Alnwick Brewery delivers goodie bags to key workers following USA donation
and live on Freeview channel 276
The Alnwick Brewery hit the headlines when it made the decision to let punters have its beer for free in return for a donation to the NHS Charities Together fund - rather than allow it to go bad and pour it down the drain.
Nearly 80 cases of the ale, which has a shelf life of around two months, have so far been given away, after scores queued with plastic bottles to collect the alcohol.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdAs a result of news coverage the brewery was subsequently surprised by a benefactor from Washington DC who donated £400 towards creating goodie bags, stuffed with local luxury products, for key workers.
Twenty-five packages filled with fudge, cakes, beer, hand sanitiser and local treats, have now been hand delivered.
Brewery sales executive Darren Spencer, 51, said: “The first visit was a postman, the last one was a supermarket worker.
“All of the products in the bags were made locally so we were also supporting local businesses as well.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide Ad“Northumberland biscuits, fudge from a small business, a few local mixers, ginger ale and tonics and a local gin company that has made some sanitiser.
“We stretched the whole £400 as much as we could.
“To give back to the community is phenomenal, our first couple of visits this morning, all of these families were in tears because it is quite touching.
“There has been a huge increase in community spirit.”
The beer giveaway has been held every Friday, for the last four weeks, with the fourth falling on VE Day and has seen around 1,000 pints handed out every time.
The company has now raised around £1,500 for the NHS.
Darren, from Alnwick, added: “The queue on VE Day was approximately 50 to 60 metres long as everyone had to keep a safe two metres apart.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide Ad“There were 20 or 30 people waiting at any time, of course it was VE day and people would have been sitting in their garden as there are no pubs open.”