Ilkley Brewery Launch Everest Charity Craft Beer

Ilkley Brewery has joined forces with Market Town Taverns’ managing director, Simon Midgley, to create a charity beer that will mark Simon’s fundraising trek to the Mount Everest Basecamp in October.

Everest, the aptly name craft beer, will start appearing in each of the 15 Market Town Taverns pubs across Yorkshire as from next week and 20p from every pint will go towards the £3,400 fundraising target for St Michael’s Hospice in Harrogate. Ilkley Brewery has also agreed to match the total figure raised from the proceeds of Everest sales.

Market Town Taverns has traded with Ilkley Brewery since 2009 when it brewed its very first firkin of Ilkley Gold. “We have a great relationship with the team at Ilkley,” said Simon. “They produce fantastic beers and were willing to share their knowledge and expertise with me to design the beer style and flavour profile I wanted.”

Simon helped to create a clean, refreshing, 4% ABV cask ale that features Pilsner malt along with Centennial, Simcoe and Summit hops, all from the USA. The beer’s food matches include Kendal Mint Cake, bananas and pasta — backpack staples for Simon’s mighty mission.

Luke Raven, from Ilkley Brewery, said: “We have a strong working relationship with Market Town Taverns, with Bar t’at in Ilkley being our much-loved local, so we were delighted to help Simon produce Everest in support of his awesome expedition to Basecamp.

“We are also pleased to be able to support Simon’s chosen charity: whatever the proceeds from beer sales are, we will gladly match.”

Simon added: “All that remains is for me to focus on my training. I climbed Ben More on the Isle of Mull earlier this year and have done several treks with the team who will accompany me to Everest Basecamp.

“One of the best training sessions I have had so far, though, was digging out the mash tun at Ilkley Brewery on my Everest brew day! It was definitely worth the hard graft, though — I really enjoyed getting stuck into the sharp end of brewing and experimenting with different blends of hops.”