An Epic Virtual Tour & Tasting From Duration Brewing!
With the world changing to a more digital means of communication, many breweries have had to use their initiative and host virtual events. These have been fantastic and when we saw that Duration Brewing were doing a ‘Tour and Tasting’ as part of Women On Tap Virtual Festival, we just had to sign up. We weren’t very familiar with the brewery, so we were keen to learn more about them and more importantly try their beer! Duration is a family-run brewery based at Abbey Farm in a village called West Acre in West Norfolk. Set amongst the historic ruins that date back to what is believed to be the 1130’s, the brewery was set up by Derek ‘Bates’ and Miranda Hudson. In December 2019, they moved into their current site after spending a year transforming a derelict historic barn into a sustainable brewery that embraces local agriculture, using local crops and produce for their beers. Duration have a solid ethos of creating ‘beers that belong’. The message behind this is that their beers have a connection to where they were created and are inspired by the immediate surroundings of the brewery. Beyond this, Duration want to ensure that their beer is as fresh as possible, handed to the consumer in the most efficient way.
Miranda kicked things off by giving viewers a tour of the brewery that is located in separate barns. The main brewhouse was epic and had some impressive state of the art kit, all made in Germany. This includes their own mill, whirlpool and hop cannon. Miranda told us that they had chosen a more hi-tech, automated set-up, to ensure consistency with every brew. After Bates had taken us through the brewing process, Miranda took us around the rest of the brewery where their packaging area boasts the UK’s first Codi canning line. Finally they showed us the Coolship room, which is a traditional method that allows the wort to cool, while gathering airborne natural yeasts and bacteria. Finishing off in the barrel-store where Duration age some of their beers, Bates and Miranda sat down for the tasting session. All of the beers were vegan, and came in a pack with a funky Duration lithoprint notepad. For us sitting in the garden in 23 degrees of sunshine, this was our afternoon made up and we couldn’t wait to try what this brewery had produced.
The first brew that they kicked off with was Doses, a classic German Pilsner at 5.1%. This brew is clean and simple, with a slightly floral nose. Lagers are the hardest thing to brew and this is a testament to Bates’ talent as a brewer, producing a solid, crisp, refreshing lager. He told us how this brew really fits into the aesthetics of the brewery as the hops used originate from the same area where their brew kit was manufactured.
Next up was Bet the Farm - This is Duration’s award winning continental pale at 4.5%, Bates told us that the aim of this brew was to prove that Belgian-style beers can be brewed well at a lower abv. It was quite an intriguing brew, with a lovely floral aroma and a slightly sweet fruity flavour, with a slight zest, finished off with a crisp, bitter finish. They are planning to release a rustic barrel-aged version of this soon, so it will be great to get our hands on that one!
The final one was Turtles All The Way Down, an American pale, Bates told us that it was based on solid American pale ales like Sierra Nevada but with modern day NEIPA style. It had a lovely punchy aroma, with hints of pine, marmalade and a touch of honey. It is pretty sweet and juicy, with a delicate bitterness and at 5.5% a good sessionable brew. This was probably our fav of the three!
Towards the end Bates and Miranda did a Q&A session, where Miranda shared with everyone their experiences since the Corvid-19 crisis,When talking about their first virtual event and the impact that coronavirus has had on the brewery Miranda said, “It's been really fun for us, we've carried on and have been working as usual as you can get. We'd spent a lot of time setting up and it [The new brewery] was five months old when they announced that the pubs were going to close and life wasn't going to be the same. That was a big curtain of realisation and we were a wholesale based brewery which meant that we worked with six customers b2b and then we suddenly had no orders. We had to get on the phone and ring every single place that we knew had stocked our beer and we also had to think about our online shop and try to make that grow otherwise we wouldn't survive. We've invested a lot in our equipment so we have big overheads. So it’s been quite a tricky time and having you guys support us and purchasing and saying hello has just made our day!”
We had a cracking time at the Duration tour and tasting, all of the brews were really solid and we couldn’t have had a more fantastic introduction to Duration’s beer! A few things to mention; Duration are part of the ‘Buy the NHS a Pint’ scheme which many breweries across the UK are part of. Secondly Duration are running more of these events so you can book via their online shop, which is where you can also grab their fantastic merch and beer!Miranda mentioned that Duration are planning to have a taproom, so we can’t wait to come and visit the REAL LIFE brewery once this is all over!
