Draught beer turns to bottle for Tesco charity

Kentish ale Canterbury Jack is about to become available in bottles for the first time ever as it features in Tesco to raise money for charity.

The supermarket and brewer Shepherd Neame hope to raise £20,000 for CLIC Sargent, Tesco’s Charity of the Year.

The new bottled version of Canterbury Jack will be available in 350 UK Tesco stores at £1.74 each and has been created to allow CLIC Sargent, which helps children with cancer spend more time at home and less time in hospital, to raise money to train specialist nurses.

The campaign is part of a wider initiative by Tesco and CLIC Sargent to raise £5 million this year.

Mark Miller, brand manager at Shepherd Neame said: “We are delighted to bring this new bottled ale to the off-trade. Interest is growing in bottled ales with character and provenance, and Canterbury Jack offers a modern, refreshing flavour that appeals to established ale drinkers as well as people discovering ale for the first time."

Ian Targett, ale buyer for Tesco, said: “This is the third time that Tesco has created a charity ale, and each has been enthusiastically received by customers.  

“It’s great to have Shepherd Neame on board for the partnership this year, its wealth of experience and expertise brings a great ale to Tesco shelves for a very good cause.”

Meanwhile, Tesco is also about to stock Rimon Pomegranate Wines, the dessert and Port-style Israeli wines.

The listing of these kosher wines comes at the same time as Passover (30 March to 5 April). The products will be available in the 21 stores which are local to a “significant Jewish community.”

Michael Dalal, managing director of Rimon Winery, said that the products offered an “unashamedly different wine experience”.

The pomegranate dessert wine will cost £18 while the pomegranate Port-style wine will be available for £22.

Rupert Millar, 22.03.2010