NIAB has commissioned respected Suffolk brewer St Peter's Brewery to produce Cambridge Ale, a special bottled beer to celebrate the achievements of the barley breeding and malting industries.

NIAB Marketing Manager Paul Mayfield said, " Only barley varieties bred, tested, grown and malted in the UK are used to create the high quality malt used for this beer."

" Cambridge Ale is dark, full-bodied and well-hopped, evoking the early traditions of the beer brewed in this university city, which has an important role in the development of new crop varieties," he commented.

"We felt it appropriate at this time to highlight the contribution of the whole of the UK food production chain in creating quality British products. We also want to draw attention to NIAB's increasing involvement in other aspects of the food chain, other than just primary production", added Mr Mayfield.

The beer will be launched at the Cereals Event, where NIAB members will be able to sample the brew. The beer can be purchased direct from St Peter's Brewery with NIAB members eligible for a discount.

NIAB, founded in 1919 as the National Institute of Agricultural Botany, is a World-renowned centre for testing new crop seeds and varieties. Each year, many thousands of trial plots are sown at NIAB’s Cambridge headquarters and regional centres. New techniques being developed by NIAB will ensure that the constant demands for high quality and safe foods continue to be met.

St Peter’s Brewery is located in a medieval hall in a remote and beautiful corner of East Anglia, to the east of Cambridge. Cambridge Ale begins its life deep below the brewery with water drawn from a pure source – as it has been for over 700 years – essential for the full flavour of all St Peter’s beers. The beautiful flask-shaped bottle used by St Peter’s is a faithful copy of one produced c.1770. The original is now kept at St Peter’s Hall and is a rare example of an oval eighteenth Century beer bottle.