Bass brewery when proper beer was made.

[foxy]

Some snaps of Bass brewery of a bygone era.
Knock off time boys and men walking out not one uncovered head. Two pics of the coopers shop

A view of Bass brewery showing the water tower. A bottle delivery, notice Bass had already taken over Worthington. 10,000 Hogs Heads.

And finally the Burton Union system

 

[crowcrow]

Man that would be amazing to see! I used to love going by the Wards brewery as a kid - even then it seemed exciting that a big brewery was still producing in a city centre. The smell was awesome even though I was a kid at the time ;p

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wards_Brewing_Company

 

[foxy]

Man that would be amazing to see! I used to love going by the Wards brewery as a kid - even then it seemed exciting that a big brewery was still producing in a city centre. The smell was awesome even though I was a kid at the time ;p

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wards_Brewing_Company

Imagine the smell when the hops went in.

 

[DocAnna]

That mountain of barrels is an amazing picture to show the scale they were working at. Thanks for sharing, really interesting and quite humbling to see.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

I imagine hearth and safety wouldn't allow that these days.

 

[Tanglefoot]

A fascinating glimpse back in time.

Bass was my grandfather's regular drink, my dad told a story about a fishing trip they went on to Wales once.
His father had asked for a dozen bottles to be left ready for his arrival.
When they got there they found a basket of fresh fish, to add insult to injury they were the only Bass they saw
all week !

 

[Hop_it]

Excellent photos . . . . . I particularly like the one of the Burton Union system - It's a masterpiece of classic old world brewing technology. Its like a plumbers nightmare, and must have taken days to clean

 

[The Baron]

Just look at that barrel mountain,
Wow!!!

 

[HSD]

Very interesting, I have fond memories of Bass it was my first pint of ale in a pub!

 

[Galena]

I imagine hearth and safety wouldn't allow that these days.

Health and safety wouldn't even allow you to stand on a barrel without a Fall Arrest System these days

 

[Galena]

Nice to see the pictures, I worked at Bass on an electrical job for a while back in the late 70's and got to wander around the maltings, witnessed sparging in progress and stood on the top of Bass Shobnall Tower. A shame I had no particular interest in brewing in those days or I may have made more of it.
Bass was my first pint too 14p if I recall correctly

 

[DavidHatton]

Man that would be amazing to see! I used to love going by the Wards brewery as a kid - even then it seemed exciting that a big brewery was still producing in a city centre. The smell was awesome even though I was a kid at the time ;p

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wards_Brewing_Company

Used to love the smell as I walked to work.

 

[DavidHatton]

The pub mention in the wiki link is now demolished and replaced by a modern building maybe flats! had many a pint of wards in there.

 

[Donegal john]

A glass I got from my father it’s around 40/45 years old and he loved bass and wouldn’t drink it out of any other glass.
amazing to see photos of that era such rich history

 

[CD]

I had to change the gearbox on a narrowboat at Burton on Trent years ago. I explored the Brewery Museum whilst I was there, and was appalled to see the Burton Union system laying around in a yard, having recently been ripped out.

 

[trummy]

I visited Bass when they brewed the union way. The guide empathised 'the distinctive flavour obtained by conditioning in the Russian oak casks' (It was good then)
I revisited when it was 'brewed' in the modern tower brewery where the 'brewer' sat infront of a control panel pressing buttons. 'Its just as good as it always was' the young girl told us. I asked 'What about the the distinctive flavour obtained by conditioning in Russian oak casks? A blank stare and look of bewilderment was the only reply.
Some things just aint the same - now its brewed by Marstons I believe.

 

[foxy]

Breweries should have been eliminated by competition, that is a natural progression, mergers and takeovers kills the product, puts the breweries in the driving seat, not the consumer. If I could wish anything it would be to go back pre 1915 and taste the beers of then, yes there would have been hops in the beer, so what. I doubt they would have complained in those days.

 

[Galena]

Some things just aint the same - now its brewed by Marstons I believe.

It is, and what's more Molsen Coors allowed the original yeast strain to die so it will never be the same again.

 

[Hop_it]

Curiosity got the better of me, so I decided to see what I could find out about the Burton Union system - and there's a lot on the internet. Here are a few of the more interesting articles:

Here is a short article from Jun 2019 by Roger Protz about a series of limited edition brews from Marston's - https://protzonbeer.co.uk/news/2019/06/18/burton-s-historic-unions-create-new-ipa

Wikipedia briefly describes various brewing methods, which includes a brief description of the Burton Union method - Brewing methods - Wikipedia

Craft Beer and Brewing magazine have an interesting article on their web site describing the Burton Union set-up. The article also mentions that Firestone Walker created and patented their own modified "Burton Union" system in 1996 (. . . . . . which looks a bit crude to me compared with the real thing) - The Oxford Companion to Beer Definition of The Burton Union system

Finally, Marston's give it a (short) mention on their web site - Brewing Process - Marstons

Enjoy :small

 

[Hop_it]

Breweries should have been eliminated by competition, that is a natural progression, mergers and takeovers kills the product, puts the breweries in the driving seat, not the consumer. If I could wish anything it would be to go back pre 1915 and taste the beers of then, yes there would have been hops in the beer, so what. I doubt they would have complained in those days.

Much of the beer may well have been better in those days . . . . . and you had WW1 to look forward to as well