With five weeks to go until the first national Indie Beer Shop Day, three national brewery collaborations have been announced.

beer shop

Taking part will be Pilot Beer in Leith, Scotland, Abbeydale Brewery, in Sheffield, and Reading’s Double Barrelled Brewery. Each will release an official collaboration beer.

These beers will be exclusively available in the 80-plus independent beer shops who have signed up for the event. News of the beer styles and ingredients will be released in the coming weeks. All the breweries have an independent ethos and have actively supported the beer shop sector throughout the pandemic.

Indie Beer Shop Day’s goal is to aid a co-ordinated recovery and revitalisation of each local high street up and down the UK. Much like Record Store Day, with its anticipated special vinyl releases increasing footfall and revenue impact. In addition, their will be local beer collaborations.

The national collaborations will be available in a two-week run-up to the day (17th July), launching in stores from Friday, 2nd July. On the day there will be an evening virtual beer tasting hosted by beer broadcaster and writer Pete Brown. Expect events, exclusive beer collaborations and more throughout the day across the whole of the UK, from Perth to Truro, Whitley Bay to Cardiff, in Yorkshire and everywhere in-between.

Passionate owner-operators

#IndieBeerShopDay has been organised by a group of five independent UK beer shops who have forged a path together to highlight their sector and host this annual celebration. Often, beer conversations focus across the on- and off-trades, with off-trade only spotlighting the supermarket sector. As passionate owner-operators, beer shops are important places on consumers’ beer journeys.

These are often places where consumers can spend valuable time searching, finding, and learning more about the wonderful world of beer. Whether it’s their first time or their regular visit, they can be guided by friendly and welcoming shop staff. The indie beer shop sector is a vital link and valuable connection between brewery and customer.

If customers don’t have a local beer shop and rely on mail order for accessibility, remaining beers will be made available online from Monday, 19th July, across the independent beer shop network. The virtual tasting will be available to rewatch on Instagram Live TV via the Indie Beer Shop Day account.