BRAMPTON RUGBY CLUB TASTE TESTING AT STEAMWHISTLE BREWERY       27th November 2007

On Saturday 3rd November, 2007, a small select group from Brampton Rugby Club accepted the invitation of sponsor Steamwhistle Brewery to embark on a taste testing excursion.

 In an effort to ensure that the quality of the product running from our taps meets the high standard that our club members have come to expect, several members of the Brampton club participated in an inspection tour. In what was clearly nothing less than an heroic effort, these brave souls “took one for the team” unsure of what the cost to health and vitality would be from field testing the product as early as 10 a.m. the morning of Saturday November 3,2007. We were led to believe that the purpose of the excursion was to report back to any club member who will listen, whether Steamwhistle pilsner served in the bottle at the Dam is better or worse that Steamwhistle pilsner served on tap at the brewery. Needless to say a large sample was required to determine the results.

So off we went to the Brewery, in our big yellow school bus having had to compromise our ambience because the crank on the antique 20-seater Steamwhistle bus wouldn’t turn over that day. Moments after arriving at our destination, the first of several comparison tasks was accomplished successfully with only one casualty. Although most of us were willing to accept the Brewery’s attempt to distract us from our main objective with a tour of the establishment, our fearless historian Peter Murphy was not fooled. While the rest of us were led away by a very charming and knowledgeable tour guide, Peter was not fooled.

There was an abundance of unsuspecting tourists for Peter to hold audience with, so he bravely held back and we in turn went ahead without him. We were sure that Peter felt the more important role for him was to ensure that the Brewery did not tamper with the taps and attempt to provide our group with a different product for our final sampling. So Peter did the noble thing and continued to test the samples frequently while the remainder of us went on a most fascinating tour.

Anyway, a good time was had by all, and we would like to thank the promotional and sales staff of Steamwhistle Brewery for providing us with the tour and the hospitality. As for the results of our field testing, only one thing is certain, Steamwhistle on tap is served in larger portions than Steamwhistle in the bottle. Perhaps we can come up with another equally challenging objective for the next trip.