Greene King, Beavertown & Peroni launch new beers

Greene King celebrates English folklore 

The operator launched four new craft beers, all celebrating Greene Kings 200-year brewing history in Bury St Edmunds, across 27 sites on Wednesday 28 March, with more Greene king and non-Greene King venues serving the new offerings this summer.

The new serves are Flint Eye (4.5% ABV), a dry hopped lager, Level Head (4% ABV), a session IPA, Western Zeph (5.4%ABV), a West Coast IPA, and Subterranea (6.2% ABV), an oatmeal stout, with Flint Eye and Level Head set to be part of the operator’s core range while the west coast IPA and oatmeal stout will be limited edition brews.

Flint Eye celebrates the Neolithic flint tipped arrows found in Bury St Edmunds, combining orange peel and citrus aromas with pine notes while Level Head is a hoppy IPA with tropical and grapefruit notes, named after the legend of St Edmunds.

Whereas Western Zeph IPA, brewed using new Harlequin and Godiva hops with English malts and hops, offers a punchy beer high in bitterness with underlying sweetness and Subterranea adapts a historic stout recipe from 1926 to modern brewing techniques boasting roasted chocolate, coffee, and caramel notes, named after a folk tale about a fiddler who got lost in the subterranean tunnels beneath Bury St Edmunds.

Kraken launches its first flavoured rum

Kraken has announced the launch of its first flavoured rum, The Kraken Roast Coffee (40% ABV), available for the on-trade this month.

The new release balances the rich, dark, smooth taste of coffee with the spices of the original Kraken Black Spiced Rum and is suitable for vegetarians and vegans.
 
Kraken Roast Coffee is available from Amazon at RRP £26 for a 70cl bottle. 

Serving suggestion: ​

Ingredients​ ​

• 50ml Kraken Roast Coffee
• 40ml cold-pressed coffee
• 10ml sugar syrup
• Cinnamon powder
• Coffee beans (optional garnish)

Method​

• Shake ingredients for up to 10 seconds
• Strain into a chilled Martini glass
• Garnish with Cinnamon powder and three coffee beans

A botanic break from booze 

Reformed Characters has announced its new range of "unapologetically" alcohol-free botanical serves.

Aimed at recreating the taste and feel of classic spirit and mixer combinations without the booze, Reformed Characters contains no added sugar or preservatives, are low calorie, gluten free, and vegan. 

The new offerings are available in RTD single serves in 3 flavours:

A dry and zesty blend of Juniper, Hops & Rosemary & organic Mexican Lime with the mouthfeel and complexity of a G&T.

A dark and smoky blend of  Ginger, Cardamom & Organic Italian Sweet Orange with the mouthfeel and complexity of a dark spirit and mixer.

A bittersweet blend of Pink Grapefruit, Hibiscus, Aromatic Herbs & Organic Red Mandarin with the mouthfeel and complexity of an aperitif.

All three variants are available to the on-trade now via Sellar at RRP £21.53 (Incl. VAT) for 12x250ml cans.

Henry Weston's expands on-trade offering with British Vintage variant 

Westons Cider has launched Henry Westons British Vintage (7.3% ABV), available to on-trade retailers now in 10L bag-in-box's, priced at £18 for 8x500ml bottles on the Westons website. 

A refreshing medium-dry cider, made using sustainably sourced apples, Henry Westons British Vintage Cider is crisp and rich with a rounded finish.

The new offering joins Henry Weston's existing bag-in-box products, Family Vintage (5% ABV), Cloudy Vintage (7.3% ABV), Organic (6% ABV), recently launched Vintage Draught (5.2% ABV), and  Vintage (8.2% ABV), which is now  the second biggest cider SKU, according to the IRI to 29 January 2022.

Henry Westons brand manager Holly Chadwick said: “The insatiable appetite for the brand in the off-trade just cements the growing appeal of premium, traditional ciders for British drinkers, whether they’re at home or in outlet.

“Established as our star performer in retail, Henry Westons is already building a loyal following in the on-trade."

Current UK on trade listings for the new offering include JD Wetherspoons, Mitchells & Butlers, Spirit Group, Punch, Enterprise Inns, Fullers, Greene King, Hall & Woodhouse, Marstons, Charles Wells, Youngs and Matthew Clark Wholesale.

Fever-Tree announces limited edition summer offering 

Award-winning mixer brand Fever-Tree has announced its limited edition Summer offering, Passionfruit & Lime Tonic Water.

The fruity tonic water blends spring water with extracts of Ecuadorian Yellow Passionfruit, zesty Tahitian Lime and Quinine from Central Africa.

Handpicked in Ecuador, the sun soaked Yellow Passionfruit is chosen for its fruity flavour and provides an orange hue to the tonic which is balanced with the zesty Tahitian lime and the gentle bitterness of Quinine.

At 18 calories per 100ml, Fever-Tree Limited Edition Passionfruit & Lime Tonic Water ​​has been created to complement and elevate a London Dry Gin but also pairs well with vodka or served solo over ice with a wedge of fresh lime.

Fever-Tree senior innovation manager Georgina Denny said: “Our Limited Editions always shake up the category.

"The G&T drinker is becoming more experimental and creative when mixing at home and we wanted to create a liquid to satisfy that thirst for something new this Summer.  

"We believe like many others in the quality and enjoyment you can get from having fruit in season and we wanted to mimic this with our Limited Edition series, first with Damson & Sloe for Autumn Winter, and now Passionfruit & Lime for the Summer."

The new variant is available from now until Autumn 2022 from Tesco, Asda, Ocado and Sainsburys.

Peroni introduces Nastro Azzurro 0.0%

Super premium Italian beer brand Peroni, owned by Asahi, has today (Friday 1 April) launched its new alcohol-free variant, Peroni Nastro Azzurro 0.0%.

Peroni Nastro Azzurro 0.0% has been crafted with Italian ingredients including the signature Nostrano dell‘Isola maize, grown exclusively for Peroni in the north of Italy, to create the classic brand taste, minus the alcohol, with consumer testing having revealed 90% of tasters felt the flavour matched that of Peroni Nastro Azzurro.

The new addition to brands portfolio marks an important step towards the Asahi Legacy 2030 initiative to have non-alcoholic products make up 20% of Asahi Europe & International’s portfolio.

Peroni Nastro Azzurro 0.0% will be available from April in all major retailers in 330ml glass bottles and 330ml cans, available to buy individually and in multipacks of x4 (bottles), x12 (bottles), x24 (bottles) and x6 (cans).

On-trade retailers already signed up to stock Peroni's latest serve include Mitchell & Butlers, Greene King, Young’s, Darwin & Wallace and Oakman Inns.

Bathtub craft gin releases first flavoured offering 

Multi award-winning craft gin company, Bathtub Gin, has announced its first flavoured variant, Bathtub Gin Grapefruit & Rosemary (43.3%)

Available now from Master of Malt Trade in 70cl bottles at RRP £33.95., Bathtubs new serve boasts notes full-bodied juniper, cardamom, orange and rosemary on the nose with grapefruit notes, hints of cinnamon, juniper, and more rosemary on the nose, while maintaining Bathtub Gin's characteristic creaminess.

In order to create its all important first flavoured gin, Bathtub took to social media to ask consumers what they would like the brand to produce and the types of flavour profiles the public were interested in drinking, with more than 1,100 submissions received during the first stage of the campaign.

The entries were categorised into different trends and ranked according to how many votes the overarching trend received, with the top
trends submitted being Citrus and Herb, Citrus and Spice and Citrus and Floral, while the most mentioned combinations were selected for the shortlist of the four flavours; Grapefruit and Rosemary, Blood Orange Marmalade, Lime and Orange Blossom and Lemon and Pink
Peppercorn.

Consumers were then asked to vote for the final flavour with more than 1,500 votes cast to declare Grapefruit and Rosemary as the winning product.

Half time oranges 

Match Day Brewery and Good Karma Beer Co. have today (Friday 1 April) unveiled Half Time Oranges IPA (0.05% ABV), an alcohol-free beer inspired by the most accessible level of the beautiful game, Sunday League. 

Trialled and tested with South Liverpool’s premier new wave Sunday League team, Sefton Park Rangers, Half Time Oranges is the first collaboration between Good Karma Beer Co.

Released in memory of Lauren Archer, designer and friend to both Match Day Brewery and Good Karma Beer Co., 10% of proceeds will be donated to mental health charity, Mind.

Good Karma Beer Co. director Steve D Sailopal said: ”It can get tough out there and there’s a lot of folk struggling quietly, which shouldn’t be the case.

"With the tragic loss of our dear friend Lauren and her silent struggles we’d wish we had known about, we hope this collaboration will help raise awareness about mental health. There is always hope, even when our mind tells us otherwise.”

Half Time Oranges is available in 440ml cans now from the Match Day Brewery webshop.

21st century bootlegging

Inspired by the rebellion and inventiveness of the American prohibition era, O’Donnell Moonshine rebels against industry norms with a range of natural, wheat-based spirits, sold in Mason jars with an attachable pouring lid.

Stored in Mason jars with an attachable pouring lid, O’Donnell Moonshine pays homage to the Mason jars used during prohibition to conceal contents and avoid suspicion from the authorities, a brand feature which stands out on any backbar.   

With flavours including Tough Nut, Wild Berry, Sticky Toffee, the range of 7 flavoured and 2 clear spirits can be enjoyed over ice, with a mixer, or in a variety of cocktails.  

Moonshine’s emergence is typically tied to the murky world of 1920’s bootlegging, but O’Donnell Moonshine brings the liquor firmly into the 21st century by using only natural ingredient, being allergen free and vegan friendly in re-useable glassware made free of plastics.

All varieties of O'Donnell's Moonshine are available for the on-trade directly from the company at varied ABV's, prices and sizes.

Beavertown Brewery announces pale ale launching exclusively in Young's pubs

Beavertown Brewery has today (Friday 1 April) launched a new pale ale, Young Sun (4%ABV), previewing for 8 weeks exclusively at Young's pubs across London and the South of England, before being available in pubs across the country.

The new offering, which is vegan, has been brewed with Beavertown’s house yeast, allowing the sweeter malt characteristics to shine through, with hops Simcoe, Citra, and Idaho 7 then added to create a hoppy, sweet, tropical flavour with notes of berry and citrus. 

Young's sites including Wandsworth pubs the Ship and the Spread Eagle are among those debuting Young Sun from April.

Founder of Beavertown Brewery Logan Plant said: “We’re very excited to be launching Young Sun exclusively into Young’s pubs for an 8-week run before making it more widely available across the country.

"Ahead of summer 2022, we wanted to bring a new pale ale to drinkers which is ideal for sipping in beer gardens and the bright, light, fruity Young Sun does exactly that.

"Similar to our much-loved IPA Neck Oil, but even more fresh and accessible, we can’t wait for Beavertown fans and newcomers alike to enjoy it as much as we do.”

If you have any new products being released to the on-trade, email the details with high resolution images before Thursday at midday for potential inclusion on Friday’s article to rebecca.weller@wrbm.com​​​​​​​​​​​​​.