As it continues to adapt its business in the face of the Covid-19 crisis, Lymestone Brewery has produced its first ever beer spirit.
With the brewery’s two pubs being forced to close and its trade with the wider pub 
sector dried up overnight, almost a thousand pints of its award-winning Stone the Crows beer was in danger of being poured down the drain.
The Stone-based brewery decided to work with Staffordshire’s The Beer Barrel Distillery Co to see if they could produce a spirit from Stone the Crows, Lymestone’s hugely popular dark beer, as well as setting up an online store and now-thriving bottled beer delivery service.
The Beer Barrel Distillery Co have distilled the beer’s unique characteristics until they were left with its ‘spirit’, and the result is Stone the Crows Beer Spirit, a 41% ABV spirit that’s smooth and peppery, with hints of caramel and vanilla, and with a long, malty finish.
Ian Bradford, Lymestone head brewer, is delighted with the result. He said: “As you can imagine, the prospect of pouring beer down the drain is a brewer’s worst nightmare, so we were really keen to work with The Beer Barrel Distillery to see what they could do with it. We’re all absolutely delighted with the beer spirit they’ve produced.”
After designing and building a unique still that could capture the distinctive qualities of a craft beer, Tim Massey (former director of Marston’s and managing director of Staffordshire’s Freedom Brewery) and David Goldingay (former boss of Shropshire’s Ironbridge Brewery) were granted a full distiller licence for The Beer Barrell Distillery Co – which is based near Uttoxeter – in March this year. Stone the Crows is their first beer spirit.
David Goldingay, master distiller at The Beer Barrell Distillery Co, said: “Nothing has ever given us so many sleepless nights. We had to get it right, to make sure the beer’s characteristics were all there in the spirit. And we nailed it. Taste the beer and then the spirit: there’s no doubting its parentage.”
Just sixty numbered 70cl bottles are currently available to buy at www.lymestonebrewery.net, although more will be produced soon and the brewery is aiming to have the beer spirit available at its two pubs – The Borehole in Stone and The Lymestone Vaults in Stone – when they are able to re-open.
The spirit is best enjoyed neat to fully savour its range of complex flavours, with just a little water or an ice cube.
Stone the Crows Beer Spirit is just one of the ways that the brewery has adapted and innovated in response to the Covid-19 crisis. Before the pandemic, 95 per cent of Lymestone’s beer was sold in cask to pubs around the country: as pubs were ordered to close, this market collapsed.
An online store was quickly set up early in the crisis and a now-thriving bottle delivery service was introduced, including a popular ‘Pandemic Survival Box’ featuring Lymestone beers, glasses, beer mats and snacks. In May, customers were able to buy cask beer again from the brewery, with strict social distancing and infection control procedures in place.
Head brewer Ian Bradford added: “The industry changed overnight. We had to adapt – quickly – or go under. It was as simple as that. Half of our brewery staff, and all staff at our two pubs, are currently furloughed, so I won’t consider that we’ve come fully through this crisis until they’re all back at work. Along with everyone else, we’re waiting to see the Government’s plans for reopening pubs and how we can start to return to some kind of normality. If we can return to cask sales as pubs reopen, but with our strong online addition and new products like Stone the Crows Beer Spirit, then we we’ll have managed to grow our business in the most challenging of circumstances.”
You can purchase the new spirit, and the rest of the Lymestone range, at their website.
