PETERBOROUGH brewery, Oakham Ales, is celebrating after pulling in a contract to supply Co-operative food stores in Eastern England with approaching 10,000 pints of ale.

The listing for the Oakham Ales has been served up by the community retailer as part of a move to change the way it sells real ale by offering specially selected beers from breweries near to its local stores.

From now on the award winning Citra golden ale will be sold in Co-operative food stores throughout Eastern England.

Research carried out by The Co-operative Food shows how Britain has become a nation of ‘real ale’ converts, with Brits now four times more likely to prefer the taste of real ale to mass-produced beers and, 71 per cent of drinkers saying it’s important to find locally brewed varieties.

Joe Turner, the Co-operative’s real ale buyer, said: “The popularity of Citra is impressive and, as a convenience retailer at the heart of the community, this is an important step in our commitment to offering quality, locally sourced produce in our stores. It’s exciting to collaborate with breweries, such as Oakham Ales and we hope our customers really enjoy the new selection of ales that we now have on offer.”

Adrian Posnett, Managing Director of Oakham Ales  said: “We are delighted that The Co-operative shares our passion for great tasting locally produced real ales and is now stocking our awarding-winning Citra ale in communities close to where our beer is brewed. We pride ourselves on producing innovative beers packed with flavour and always using the highest quality ingredients and we know this is an approach shared by The Co-operative.”