NORTH Cornwall’s first micropub, The Barrel at Bude, received a special delivery in Penzance recently.

Special because their latest beer delivery is from Britain’s most South Westerly brewery, Ales of Scilly, and arrived on the Grayhound; a replica 18th century three-mast Cornish Lugger.

Two barrels of beer were loaded on board on by Jennie Trevithick who is the first female Cornish brewer at the Ales of Scilly brewery and later arrived in Penzance in the inner harbour.

Ian and Rachel O’Hare, who own The Barrel, only source Cornish beer and visit every brewery they source beer and to meet the brewer, to hear their story and to understand how best to present the beers. Then or later they buy a barrel or two of what the brewer believes is their best, pop it in their car and make their way home.

Ian said: “It’s a great way to see all of Cornwall. It’s lovely to meet new people, people who are passionate about what they do but given the distance and the water between the mainland and the Isles of Scilly, Jennie and I had to talk at length over the phone. The next thing to sort out was getting some barrels delivered direct from the brewery.

“The Barrel’s ethos is always to keep it personal, they even have pictures of the people who make the Cornish beer, gin, wine and cider they sell on the walls of their micropub.

“Then we saw a post on Facebook by Freya, who owns and sails the Grayhound with her family and offers charters and cargo runs from the Islands to the mainland.”

After a few emails and more telephone calls, plans were put in place.

The beer was collected by Ian and Rachel and went on sale on the following Thursday, along with two other barrels from small independent Cornish brewers.

Ian added: “Whilst one barrel died at sea, they were on deck over a few hot days, the surviving barrel was drunk dry! This green approach to sourcing beer from offshore will be repeated with more beer from the Isles of Scilly available soon.”