Former MP turned train explorer Michael Portillo has visited Warminster Maltings, in Wiltshire, as part of his new series of Great British Railway Journeys.

Armed with his copy of Bradshaw’s Victorian Railway Guidebook, Michael joined the Warminster workforce to plough the malt floor using a traditional iron-bladed plough. He has long beer a lover of beer and as Shadow Chancellor in 2001 famously proposed tax concessions for beers of 2.5% ABV and below, dubbed Portillo’s Pint, a similar concession eventually being introduced in 2011.

Warminster Maltings is Britain’s oldest traditional malting and an architectural gem. It was remodelled in 1879, becoming an academy of barley breeding and malting in 1905 under E S Beaven, pioneering barley breeder and maltster.

Maltings owner Robin Appel said: “Michael loved the heritage and architecture of our maltings, and tasting the different characters of our wide range of malts. This malting process is a British icon, a great British skill, and the enthusiasm of Portillo and his film crew was palpable. Quality British beer is most certainly on the up.”

This blog post is not by Wobbly Wallet but originally appeared on Beer Today: http://beertoday.co.uk/?p=12235