (Burton) Union system

It's only about the money as boardroom salaries cost a fortune. No question old school methods produce finer flavor results. If you to make maximum money fast, cut costs eliminate low selling brands and water down the beers!

 

I’m glad you got to try that beer, if those are the old unions, I would think that all of the wood flavors would have been leached out long ago , which is what British brewers wanted. I’ve never had Jaipur, but I would think that Goldings and Fuggels would complement wood flavors better than fruity American hops. Do you prefer the standard Jaipur or the one that went through the unions?

 

It is a bit like asking if you prefer music on vinyl or digital.

 

Thanks for the response. Putting more emphasis on "their imitators" rather than "Belgian brewers" from your line above - I was thinking more about how much Epochal seems to fit into a US craft brewer mold than the mold of a beer revivalist (albeit, a very specific and rare type of US craft brewer). I guess I'm saying that they feel so contemporary more than the opposite... and that they seem to draw as much (or more) inspiration from modern US brewing as they do from historic Scottish and English brewing. At least that's the blurry perspective from the outside (across the ocean) looking in... so I was interested in hearing much closer perspectives.

Wow. They're certainly jumping in with both feet by releasing a version of Jaipur that way. How are they branding and selling it? Did you have to travel to try that beer?

 

I had to travel … to the other side of town. Thornbridge has quite good distribution across the UK for their size – although I think where I had it was the only pub in town to get it.

It's branded the same as ordinary Jaipur but with a little “Thornbridge Union” logo on the badge. I imagine a casual drinker wouldn't notice any difference.

 

I’m even more surprised now. I wouldn’t expect them to experiment with a brand as big as Jaipur like that. Perhaps I’m seeing this through a US perspective too much.

 

“A Burton Ale brewed on a genuine Burton Union set” – Pete Brown

This played into the (oak cask) acquisition: expected to be released in late October (maybe later) -

 

Phil Mellows had an article earlier in the year around ‘National Bass Day’, and Jeff does notate this in the blog post. However, neither dive into the discussion on wood/oak-conditioning, or yeast play: a lost art that can be misconstrued, when trained…Bass is still served from the wood via SPBW per coopers (+training). Albeit rare – list below is under Coors vs AB-InBev & and took place in 2024

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Quotes:

Ron Pattinson

Phil Mellows

 

Fortunately the union set purchased by Thornbridge is thriving. They have produced some exceptional ales using it.