Greene King Brewery Tour

Uncle David joined Auntie Jane to stay with us on Thursday night and yesterday we all (apart from Little W, still at nursery) went into Bury St Edmunds. David was interested in seeing the Greene King Visitor Centre and Brewery Museum, and even more interested when he found we could have a tour of the brewery.

The museum has a new video - playing as a silent movie as they haven't got their entertainment licence sorted out yet. It is quite hilarious, especially silent, telling the story "Trouble at Mill" in black and white, set in a pub called "The Mill", where the landlord gets a dodgy temporary manager in while he goes off to Felixstowe on holiday. Great hammy acting. The pub in the film is instantly recognisable, to those who have been there, as The Fox Inn on Eastgate Street.

So we left the girls watching the video and went on the tour. It was only the two of us, but our guide didn't seem to mind. The tour takes about an hour and a half, and starts by going up to the roof where the water tanks are.

The view from there is rather good.

We worked our way down the building, past the malt mixing and screening and hop floors to the mash tuns.

We then went across the road to the site of the original Wright's brewery, bought by Benjamin Greene in 1799 to start it all. Here we got to see a number of the 69 fermentation vessels. The smells were very enticing. We even got to look in on a brew, fizzing away like mad.

There is no mechanical agitation or assistance, that is purely the yeast at work.

The tour ends in the brewery tap, where we got to sample 4 beers on tap (Ale Fresco, Speckled Hen, IPA and Abbot) and 2 in bottle (Beer to Dine For and Suffolk Strong Ale).

Well worth the time - we got to hear lots of interesting stories as well as sample some excellent beer. We even got a souvenir tasting glass each to take home. It was with regret we had to tear ourselves away to stagger off and meet the girls.