Pubs and bars across the country are getting involved in a charity campaign, as part of celebrations to mark the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.
After tough times for the hospitality industry, they’re seizing the chance to help the whole country come together this summer. To raise a glass to the Queen, to toast their community, and to raise money for good causes, too.
Opening hours have been extended from 2nd to 5th June, and managers of every licensed premises in the UK are being encouraged to host a Big Jubilee Lunch, or a Thank You Day party, and to serve limited edition Thank You beers.
These limited edition ales are being crafted by a host of brewers and beer brands, all to a recipe devised by Adnams’ production director, Fergus Fitzgerald. One hundred per cent of profits from Thank Brew sales will be donated to three good causes.
The good causes
The /together coalition: on a mission to build kinder, closer, and more connected UK communities by bringing people together and bridging divides. The organiser of Thank You Day.
Eden Project Communities: whose vision is a world full of happier and healthier communities, where people know one another and neighbourhoods thrive. Organiser of The Big Lunch.
Reset Communities and Refugees: supporting Ukranian refugees arriving in the UK to live with families in communities across Britain.
The recipe
Fergus’s recipe calls for a delicious, easy-drinking 3.5% ABV pale ale, using a classic British ale yeast. He’ll also be teaming up with Big Drop to oversee the creation of a 0.5% version, brewed exclusively by the alcohol-free specialist.
Breweries from across Britain are signing up to brew the 3.5% ABV Thank Brew, with Adnams directly supporting efforts to enlist breweries and brewers and, like all participating breweries, serving Thank Brew at their managed pubs.
Fergus Fitzgerald and The Good Beer Co previously created the Great Get Together Pale Ale for the Jo Cox Foundation and their Great Get Together UK events. Fergus said: “We want as many breweries as possible to get involved in Thank Brew. That’s why we haven’t made it too prescriptive with the recipe and approach.
“The three main requirements are it should be 3.5% ABV, it should be a pale ale, and it should be delicious and easy drinking. Outside of that, we encourage breweries to put their own stamp on it. And it can be cask, keg, bottle, or can.
Fergus Fitzgerald. Photograph: Anthony Cullen
“Adnams will be proud to serve Thank Brew in our managed pubs on the Jubilee weekend, and I look forward to raising a glass of Thank Brew at my local to mark the occasion.” he added.
A spokeperson for Big Drop said: “As epic as it sounds, a four-day weekend is going to require a degree of stamina and, for a lot of people, that means moderation. So what better way to toast the Queen and go big for the entire Jubilee than with an alcohol-free beer specially brewed for that very purpose?”
James Grugeon, founder of The Good Beer Co, said: “We’re really pleased to be backed by a broad coalition of beer and hospitality industry leaders, who are lending their support to the campaign. With their help we’re busy signing up as many breweries, pubs, and licensed premises as we can, so that everyone in the UK can come together and celebrate with a Thank Brew at their local and help raise funds for three causes close to the hearts of the British public.”
Among those supporting the campaign are: UKHospitality, the British Beer & Pub Association, CAMRA, SIBA, the BFBi, and the BII.
