Customers joined Castle Rock Brewery, Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust and Murphy & Son for the launch of their collab beer ‘Ripples’ last Thursday, raising just shy of £1,000 for the Trust’s current Wetlands for Wildlife in Nottinghamshire appeal. The appeal aims to raise at least £45,000 to support its efforts to reverse the decline of the county’s vital wetlands.

Castle Rock and Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust have a friendship that has spanned over twenty years, during which time the brewery has created over 155 unique beers for the Trust, helping to raise over £130,000. More recently, local supplier to the brewing industry Murphy & Son have also partnered with the Trust, as part of their efforts to reduce their emissions to net zero and help wildlife along the way. 

The three organisations brewed ‘Ripples’ together, with the intention of creating a cleaner, more sustainable beer. Murphy & Son worked with Castle Rock’s Pilot Project brewer to provide technical support with ingredients, process aids and optimisation, enabling maximum efficiency and minimum wastage while making an amazingly tasty beer.

The beer was brewed with Kveik yeast, a Norwegian strain which is rapidly building a reputation among brewers for all the right reasons. It ferments at a higher temperature, meaning less energy is used to cool the beer as it spends significantly less time in tank. The golden ale also used UK hops, lending a traditional aroma and crisp, dry bitterness while also ensuring a lower carbon footprint opposed to styles using international hops often shipped from New Zealand or the US.

Castle Rock’s Pilot Project, a small-scale brew kit used chiefly for research and development, was used to brew the beer. Developmental Pilot Project Brewer Danny Pearson said, “Working with Murphy & Son on this beer was brilliant. Along with products we wouldn’t usually have access to, they brought a technical expertise that we hope to apply on our main kit to improve sustainability on a larger scale.”

Ripples was launched in cask at a sold-out event on Thursday in the Vat and Fiddle’s Old Cold Store, next to Castle Rock Brewery. The evening included a legendary Castle Rock quiz hosted by Al Needham, a raffle made up of amazing prizes donated by generous local businesses and culminated in an auction. The auction winners walked away with a brew day experience on Castle Rock’s Pilot Project kit, the same kit used to brew ‘Ripples’. 

Colin Wilde, Managing Director of the brewery commented “Putting on events like these with Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust is always a highlight, and to have Murphy & Son involved this time was a great bonus. Best of all, we celebrated with a full house of happy customers, whose contributions helped drum up nearly a thousand pounds for the Trust.”

Jessica Collins, Marketing Manager at Castle Rock Brewery said, “We have all worked together on separate projects over the years and obviously have similar interests and passions. It has been brilliant to bring everyone together to work on a project that combines all of these, and to see such amazing support on the night was undoubtedly the icing on the cake.”

Castle Rock previewed two videos on the night, explaining the beer and brew process in more detail in one, and highlighting the importance of the Trust’s Wetland Appeal in the other. “It was important for us to document the sustainable efforts that went into making the beer in a really easy, accessible way” Jess said. “And here in Nottingham we are so lucky to have four amazing wetland areas looked after by the Trust. Spending an afternoon at Skylarks really helped to hit home the importance of this appeal and hearing the Trust speak about the wetlands was inspiring.”

Emily Patrick, Partnerships and Trust Manager at Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust added, “We had such a great time brewing the beer with Castle Rock and Murphy and Son and the event was so much fun! It was great to see two of our business partners working together to look at more sustainable brewing technics as well as supporting our Wetland appeal. We hugely appreciate all the work that has gone into the evening, all the businesses who have donated the amazing raffle prizes and everyone who came along to support such a great cause.”