To 'go for a burton' refers to the beer brewed in the Midlands town of Burton-upon-Trent, which was and still is famous for its breweries. RAF pilots who crashed, especially those who crashed into the sea, i.e. 'in the drink', were said to have 'gone for a burton'. Some commentators have referred to a pre-WWII advert for Burton's Ale, in which a place at table was vacant and the missing person was said to have 'gone for a Burton', i.e. gone to the pub for a drink. That would be a very strong candidate if only any record of the adverts were to be found - and surely they would be evident if they ever existed. Until any do come to light it's reasonable to call the said adverts mythical.
Marston's Brewery
The town of Burton on Trent is overshadowed by the big breweries owned by Bass, Coors and Marstons. At one time there were 30 breweries all attracted to the town because of the quality of the water drawn from underground which aided the flavour of the beer produced.
Coors
Coors in town centre
We spent an interesting time this morning at the National Brewery Centre learning more about how beer is made, historically and now.
Ian even found some old pressure lamps hanging in an engine shed, think they had been converted to electricity.
By the time we got back to Tacet, it was almost 3pm, but we set off towards Alrewas where we moored below the lock at almost 6pm. It has been a lovely sunny day, but with a cold wind, but who's complaining after the rain all day yesterday!
And there was a lovely sunset too....
21 miles, 10 locks
The Coors tower is visible from quite a distance, including from the A38 as it passes the town. (Though, from a distance, it's easy to misread it as 'Coke'. (Not the best advertising in the world :) )
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