A flood of baffling beer coverage

The devastating floods in China and Pakistan, along with forest fires and choking smog in Russia, have led to concerns about western breweries receiving sufficient supplies of grain from the East. The floods and fire have wreaked terrible damage to the grain baskets of Pakistan and Russia, wiping out large parts of the barley and wheat-growing regions.

Clearly, our first thoughts must be with the victims of these catastrophic events, where the people's need for bread and clean water are more important than a temporary shortage of beer in the local bar. But I was bemused by the media reaction, as I can't imagine that many British brewers will be held up by a lack of grain from the East. Ale brewers prefer to use home-grown barley as they feel it delivers the right aromas and flavours for their style of beer.

British barley is renowned for its quality. Some American craft brewers will go to the considerable expense of importing a particular variety of English barley — Maris Otter — when they are creating pale ales and India Pale Ales, as they consider the grain gives an authentic

flavour to the beers.

One reason for the high quality of the barley grown in Britain is due to the fact that we are a small island. As a result, our barley is classified as "maritime", grown close to the sea. Norfolk is the main growing region in England, where much of the rich, dark soil has been reclaimed from the sea. Golden Promise barley, grown in the Scottish Lowlands, also enjoys the benefits of sea breezes and perfect soil.

In mainland Europe, many barley-growing regions are far removed from the coast. The main French area is, surprisingly perhaps, the Champagne region, but this is in the centre of the country, far from the ozone. European barleys tend to be of poor quality compared to ours, which is why brewers there have to use a long "decoction" mashing

process, using two or three vessels, to convert malt starch into fermentable sugar.

In Britain, on the other hand, brewers use a simpler method, known as infusion, which is akin to making a pot of tea. You mix barley malt with pure, hot water in one

vessel — the mash tun — and the

conversion to malt sugar is faster thanks to the quality of the grain.

Not all brewers are fussed about the quality of the malt they use. Some years ago, a successful craft brewer on the London/Essex border told me that when he worked for Ind Coope in Romford — part of the long-deceased Allied Breweries — he thought malt was an off-brown colour with black and mouldy green bits. It was only when he started his own brewery and ordered supplies of Maris Otter that he discovered that good malt was a uniform barley-white colour, was a delight to

chew and, more importantly, made superb beer.

Naturally, Maris Otter came under attack. Some 20 years ago, agri-business in the shape of big farmers and malting companies de-listed the variety in favour of high yielding new barleys that produce more grain per acre. But brewers fought back. Ken Don, the acclaimed head brewer at Young's in south London, was not prepared to abandon Maris and had it contract-grown by specialist farmers. Today many family and smaller craft brewers have followed in Don's footsteps and are prepared to pay a slightly higher price in order to use a malting variety that delivers fine

biscuity/Ovaltine flavours and which, most importantly, works in harmony with their yeast cultures.

In Wiltshire, Warminster Maltings, once owned by Guinness, was saved from closure by a management buy-out and is now the major supplier of Maris Otter to the brewing industry. It operates a Warranty of Origin system that means a brewer can order his malt from a particular farmer if he — the brewer — believes that particular batch of grain matches his flavour profile. This, quite rightly, is treating barley malt with the seriousness given to different grape varieties in France.

One good reason for using barley grown in this country is cutting down on air miles and saving carbon

footprints. Greene King, based in Suffolk, has given considerable thought to the battle against global warming by encouraging the use of a new variety of malting barley known by the appropriate name of Tipple. On my most recent visit to Greene King's plant in Bury St Edmunds, head brewer John Bexon took me up on to the roof of the brew house and pointed to fields of golden barley just outside the town.

It takes only tiny amounts of diesel to fetch the grain from the farms and start the brewing process in Bury.

Using home-grown barley makes sense. It sustains jobs, puts money into the economy, cuts down on vehicle use and produces great beer.

As the terrible events in China, Pakistan and Russia have been caused by global warming interfering with the jet stream, we all need to re-think the way we live in order to save the planet.

And where beer is concerned, it means: Think Local and Drink Local.