The new range is the brainchild of head brewer Alex Arkell, who is launching the range with Strawberry Sensation, a 5% ABV golden-coloured ale with a dash of strawberry.
It will be followed in March by A Tinge of Ginge - 3.5% ABV with a suggestion of ginger - and in May by Vanilla Pod Ale, a 4.5% ABV ale with hints of vanilla. It follows the successful launch of A Tinge of Ginge last year, which sold out across the brewery's pub estate.
Arkell said: “Beer drinking is changing. I’m always trying out new flavours and tastes when I go to the pub, as well continuing to drink my regular ale favourites. It’s a bit like having a beer with your best friend after being out with some new mates.”
"Brewing new beer is no different to being a chef. Why should Heston Blumenthal and Jamie Oliver have all the fun?
“Brewers don’t have to stick to the tried and tested tastes and flavours, there are so many exciting ways we can widen the beer drinking experience by adding a little bit of something unusual. It’s just like cooking.”
Arkell compared the beers to other flavour innovations used in brewing, such the tradition of using chocolate, and also more unusually, in the United States, a Los Angeles brewery created a beer using avocados. In Japan, following a surplus of milk, a drink shop owner created a milk-based beer.
Arkell’s Strawberry Sensation is made using Maris Otter barley, giving the beer a rich malty sweet foundation and two varieties of hops: Saars and First Gold. Chopped strawberries are added into the mash tun to bring a natural strawberry flavour to create sweet, refreshing beer.