Teams tour Meantime Brewery

Posted on February 4, 2015 by admin

To coincide with the addition to the drinks list of Meantime Brewery’s Pilsner, over the next few weeks our bar team will be taking it in turns to tour the brewery in Greenwich and really get to know this new supplier.

Founded in a small flat in 1999, today Meantime Brewery occupies a large state-of-the-art site between central and north Greenwich which in addition to the brewery itself houses a tasting rooms and shop. The first five of the team to visit made the trip to SE10 yesterday and were fascinated to see the brewery at work.

The team learnt that beer-making starts with the ‘milling in’ process, whereby malt is crushed to expose the inside of the grain; the ground malt or grist (yes, this where the expression ‘all grist to the mill’ comes from!) is then added to temperature-controlled water which releases enzymes and converts starch into sugars, resulting in what’s known as mash.

The mash is then sieved to remove the grain through a process called lautering; the remaining liquid or ‘wort’ is then boiled in vast kettles to sterilise it before it’s clarified, cooled and has yeast added to start the all-important fermentation process.

After ageing (or maturation) in huge tanks, which the team are pictured here standing in front of, the beer is packaged – Meantime don’t pasteurise their beer – and finally delivered to discerning stockists which, we’re proud to say, now include aqua shard.

The team’s tour was rounded off by a tutored tasting of Meantime’s various brews with one of their master brewers. The Pilsner, they found, is a crisp, elegant lager-style beer which we’re certain guests will enjoy.

Meantime Brewery tours are open to the public and can also be arranged privately subject to availability. For more information and to book, visit their website.