A HOP grower from Malvern has teamed up with Tesco to sell an all-new British-grown beer.

Newland-based hop grower Charles Faram has teamed up with Derbyshire brewery Buxton Brewery and the supermarket giant to create a 6.8% Brithop, billed as "a modern all British-grown IPA."

The reason for the pairing is to combat the rise of imported ingredients from America, Australia and New Zealand and to celebrate British produce.

Paul Corbett, managing director of grower-owned merchant Charles Faram, which has been operating for more than 150 years, said: “We have to move with the times in terms of current beer tastes but this shouldn’t be at the expense of the great and historic British hop industry.

“British hops used in the UK travel fewer miles from farm to brewery so have a lower carbon footprint than most imported hops.

“By choosing British hops we support the local economy; everyone from the farmer to those who work on the farms, to those who service the tractors and the picking machines.”

Charles Faram is supplying four hop varieties, Jester, Harlequin, Mystic and Olicana, to the Buxton Brewery to flavour Brithop.

Figures show the amount of hops imported from the US grew from around 1,642 metric tonnes in 2006 to 1,973 metric tonnes last year, while UK hop production slipped back from 1,410 tonnes to 924 over the same period.

The growing thirst for IPA styles of craft beer, which have relied heavily on US hop varieties, is said to be responsible for part of the decline.

As well as direct-from-brewery sales, Brithop is hitting the shelves at 800 Tesco stories as the first in a series of beer launches the retailer hopes will help to “re-popularise” British hops.

Tesco craft beer buyer Luke O’Connor said the development of new “fruitier-tasting” British hops could herald a fight back by home-grown varieties.

“There’s a bitter irony here because IPAs, made with New World hops, which are helping fuel the craft beer boom, were originally created in Britain with British hops 200 years ago,” he said.

“We hope that the launch of this refreshing and modern tasting new British hopped ale could help kickstart that revival.”