Everards Brewery and Punch Taverns have teamed up to give publicans the chance to brew their own beer. Eight Punch Partners came together at The Brunswick pub in Derby for the Everards Gold Cask Ale Champion course.
Hosted by Graham Giblett, Everards Head Brewer, the participating publicans were led through the brewing process from the raw materials and ingredients. The Punch Partners were then able to plan the hops, malt, ABV and colour to create their recipe having also sampled from the range of beers at the Brunswick. They also helped to brew the beer, going through each stage of the brewing process thoroughly, even the cleaning of the mash tun, under the watchful eye of James Salmon, Brunswick Head Brewer.
The collaborative brew has been called ‘Brief Encounter’ and is a 4% cent golden beer, brewed with four hop varieties – Cascade, Summer, Fuggles and Goldings – resulting in a delicious citrus, peach beer with a hint of caramel.
Claire Cannell, Everards Brands Manager said “The naming of a Gold Course beer can often be a challenging, but as soon Brief Encounter was suggested we were hooked – after we had the name, the design and theme all flowed.”
Following the success of last year’s brew ‘Amberella’, the partners stepped up to the challenge to design a beer, strong enough to exceed last year’s autumn’s sales. A fantastic 320 casks of Amberella were sold across 225 pubs nationwide in 2013, so something special needed to be brewed to beat this.
John Healy, Commercial Director at Punch Taverns said: “Partner brewing initiatives such as the Gold Course by Everards present a fantastic opportunity for our Partners to get involved, learn about the complexity of beer brewing so that they can proudly create their own ale.
“After the success of the Ambrella in our autumn rotation last year, we have high expectations from the ‘Brief Encounter’. The fact that it is only available on our Finest Cask range is a big sales driver, as Partners like to offer a variety of cask ales to their customers, and limited edition ales like ‘Brief Encounter’ provide a unique point of difference against competitors.”
Brief Encounter will be exclusively available on Punch’s Finest Cask guest ale programme this autumn, which will run from October to November.