We recently had the opportunity to collaborate with the UK’s leading trainer retailer, size? for the release of their ‘Seaside Series’ to produce a companion set of beers for this launch.
We brewed three beers to celebrate size?’s launch of their collaboration with Adidas Originals on their limited edition seaside trainer series. This series was based on the previous ‘Island Series‘, but instead of tropical holiday destinations, this new series featured three Baltic Cup trainers inspired by iconic UK coastal towns you most likely visited during the Summer as a child; Brighton, Blackpool and Cleethorpes. To learn more about the trainers click here.
The seaside trainer series was made exclusively available to size? customers. The trainers and the matching beers were previewed at a very special event in Docks Academy featuring two bands and a DJ. The beers are now available to purchase in a box set from our taproom shop and online.
To have been selected as the brewery to support this exciting project is a major coup for Docks Beers. It is great to have seen our brand being mentioned in the same breath as size? and Adidas and has been a monumental moment for our brewery.
Images provided by size? and Sam Sharp.
A tribute to our local seaside town. This 4.7% light lager with lemon was brewed with Pale lager malt and torrified rice lashings of lemon zest, making for a super crisp and easy-going beer.
All three can illustrations in this collection were masterfully crafted by our good friends at Sourcefour. Their Senior Designer Kirk opted to depict a famous landmark from each of the featured towns in this collection. For DN35, Kirk pays homage to Cleethorpes by featuring seagulls stealing chips in front of the famous Ferris Wheel on the North Prom. A sight all too common at the height of the Summer months.
As for those colours, if you’re a Cleethorpes local, you’ll recognise them from Marklews Fisheries, which were chosen by Luke Matthews (brand manager at size?), a Grimbarian who wanted to reference his favourite chippy (a good choice if you ask us!)
This soft, juicy, hazy pale ale bursts with aromas of guava, gooseberry and mango with a hint of orange and flavours to match, whilst sitting at a sessionable 4.2% and featuring some of our favourite hops.
FY1 features the iconic Blackpool Tower through an old 2p arcade machine we all loved to play as children. As for the colours, these are taken from the spectacular Ballroom found in the Tower, instantly recognisable to fans of dance (especially Strictly!)
Pouring a hazy glowing orange with aromas of citrus, pine and ripe stone fruit. This double dry-hopped IPA has hops at its heart and Sea Buckthorn (a berry native to the Cleethorpes coastline) on its mind. The berries’ tart citrusy flavours share the stage with heavy-hitting American hops to create a drinkable 5.6% IPA.
BN1 takes both its imagery and colours from the instantly recognisable pier located on the Brighton Seafront. The woman depicted on the can also can be seen sampling Brighton’s famous rock whilst in sunglasses. Just be sure to not break your teeth…
Kirk from Sourcefour came up with the idea of making an amalgamation of the three can design’s into one. After trialling different colours, we landed on sticking with the orange and black colour scheme to maintain consistency between the branding and the items in this box.
We were also thrilled to host the launch event for the ‘Seaside Series’ at Docks Academy on Thursday 8th December. The audience was made up of 300 prize-draw winning size? customers from all over the UK who made the pilgrimage to Grimsby to see the shoes, drink the beers and watch the bands.
This special gig saw performances from Reverend & The Makers, DJ Finn Doc and Grimsby band Indigo Bay, all hosted by comedian (and our good mate) Lloyd Griffith. We had been keen to get Reverend and The Makers here for a long time and were delighted to finally have them play at the Academy after so much demand for them to play in Grimsby.
During the night, Luke and Binns teased their next few collaborations with Adidas, a treat for the sneakerheads in the room. They previewed the Adidas Originals ‘Yabisah’ series, dedicated to Ibiza’s heritage, these shoes include nods to iconic clubs, hotels and even an image from a Dave Swindells book about the island.
There was a tease of two other packs due for release in the future: The Mexicana pack, celebrating the iconic CINCO de MAYO Carnival, with bright vibrant colours perfect for summer, and the other being a homage to London. This one caught a lot of people’s attention on the night, with the announcement they had worked with Monopoly – eight sneakers will be on offer in this release, along with an exclusive board as part of the collaboration.
If you weren’t there on the night, you can watch this video of the event on the size? YouTube channel.
The Seaside Box Set was an idea that Rob Pritchard of Sourcefour proposed. The idea was to hold the beers in a bespoke box that resembled an Adidas Shoe Box, but instead of holding trainers, the box would hold the three beers, the exclusive glass, and the three postcards with the artwork of each can. You can learn more about the design process on the Sourcefour blog.
This gift box can be purchased from both the Docks Beers Webstore and the brewery shop on King Edward Street.
