Thank Brew — the beer and campaign created to support Thank You Day and the Big Lunch over the Jubilee bank holiday weekend — will be celebrated at the Great British Beer Festival today.
The campaign raised in excess of £10,000, with all proceeds going to help build kinder and more connected communities through the Together Coalition and Eden Project Communities. It is also helping Ukrainian refugees find homes in communities across the UK through Reset Communities and Refugees.
Led by social enterprise beer company The Good Beer Co, with Adnams and Big Drop acting as lead brewers, Thank Brew was supported by more than 20 breweries and pub groups, including Budweiser Group UK&I, St Austell, Punch Pubs, Greene King, and Lincoln Green.
There was help, too, from more than 100 independent pubs, and trade and consumer bodies, including the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA), the British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA), the British Institute of Innkeepers (BII), the Society of Independent Brewers (SIBA), the BFBI, and UK Hospitality.
CAMRA chair, Nik Antona, said: “We got behind the Thank Brew initiative as part of our Summer of Pub campaign to encourage pub-going over the summer months, helping the pubs trade get back on its feet after a difficult few years.
“It was fantastic to see so much support for this initiative, and the industry really coming together to raise a glass to communities across the country and raise much-needed funds for charitable causes.
“We’re proud to have been part of Thank Brew’s success and its work to engage pubs and local people to support Thank You Day and The Big Jubilee Lunch.”
The 3.5% ABV Pale Ale recipe was devised by Adnams production director, Fergus Fitzpatrick, who also advised the campaign and acted as Thank Brew’s ‘head brewer’. Big Drop oversaw the creation of a 0.5% ABV Jubilee IPA, which was brewed and bottled exclusively by the alcohol-free specialist and served at Thank You Day and The Big Jubilee
Lunch events across Britain.
The Great British Beer Festival hosts a new homebrew competition this year, and CAMRA has invited homebrewers to try their hand at the Thank Brew recipe. The winner of the category will get the chance to join Fergus on a brew day at Adnams.
Fergus, who is also responsible for creating Ghost Ship, one of Adnams’ best selling beers, will be attending the festival trade day today to announce the category winner in person.
More than 8.7m people attended a Thank You Day party on Sunday, 5th July, and over 14 million attended a Big Jubilee Lunch event over the Jubilee weekend. Thank Brew was served at pubs and licensed premises and at events in local communities across Britain, as well as taking pride of place at the flagship Thank You Day event at Wembley Stadium.
As well as raising funds for good causes, the campaign generated more than 150,000 social media mentions, with creative content crafted for The Good Beer Co by London-based agency Hey Big Man. Support also included a media launch with Line of Duty star Anna Maxwell Martin. Other media events generated more than 40 positive trade, local, regional, national, and consumer media stories.
James Grugeon, founder of The Good Beer Co, is talking to Together Coalition and Eden Project Communities about a 2023 Thank Brew, building on the success of the inaugural campaign.
He said: “Thanks to the support of Fergus Fitzgerald, Christian Barden, Adnams, Big Drop, and the team at CAMRA, to name just a few, we managed to create, produce, and launch a beer brand in just three months, competing with a host of Jubilee-inspired limited edition beers from breweries across Britain, and working with an industry still emerging from Covid and struggling with staff shortages and rising costs.
“We’re grateful to everyone in the industry who took part, and looking forward to starting the work to build a bigger and better campaign to raise even more funds for good causes, and to help Britain celebrate everything good in our local communities, in 2023 and beyond!”
