Brewer to push barrel of beer 200km from Norfolk to London

Co-founder of Norfolk Brewhouse, David Holliday, has pledged to push a 50kg barrel of beer 200km from Hindringham to London in order to raise money for testicular cancer.

Writing on his company website, Holliday recounted how a casual Twitter quip had resulted in the plan to roll the beer from the brewery all the way to St Bart’s Hospital in central London.

Holliday hopes to raise money for testicular cancer charity It’s On The Ball and the oncology team at St Bart’s Hospital.

He is committing to the challenge in memory of local student and beer lover Fred Riseborough, who passed away from a germ cell tumour (which causes testicular cancer) in May last year.

The brewery has also created a beer in his honour, called Fred’s Check, which will be the beer of choice in the barrel making its way to London.

Holliday wrote: “Last week I rather casually quipped on Twitter that if we won the East of England Co-Op’s Producer of the Year award – which is voted for by the East Anglian public – that I would push a barrel of our Fred’s Check charity ale the 201 km from the brewery, in Hindringham – to St Barts Hospital, in central London.

“The trouble is, once it was out there, a few people commented it would be an awesome thing to do, and there were a couple of offers of help.

“So, to cut to the chase we are going to commit to carrying out the challenge.”

Holliday admitted that the endeavour would take a lot of planning and is aiming to schedule 10-day “push” for March 2020.

“There is a lot of planning. For starters choosing a route which is safe to push the barrel along – not sure the authorities will like to see me pushing beer along the M11 – so the 201km may become considerably longer,” he said.

He added that he had approached the brewer’s local MP, Norman Lamb, to see if a glass of the charity brew could be raised in parliament.