A special Lake District beer – made to raise funds for cash-strapped mountain rescue teams across Cumbria – has sold a staggering 20,000 pints – raising £1540.

Thirst Rescue is made by The Keswick Brewing Company, a small family-run brewery run by Phil and Sue Harrison, and available at various pubs countywide.

The “golden 3.7 per cent a.b.v. malty beer,” was first made to raise money for Keswick Mountain Rescue Team’s 60th anniversary in 2007 but proved so popular that the brewery continued making it.

Last year, sales from the beer went to teams across the country, as part of the 75^th anniversary of mountain rescue teams in England and Wales.

Thirst Rescue was sold at various pubs throughout Cumbria, and also sold at pubs in Scotland and in England and Wales.

It has helped raise money for mountain rescue teams all over Cumbria – such as Keswick, Patterdale, Kendal, Penrith, Langdale and Ambleside, Cockermouth, Wasdale, Duddon and Furness, LDSAMRA (Lake District Search and Mountain Rescue Association and the England and Wales and Scottish Mountain Rescue.)

Sue Harrison, of the Keswick Brewing Company, said: “We are really pleased to give something back to all our mountain rescue teams. Thirst Rescue has proved really popular with both pubs and their customers and it’s a really easy way to give money to a worthy cause!”

The bitter, with aromas of citrus and exotic fruit, got its unusual name because the first beer was going to be called ‘First Run’.

However, the graphic designer working on the project misheard and ‘Thirst Run’ was created! Most of their beers now carry ‘Thirst’ in the title and their regular beers have an outdoor theme, Thirst Pitch, Thirst Ascent, Thirst Run, Thirst Fall and Thirst Rescue.

The couple run their operations from the site of a former older brewery which closed in 1897 and have recently expanded into brewery tours to capture the eye of visitors to the town.

As part of the tours, they donate 50p to the Tourism and Conservation Partnership, which is divided between red squirrel conservation and a climate contribution fund which helps promote climate control through projects such as woodland conservation.

Keswick Brewing Company cheque presentation to Keswick MRT

Paul Cheshire, Keswick MRT Secretary, commented: “We were really pleased when Sue & Phil agreed initially to brew a special beer for Keswick MRT’s 60^th year celebrations. “The idea has caught on and raised a huge amount of money for the team, thanks especially to Peter at the Dog & Gun in Keswick. Better still, Thirst Rescue has now been a much wider success, benefitting many other mountain rescue teams throughout the UK. The work and the money that Sue & Phil put into making the fundraising work so well with all the different pubs is just fantastic. We hope that lots more pubs and bars up and down the country ‘come to the Rescue’, so to speak!”

Keswick Brewing Company cheque presentation to Patterdale MRT

Tim Jones, Patterdale Mountain Rescue Team Association Chairman

, said: “Patterdale Mountain Rescue Team would like to express their sincere thanks to bothThe Royal Hotel, Dockray and the Keswick Brewery for the support they are giving to us via ‘Thirst Rescue’. It is great to be able to combine drinking a good beer with raising money for the team! Long may it continue.”