BRENTWOOD Brewery hasanew beer...a champagne-type beer, to be precise.

Made in honour of the brewery boss Roland Kannor’s first grandson, Van Kannor is a special beer with only 1,000 bottles being produced.

Last year, Mr Kannor asked then head brewer Sophie de Ronde to create the finest beer possible.

Roland said: “It is indeed a triumph, exactly hitting the target I set Sophie to create a sophisticated, luxury, fine beer. It has to be right up there as one of the proudest achievements of the brewery.”

He added: “I’m really proud of this very special beer. Sophie did marvellously well on this one.”

At 7.7 per cent, Van Kanoor is produced using traditional champagning methods.

The beer is triple fermented with beer, wine and champagne yeast, then hand-riddled, shaken to separate sediment and turned.

While it was a simple brief, it wasachallenging one to deliver.

Sophie, though, rose to the challenge.

She said: “I get my inspiration from trying other distinguished beers of similar styles. There are so few beers out there of the same kind of distinction.

“I really wanted to produce a ‘champagned’ beer, soIhad to do some research. It’s not always easy to get hold of the rare beers on the market, butImanaged to find some of them.”

The beer combines a gentle fruitiness with sweet malt aromas which creates a luxurious, sophisticated beer best enjoyed chilled from champagne-style glasses.

Sophie added: “The beer is a blend of inspired styles and has a truly unique characteristic. I love the final product. It’s turned out very well, probably better than I had imagined.”

Roland added: “I’m not sure how we’re going to top Van Kannor, but we’ll have to find a way!”

Van Kannor is available to purchase from the brewery shop or online at brentwoodbrewing.

co.uk. It costs £29.99 per 750ml bottle.