According to Head Brewer, Don Bracher, who created the beer in October 2001: “There’s no difference in how we brew the beer – we still use the same organic ingredients including honey and organic First Gold hops from our supplier in Worcestershire – but instead of being bottle conditioned, it is cask conditioned. This means that the temperature is the same as traditional real ale.”

Before going ahead with the cask ale last year, the brewery had to apply for further Soil Association approval before it could be supplied with organic certification.

Nick Arkell, sales director at Arkell’s, said: “Very few medium or large breweries sell organic ale in casks, so we are offering a taste of real ale which isn’t available everywhere. We were delighted with the vote of approval we received from our customers last year when we produced our first Bee’s Organic in casks. It will now take its rightful place on our regular ‘specials’ list, which means that whilst it won’t be one of our regular beers, we will be brewing it from time to time during the year, to give our customers a wider variety of Arkell’s Ales.”

Launched in 2001, Bee’s is Arkell’s first organic ale – and has been voted ‘Organic Ale of the Year’ in a number of awards over the years.
Organically grown malted barley, hops and, unusually, organically produced honey are used in the brew. These give this golden premium ale a light, fresh taste – with the organic honey providing a delightful and surprising flavour. ABV: 4.5%.