There is something in the water in Bury St Edmunds – and it's making life difficult for the brewing team at Greene King.

The Bury brewery and pub operator is producing new brands from its latest acquisition, Hardys & Hansons, based in Kimberley, Nottinghamshire, but to get the beer to taste just right it has to turn Bury water into Kimberley water.

John Bexon, head brewer at Greene King, said: "The biggest difficulty is the water – different waters have different flavours.

"We're now in a process of tuning our palates to Kimberley water and Kimberley beers."

To start the transformation, Greene King's Bury water, drawn courtesy of an abstraction licence from three deep wells under the Westgate brewery, has all of its minerals and mineral salts removed.

This process is called Burtonisation, named after the historic brewing town of Burton upon Trent.

New minerals and chemicals are then introduced in to the water to bring out the specific flavours of the Hardys & Hansons brands before Greene King's taste testers are brought in.

"We want to tease out the key characteristics of each brand," said Mr Bexon.

"They are really subtle flavours. You have to train yourself to pick them out at really low levels. We want to ensure that every beer we brew is true to type."

Brewing of Hardys' major brands – Hardys Best Bitter, Kimberley Smooth, Dark Mild and Ye Olde Trip – began in Bury shortly after the £271 million September purchase of its Kimberley brewery and estate of 185 tenanted pubs and 83 managed pubs.

Production will be transferred to Bury completely permanently in the next few weeks after an intensive review prompted Greene King chief executive Rooney Anand to announce in October that it did not make economic sense to keep the Kimberley brewery open.

The Campaign for Real Ale (Camra) has criticised the move, which has put around 80 Hardys jobs at risk.

A petition with about 1,000 signatures called for the brewery to be kept open. However, its representatives, along with publicans and licensees from Kimberley, have been invited to taste the cloned brands and give their verdict on Greene King's process.

Mr Bexon said: "It's like handing on the baton. There will always be people who say the beers don't taste the same and they are invited to have their say."

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