Creating a beer with elbow

Justin and elbow share a pint of 'Charge'

Today sees another project brought to market with the launch of 'Charge', a new beer created by elbow and brewed by Marston's.

The beer is now available nationwide in Nicholson's pubs as an exclusive preview, ahead of a wider national release in March to co-incide with band's launch of their new album, 'The Take Off and Landing of Everything'.

elbow led the charge of music collaboration beers a couple of years ago with their beer, Build a Rocket Boys' brewed by Robinson's. Since then a whole host of collaboration beers have followed, both here and in the States, from bands as diverse as the Foo Fighters, Madness, Iron Maiden, Motorhead and Status Quo (more on this next week!).

These collaborations are a win:win for everybody involved; for the group it's an added value extension to the campaign for a new album or tour; for the brewery partner it's an opportunity to reach a different audience with their beers and great PR rub off; for retailers it's a good opportunity to differentiate their range and tap into a ready made audience of fans to drive incremental footfall and sales; for the fans they add a further sensory layer to their experience of enjoying the band's creative output - enjoy the beer whilst listening to the album or watching a gig.

Managing the project for Marston's and working with the band, their management team and Chris Smith of Renegade Music, has been a great experience. The end product is a cracking beer, created by the band and Marston's brewer Genevieve Upton, with a striking piece of brand design created by design agency partner, Butcher and Gundersen. Visit www.elbowbeer.co.uk and follow elbow beer on twitter & facebook to see for yourself, better still get down to a Nicholson's for the full experience.

There's an exciting campaign to follow in the coming weeks as we count down to the wider release of the beer and the new album, with a series of 'making of' videos on social media platforms and the UKs largest ever album pre-release pub playback event on March 5th/6th (more posts to follow on this).