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Greene King launches beer for spring

Added: Friday, March 24th 2023

GK Spring Break

Greene King is releasing its limited-edition Spring Break cask beer for March and April, which was created last year in collaboration with the National Brewing Apprentice Programme.

Making its return as a seasonal ale, Spring Break is a 4.4% golden ale which was launched in early 2022 as a partnership with the National Brewing Apprentice Programme, called Future Brewers. Spring Break is just one of the beers that the brewer has collaborated with students, studying on the apprenticeship programme. 

The full bodied, hoppy ale includes rich malty characters, which are perfectly balanced with citrus hop flavours.

Lianne Bakdur, an apprentice brewer at Greene King who joined the brewing team last year after deciding to move from finance, is passionate about the opportunity seasonal cask ales can bring to the sector.

Lianne says: “It is great to see Spring Break appearing as one of the seasonal limited-edition cask beers we offer. As an apprentice the best part is getting to play with styles and flavours to create something new, and while it’s fun, it’s also important for my career development.

“Cask beer is incredibly important to our history and as we try to drive consideration with a wider audience, by creating delicious and exciting beers, we also need to give teams on the bar the information to shout about the different styles and flavours we offer too. Providing our customers with tasting notes enables them to really educate themselves about the beer on their bar and get their guests excited too.”

The exclusive cask ale is part of the wider Fresh Cask Releases calendar, a portfolio of 18 limited-edition cask beers available at specific times throughout the year ahead, which have been created by the brewing team at Greene King. The brewery supports customers with knowledge packs for each seasonal beer, including tasting notes and access to online training support.

The brewer also announced in January that seasonals ales will be available also in cask pins of 36 pints, later this year, which will support in offering more variety on the bar and with throughput in quieter periods of the week.

 

Greene King has been awarded its first medals for its recently launched craft beers, Flint Eye and Level Head, and also Ice Breaker Pale Ale at the Bartenders’ Brand Awards this year.

The Bartenders’ Brand Awards are a blind tasting, design and value-tested competition for spirits, wines, beers and drinks products in the bar industry. Flint Eye, Level Head and Ice Breaker have all been awarded medals for the taste, design and value of the beers.

The awards land just ahead of the first anniversary of the launch of the brewer’s craft beers, Level Head, a session IPA (4% ABV), and Flint Eye, a dry hopped lager (4.5% ABV), which were launched in July last year.

The brewer also announced that it would be investing £10 million into the launch of craft beers over the first two years, including an advertising campaign to drive further brand visibility through billboards, digital display, social media, and video on demand. 

Level Head is a session IPA that is light in body, but slightly dry with a medium bitterness and pithy aftertaste and has an aroma sitting somewhere between tropical and grapefruit notes. The Session IPA secured silver medals for taste and value at the awards, with a bronze medal for design.

Greene King’s dry hopped lager, Flint Eye, combines peach aromas and taste with subtle pine notes, creating a crisp and refreshing beer that has a delicate balance of flavours. Flint Eye secured all bronze medals for taste, design and value at the awards.

Securing a silver medal for value and bronze medals for taste and design, Ice Breaker Pale Ale (4.5% ABV), was launched in 2019 and crafted by Greene King’s brewing apprentices. The unfiltered pale ale is bursting with fruity hop flavour. 

Level Head and Flint Eye are currently available in a number of Greene King pubs, which can be found here: https://www.greeneking-pubs.co.uk/premium-pint-finder/, and independent venues. The craft beers are also available in several major supermarket chains across the UK, including Tesco, Morrisons and Waitrose, and Sainsbury’s by the end of March.

Ice Breaker Pale Ale is currently available in more than 2,000 Greene King pubs and also independent venues, as well as major supermarkets including Tesco, ASDA, Sainsburys, Morrisons, Waitrose and Ocado.