Yorkshire Coast brewery business raises a glass to Italian collaboration

Italian beer lovers will be sampling a taste of the Yorkshire Wolds as they raise a toast with a beer created from a partnership between craft breweries from the Yorkshire Wolds and northern Italy.

The managers at Wold Newton based Wold Top Brewery and Birrificio Bionoc Brewery, fromMezzano, a commune at the foot of the Dolomites,have worked together on a collaboration brew which is the first of its kind for the East Yorkshire brewery.

Named ‘That's Easy', the easy-drinking pale ale with an ABV of 5.2 per cent is now being distributed to bars and restaurants throughout Italy, including outlets in Milan, Rome and Venice.

Alex Balchin, Wold Top Brewery's Brewing and Bottling Manager and Alex's wife, Kate, the business' Export Manager, welcomed Nicola Simionand hisBirrificio Bionocbrewing partner, also called Nicola, to the top of the Wolds site in April and they spent a day brewing the beer together.

Italy now accounts for about 76 per cent of Wold Top Brewery's exports, Alex said.

"That's Easy makes an excellent first collaboration beer for Wold Top and it all came about because ourItalian importer Cuzziol SPA, located in Santa Lucia di Piave in the province of Treviso, recommended we get together to work with their local craft brewery.

"It was a pleasure to work with Nicola and his colleague as it's clear they share the same ethos as us in terms of sourcing as many ingredients locally as possible and working sustainably.

"I'm really looking forward to the reciprocal visit we have planned for next year and we feel this collaboration will inspire lots of exciting projects between our breweries."

Nicola said they got inspiration for the beer's name from Alex himself. "Every time we asked Alex if something was possible when we were brewing the beer, his cheery response was, ‘Yes, that's easy', and it just stuck!

"Unfortunately, customs would not permit us to use the hops that we had brought with us, but we were able to create a great beer using our recipe and Wold Top Brewery's equipment and ingredients," Nicola added.

"Wewere made to feel very welcome and it was a very enjoyable experience - we learned a lot from the initiative. The fact that three members of the Mellor and Balchin family have gone out of their way to learn Italian makes us feel very special."

Once the beer was ready, it was packaged into 30-litre kegs and exported for the Italian market.

Ends

Photo:L-R Nicola Simion, Nicola Coppe and Alex Balchin Brewing That's Easy at Wold Top Brewery

For more information or to arrange an interview with Alex Balchin, please contact Tracey Baty at three60 marketing on:

Direct line: 01430 871360

Mobile: 07971 961574

E mail:traceybaty@three60marketing.co.uk

Web:www.three60marketing.co.uk

Notes to editors

1. For more information about Wold Top Brewery, please visitwww.woldtopbrewery.co.uk. You can also find Wold Top Brewery onFacebook,TwitterandInstagram, and you can keep up to date with the brewery's latest newshere.

2. Wold Top Brewery was born in 2003 when the Mellor family diversified from farming into beer brewing using the malting barley they produce and the farm's own supply of water.

3. Twenty-one varieties of beer make up Wold Top Brewery's award-winning range including Wold Top Beer, Headland Red, Anglers Reward and Wold Top Against the Grain gluten-free beer. More information on the range of bottled beers can be found atwww.woldtopbrewery.co.uk/beers.

4. For more information about Cuzziol SPA, please visitwww.cuzziol.it.

5. For more information about Bionoc Brewery, please visitwww.facebook.com/Bionoc.