A TILEHURST-based brewery and tap room has expanded its range thanks to a new partnership with supermarket Waitrose.
The Bracknell-based company with branches across the country has added beers from Double-Barrelled to its range.
It means that from John O’Groats to Lands’ End, customers can discover the taste that Reading’s residents have been enjoying since 2018.
There are two beers available in 67 stores.
The award-winning Parka Pale Ale is the company’s flagship brew, made using the all-Citra dry hop, which gives it tropical fruit and grapefruit notes.
The 4.5% ABV can has a recommended retail price of £3.
And joining it is a new beer, the 5.8% Kitchen Disco Hazy IPA.
This is a hazy IPA that Double-Barrelled says packs a punch of peach, ripe passionfruit and juicy pineapple notes from the Galaxy, Simcoe Cryo and El Dorado hops.
This has a slightly higher recommended price of £3.50 per can.
It’s been a busy start to the year of the team at Double-Barrelled: they have recently updated their branding and switched to fully printed and 100% recyclable cans.
Husband and wife team Mike and Luci Clayton-Jones are behind the craft brewers, which has its own taproom on the Stadium Way Industrial Estate.
Since their launch, they have become a firm favourite across the town, with their wares on sale in a range of places including Blue Collar Corner, Honest Burgers, and Reading Arts, for whom they created a special house beer.
And they are also on sale through specialist beer wholesalers James Clay and branches of John Lewis.
They brew some Reading-centric beers including Ding, a Keller lager, and a special which they called Number Seventeen, in honour of the town’s famous purple bus route.
Their latest success has thrilled the couple.
Ms Clayton-Jones said: “We are delighted to have our first national retail listing with Waitrose.
“Having started from a small homebrew passion project from our garage in Caversham, it feels like an amazing achievement.
“We owe a lot to the people of Reading for their support and love of Parka and all our beers, so now it’s fantastic they can pick it up in their local Waitrose as well as finding it all across the country.”
The taproom will be open this weekend. On Saturday, it will host comedian Gary Delaney for the headline event for Reading Indie Comedy Festival, with an afterparty once the set has ended.
Then on Sunday, from 6.30pm, it will be hosting United Wrestling’s Smoking Barrels event.
Over the Whitsun bank holiday weekend, it will hold a pop quiz, and a family fun day.
For more details, log on to: doublebarrelled.co.uk
