While the brewing process can be described in biochemical terms, once you've tasted our beers you'll instinctively know there has to be more to it than that. Alchemy rather than science springs to mind when one considers that four simple ingredients - malt, hops, water and yeast, can become a brew that's so rich in taste and complex in flavour. You don't have to use only malted barley to make beer. Some brewers use maize, sugar, even rice, but for us, all malt is the only way to go. It costs us a little more, but it's worth it. Beyond the incredible colour, flavour and aroma it produces, all malt brewing means that we don't need to add sugars or other fermentables to our brews, keeping them as pure and healthy as possible.
Brewing
It all starts with our malt. Much of the beers final colour, flavour and mouth-feel is dictated by the malt we choose. Once it's been milled into a fine flour called 'grist', it's mixed and mashed with water to produce a sweet extract or 'wort', pronounced 'wert'. The wort is boiled and hops are added to give the brew its distinct bitterness and aroma. Then it's cooled, clarified and ready for fermentation.
Fermentation
Yeast is added for fermentation to begin. The yeast uses the sugars in the wort to create alcohol and carbon dioxide. Our famous Coopers beer flavours then begin to develop. At Coopers, we brew ales, stouts and lagers and while each style of beer is produced differently, our passion for quality brewing shines in all.