Brewing with Belhaven Bill
Well, I've been here for a long, long time keeping a weather eye on all the lads and lasses at the Belhaven Brewery. It's like watchin' magic in front o' yer eyes - just some simple ingredients but a taste of heaven at the other side!
Let me tak' ye through whit goes an fae field and stream tae yer glass. Cheers!
While we Scots often moan about the weather, the pure Scottish water is one of the most important ingredients in the creation of all Belhaven's beers. Belhaven Brewery still draws water from the original wells build in the 18th century as part of the overall water volume used in the production process.
Bill says 'Water water everywhere and no a drap tae drink. Well, I'd rather hae a pint o' Best if it's a' the same tae ye'
With all the rain (and a decent amount of sun!), Scotland's land is ideal for the growth of cereal crops - producing some of the finest in the world. Belhaven uses locally grown barley carefully malted using traditional methods.
Bill says 'This is a centuries-old process. And no - not as old as me afore ye say!'
The malted barley is crushed then mixed with hot water in the Mash Tun and is left for an hour to allow the naturally occurring malt enzymes to break down the sugars.
Bill says 'This is aw too much like science tae me! Those monks knew whit they were aboot though eh?'
This warm, malty liquid is known as the Wort and it provides ideal nutrition for yeast to grow. The Wort is heated and hops are added with the whole mixture brought to boiling point to both sterilise the liquid and draw all the flavour and aroma out of the hops. The mixture then spends some time in a whirlpool which clarifies the Wort and removes the now-used hops.
Bill says 'My goodness but it's warm in the brewery when this is a' goin' on. Whit a rare smell tho'. I can almost taste that pint!'
Our secret formula of yeast is added to the cooled Wort mixture and over the coming weeks, the yeast turns the sugar to alcohol. When fermentation is complete, the beer is chilled which stops the fermentation process in its tracks. For traditional real ales, the beer is transferred to casks and a secondary fermentation takes place.
Bill says 'Now we're talkin' - nearly there. I cannae wait!'
The beer is stored cold in a special maturation vessel prior to filtration in the bright beer tanks through isinglass. This is the final stage before the beer is packaged ready to leave the Belhaven Brewery.
Bill says 'No a' of it leaves. Ah make sure there's a wee stash (an' then some!) snuck back fur me!'
A final stage of pasteurisation sees the beer off to the packaging process - keg, cans or bottles.
Bill says 'I'm awfie proud tae see Belhaven's brews sold the world o'er in places ah ken ah'll never see. Mind 'n send me a postcard! Cheers tae all o ye!'
