A beer made with foraged raspberries has helped sales soar to record levels at Mendip farmhouse brewery Yonder.
Based near Binegar, Yonder was founded three years ago by Jasper Tupman and Stuart Winstone, who formerly worked at the Wild Beer Company near Shepton Mallet.
The pair share a passion for foraging, fermentation and flavour – Yonder’s top-selling Raspberry Gose, pictured, contains 170g per litre of best British raspberries.
Its success helped drive sales for the period from March 1 to May 31 up by 450% year-on-year to £113,450 for the period.
The opaque and vibrant red-coloured raspberry sour beer, which does not contain lactose and so is vegan-friendly and suitable for lactose-intolerant drinkers, contributed 16% of sales.
Yonder said this demonstrated the continuing demand for more experimental beers which provide something different for the consumer, and the growing popularity of sour beers.
Like all of Yonder’s beers, Raspberry Gose uses locally sourced and foraged ingredients, which showcase the wide variety of flavours available on its doorstep while also minimising food miles.
Raspberry Gose, which sells in cans for between £5-£6 , is one of Yonder’s five core beers, which also include the brewery’s unique take on lager, bitter and pale ale.
It also released seven new beers during the quarter, as well as having multiple tipples from previous launches available.
Jasper Tupman said: “We are delighted to be reporting our best quarter yet, which beat our previous best quarter by over 40%.
“The fact that our top seller was Raspberry Gose is significant and shows that consumers are looking for something different which challenges the taste buds. It is a fantastic-tasting beer, and shows that it is possible to have a sour beer within a core range.
“Our sales over the last year to May 31 are also up considerably at 55% year-on-year, and it is our aim to continue to achieve this level of growth over the next two years.”
Jasper and Stuart invested everything they had to build their unique vision of carefully crafted beers with a strong sense of place.
They were later joined by Dave Williams as head brewer and Lee Calnan as sales director.
