A Northumberland brewery and a burgeoning North East sportswear brand are toasting a new joint venture.
The Twice Brewed Brew House in Northumberland and No Club Running Club in Gateshead have put their heads together and come up with a limited-edition collaboration, which is already going down a storm with their respective fans and followers.
And while it might be a bit out of the ordinary to see running and beer going hand in hand, the men behind the enterprise are confident it’s a perfect fit.
As well as being Head Brewer at The Twice Brewed Brew House – which can be found near Sycamore Gap on Hadrian’s Wall – Matthew Brown is a keen runner, and often saw Alan Wardle, founder of the No Club Running Club – an online running community with an ever growing range of sportswear merchandise – when he was out pounding the streets.
Alan, a graphic designer who runs design agency, AnyForty, said: “I’d often seen the Twice Brewed van parked up, but didn’t realise it was Matt’s. We got chatting and I asked him what he thought about doing a collaboration with the No Club Running Club – a limited edition t-shirt and a beer to match.”
Matt added: “We live right near each other in Dunston and often saw each other in passing. When Alan floated the idea of a collaboration, I was really keen to get involved. It’s always exciting to work with other people and the thought of doing something a bit unusual really appealed.”
Inspired by a quote from Olympic medallist and marathon runner, Rod Dixon: ‘All I want to do is drink beer and train like an animal’ – The Twice Brewed / NCRC artwork which adorns both the can of 4.4% pale ale and the t-shirt has been designed by Liverpool illustrator, Aaron Givens a.k.a. GRVYARDSHFT.
Alan said: “It all came together very quickly and we all really liked the design. Obviously you shouldn’t be drinking beer before going for a run, but it’s not so unusual to have a beer after a long run – lots of the organised races give you an alcoholic drink in your goody bag at the end!
“We did a poll with our Instagram community and people seemed really happy with the idea of having a beer after a nice long run. The t-shirts are already proving very popular.”
Matthew added: “We think the cans and the t-shirts look great and have really enjoyed doing something a bit different.
“We’ve had a great reaction from our regular customers and followers across social media and we’ve already sent out our first shipment of orders. It has been a great project and although this is a limited edition run, we’re very much hoping it will be the first of many.”
The Twice Brewed / No Club Running Club beers and t-shirts can be bought via the webshops at www.twicebrewedshop.co.uk and www.noclubrunningclub.com respectively.
ENDS
Press release from HFPR on behalf of Twice Brewed Brew House
For media and PR enquiries, contact Sam Wonfor at HFPR on 0191 285 7100 or email sam@hilaryflorekpr.co.uk