The latest round-up of Jubilee beers and news, featuring Theakston, Batemans, Brew 61, Old Dairy, Butcombe, Brewhouse & Kitchen, and Cask Marque.
Last seen in Diamond Jubilee year, 2012, Theakston is re-releasing Royal Standard (5.5% ABV). It uses pale and crystal barley, Target, Challenger, and Progress bittering hops, and is finished with generous amounts of Sovereign hops for a fruity, clean flavour. It will go on sale in pubs on 1st June.
In addition, Theakston will be repurposing 70 wooden cask ends and branding them to act as a permanent souvenir of the Jubilee. These will be given as gifts to the pubs close to Masham who have already ordered the ale in one of the 70 oak casks especially made to mark each year of her reign.
Joint managing director, Simon Theakston, said: “With such a momentous occasion upon us, we wanted to salute Her Majesty the Queen on her Platinum Jubilee, and what better way to do that than to bring back our most popular seasonal ale ever, which hasn’t been brewed since her Diamond Jubilee in 2012!”
Worcestershire’s Brew 61 is celebrating the Jubilee with Don’t Hop Me Now — a 4% ABV best bitter. Ten per cent of all profits will be donated to a Bromsgrove children’s charity, Dodford Children’s Farm.
Brewery owner Tim Dunkley (pictured) said: “Our celebration beer was named following a competition we ran in March. The name, Don’t Hop Me Now, is based on the platinum selling Queen song, and was just too clever a suggestion to ignore. We hope people will enjoy raising a glass of Don’t Hop Me Now to toast Her Majesty’s Jubilee.”
Drawing on almost 150 years’ brewing experience, Batemans, in Lincolnshire, has created Jewel in the Crown to celebrate the Platinum Jubilee. It’s a light amber cask-conditioned real ale, distributed in KeyKeg to around 350 free houses and Batemans Brewery tenanted pubs across the East of England and East Midlands.
Being passionate about sustainability, Batemans is using KeyKegs to support its environmental goals. The vessels are lightweight, sustainable beer kegs, designed for circularity. Once empty, they can be recycled into the actual raw materials used to produce new KeyKegs.
Jubilee, from Old Dairy Brewery, in Kent, is a 4% ABV light and bitter. It blends a best bitter with a specially brewed light ale. Traditionally, this would have been served as a half pint of bitter and a bottle of light ale, to be mixed by the customer in a pub. Old Dairy Brewery has done the mixing itself. It’s available in bottle, or in a 10-litre bag-in-box.
Butcombe Brewing Co has launched 1952, named after the year the Queen ascended to the throne, which has been created by its sister brewery, Liberation Brewing Co. It’s a golden beer brewed with British malt and Sovereign hops. At 4.1% ABV, the beer has a light and balanced flavour with a floral aroma.
Brewhouse & Kitchen is releasing two seasonal beers at the start of the Jubilee weekend, 2nd June. There’s a 5.5% ABV New England IPA with a light haze, fruit flavours and aromas, and a 4.5% ABV Citrus Pale Ale.
Save your bunting, publicans, says Cask Marque, after the jubilee. They’ll come in handy for Cask Ale Week, which takes place between 22nd September and 2nd October. It’s an environmentally friendly and cost-saving tip, says the organisation.
