Northampton beer sets sail for Canada after brewery strikes exporting deal with Winnipeg

Northampton's-own Phipps NBC has begun exporting bottles of its Ratcliffe's Stout beer to a company in Winnipeg, Canada.

The Bridge Street-based brewery hopes the Northampton export will be the first of a steady stream of pallets of bottled beer to set sail from Liverpool for the Winnipeg warehouse of the Manitoba Liquor and Lotteries Corporation.

Phipps MD Alaric Neville said: "It interesting that the Canadians came to us looking for a beer which was quintessentially English and traditional too but which would also be something new to them.

"Ratliffe's Stout is one of the oldest brews we have down at the Albion Brewery which was built by William Ratliffe in 1884 so it obviously ticked the both boxes for their state run liquor stores.

"We have also added a little British flag to the label a their request just to make it clear that this is an exotic import from the other side of the Atlantic".