Skinners brew up a Storm

l Ben Skinner, son of Skinners Brewery owners Steve and Sarah Skinner and ranked number 13 in the world longboard stakes, welcomes an early consignment of the new Cornish Storm lager

May 19, 2005: Skinners Brewery is launching Cornwall’s only home-brewed lager and announcing a raft of related new sponsorship deals for sport in the county.

A two-year research and development programme has resulted in the new Cornish Storm, the first Cornish lager since the disappearance of Newquay Steam some 15 years ago.

Going head-to-head with big names such as Stella Artois and Budweiser, it is already on sale in bottles and will shortly be available in extra cold draught form at a limited number of pubs.

Cornish Storm is described as a light and clean tasting, beautifully balanced strong lager beer, naturally brewed with the finest Cornish barley, wheat malt and English and American hops, and ideal as a food accompaniment.

According to brewery owner Steve Skinner, it went down a treat in trials at ExpoWest, at the Royal Cornwall Showground in March, being “very easy to drink” with a lovely recipe that will suit restaurants as well as pubs.

Steve will use the new lager to strengthen the brewery's ties with Cornish sport, notably surfing and rugby, in which it is already heavily involved.

It will have a presence at the Quicksilver Ladies Surfing Championships, when the world’s top performers will be at Watering Hole, Perranporth, over the Spring Bank Holiday.

Skinners will also be involved in various British Longboard events in Cornwall throughout the year, including one of the BLU Series at Watergate Bay on June 18 and 19, and will support the Cornish surf team competing in the Celtic Games in Spain in September.

Other sponsorship deals include the Newquay water polo team, plus a major new rugby event for Cornwall, to be announced soon.

Helping promote the new Cornish Storm is one of the world’s top longboard performers, Steve’s son Ben, aged 20, of Newquay.

Ben is the current English longboard champion and has a world ranking of 13th. His latest success was the national championship at Watergate Bay earlier this month – the fourth time he has won it.