Drinkers with a taste for Bristol craft brewery Butcombe’s beers can now tuck into crisps made with one of its best-selling ales.
The Wrington-based brewery has teamed up with The British Snack Company to produce the steak & Butcombe ale pie flavoured crisps, which are available exclusively in its pubs.
Butcombe’s chefs and brewers trialled various flavour combinations before settling on one that uses the brewery’s Gold Ale.
Described by Butcombe as “a well-balanced, full-bodied golden beer with a subtle floral and herby aroma”, the 4.4% tipple has the added bonus of being gluten free.
For its use in the crisps, the beer is freeze dried into a concentrated, powdered form.
It is then combined with other ingredients to create the flavour.
This part of the process was worked on in partnership with flavourings firm Taste Connections, based in Wotton-under-Edge, South Gloucestershire.
All the potatoes used to make the crisps are grown on a farm near Colchester in Essex where they are also cooked. They are then sliced, gently fried by hand and tumbled in the seasoning to create the steak & Butcombe ale pie flavour crisp.
Alice Bowyer, director of food at Butcombe parent group Liberation, said: “This was a fantastic project to work on – who wouldn’t love creating their very own crisp flavour?
“We are already well known for our innovative bar snacks and award-winning beer so it was only a matter of time before the two collided!”
The British Snack Co founder Thomas Lock added: “As a brand that was born in pubs, we are absolutely delighted to be partnered with Butcombe and were very excited to be asked to help develop this unique steak & ale pie flavour crisp made with real Butcombe ale.
“The first thing I did after we first produced them was sit down and enjoy them with a pint of Butcombe Original – I’m happy to confirm they are a match made in heaven.”
Butcombe was launched in 1978 and acquired by Jersey-headquartered Liberation six years ago. Its pub chain has since grown 137 spread across the South, South West and Midlands.
Its Bristol pubs include The Cottage Inn at Baltic Wharf, The Ostrich on Lower Guinea Street and The Whitmore Tap on Whiteladies Road, named after its founder and ex-courage director Simon Whitmore, who died in 2012.
Butcombe’s drinks range also includes Original, Underfall Lager, Rarebreed Pale Ale and Goram IPA Zero, its first low-alcohol beer.
