Big Drop Brewing Co is to release two new beers – Big Drop Lager and Spiced Ale – at Club Soda’s Mindful Drinking Festival at Bermondsey Square Hotel, Southwark, south London, this Sunday (13 August).
The new beers join the brewery’s award-winning Chocolate Milk Stout and Citrus Pale Ale in Big Drop’s core range.
Founder Rob Fink said that the beers added “further variety” to the low-alcohol category.
'Taste and inclusion'
“For pubs, bars, restaurants, hotels and off-trade retailers, it’s no longer enough to simply add a low-alcohol beer to their stocking list,” he said. “Consumers are increasingly turning to this sector for any number of reasons – from health considerations to drink-driving concerns – but are still looking for taste and inclusion when they socialise with family and friends.
“They’re looking for a dependable and tasty beer in this space and with the category growing at 6.4% year on year. Great-tasting, low-strength beers offer huge growth potential.”
Big Drop’s beers were recently recognised in the International Beer Challenge and the World Beer Awards. The brewery’s Chocolate Milk Stout won a Gold Medal in the former, while its Citrus Pale Ale was named World’s Best Pale Beer (low-strength) in the latter.
The Chocolate Milk Stout also received a World Beer Awards silver medal in the UK Country competition for flavoured stout and porter, having been judged alongside full-strength beers.
Suffolk inspiration
Fink said that the awards were “the icing on the cake” of the brewery’s first year of operations.
The brewery has also undergone a rebrand of its entire range, which takes its inspiration from Fink’s Suffolk countryside roots and is designed by landscape artist Helen Maxfield.
“I took a lot of inspiration from the countryside of my Suffolk roots when developing Big Drop beers,” Fink said.
“Helen’s wonderful imagery of that area, including Rendlesham Forest and Shingle Street, has been incorporated into the identity of the beers with a distinctive rebrand to reflect the individual character of each beer while providing continuity across the range.”
Last month, the Maidenhead brewery announced it had expanded its production capacity ‘tenfold’ to cope with popular demand.