Full steam ahead for fundraising beer

Directors and staff at an East Yorkshire microbrewery are celebrating after winning a prestigious contract to brew a celebration ale that will raise valuable funds for the National Railway Museum, one of the Science Museum Group museums.

Wold Newton farm based family business Wold Top Brewery has been selected to brew a premium beer to celebrate the 75th anniversary of Mallard breaking the world speed record for a steam locomotive – a record that she still holds , despite several locomotives’ attempts to break it.

Produced using predominantly home grown barley, Goldings, Cascade and Bramling Cross hops and pure, chalk filtered water from the farm’s borehole, Mallard (4.0% ABV) is a refreshing, easy drinking beer with a fruity bitterness and a lingering, dry finish.

The launch of Mallard Premium Beer coincides with the start of the Mallard 75 Celebrations that begin on the 3rd July – the calendar anniversary of Mallard breaking the world speed steam record. The centerpiece of the celebrations will be the Great Gathering when the three remaining operational A4s – Sir Nigel Gresley, Union of South Africa and Bittern will be reunited with their sister locomotives Dwight D Eisenhower, Dominion of Canada (both transported across the Atlantic for the gathering) and Mallard for the first time since the 1930s.

They are the only six remaining Sir Nigel Gresley-designed A4 locomotives in the world and will surround the Great Hall Turntable at York’s National Railway Museum from the 3 – 17 July 2013.

Brewery owner Tom Mellor is delighted that the family brewery has been selected to play a part in Mallard’s success and said; “As Mallard was built in Doncaster, it’s fitting that a Yorkshire brewery should produce the commemorative beer to toast Mallard’s success and to celebrate a great British engineering triumph.”

“We are delighted that Wold Top Brewery has licensed the Mallard brand which will help to fund our ongoing programmes at the National Railway Museum” said Catherine Farrell, Senior Press Officer at the National Railway Museum.

Mallard Premium Beer will be available in bottles from the National Railway Museum and selected partner outlets and on draught in pubs and hotels throughout Yorkshire and nationwide.

Farm based Wold Top Brewery brews traditional real ale from home and Wolds grown malting barley, the finest hops and pure, chalk-filtered Wolds water. Its range of award winning ales is available through the website www.woldtopbrewery.co.uk, independent, family owned retailers, farm shops, delis, hotels, pubs and off licences nationwide.

The National Railway Museum is the largest railway museum in the world with exhibitions and collections illustrating over 300 years of British railway history.
Mallard, the 1930s record breaking aerodynamic beauty was built by LNER.

Designed by Sir Nigel Gresley in 1935 Mallard was one of a new breed of super sleek, super speedy locomotives – the A4 Pacifics – which slashed journey times. Mallard claimed its place in the railway hall of fame in 1938 when it set the record speed for a steam train – still unsurpassed today.