Is the future shape of British brewing being hammered out in the small Suffolk seaside town of Southwold? Adnams, the regional brewer based there, is fashioning a new brewhouse that will come on stream in 2006 and may become the yardstick by which all breweries will be measured in the future.
The new brewhouse will be highly energy-efficient. With world oil prices set to rise inexorably, the efficiency of breweries will be a major consideration in the years ahead.
As Adnams' managing director Jonathan Adnams says, in conventional ale breweries a lot of energy goes up the chimney. That may not be possible or permissible as oil supplies dwindle.
And the European Union will intervene to demand that breweries waste as little energy or materials as possible. Earlier this year, the EU announced it was planning a new directive aimed at forcing industries to use less energy. An EU working group is drafting a proposal that will determine how much energy can be used and how much waste can be produced during the making of one hectolitre of beer.
Time is not on the side of breweries. If the directive is approved, all industrial companies will have to comply by 2007. If they refuse, they will face sanctions and even a ban on production.
Brewery chimneys belching the delightful aromas of malt and hops could become a thing of the past, along with open fermenting vessels where yeast gushes over the tops and on to the floor.
Brewers in the Czech Republic say they would have to invest in new methods of production that would change the colour and flavour of their beer. It could spell the end of the Czech and German method of 'double decoction mashing', where the blend of malt and water is pumped from one vessel to another at increasingly high temperatures. Long lagering or maturation that, in the case of Budweiser Budvar lasts for 90 days, could also be outlawed.
British brewers face different problems. Ale is traditionally made by a simple mashing regime known as 'infusion'. But, as Jonathan Adnams says, the traditional mash tun produces the sugary extract known as wort, runs it off and then rinses the grain with a shower of hot water to wash out any remaining sugars. It's a method that could not be described as either energy-efficient or cost-effective.
The new Adnams' brewhouse will use a system based on a mash conversion vessel that will produce the sugary wort. The wort will be pumped to a second vessel called a lauter tun that will filter it, leaving behind the spent grain. A third vessel will heat the wort so when it reaches the copper whirlpool, where it is boiled with hops, the liquid will already be at boiling temperature, which again means less energy will be required.
As the mashing vessel does not have to filter the wort and grain, it can be used efficiently to produce more brews a day - four brews every 16 hours in the case of Adnams. The new equipment will also reduce the risk of oxidation, which means fewer stale or 'off' flavours in the finished beer.
Adnams' ancient wooden fermenting vessels have already been sidelined and replaced by new stainless steel ones.
They are enclosed to trap the carbon dioxide created as yeast turns malt sugars into alcohol and gas, but they are traditional square vessels. Jonathan Adnams says beers made by warm fermentation - as opposed to cold-fermented lagers - produce the best aromas and flavours in square vessels rather than upright conicals.
Annual production at Adnams will rise from 110,000 barrels a year to 150,000 when the new brewhouse is in operation. About £2.5m has been invested in the equipment. That indicates great faith in the future of the cask-beer market.
Adnams is also making an important contribution to the environment by using less energy. As our planet is ravaged by earthquakes, floods and hurricanes, and supplies of oil begin to dry up, the way in which beer is made could change dramatically over the next decade.
Consumers may soon ask not only how good is a brewery's beer but also how green are the methods used to make it.