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Done the course - wear the T-Shirt!

Hot off the catwalks of Milan & London Brew-School brings you the Brew-School T-shirt.  In alluring ash grey it allows you to wear you brewing credentials with pride!

Here is a little sneak preview but the real thing will be available at Beer X and online from Brew-School from 15th March at the very reasonable £10 in 4 accommodating sizes. (  + Post & Packaging £5)

Get your order in early as we have only have a limited number of 100.

Medium - Chest size 38 - 40 cm
Large Chest size 41 - 43 cm
X-Large Chest size 44 - 46 cm
XX-Large Chest 47 - 49 cm

To reserve your T-shirt just email us at : fashion@brew-school.com with your size and we can send you one out; alternatively buy them direct at Beer-X or Brew-School.

Beer Brewing Courses & Expertise

Brewing mega merger - microbrewery opportunity

The news that AB InBev and SAB Miller have completed their mega merger creating the worlds biggest brewer generating half of the brewing industry profits could cause microbreweries to feel even more threatened from a dominant brewer with vast economies of scale and financial and geographic reach.  Not so in my opinion.  This in me is the crowning moment for microbreweries across the world.  The time when big beer has finally overstepped the mark and overstretched itself and sullied it's reputation with the average beer drinker to a point where they will question the undeniable fact that if they are drinking Peroni are they really drinking Stella or Becks and is there any difference other than price and a marketing teams carefully worked out brand positioning for their beer? At this point they may come to a dawning realisation that what they really need to do is try a proper craft beer; one that has been lovingly crafted by a brewer, who's taste is original and authentic and is a unique handcrafted product.

 

Brewing mega merger has parallels

To me it reminds me of my experiences with Microsoft and PCs for years I struggled with laptops using Microsoft ubiquitous operating system that worked averagely badly but I knew it and stuck with what I new.  After years of people telling me about this funny little thing called an Apple Mac. I finally switched and realised that everything worked.  There was no going back!  When I walk into a coffee shop and see someone struggling for an hour trying to log on I want to whisper ...just get a mac.  In just the same way when I walk into a pub or bar and see someone ordering a Fosters, Peroni, Becks on draft I want to shout STOP! What a waste of a potentially great drinking experience especially when you look round and there is a range of fantastic hand crafted beers on offer.  Not all dark heavy.  Light hoppy fragrant saisons, a dry hopped IPA or a proper lager all for the same price of a bland piece of corporate brewing masterminded by accountants and marketing men not brewers.  Admittedly, you will always get a consistent beer...but a consistently unbelievably mediocre beer where the brewery is just as likely to have been brewing Stella as Fosters or Peroni (authentic?!!?)

 

New dawn for Microbreweries & craft brewers

Following on from this merger I hope and believe that mass beer drinking consumers will start to see the light.  Just in the same way that when Ford owned Jaguar cars they failed to convince enough drivers that they luxury car was nothing more than an overpriced Mondeo with a different badge.  Will consumers start to question the logic of paying £4 or £5 for a Peroni which is probably brewed in Burton Upon Trent under licence.

This disaffection with mass produced and internationalised beer brands presents a massive opportunity for innovative and exciting new microbreweries and regional brewers to tempt away new beer drinkers into the craft and real ale drinking market.

 

Why I drink craft beer everyday

This is not a confessional!  I'm not sitting in front a panel of AA. It's true.  I drink mainly a single pint of real ale or craft beer every day in a pub.  It's part of my life and I love it. Often I'm working but I still rather drink it out.  Beer is meant to be drunk around people laughing, joking, eating, discussing the state of the world and their families.  To me the mass consumption of supermarket mass produced bland branded beer on your own watching TV is a sad indictment of a society that has lost it's way and true meaning and a million miles away from what the whole beer drinking experience should be.  This is what lead me to set up Brew-School.  To encourage more breweries, more brewers and make beer drinking a more rewarding experience.  British beer is a major part of British culture and something I am rightly proud of.

Going back to the brewing mega merger above I believe that Brew-School can play a part in redressing the balance between big brewer and the emerging microbrewing sector.  We have only being going a short time but we already have a number of success stories and have shown brewers how to set up their own microbrewery.

So if you are looking at setting up a microbrewery the time could be right to take on big beer and persuade not just the converted real ale drinkers but all those other beer brewers that now is the time to swap to a hand crafted beer.

Looking for microbrewery set up advice or how about being taken through all the essential things you need to consider when setting up your own microbrewery on a dedicated course.

Chris Horne is a Director of Brew-School and these are his personal views and not necessarily that of Brew-School Ltd.

Perfect weather for brewing!

A cold, frosty but glorious morning here in #Bedford... Perfect #brewing weather :) Have a great week everybody! pic.twitter.com/tSUX41karN

— Charles Wells (@WellsBrewery) February 15, 2016

General Certificate of Brewing with the IBD - exam dates

For anybody who is thinking of undertaking the General Certificate of Brewing Course in April at Brew-School here are the examination dates from the Institute of Brewing & Distilling.

Don't forget about the early registration discount and that also at Brew-School we will be running a 1 day Revision bootcamp with Tim O'Rouke looking at previous examination papers and just sharpening your brewing examination knowledge ready for the big day.

The cost of attending the 1 day GCB revision day which runs from 10 - 2pm on the 30th April 2016 in Bakewell is £30 to include all refreshments and lunch.  For details : GCB@brew-school.com

Beer Brewing Courses

General Certificate of Brewing Course - Success

The first ever General Certificate of Brewing Course took place at Brew-School in Bakewell at the start of October.  The five day course with expert brewer Tim O'Rouke was a huge success with a bevie of 20 brewers from across the country and as far as Portugal looking to refine their brewing knowledge and also prepare themselves to take the exam with the Institute of Brewing and Distilling (IBD).

The course which mixed brewing theory with brewery visits to Thornbridge Brewery in Bakewell and Brampton Brewery in Chesterfield to see the different styles of brewing within a small and medium sized microbreweries.  It was a fascinating insight into how you can brew on a very small commercial scale with a 9 barrel plant purchase for £50,000 brewing only 3 time a weel but also with a regional scale brewery employing the latest brewing techniques including a centrifuge to filter the bottled and cask conditioned beer.

As well as covering an extensive syllabus required to sit the exam for the General Certificate of Brewing there was plenty of opportunities for people to explore all aspects of the brewing process.  There emerged very interesting differences in brewing practice from the brewers at St. Austell to some of the smaller brewers in the micros .  It was also interesting listening to some of the attendees looking at setting up their own microbrewery and how they viewed the process.  Over the 5 days our brewers looked at the following topics:

MONDAY
Beer Styles * Malting * Adjuncts * Mash Conversion * Milling * Mash separation

TUESDAY
Wort Boiling * Fermentation theory * Fermentation principles * Brewing yeast

WEDNESDAY
Beer maturation & Cold storage * Beer Prep Bright Beer * Beer Quality & process
Beer Flavour

THURSDAY
Microbiology * Quality Systems * Cleaning Detergents * CIP * Water & Effluent

FRIDAY
Process gases * Environment * Exam techniques

On top of the theory there was a lot of fun.  We had several evening events consisting of a beer matching and tasting event looking at beer styles and how they compliment different food types.

Thursday was rounded off with a Gala Dinner in Rileys in Bakewell.  Four courses of stunning locally inspired food all paired with beers from local brewing legend Thornbridge Brewery.

STARTERS

CREAM OF WHITE ONION SOUP
FRESHLY CHURNED BUTTER, TRUFFLE OIL, HOMEMADE BREAD

MAINS

SLOW ROAST NEW CLOSE FARM PORK BELLY
BLACK PUDDING CROQUETTE, FINE BEANS, WHOLE GRAIN MUSTARD SAUCE

DESSERTS

CHOCOLATE GARDEN
BROWNIE, MOUSSE, GANACHE, SOLI, FLOWERS

CHEESE

DOVE DALE BLUE
SERVED WITH TRADITIONAL ACCOMPLISHMENTS




 Following on from the success of Brew-Schools first General Certificate in Brewing we will be repeating the course next year so why not sign up to get the inside track on craft beer brewing.

Premium craft beers contintue growth

 
Cask beer continues to buck the downward trend for the rest of the beer market by continuing to grow the amount sold in volume.  In particular it is the premium cask market (ales over 4.1% ABV) that is holding out the strongest both on sales and price.

Latest figures for the first quarter of 2015 show that premium cask had sales up by 1.7% in January, 5.1% in February and 1.8% in March.

This info graphic also shows that Premium craft beer is now the leader on price having over taken premium international beer as the most expensive beer product.  Interesting that craft keg leads craft cask for all those microbreweries out there looking to maximise their returns and profits.

The figures are all taken from the British Beer and Pub Association Barrelage Survey.

Setting Up A Microbrewery Course - taught by brewing experts