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For centuries, Burton has been associated with the brewing industry due to the quality of the local water. This comes from the high proportion of dissolved salts in the water, predominately caused by the gypsum in the surrounding hills. Much of the open land within and around the town is protected from chemical treatment to help preserve this water quality.
The town is still home to three brewers:
A by-product of the brewing industry, figuratively and literally, is the presence of the Marmite factory in the town. This in turn generated the production of Bovril. Together with the breweries this can give the area a distinctive smell.
The development of rail links to LiverpoolFor alternate uses of "Liverpool" see Liverpool (disambiguation Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside in north west England, on the north side of the Mersey estuary. Liverpool is governed by Liverpool City Council, one of five council enabled brewers to export their beer1990s England when people received less than a pint (568 ml) of beer for the price of a pint. A beer is any variety of alcoholic beverages produced by the fermentation of starchy material derived from grains or other plant sources. The production of beer throughout the British EmpireThe British Empire in the early decades of the 20th century, held sway over a population of 400 500 million people (roughly a quarter of the world's population), and covered nearly 30 million square kilometres, (roughly two-fifths of the world's land area. The accidental shipwreck of a cargo boat carrying India Pale Ale (an aleAle is an ancient word for a fermented alcoholic beverage obtained chiefly from malted barley. The closest thing to traditional ale available currently is Real ale, but in Britain, "ale" is nowadays practically synonymous with " beer". At one time, it was specially brewed to keep during the long sea voyage to IndiaThe Republic of India is a large multicultural country in South Asia, with a population of over one billion. The Indian economy is the fourth largest in the world, in terms of purchasing power parity, and is the world's second-fastest growing economy.) resulted in barrels being washed ashore. The popularity of these fortuitous samples resulted in the domestic marketing of such ale, and began the gradual transformation of English drinking tastes.
Previously, Englishmen had drunk mainly stout and porter - dark beers flavoured with roasted barley and similar to GuinnessArthur Guinness Son & Co. founded 1756, produces a dark stout (a type of beer, specifically porter), known widely as Guinness brewed at St. James's Gate, Dublin, Ireland since 1759. It is also brewed under licence internationally the resulting beer is, fr - but bitter (a development of pale ale) came to predominate. This extensively hopped, lighter beer was easier to store and transport, and so favoured the growth of larger breweries.
Burton came to dominate this trade, and at its height one quarter of all beer sold in BritainThe word Britain is used to refer to the United Kingdom (UK): i. the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (from 1927), the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland ( 1801- 1927) or the United Kingdom of Great Britain ( 1707- 1801). was produced here. Although over 30 breweries are recorded in 1880, a process of mergers and buy-outs resulted in three main breweries remaining by 1980: Bass, Ind Coopes and Marstons. Today (2004) only Burton Bridge brewery remains as an independent brewer.
The fame of Burton ales gave rise to the English euphemism "gone for a burton" meaning to die - a World War II humorous suggestion that a missing comrade had merely nipped out for a beer.
The town has a non-league association football club, Burton Albion. The Burton & District Cricket League has many notable clubs, which include among others Lichfield Cricket Club
The Burton suburb of Branston is where the well-known Branston Pickle was invented and also has a golf course.
Claymills pumping station on the north side of Burton is a restored Victorian sewage pumping station, adjacent to the modern sewage works.The town lies within the National Forest.