Design student’s idea chosen to become new Camerons seasonal brew

A graphic design student has seen her idea for a dark chocolate infused stout chosen to become a new Camerons Brewery beer.

The Hartlepool company offered final year students on Cleveland College of Art and Design’s foundation degree a chance to suggest an ale to feature in the firm’s September and October seasonal slots in 2014.

After five weeks of work the winning design came from Sarah Hodgson, who will now see her 4.3% ABV stout Ebony Fall made and sold through both Camerons pubs and nationally through the businesses guest ale programmes.

“I could not believe it when my design was chosen and cannot wait to see this being sold in pubs up and down the country,” said Sarah, who used a mix of hand rendered and digital effects to create an image of autumn leaves for the pump clip.

Camerons commercial and marketing manager Yousef Doubooni said he was amazed by the amount of work the students had put into the project.

“I was pleased to see 17 totally different designs and concepts and it made the choice of picking one very difficult for us,” he said.

“And I was amazed by the research and thought process that went into each of the students work, both in terms of the design of the clip and the actual beer itself.

“After much debate at the brewery we chose Sarah’s concept as we liked both the striking design of the individual pressed and painted leaf effect as well as the idea of a stout that would be infused with rich dark chocolate to give it an initial sweet taste but very bitter character”.

Head brewer Martin Dutoy will now work with Sarah to create the beer, involving her in the trial brews and the sampling process to ensure the beer is what she hoped it would be.

Camerons will also bottle a small number of the Ebony Fall stout for Sarah and CCAD to keep as a memento.

Later this month the company also plans to announce five other limited edition guest ales for 2014.