Museum of Science and Industry

Manchester's most innovative thinkers will drink beer today in memory of one of the city's most pioneering scientists, at the official announcement for the Manchester Science Festival. Joule's Gold, a new beer specially created for the festival, which runs during 20-28 October 2007, is named after the brewer James Prescott Joule, who discovered the calorie.

The beer will be tested for the first time, when plans for the festival are announced at the Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI), to key science, artistic, educational and business leaders in the North West. MOSI is coordinating the nine-day celebration of Manchester's achievements in science, technology, engineering and maths. It aims to work with a wide variety of venues across the city, to inspire the region's next generation of innovators. Joule's Gold, created by Paradise Brewery, will be available up to and throughout the festival.

Beer is an unlikely, but fitting testament to a scientist whose work owed much to his brewer's background. Joule's groundbreaking discovery of how heat is converted into mechanical work, came about through a series of careful experiments in the cellar of the family brewery, which looked at the links between electricity, heat and mechanical power. He established the 'Mechanical Equivalent of Heat', and the international unit of energy, the joule, is named in his honour.

Dr Ian Griffin, Director of the Museum, and an astronomer said: "In a strange way beer actually led to one of Manchester's most significant scientific achievements, so we thought that Joule's Gold would be a fantastic way to celebrate the Manchester Science Festival. There will be lots of reasons to toast the success of Manchester's scientists, during this nine day programme of events.

"The festival will be a great opportunity to find out about how science and technology has changed our lives, take part in some fun activities suitable for all age groups, and hopefully inspire more people to consider the career opportunities for science and other technical subjects. We will be releasing a programme of events later in the year, so please look out for more information nearer the time. "

John Wood at Paradise Brewery said: "Joule's Gold is a light golden beer, with a nice bitterness to it. We've used a local water supply, as the Joule brewery would used local water, and although we don't have any of the original recipes from that brewery we think they produced a similar golden beer at that time. The beer is available up to and throughout the festival, so come along to our Paradise Brewery bar in the Arndale centre, or to one of our stalls on Manchester Markets, and get inspired by the original scientist's drink!"

The Manchester Science Festival will celebrate the North West's role in scientific discovery and innovation, from pioneering scientists such as John Dalton, Ernest Rutherford and Joule, to the region's continued leading position today in many areas of cutting edge science and technology. The multi-venue festival will run events throughout Manchester and includes over 25 key cultural, scientific and business organisations.

Joules Gold is 4.5 % ABV and was created specially for the Manchester Science Festival by Paradise Brewery. It is available up to and during the festival, at Paradise Brewery bar in the Arndale Centre or at Paradise Brewery stalls of Manchester Markets, as well as a variety of festival venues.

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