Mini casks from popular Sunderland pub give you the chance to enjoy proper pint at home

The historic Saltgrass pub, in Ayres Quay, has launched a collection and delivery service of five litre casks which is proving popular with real ale fans.

As well as White Rat and Ossett Yorkshire Blonde mini casks, the pub is also selling three litre glass containers that you can have filled with either Clwb Tropica or Easy Livin draught from Welsh brewery Tiny Rebel, which you can pour at your leisure at home.

Although the pub cannot serve people at the bar or have sit-in custom under current restrictions, it has a license to sell alcohol on and off the premises so the take-away casks and containers, which showcase British beers, can be bought at the door or brought to your car. There’s also delivery offered to the Sunderland area.

One of Sunderland’s oldest pubs, The Saltgrass has a rich history and was once a popular watering hole with the shipyard workers. It was recently taken over by businessman Walter Veti who’d been drawing a regular crowd to Deptford with the pub’s real ale, live music and street food offering until the country went into lockdown to limit the spread of COVID-19.

He said: “You can’t match the atmosphere of sitting in your favourite pub with a pint, but this is the closest to cask conditioned ale you’ll get without actually being in the pub.

“The choice you get in the local shops is limited, so we’re offering something for the real ale fans who are missing that experience. We buy it as fresh as possible, so it tastes as it should.

“It’s first come, first served for collection and it’s proving really popular. We’re lucky because with our location we have plenty of space for parking and we practice social distancing with the queuing. There’s also individual tables people can wait at.”

It comes as the Sunderland Echo is running our #SupportLocal campaign aimed at promoting the amazing things our local businesses are doing at this difficult time.

Walter says the business isn’t making much profit on the sales, but hopes it will keep the pub in people’s minds for when they are allowed to reopen.

“Pubs were one of the first things to be closed under lockdown and we’ll be the last to open back up, but we can’t wait to hit the ground running when we do,” explained Walter.

For more on The Saltgrass beer collections and deliveries, message the pub’s Facebook page or call 0191 543 6309.

Do you know of any of our local businesses which are going above and beyond to help support their communities as we are all facing restrictions due to the coronavirus outbreak.

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