
THOUGHT PIECE the carling team
Beer drinkers are getting more adventurous and seem willing to sample, often at considerable cost, beers with wild, funky and sour flavours, often derived from the inside of a wooden cask. Funky encompasses hay, farmyard and horse blanket flavours, not a good description for townies who do not own a horse but you will know […]

THOUGHT PIECE the carling team
I’ll bet that few of you celebrated International Margarita Day at the end of February. The classic Margarita has but three ingredients; tequila, orange liqueur and lime juice but over the years bartenders seem to have developed it into a glorified slush puppy. Tequila itself gained an unhealthy reputation with many young people swearing ‘never […]

THOUGHT PIECE the carling team
Last month we considered the importance in brewing of the calcium and bicarbonate ion, of course there are other ions of significance in the water. Sulphate promotes crispness and accentuates hop bitterness but it can be overdone leading to sulphidic notes as in the famous ‘Burton snatch’. Chloride on the other hand provides fullness, so […]