BREWERS from opposite sides of the Atlantic have teamed up to create a special beer in North Yorkshire.

Rooster’s Brewery in Knaresborough welcomed the team from Pretty Things Beer and Ale Project, based in Massachusetts in the USA, to brew a collaboration beer called Saint Robert.

The American outfit is headed by Martha and Dann Paquette. They met in the United States, but Martha is from Yorkshire and they lived in Harrogate ten years ago, when Dann worked at Daleside Brewery.

He replaced Oliver Fozard, who has since become head brewer at Rooster’s, and the pair have remained in touch. They decided last year to team up on the beer, and produced it just before Christmas.

Saint Robert is due to go on sale in bars from next week. It is named after Robert Flower, who was born in 1160 and was renowned as a wise and holy man who cared for the poor and needy, but who lived a life of near solitude on the banks of the River Nidd in Knaresborough.

The ale is a dark brown, abbey-style beer, with a strength of 4.5 per cent. Tom Fozard, commercial manager at Rooster’s, said the beer uses six malts, two English hop varieties and Belgian candi syrup, and said it would display “a subtle spiciness, dark fruit flavours and a residual sweetness.”