AN OUTLINE image of the cathedral in Bury St Edmunds is poised to become familiar across the country as Greene King prepares to rebrand its top-selling ale.

The pubs and brewing group, which traces its history in Bury back to 1799, has chosen to feature St Edmundsbury Cathedral, and the neighbouring Norman Tower, within a new corporate image for Greene King IPA.

It will appear on cans, bottles and pump clip badges, as well as in advertising, for Greene King IPA and for two new beers – Greene King IPA Gold and Greene King IPA Reserve.

Euan Venters, managing director for Greene King Brewing and Brands, said: “We are immensely proud of our heritage and that we’ve brewed in Bury St Edmunds for over 200 years.

“This, coupled with the fact that customers like to know where their ale comes, from meant that depicting the cathedral was a popular choice when we were looking at ideas for the new design.

“We’re extremely happy with the results and hope that the people of Bury and Suffolk share our enthusiasm.”

The two new beers aim to build on the popularity of Greene King IPA, with Gold (4.1% alcohol by volume, compared with the 3.6% of standard IPA) being a golden ale aimed at younger drinkers while Reserve (5.4%abv) is fuller in body and is expected to appeal to real ale afficionados.

IPA Gold features the aromatic Savinsjki Goldings hop variety, with late hopping (the addition of hops during the later stages of the boiling process) said by Greene King to have created a blend of tropical fruit and spicy notes, with “a clean bitter taste and a crisp dry finish”.

IPA Reserve is described as “warming” with a “mellow fruit aroma”, featuring grapefruit and orange citrus tones combined with floral and herbal notes from the Styrian Goldings hop variety, leading to a dry bitter finish.

Alongside the new branding, and a television advertising campaign due to start over the weekend of the FA Cup semi-finals on April 14 and 15, Greene King has also invested in new branded tankard-style glasses, following research that showed two-thirds of drinkers prefer the tankard style.

Greene King’s “Revolution” hand pumps will continue to offer drinkers a choice of a “northern” or “southern” style head on their pint.