Coming from an era & location where beer or ale was part of the comunity, indeed Burton on Trent was just one mass of breweries, most of the properties were owned by the breweries, i.e. workers cottages etc. there was at one time a replica of Burton in the brewing museum you could see from that, many of the houses were actually in the grounds of the brewery, barrels were stacked right outside of these houses, my first house was once owned by one of the breweries this was actually on the fringes of the town as I believe all the houses on that road were, there was a covenent on the property that I could not sell or brew beer on the premises. I was fortunate many years ago to sample most days beer from Bass at their sample room, believe me that beer was good, it did not have to travel, kept at the correct temperature (that is why public houses had cellars) I have never really tasted beer as good. Although it was mass produced using what was at the time newer processes, it still went through certain processes using oak barrels, Flavour contributions (Tannin) were a natural flavour from the oak barrels these varied with age of the barrels & what had been stored in them so in reality, the old method would give slight variances in beer flavour even on the same recipe, the idea that beer should be consistent is a modern take in what can only be described as our resolve for a perfect world, what we have lost is the true flavour, modern metal processing equipment water treatment etc. has lost all that, It's like everything nowadays, reduced costs, mass production & the most obvious is safety for the consumer.
This not only pertains to beer but other products, I was involved in a move of a certain pasta product with sauce to another factory, there were two concerns raised, the first was the water used, they actually transported water from the new facility 200 miles to do a trial run, this product was used in consumer trials to ensure the flavour was acceptable, turns out it was ok. The other was the old extruders had been in service for a number of years, a concern was raised that the holes in the extruder had grown over the years, again a trial was conducted & the consumer response was that the thinner extruded product was not what the consumer wanted, so as part of the refurbishment of the plant for the move the extruder dies were not replaced.
