Brothers Fans go British by Voting for Rhubarb & Custard Cider

SHEPTON MALLET, England, January 20, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

- Brothers Cider announces the launch of a new Rhubarb & Custard flavour.

This imaginative flavour of crisp and tangy rhubarb balanced with smooth, creamy custard was the winning recipe in a national competition to create a new Brothers cider.

For the first time The Brothers hung up their white coats and allowed fans to create a NEW Brothers flavour. Thousands of people entered the competition and the short-listed flavours ranged from the weird and wonderful to the truly inspired Rhubarb & Custard.

A distinctly British flavour, Rhubarb & Custard offers something unique and different. We hope its light refreshment gets your vote too.

Rhubarb & Custard launches in Scream outlets on 23^rd January. The five winners will be given a tour of the factory to see it being created, and have also won a year's supply of Brothers cider. A further 100 runners up received a Brothers Official Cousin T-shirt.

This new flavour will replace the Lemon syrup on draught, and will run as an exclusive syrup flavour for Scream.

For more details visit the website at http://www.respectofthenation.co.uk     

BACKGROUND

BROTHERS DRINKS CO. LIMITED

Brothers Drinks Co. Limited was started in 1992 by four Showering brothers whose family have been making perry in Somerset since 1658 and whose grandparents enjoyed great success with Babycham from the 1950s.

It is based in Shepton Mallet, Somerset and employs 85 people.

In 1995 Michael Eavis offered the Brothers space for a bar at the Glastonbury Festival, near the Jazz World Stage, but with sales restricted to Perry based drinks. When the offer of "Perry" was met with little consumer understanding the Brothers would describe it as "like cider but made from Pears" and after repeating this tens of thousands of times the short hand "Pear Cider" was introduced and understood for the first time in the UK.

For the next 10 years the Brothers Bar became increasingly popular so that by 2005 Brothers Cider was ready to be launched into the on and off trade for the first time. It is now:-

• A range of Pear and fruit ciders including:-
  • The Original Pear (5.0% abv), Festival Pear Cider (7% abv)
  • Bittersweet Apple (5.5%)
  • Strawberry, Toffee Apple, Ginger and Tutti Frutti mixed pear ciders (4% abv)
• The sixth largest cider company in the UK Off Trade Multiple Grocers
• One of the fastest growing cider brands in the market, currently growing at +50%
• The third largest media investor in the cider market
• Worth over £35m at retail

Brothers Drinks are also a leading supplier of contract manufacturing and bottling services, with annual output of 140 million bottles and with over 1.5 billion bottles produced over the last 15 years.