Willy Wonka Chocolate Factory for Grown-Ups

Ask nearly any tourist on their way back from Dublin if they visited the Guinness Brewery and 9 times out of 10 they certainly did. Well I'm here to tell you, there's a much better brewery right here in London! I know what your thinking "I love Guinness, it's one of the best beers around!" well I'm not here to argue about the actual beer, but if you're going to spend 10 euro on a brewery tour, make sure your actually visiting a BREWERY and not some unsightly beer "museum".

This afternoon I hopped the district line over to Turham Green Station and took a tour of the Fuller's brewery. I had been planning to visit the brewery for awhile and what better time than right after final exams.

My main objective for the tour was to see an actual working brewery and learn about the delicicies inherent to producing an ale as opposed to the more commonplace lager. My tour started off in a proper "english" pub and we headed off to the original storage room to pick up some safety vests. Throughout the tour we had to make way for employees as they picked up massive bags of hops, managed the malt mills and monitered the "coppers". Even though the brewery started in 1845, the process was an interesting mix of new age automation and old-school elbow grease. Not much has changed in the actual process since 1845, and after the tasting the product, I don't see any need for modification.

[Modern Day copper still (still referred to as copper, even though technically stainless steal)]

The tour opened my eyes to the beverage with a reputation that has suffered due to poor handling and a global preference for lager. Many people believe English ale is flat, warm and tasteless... the truth of the matter is the pubs are to blame for this misconception. The first time I tried an ale I wanted my 2.50 back. "Real Ale" is 100% natural and by definition has no preservatives. The beer has a limited shelf life, and requires delicate handling procedures. If pubs and bars ignore those rules, they end up dispensing expired, rank, and flavorless liquid that has given the English beer world such a poor reputation. As for the temperature, turns out ale is not supposed to be served room temperature, or as cold as a lager but somewhere inbetween. This generally means if you plan on drinking real/cask conditioned ale the only proper way to do it is at a pub. Also for the stateside readers, if you encounter Fuller's you better believe it's pasteurized and thus technically not "real ale".

[Kegs on their way to the pubs]

So give ale a chance, and if you get the chance pay a visit to the Fuller's brewery, it will not dissapoint!

~RSL