Brewery Blog

Last month we were contacted by Craig at EMERGE (East Manchester Environment & Resources Group). He explained to us some of the fantastic work that they are doing to improve Manchester’s sustainability through their mantra of ‘the 3 R’s – Reduce, Reuse and Recycle’.   This is done through their three active sustainable resource and … Continue reading "Working with EMERGE to Reduce, Reuse & Recycle in Manchester."

What an amazing and epic couple of years, I joined Marble at the start of 2016, the brewery had been without a Head Brewer for a few months so I set about re-organising, changing procedures and changing recipes to make the systems and the beer the way I wanted it, I’m a firm believer in … Continue reading "The time has come to say goodbye…"

Today we must make the bittersweet announcement that our head brewer, James Kemp aka JK, will be leaving Marble Brewery in the spring to join Yeastie Boys in a newly formed Brewzerker job role, in charge of quality control, quality assurance, product development, and strategy. Joe Ince, formerly of Magic Rock Brewing and Buxton Brewery, … Continue reading "An announcement from Marble Beers Ltd."

What gets me up in the morning is Brettanomyces and to be more specific the management of Brettanomyces in a mixed flora environment. When I started at Marble there was no barrel or mixed culture programme to work with so I set about creating one. I found four unused barrels in storage and after assessing them decided how our programme would kick off. One of the first beers I brewed was an Old Ale, this type of beer is strong and relatively lacking in complexity which makes it perfect for adding both interesting yeasts and bacteria and also adjuncts.

As collaboration beers go this is the great white whale. For years I’ve been hunting down and drinking Gales Prize Old Ale, it’s a beer for me that epitomises an amazing tradition in British brewing, vatted old ales, these beers are complex, oak aged, heavily bretted and in some cases quite tart. I find these beers to be as interesting and complex as Flanders red’s and Oud Bruin from Belgium, their mixed culture fermentations give them an initial complexity but the age of them adds significant layers of complexity. Every time I drink these beers I think about the possibilities if they were still brewed and were marketed in a different way.