History of Beer

At the beginning of the Summer a good friend of mine was kind enough to give me a free family ticket for the Bass Museum. So yesterday as a special day to mark the end of the holidays, I took my sister and my kids to Burton for the day.

It was an easy trip as it is only 10 minutes to Burton-on-Trent on the train. However, when we got to Burton, it took us half an hour to find the place as the map on the little brochure we had was totally wrong. If it wasn't for our own initiative I don't know how long it would have taken to get there.

Once inside, We were given a little tour map of the centre and an audio guide. This was a gadget like a phone. As you go around the centre, there are numbers on the wall and if you key the numbers into the guide, it gives you information as if you had a tour guide with you. The great thing about these guides is that we could all go round at our own pace and you could listen to the same piece a many times as you want in case you missed something.

First stop on the tour was learning all about how beer is made. There was so much information. It was very indepth and there was a lot to take in. Next stop was the livery and the gorgeous Shire Horses Monty and Carling. Next was all about the brewery transport and the last stop of the tour was the huge Museum of Brewing. This place was jam paced full of history. It included all about the Bass family and how they started the Brewery in Burton and how Burton became the centre of all Brewing. There was a mock up of a 17th century Red Lion pub as well as a mock up of an old games room....including push ha'penny,skittles and darts. There was also a mock up of an early 1960s pub. A display of the Carling Cup and an interactive film show featuring residents of 19th century Burton. The whole thing was truly fascinating and I could have spent a couple more hours in there can I tell you!!!

We finished our tour in the bar. We sat outside in the sun and the kids went on the play area.
The end of the tour was through the gift shop. I desperately wanted to buy a souvenir of our day. I ended up buying myself a very nice Carling chilling glass for £1.99 but the deal-maker was that you get a free bottle of lager with it :) I also bought a pencil sharpener and the kids had a pen each.
When we finally left the museum, we had been there for 3 hours. We weren't ready to go home yet so we decided to walk into Burton and go for lunch. We found a nice little cafe in the shopping centre where 3 of us had Jacket spuds with various toppings and DD had a Bacon sandwich. Afterwards, we decided to go toMcDonald's and get McFlurrys.

After a completely amazing day we got home very hot and sweaty and a bit affected by sunstroke. Very happy though!!!!