Business launches own brand of beer

An Exeter based investment management business has produced a novel idea to promote its brand by launching a specially brewed beer, the first stone brewed ale in Britain for 100 years.

Dan Constable, the Head of Business Development at Hawksmoor Investment Management, thought of the using a bespoke beer as a marketing tool for use at events and took the idea to Briarbank Brewery on a visit to the firm’s Ipswich office.

He said: “I was asked what sort of beer we had in mind and had a discussion about it potential taste, colour and strength.  I suggested a stony taste to align with Hawksmoor’s architecturally themed branding and the Master Brewer, Andrew Harvey, came up with the idea of a stone brewed ale of a type that ceased production in the UK in 1890.”

Briarbank rose to the challenge and modified its brewing equipment to accommodate the archaic process of adding hot stones to a bubbling wort in order to create a fruity, complex ale, with a smoky caramel flavour in a process that dates back to the Vikings and was once popular in Germany where it was known as Steinbrau.

Hawksmoor is an independent investment management business that specialises in managing private client, trust and charity portfolios, particularly for clients of professional introducers.  While its head office remains in Exeter, Hawksmoor’s Ipswich office is increasingly building the company’s profile in the East of the country.

Hawksmoor Chief Executive, John Crowley said: “I suppose it is quite unusual for a firm like us to go into the brewing business but our clients certainly like it!"